Opinions on potential new vehicle

[julesandtash]

Hi all,
Despite my best efforts, Tash has never fallen in love with the RangeRover and is often heard to utter 'I miss my Skoda' referring to her old 110BHP Octavia.

As such, next year it may have to go and be replaced by something more car like. Really needs to be an estate car for the room and ideally manual. It goes without saying that it must happily drink bio.

It also needs to be heavy enough, and powerful enough to tow our caravan which just rules out an Octavia. Also we will only have around £3K maximum to spend. It will be our 'nice car' much like the RangeRover. I will be keeping the Discovery for the rough work and oil collecting.

My list so far includes

VW Passat 130PD
Audi A4 130PD
Audi A6 130PD
Audi A6 Allroad 2.5V6 Tdi
Skoda Superb 130PD

Out of them all I like the looks of the Allroad the most but am put off by the V6Tdi having a Bosch VP44 pump on it.

What do you guys think and any recommendations / personal experiences are very welcome

And, anybody interested in a well maintained RangeRover P38 diesel in a few months time?

[william crosby]

jules

Look out for a passat 130 4 motion you will not be disappointed

[greasemonkey]

I like the look of the Audi AllRoad, she does look the kit.
Are you on any caravaning forums? I seem to remember reading somewhere that the rear suspension on the AllRoad gave trouble with frequent towing.

[bertle]

My vote is for the allroad. They are about the best tow car you can get before you get to full 4x4. The v6 engine is a lovely old plodder if a little slow off the mark waiting for the turbo to spool up but go well once rolling.  A de cat and re map really helps out too. The cams can be an issue on earlier engines, I have changed mine on the passat which wasn't too bad though. The vp44 will kill it in the end probably but I seam to remember it is the ecu on the top which fails and these can be changed for £300. HC will probably tell you about that. I was going to say they are a bit thirsty but compared to the rangie probably not!

[julesandtash]

Coming back from Warminster yesterday in the high winds and surface water, towing the caravan, I was averaging 15.3MPG in the RangeRover.
I bet they are far better than that.

[nigelb]

Somebody was selling a Passat estate on the VOD a couple of months ago. Not sure if it 4motion..might have been. Downside was it was in Scotland....right at the top. Cant remember his name but he'd done a shed load of work to the car and it looked in pretty good condition. Might be worth a trawl of the archives.

[bertle]

Coming back from Warminster yesterday in the high winds and surface water, towing the caravan, I was averaging 15.3MPG in the RangeRover.
I bet they are far better than that.

Yeh probably a bit better! Come to think about it the passat will be for sale in the next couple of months. ......

[Mickindashed]

The Allroads a cracking car, but the air suspension is a weak point. Plenty out there with renewed suspension though.

[Glycer-rides]

Superbs can be total bargains. Especially compared to Audis.
It's just a shame that the estates are 'too new'.

[Jonzeyboy43]

Jules I did a fair bit of reading about the all road seems like the air suspension fails as a past time and it is agrand a time.

[bertle]

Jules I did a fair bit of reading about the all road seems like the air suspension fails as a past time and it is agrand a time.

sounds like a rangie then!

[julesandtash]

I have been doing a lot of reading around, including caravan forums.
The jury seems split on the allroad, some love it and some hate it. Almost like Marmite, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground.
I'm not too scared of the air suspension as the Rangie has the same and has not been a problem once in the time I have had it.

The VP44 concerns me more to be honest.

The Passat seems to be far more popular though, lots of people seem to rave about them as tow cars.
I guess if there is a chance of rough field caravanning (like the BBB) then an allroad would be better but for normal UK and European caravan sites, a two wheel drive car that does 50+ MPG when not towing makes more sense and, with a remap, the 130PD can match the power ouput of the V6

I will still have the Discovery for going to rough camping areas like the LRO show at Peterborough and the BBB after all.

[greasemonkey]

Possibly, with the air suspension, it depends on the way it is treated. There are plenty of caravaners around with twin axle caravans, the back wheel nearly off the floor, and the hitch about dragging the road, lurching along like a loch ness monster.

If it is all set up right, there should be virtually no weight on the hitch at all, and certainly no more than 100KG.

[bertle]

I have been doing a lot of reading around, including caravan forums.
The jury seems split on the allroad, some love it and some hate it. Almost like Marmite, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground.
I'm not too scared of the air suspension as the Rangie has the same and has not been a problem once in the time I have had it.

The VP44 concerns me more to be honest.

The Passat seems to be far more popular though, lots of people seem to rave about them as tow cars.
I guess if there is a chance of rough field caravanning (like the BBB) then an allroad would be better but for normal UK and European caravan sites, a two wheel drive car that does 50+ MPG when not towing makes more sense and, with a remap, the 130PD can match the power ouput of the V6

I will still have the Discovery for going to rough camping areas like the LRO show at Peterborough and the BBB after all.

True but a remapped v6 blows the doors of a pd. Mine showed 210 bhp on the rolling road. Mind you it won't do 50 mpg.

[kamaangir]

You can also get a passat 4motion or audi quattro with both the 1.9pd and the 2.5 v6. As far as I know they don't have air suspension. Both these models are permanent 4x4.