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Second Hand French Estate Car - Best Buy?


Matelot
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Hi!,

Next Easter when I am in France I'm thinking of purchasing a second hand estate car to leave at my French home. I would like to get a reliable diesel vehicle to use for transportation of dogs, vin 'en vrac', [:P] etc.

Does any member have some good suggestions of what make and model to look for?

Any advice would be very welcome!

Cheers!

 

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OK, I know this is a UK site, but in terms of engine sizes and basic models, they are pretty much the same country to country although the options and specs may differ.

http://www.whatcar.co.uk/car-comparison.aspx

Here you can enter up to three different cars (say a Pug, a Renault and a Citroen) and get an unbiased view.  By estate, is that what you really want or perhaps you might look at a van-based car such as a Renault Kangoo, or a  mini-MPV like the Picasso (which is in fact based on a Berlingo chassis, not the Xsara as it's former name might suggest.)

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Depends how much you want to spend I suppose. It would be best to stick with Citroen, Peugeot or Renault as it will be far easier to get spares or have repairs done efficiently.  Mid-size MPVs are not really suitable for dogs but you might find an old espace with only five seats that might be ideal. Otherwise, Laguna estate, Xantia estate, 406 estate  or maybe, if you want something a little newer  a Citroen C5. You will find that there

are far more diesel versions around anyway in France but expect to pay a lot more than you would for a similar model in the UK.

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Laguna 2.2l 4-6 year old model have a habit of destroying their gear boxes at around 150.000km

Happened to a friend of mine, and when my 1.9 gears developed a problem (pin loose in linkage) the garage admitted as much

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[quote user="Eslier"]It would be best to stick with Citroen, Peugeot or Renault as it will be far easier to get spares or have repairs done efficiently.

[/quote]

I can't believe you just said that Eslier. This is the 21st century you know.[:D]

So all the Fords, Vw's etc etc should just be dismissed because they ain't French?

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We bought a (then) year old Renault Megane diesel station wagon/estate when we arrived here in 2001 and it is still going well now.  We use it to carry our two Great Danes with us almost everywhere we go along with all  the usual bits & bobs, weekly shopping etc and find it does the job very well.  Also, despite  the occasional slagging off we hear from UK iro Renault, we have found them to be really good here.  Example:  we read about a little recall with Meganes soon after we got it  so we  spoke to the dealer to see if it applied to the estate version, he said he would check.  He came back to us next day to say that Renault were not sure but said to change "it" (forgotten what "it" was) anyway just to be sure.  When we picked it up after they had fixed it, he said that they had also changed the battery and the place where it sits as the battery had been a bit cracked and acid had leaked out and corroded the shelf thingy where it lives.  All FOC and with a smile.  I can live with service like that.[:D]
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I'll be looking for a left hooker diesel estate at some point in the near future and I'm planning to have a look in Germany for it.

I'm told that because the Germans love their indigenous VW's, BMW's, Merc's etc. so much 3 to 5 year old French cars are unpopular and can be very good value for money, lets see.......!

EDIT

How does this compare to similar in France ? 

http://cgi.ebay.de/Citroen-Picasso-HDi-Turbo-Diesel-Euro-3_W0QQitemZ290090735111QQihZ019QQcategoryZ9801QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

EDIT 2

This looks like a pretty good dea, delivered to UK as well:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SKODA-FELICIA-DIESEL-ESTATE-LHD-LEFT-HAND-DRIVE_W0QQitemZ140093166695QQihZ004QQcategoryZ18275QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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[quote user="Benjamin"][quote user="Eslier"]It would be best to stick with Citroen, Peugeot or Renault as it will be far easier to get spares or have repairs done efficiently.
[/quote]

I can't believe you just said that Eslier. This is the 21st century you know.[:D]

So all the Fords, Vw's etc etc should just be dismissed because they ain't French?



[/quote]

Just to put this in perspective I can bicycle back from three local Peugeot dealers, at least two Citreon dealers and three Renault dealers. Ford, Skoda and VW are a good 50 minute drives away and many interesting dealers are the wrong side of both the Gironde and the Dordogne

You can also buy most consumables which I would replace myself like brake pads, batteries and cam belts either from the hypermarkets or from the auto centres.

I would avoid PSA current generation with as they seem to have taken a step backwards as regards electrical reliability.

 

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Be careful of buying a car in Belgium, I almost tracked a car down there to then have a long conversation with the salesman who told me I'd need to make two visits, the second one being almost a month later due to Belgian paperwork; just wasn't worth it for me!

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Absolutely - I would take the bike over for the first visit using Calais day trip.  Then later in the month Ryanair to Liege (park bike for free at Stanstead), cross country on the return to help bed in the engine, say hi to the family and chill for a couple of days then Poitiers to Stanstead.  I am used to working 16 hr days flying so not a huge hassle.  Changing our car at some point over next 3-4 years, once pursestrings loosened by SWMBO, so will give info then.  Our current car was originally a german registered LHD Scenic that has been registered twice in France, twice in the UK and once in Gibraltar. 

regards

Vern

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