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A bad morning on holiday...


Planty

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Dreadful weather in France this morning. My poor wife aquaplaned and rolled twice. She is fine - not a cut on her. The car is a write off. E Class Mercs are amazing in a big crash. Drive carefully everyone.

 

Sam

 

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Yes, same here with the weather from Ireland home . Two big accidents in a very short space, with Aqua planning, I would imagine. Good news about your wife, new cars are amazing. Would  not have been the same in an old car like ours ?

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Glad your wife is OK - looked horrible and must have been very scary. So easily done. 

I got caught yesterday in horrendous rain on the run to the Mont Blanc Tunnel. We were fine but a Mercedes on the other carriageway spun out opposite us as it came out of a tunnel.

I’m in Arromanches now and this evening had to park up and wait for the rain to pass. The only safe thing to do - down to 15kmh and just couldn’t see the road. Our cars do lots of things very well but biblical rain isn’t one of them. Moderns are better but they have a limit too. 

Think this weather is moving North quickly. 

David 

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Thanks for all the comments. Insurance stuff seems to be playing out well.

I now need to buy a new car - the silver lining bit!!! I only want to spend £8k and need a dependable estate car that is super comfortable on long trips. What would people go for? Currently thinking a similar 8 yr old Merc or Audi A6, but should I branch out from German cars and buy something newer from a different manufacturer? Was thinking Skoda Superb.

Any views and experienced very gratefully received.

Sam


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My last company bus was a Superb , Series 3 SEL exec estate .. 105k miles in 3 yrs , nothing went wrong and nothing fell off , they are not the most dynamic of drive in that spec , sport line sorts that out .. good car with loads of tech , enormous as well 

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The newer model Skoda's are cracking bits of kit! I'm eyeing up the diesel Octavia VRS for my next work horse and my missus has one of the Octavia Scouts. Some of the older Skoda's however, lacked build quality. Not sure where you'd get to with £8k, guess it depends on what sort of mileage you'd do and whether you punt for a higher mileage example to get better quality :)

 

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12 hours ago, World Citizen said:

Glad your wife is ok, looks like a nasty moment she had

Audi A6 Avant 3.0TDI would be my choice, 8K should get a good one

 

+1.

Over the last 10 years I’ve had 3 A6’s on the bounce as company cars. Travelled to the continent regularly with work and hols. Super comfy and reliable. Decent mpg too. Love ‘em.

VT

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Thanks all. I currently have an A6 3.0 TDI on loan from my brother in law. Definitely a good best. I now feel increasingly loyal to Mercs, given how well it protected my Mrs. Am pleased with the offer from my insurance company - £8400 for a 2010 E Class with 120k miles. Will go shopping when the money comes through and let you know what I end up with.


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Audi A6 3.0Tdi and a Merc CLK 3.0Tdi on the drive here. Both10+ years old, I find the Audi better built and more fun to drive and just generally a better place to be, plus it's massively more economical.

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I'd look into it, but based on the cars dash mpg the Audi will achieve 50mpg at steady 70mph, the Merc will do about 36mpg.   This seems to marry up to online reviews/specs of each car.

To me the Merc feels heavy and older tech, although it's younger than the Audi by a couple of years, even my wife said the Audi feels sportier and more responsive.

The Audi is noticeably quicker, smoother, larger, more efficient and more fun to drive.  It feels better built too.  I've had the Audi for over 6 years (2006 model) and has required nothing other than serviceable stuff.  The Merc, we've had for 6 months (2008 model), it's required new glow plugs, the CD changer stopped working and the radio reception is cr*p, seems to flatten the battery and has a bunch of other small niggles that need sorting.  Most is previous owner's lack of care so may not be down to build quality.  Also the paint finish is thinner than the Audi.

The Audi does like to chew through certain brands of tyres though.

 

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48 minutes ago, SP72 said:

Audi s6 V10 in that price range :)

You're a bad man but I like you're thinking

I started out shopping for a 3.0TDi Avant now thinking of buying a few new doors for my truck :wub:to make it look less pikey-gangster-chic and holding out for RS4 Avant :cool:

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15 minutes ago, Nige said:

I'd look into it, but based on the cars dash mpg the Audi will achieve 50mpg at steady 70mph, the Merc will do about 36mpg.   This seems to marry up to online reviews/specs of each car.

To me the Merc feels heavy and older tech, although it's younger than the Audi by a couple of years, even my wife said the Audi feels sportier and more responsive.

The Audi is noticeably quicker, smoother, larger, more efficient and more fun to drive.  It feels better built too.  I've had the Audi for over 6 years (2006 model) and has required nothing other than serviceable stuff.  The Merc, we've had for 6 months (2008 model), it's required new glow plugs, the CD changer stopped working and the radio reception is cr*p, seems to flatten the battery and has a bunch of other small niggles that need sorting.  Most is previous owner's lack of care so may not be down to build quality.  Also the paint finish is thinner than the Audi.

The Audi does like to chew through certain brands of tyres though.

 

I’ve been on the 2.0tdi’s, the last being the Ultra Technology. On a run I got just over 60mpg, over 3+ years of all types of driving it averaged 47mpg.

Like Nige’s experience, they’ve never missed a beat and nothing broke, packed up or fell off. I ran mostly on Goodyear F1 Assymetrics. Worked well in all weathers. Was genuinely sad to see the last one go.

Annoyingly, Audi have no sensible hybrid offer in their range so HMRC’s BIK rules have forced me into  BMW come October. I doubt it will be as nice, even with every box ticked.

VT

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I had an A6 Avant 2.0tdi manual a while back, and currently have the 3.0V6 albeit in a Touareg. 

The 2.0 was a little breathless in such a big car despite 180bhp and only returned 42mpg av over 90k as a result. Nothing broke, car had 190k on when I sold it, but it did chug through front tyres at an alarming rate.

The V6 VAG diesel engine is a peach - our 2 tonne 4x4 is chipped to 300bhp and manages mid 30's on the motorway so I would imagine much more is achievable in a lower and lighter A6. That'd be my choice, I'm not sure there would be a lot of distance between the 2.0 and 3.0 mpg wise.

If you can shy away from the base spec 204PS as VAG put smaller turbos and smaller injectors (with higher pressure) on the base engines it's not just a chip away from the 245/262PS engines.

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