Mourning the death of the traditional Estate car

[APOLLO]

2 hours ago, woodenhead said:

@APOLLO Why not just get a van

 

Not really suitable or needed, besides Mrs would baulk at that.

 

A car with carrying capacity, bit smaller than the Galaxy, Skoda superb estate mentioned, will take a look.

 

Brit15

[Dunsignalling]

Yetis are extremely good. I have a very late, low mileage Mk1 (2013) and at my age (70) and rate of mileage accumulation I doubt I'll ever need to change it. No experience of petrol ones but the CR170 turbo diesel is economical, and quicker than most will use.

 

Boot will hold ample luggage for 2 with all seats up and a third with one rear folded. Layout transport is best achieved with the rear seats removed to maximise length in the back. Upright tailgate means load area is full height throughout.

 

John

[woodenhead]

@APOLLO actually the Skoda Superb estate does look rather tasty and it will be reliable.

 

Reckon I could put a couple of bikes in the back of one of those....

 

Maybe, maybe

[Vecchio]

I drive a C200 mild hybrid Merc estate, lost of space and lots of comfort. Sometimes a bit low for bumpy roads (speedbumps). Question is how long will all the electronic stuff work - so far so good.

Great for carrying stuff to the boot as it opens also with "foot control"

[didcot]

I have the Astra J or Estate to the rest of us. I deliberately wanted a flat boot for loading 5" gauge locos. Plus the extra space for family holidays. But it's actually narrower than you think inside what with all the padding and little compartments. I can't get a door in it like my old Cavalier and whilst both are 1.6 petrol the Astra is truly awful. Its so under powered. It won't pull away quickly, lumbers up through the gears and is terrible on anything other than a flat surface. I fitted a towbar to the Cavalier and would pull loaded trailers or a caravan with ease. The Astra wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and hence no towbar which is inconvenient!

I've always gone for an estate car as generally they have been stable for towing. Slightly better towing weights and the like. But looking around there doesn't seem to be much of a comparison at the moment. 

[phil-b259]

2 hours ago, Nick C said:

 

 

The thing is, it's not just about the shape - one of the big things abut a proper estate is that, wheras hatchbacks tend to have a step where the tailgate meets the bumper, estates have a totally flat load area - which makes a big difference if you're trying to get something heavy or awkwardly shaped (be it a stack of layout baseboards or a sack of soil for the garden...) in or out. While most SUVs seem to have the flat entrance as well, they're quite a bit higher, so you've got to lift the heavy thing further...

 

 

But equally getting things out of a SUV is easier as the floor is closer to waist height and thus less likely to put strain on the back. The higher body also means less chance of clonking your head on the tailgate too.

[Gilbert]

My biggest bugbear with the otherwise satisfactory Skoda is that the rear seat bases no longer fold up out the way - or even come out as my old Passat would....the backs just fold down on top of the seats so the floor is now at quite an angle rather than being flat...apart from when I need to lower the back to load a "long" layout I think the capacity is greater if I load onto the back seat and the "boot" separately

Chris H

[johnofwessex]

Over the years I have had an Audi 100 CD  estate, Vauxhall Zafira, Kia Carens and currently a Kia Ceed.

 

All very useful vehicles

 

My experience though is that 

 

1. With an increasingly elderley population why do you have to 'limbo' into so many vehicles

2. I'm 6ft 3, first born is taller than me, middle son is (14) is currently nearly 6ft, OK youngest is still tiny but it would be nice to have a car that can accommodate more than two decent sized adults.  Funnily enough my Diahatsu Cuore which is smaller than a Micra could do this 

3. Given that its an Estate why is the ground clearance on the Ceed so low?

 

By comparison SUV's apart from having an image problem seem to have issues with reliability 

[33C]

I would rather walk than buy an SUV. They roll over as soon as look at them, there are massive blind spots, no space inside and look ridiculous.  

[big jim]

4 hours ago, Gilbert said:

I have a very layout friendly Skoda Superb Estate - it seems to still be available from new...

ChrisH

thats what I’ve got, immense cargo space!

 

I had a Vauxhall Mokka SUV type hire car a while back and went to pick up a full size fridge freezer which I couldn’t fit in, looked like it would and it almost went in, the stumbling block was the front seat wouldn’t go forward far enough and when I tried to tip it back it didn’t recline all the way back, the final nail in the coffin was the headrest wouldn’t come out so I couldn’t slide the fridge into the front passenger side area at all!

 

 

[Nearholmer]

20 minutes ago, big jim said:

the final nail in the coffin

Clearly you need a hearse.

 

 I’m ve got a medium-sized faux-by-four, and have been very disappointed with load space, visibility, and comfort compared with my previous estate.

 

[Trainshed Terry]

5 hours ago, woodenhead said:

And the not so small Fiesta is next in line to be culled,

 

That is going to be a very sad day.

 

Terry.

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, Gilbert said:

My biggest bugbear with the otherwise satisfactory Skoda is that the rear seat bases no longer fold up out the way - or even come out as my old Passat would....the backs just fold down on top of the seats so the floor is now at quite an angle rather than being flat...apart from when I need to lower the back to load a "long" layout I think the capacity is greater if I load onto the back seat and the "boot" separately

Chris H

My previous car, a Peugeot 207 SW (estate) had the same issue with the seats. In practice it wouldn't hold very much more than the 206 hatch that preceded it.

 

My Yeti is a tad shorter in the back but a more usable shape and the height makes access much easier. I had a lift in a pal's 206cc a week or two back. OK getting in, but getting out was a bit of a struggle!

 

John

Edited October 31, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[big jim]

2 hours ago, woodenhead said:

@APOLLO actually the Skoda Superb estate does look rather tasty and it will be reliable.

 

Reckon I could put a couple of bikes in the back of one of those....

 

Maybe, maybe

my bike goes in the back easily with the rear seats down, don’t even have to take the wheels off it (the bike!)

[spamcan61]

A friend of my eldest daughter has a Skoda Roomster, always admired their "quirky" styling, the load carrying capacity is huge for the size of vehicle. 

[37114]

5 hours ago, Gilbert said:

I have a very layout friendly Skoda Superb Estate - it seems to still be available from new...

ChrisH

They seem to have good reviews, I nearly went for one before I found the Mondeo. I see the Passat Estate (same body?) is still available as well which is equally well sized but I can't recall the last time I saw a newish one?

Will be interesting to see if VW engineer them to be electric in the future.

[Bulleidboy100]

I drive a Volvo XC70 Estate - my previous car was a Volvo 960 Estate which I owned for twenty four years. You could get anything in the back with the rear seats down - double bed, sofa, most of the IKEA range. I only changed to the XC70 as things started to fail on the 960 with no warning - especially the central locking - it would probably have been beneficial to use the key to lock the car rather than rely on the central locking - after very many years the key would not work (turn) in any of the locks.

I would add that my wife drives(???) a 2004 V40 1.8i Sport Estate - bought new and garaged from new and has just topped 50K miles - it looks like new. For the last few years the mileage has averaged about 350miles per year

Come the lottery I would like a Mercedes E63S - but I see production has stopped.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Bulleidboy100

[Gilbert]

14 minutes ago, 37114 said:

They seem to have good reviews, I nearly went for one before I found the Mondeo. I see the Passat Estate (same body?) is still available as well which is equally well sized but I can't recall the last time I saw a newish one?

Will be interesting to see if VW engineer them to be electric in the future.

Superb is bigger than the Passat - someone said its a poor man's Audi A6.

When I was buying the VW man (quietly) suggested I look at a Skoda as new was same price as 12 month old VW....

My other half has a 2005 VW Passat estate she will never part with....ever....

Chris

Edited October 31, 2022 by Gilbert

[big jim]

The saloon superb is the same floorpan as the VW phaeton which in turn is the same as the Bentley flying spur, the similarity with the Bentley ends at the floor though but having had a couple of phaetons there are a lot of shared items in the cockpit such as dials, clock, stalks etc, obviously all VAG standard bits,  tbh there are lots of bits in my wife’s Touareg that are also in the superb 

 

my superb is a 2014 with 210k on the clock, only cost me £3k and touch wood apart from a few little niggles due to the previous owner neglecting it a bit it’s been spot on, only little things like rear number plate light and towbar electrics not working, bodywork is also a bit neglected/ scratched but I wasn’t too bothered about that, I’ve tidied it up a touch and I’ll just keep it going until it dies

 

i have fitted a TDI tun8ng box to it which has increased the power and torque, 150bhp to 185bhp which makes a difference but it still gives me 70mpg on the motorway which is good for a big car

 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by big jim

[Dunsignalling]

25 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

A friend of my eldest daughter has a Skoda Roomster, always admired their "quirky" styling, the load carrying capacity is huge for the size of vehicle. 

I saw somebody unloading one the other day, and it really is amazing for its outside dimensions.  Did Skoda perhaps also build the TARDIS?

 

John 

[2mmMark]

5 hours ago, woodenhead said:

@APOLLO Why not just get a van

Because many council recycling centres automatically treat vans as "trade" and you end up having to weigh in anything you're taking in.

What are very good are the van-derived mini-MPVs. I have a Skoda Roomster which, as others have highlighted, is a great load carrier, being based on the VW Caddy platform.  The only issue I've found is that it's more aligned around cuboid loads.  My previous car was a Mondeo estate which had ample carrying capacity in a long body profile.  The Roomster has about the same interior volume but in a shorter wheelbase.  This means it's easier to park and manoeuvre.  The quirky design is a bit marmite but inside, it's very comfortable,  smooth and quiet.  Much less tiring to drive than the Mondeo.

The neat thing is that the rear seats come right out and then you pretty much have a VW Caddy van with windows.

However, Skoda discontinued the design and haven't come up with anything similar.

[Martino]

Many years ago (in the ‘90s) I was invited to a BMW driving day at a race circuit in Hampshire I think.  Day spent driving all sorts of ‘hot’ BMWs but the car that I found most fun and manage some good lap times was 540i Estate - automatic too.  Seemed like a sensible Gentleman’s carriage to me.

 

Ended up buying a ‘Classic’ Range Rover which did all the jobs of an estate but off road too.  To make it ‘go faster’ had it converted by Overfinch into first a 4.7 litre and later 5.6 litre using Chevy small block V8s from Corvettes.   Amazing bits of kit.

 

Nowadays an estate car would not be suitable for transporting two Collies, so we have a Honda Odyssey (a US built mini van or MPV) which is excellent both in quality, drivability and usefulness.  We’re on our third and waiting for a hybrid version.

 

For me, a Range Rover Velar which is fun, enough room for one collie and seemingly (fingers crossed) reasonably well built. Plus 4WD and all sorts of tricks up its sleeve.  Even got me out of a steep, wet leaf covered drive today that was causing issues for many other vehicles.

 

I think, much as I liked Estates, we’ve moved on.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Having been a Citroën devotee since 1987, no sympathies please!, for the past 25 years or so I've had a succession of XM and C5 estates for their carrying capacity.

On coming to Spain I decided to buy my last car, and, for the reasons mentioned previously went for a C5 Exclusive Tourer, the last with proper suspension not cart springs, adjustable to make loading easier.

When in England, I knew someone with a BMW X5, but I took him and his family to the airport in my old C5 as there wasn't enough room in his car!

 

Mike.

[Jonboy]

11 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

My previous car, a Peugeot 207 SW (estate) had the same issue with the seats. In practice it wouldn't hold very much more than the 206 hatch that preceded it.

 

John

The 206 SW I had years back was brilliant in that respect. My friends was even better though as his front passenger seat also folded flat in line with the rears….

[Chris M]

I blame the Nissan Qashqai for making SUVs so popular. Horrible car and not very big inside despite its size. A feature of most SUVs is a shortish loadspace which makes them less useful for carrying layouts. I get on quite well with the Honda Civics (gen 9 & gen 10) for carrying layouts as they have quite a long loadspace when the seats are down.

The gen 9 was better than the gen10 as the gap between the wheelarches was an inch or so wider.

 

Way back, this was a great load lugger. Useful for camping holidays too.