Tall man seeks station wagon.Audi A4? Volvo V50?

Hi all,
I'm after some advice from the wise. I'm looking for a station wagon, budget is around 16k, hopefully 2004-2005ish, with under 100,000 k's on the clock.

I'm 6'5", and find it a struggle to fit comfortably in a lot of cars. I was keen on the Subaru outback, I liked the fact that it was a little higher off the ground than most, but I found the driver's seat was too cramped.

I've found that A4s have plenty of leg room. I like the 2005 model a lot more, but it seems to be quite a bit more expensive than the '04.

Do you think I'm on the right track with the A4! Does anyone have any recommendations for station wagons for tall people! I like the look of the Volvo V50, but haven't driven it.
Cheers

Look at the Holden wagons My stepfather is 6'9" and that is the only car he has ever liked

try an e-class merc, i'm the same height as you and its got heaps of room,mines the saloon thogh but station wagon is the same

Hi Tall Man!
I think you are exactly on the right track. The VW/Audi stuff is particually good value for money at the moment in NZ. Also parts are easily available and an excellent price.

I would suggest though you also try the A6 Wagon and the Passat wagon as those may suit as well and are sometimes better value secondhand than the A4. The engines in the Audi/VW group cars of that era are fantastic as well as the rest of the car.

Once you narrow it down to which engine choices etc you are after I am happy to give you some further ideas of what to look for etc if that helps.

With regard to the Volvo they are also excellent (if not better value) in terms of purchase price and they are also great vehicles. The only drawback with the Volvo is that there are not many 3rd party parts suppliers in NZ and Volvo themselves take advantage of that by charging absurd prices. as do some of the dealers for service.

That may not really be a big issue though as you should not be needing much in the way of parts for that age group and at timing belt time you can always plan ahead and order your parts online from the likes of fcp groton if you want to save some money.

Just be wary too of Singaporean imports, there are a lot out there with the Volvo's and they do not have good resale and some will have electrical issues because of the humidity in Singapore.

With the V50 and the price group you are looking at the throttle body issues you will hear a lot about should not be an issue.

The XC70 and Audi Allroad are the high of the ground 4WD versions of the Volvo and Audi respectively if you want to go down that track. The Audi 4WD (4motion/quattro) system is particularly good and very reliable.

Best of luck with whatever you get. I would suggest driving the Passat/A6 etc so you get a good handle as to what they are like. I am particularly partial to the A6 its a subime piece of machinery and manages to offer the whole raft of extras without compromising reliability etc.

M35 Nissan Stagea

Motorbike!

T5 V50. Nice wagons.

Pope mobile!

2nd the A6/allroad. My partner has her seat all the way back (shes taller than me) and finds it much more comfortable than the caldina i had previously and rear seat passengers always comment about the room.

The 2.0 A4 with CVT my folks had was a gutless wonder, never again. Not sure if there were some better tuned ones available though or not. The 1.8T is a great wee motor, powerfull and economical and very well proven.

You should easily be able to get a great A6 for your money, the A4 can be a bit overpriced by comparison secondhand.

The V6 engines in the A6 are sublime (2.4, 2.8 and 3.0) and they are actually not too bad on gas especially if you are doing mixed or open road running. My 78 year old widow neighbour has one and loves it. My folks have had a succession of the 3.0 V6's and they were brilliant.

One way of getting the best value out of the A6 could be to go a little older. That model was lightyears ahead of its time when it came out (about 97 from memory) and remained much the same for years. I would not hesitate to buy an earler one that was well looked after with low km's. I have seen some go as cheap as 12K in lovely condition. (Actually even saw a Sedan go for 5K! and it had just had the major service with cambelts etc but it was an early one with 150K on the clock. but still crazy bargain.

Just don't try the same trick with the A4, the earler A4's were not as well developed and no where near the car the A6 was and was updated about 2001 from which time it was better.

I'm 6'6" and have found the Mazda 6/Atenza has one of the most comfortable driving positions for me.