Quote Originally Posted by vagabond View Post
Loads of choice at or just under £5k - I'm a bit old fashioned and use Autotrader almost exclusively (but do dip in and out of eBay occasionally).

For your requirements, top of my shortlist would be a Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0 diesel (I'd go manual not DSG).
Should be able to get something 10-12 years old, with plenty of life left in it - though won't be ULEZ unless you want to focus on only the petrol models.
My only issue with VAG is the dual mass flywheel, my son in laws 60 plate A3 has just cost him £2.5k to fix. It wouldn’t have been worth it apart from the low (sun 40k) mileage.

At that money, I’d be looking at a late w211 E class estate.