Yes that was me, I bought a 2004 Tahoe with 165,000kms for $6,500. It's still going strong. Costs me a fortune in petrol but we need it for towing in the Summer.

always one fud who brings up Bugatti...

that said...for the money of the Veyron, there's cars that would be WELL ahead of it on my list

If OP could afford a Bugatti, i'm quite sure they wouldn't be on BE asking for advice on a cheap SUV

It made me laugh. What the OP actually needs is a Dodge Caravan.

which reminds me, the Dodge Caravan is the Chrysler Voyager in the UK!

A lot of cars end up re-badged for different markets, so perhaps OP could find a Yank-tank SUV rebadged for the UK and try it out there to see if they like it or not! (No idea how long they have left in the UK though )

this obviously won't work for something like a GMC Yukon or Licoln Navigator...

although the Chevy Tahoe and the Hummer share chassis' - so test a Hummer in the UK if you like the Tahoe posted above

And how many current model VAG or Mercedes products have you experience of owning in north America that leads you to this opinion? Of the 10+ vehicles I've owned here, VW and Mercedes are the only 2 that I didn't have any warranty issues with. The Merc was US built, the VW German.

Nah, get one of these:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...service=mobile

I would have another jeep liberty, or ford explorer or if you need slightly bigger a expedition. We had a durango for about three months crap snow handling - so crap oh was not happy to let me drive it, and crap gas mileage, trying to think what else we've had thats an suv, erm I think the other stuff we have had have been trucks or cars apart from a couple of range rovers and ford bronco's.

Someone will no doubt recommend an escape, I know people really like them, oh, a ford tech would not have one EVER and if he were to be given one he would sell it straight on, I have asked him about his hatred, and there is nothing concrete, just lots of little things.

what does it matter where i've owned them...all the VW/Audis i've had were german built ranging from 1995-2006

the only Merc i've owned was a 190E Cosworth (the fake "2.5 not really a Cosworth but still has the badges"), and it only saw the road for a week, so my experience of Mercs is just from friends owning them!

Warranty issues don't matter to me, its the problems you encounter outwith that which concern me!

So none of them very recently. It matters where, as the majority of VW products sold here are built in the US, and there's a perceived quality difference. Golf GTI's are shipped from Wolfsburg.

Old 190's are hardly relevant to current models, are they?

On the contrary, I've had engines blow under warranty (Subaru), needed replacement fuel pumps, steering racks, ECU's and transmissions within the first year of ownership. Warranties have meant a great deal to my ownership experiences here.

So you've talked a load of bollocks before on this subject?

its pertinent to the discussion though...OP's budget won't see them in a brand new VW/Audi/Mercedes, they would probably find mostly cars of the years i'm talking about were in their price range!

The reason I mentioned warranty issues was because again, the cars of these years and price ranges won't have manufacturer warranty on them, and neither does any car i've ever had!

The old 190 wasn't really applicable to the original discussion, but you asked what Mercs i had owned, so i mentioned it!

i've talked about this subject many a time...usually trumping all my VAG-bumming mates with the phrases "Nazi Motor" or "I ran 300bhp through my Type-R, gave it limiter action on the reg and never had any trouble with it, try doing that with a VAG"

none of them could

Spot the oxymoron in one, two, three . . .

You had a Bentley?