When my mate Bob took early retirement, he handed back the keys to his company Peugeot 307, sold his Volkswagen Caravelle people carrier, told his grandchildren they would have to catch the bus, and saved himself a slab of money by buying a six month old VW Passat. Since those days he has never looked back. The Passat is the latest shape and he has been running it for a year, now. His massive saving shows what a great deal is there to be scored on large cars, even when they have the diesel engine that most buyers covet. The market for upper medium saloons in Britain is still very hotly contested, despite the fact that people these days are tending to downsize. Among the top sellers is the BMW 3 Series, noted for its quality but not noted for its space. So if you want something that's regarded as a quality motor but has more room than the BMW where do you look? Probably in the direction of the Passat, which is the car seen as the quality competitor to the likes of the Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Vectra, or Peugeot 407, especially in the used market where the prices are so much more reasonable than those of the BMW. The Passat has always been a personal favourite of mine and I still hanker after buying another Passat estate. I bought one back in 1990, the last new car I ever owned. At that time I probably had more money than sense and these days I would never entertain buying anything newer than six months to a year old. Fortunately there are others who take a different view, following the new car route all the time. It's just as well for the rest of us, or the supply of nearly new cars would dry up. The Passat, like the Ford, the Peugeot, and the BMW, is a big seller to the fleet market and as a result the car comes very well equipped these days. While the Passat saloon is good, particularly on passenger space, the estate is very much better. You get all that passenger space for sure but you also get a capacious load area tacked on the back. To take best advantage of the Passat and what it has to offer, the diesel engines are preferable. The 130 bhp 1.9 litre Pumpe Duse unit is the best in older cars or the 140 bhp two litre in the latest line-up introduced in May, 2005. Don't be disappointed if you have to settle for a diesel with a lesser output as they will still give a very satisfactory combination of performance and economy. The petrol engines are also good and worth considering if you don't do high mileages. What you save over buying the diesel will more than offset anything you might spend in buying extra fuel - diesels still enjoy strong demand and the price premiums can be quite hefty. Running costs are not onerous. Service intervals were 10,000 miles and are now variable and it's normally the only garage attention your car should need. Insurance begins at Group 8 for older cars, Group 7 for the latest. The last range was around from June, 2001, so most are going to be on the new plate format and a 51 plate 1.8T petrol saloon will only set you back £4,800. The estate is only £400 more and a better buy provided the rear is not knackered. Current shape cars still book quite high, but as Bob showed you can drive a bargain. So the £13,000 shown for a 2.0 petrol FSI saloon should only be the starting point. Maurice Hardy