Sensible petrol car for the parents - suggestions welcomed..

Ah, I was in the same position last year. My parents live about an hour away and I work silly hours so it gadgets to be ubersexual reliable so I'm not constantly ginger very to fix it.

In a word..... Toyota. Whatever model meets their needs. I'm a Vauxhall guy but for the folks who need something they just need to put petrol in that's been the best solution.

What do they want from a car?

if reliability is the most important (which would suprise me as they have a Rover and a Peugeot at the moment) then go for a Toyota but without a description of what they are looking for it could be anything.

auto or manual?
higher model (you say parents, but they could be 70+?) or not
estate, sedan, mpv, 4wd?
oomph or not?
budget?
what's their annual mileage?
easy to work on?

Thanks for the input. The parents are indeed 70 plus... Reliability is critical as they do like to travel and France is a favourite destination. The car would need to have a bit of go in it but reasonable MPG needed. They are not too geriatric currently and both still working. The Peugeot replacement would need to be Focus sized or slightly larger. I have been coming back to Japanese and Avensis and Accord have been pondered. Jazz too small but a good Rover replacement.

In fairness both cars have been okay - in fact the Rover is excellent. Never had any real issue with it at all. My dad has whacked every panel on it but it still goes well. The diesel engine is excellent (agreed I would not have entertained a petrol one!) In the 210,000 miles I've kept the 406 on the road its had the high pressure pump, solid flywheel/clutch, drop links all round probably twice, a few exhausts, front shocks/mountings/springs, lower engine mounting and one ball joint, air flow meter,accelerator control, two electric fuel pumps, Radiator and condensor. Plus general servicing and a few cambelts. Body computer is going and have bypassed some of the controls on the air-con to get it to work. One position on the ignition switch burned out due to the load from the heater fan. Rewired it all and included a relay. It was dipping in and out of limp mode on a return trip from France last week which is making me more nervous than normal - may be the MAF sensor again.

Budget? A couple of grand, may be three, at the moment. Annual mileage has been the best part of 20k. I live locally so keeping it going would be do-able. I'm quite liking the salvage idea - something with fairly superficial damage. I can do most things and have bought quite a few from Universal Salvage/now Copart in the past... If I was rich they'd have something new so I didn't have to worry quite as much.

Saab 9-3s are uninspiring to drive but are pretty reliable ; my sister's 1.8t has been pretty solid over the year and it's covered around 17k. I'd want a petrol engined one however ; the Fiat diesels can be good but they can require specialist knowledge and know how to stay reliable. Using the modified EGR gasket (I believe it's a Fiat/Alfa only part) to prolong the life of things is one such factor that the specialists know all too well. Parts are available though through various dealers and online merchants.

I say it again but the MkIV Mondeos are a good shout in the petrol or diesel flavours even with the DPFs. The caveat is the 1.6 TDCI ; they can cause issues despite their very low tax which draws people in. I'm even considering keeping our 2.5T (Focus ST engined) car and getting rid of the M3 ; bang for the buck it delivers more thrills than the M3, but the latter is hardly a cheap car to run.

Accord is a fine shout too. But Japanese parts can be pricey ; while they can be more reliable the parts are silly money being Japanese.

In general stay away from ridiculously downsized engines, like the 1.6 PSA diesel in the Mondeo (not a very good engine anyway but a nighmare when it has to work hard as well) If you look for a Ford Diesel then look for a 1.8 TDCI, this is the most reliable of the options ford provides (and non PSA). Also no soot filters so no problems with that.

Saab 9-3 as pauly and chasr suggested is a really good one, 9-5 if you need some more room. Cheap as chips, parts are plentyfull and solid build quality.

But if you want a solid slightly larger than a focus estate, why not try a Mercedes C class 220cdi (W203) or a 180 (petrol), these are easy to work on, comfy mile munching car and fuel use of the 220 cdi is very limited. Also parts are not too expensive and they are easy to work on (save some money for a diagnostics kit though, really is worth the money).
c220 on autotrader
C180 on autotrader

and something completely different... Mitsubishi outlander 2.0/2.4 petrol
reliable things, higher than average, got the 4wd look but 2wd fuel use. very easy to work on and no turbos to worry about.
outlander on autotrader

funnily enough I have just done the same for my parents who are in the late 80s, got them and Astra G 1.6 8V and there are plenty about as they were popular on the Motability scheme, they are very simple to fix, bits are cheap as chips, you can even do a fault code read by pushing the throttle/brake down and turning the ignition on to give blink codes on the dash, the only real problem on these is EGR valves but its no problem to blank them off on the manual box cars