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Thats an incredibly good shout! I hadnt even thought of a v50, and it turns out you can in fact still find quite a few low milage ones out there for around the 10k mark. I think you might be onto a winner here, just have to check if it is indeed big enough (seems that it may be on the small side, but more than manageable?) and id have to agree, they are rather tasty looking for a small estate.
Have had a look at a couple of saab's as well, bullet proof much? I didnt quite intend on becoming a geography teacher quite so early in my life, but saab's are almost irresistibly cheap...
StunningJam-
I think if I had the reaar seats down, I'd fit almost anything in it, save bulky furniture/flat pack that I'd hire a zip van for regardless.
The Parkers website is brilliant for checking out specs and comparing various models and trim levels:
http://www.parkers.co.uk/volvo/v50/estate-2004/18-r-design-sport-5d/specs/
Regarding Saab, I'd hunt around some owner's forums. You'll no doubt find questions about service intervals and costs, as well as where's best to get the work done. I did the same for the V50 to see which engine to go for.
J0nathan
Save yourself some money and pick up a petrol V50 R-Design ;-)
I'm biased, as I've not long got one, but I think it's genuinely the best looking small estate. We needed something bigger than our 1.2 Renault Twingo, which I personally hated - a good friend once said to me; 'never buy French' - which I fully understood when the clutch pedal inexplicably snapped on Euston Road. We are proud owners of a shiny one month old baby and a key directive from Mrs J0nathan was that she would not drive a big estate - even though I'd gladly have an X5 or an XC90. The XC60 also got ruled out, and the V50 eventually emerged as the biggest thing I'd get away with.
Not sure you'd see many sub 50k miles ones out there but, if you did, it would be well within your budget with plenty of nice extras. I got a 1.8 petrol, manual with heated seats and 70k miles on the clock - and bargained enough money off to take it to Volvo for a full service - for under £6k.
You'll see reviews saying it's smaller than the competition, but it is at least bigger then the A3 Sportback, which was my back-up consideration. I can fit wife and baby, plus full pram, car seat and a week's worth of stuff (which is a lot!) quite comfortably. I even think i can fit my road bike inside the car on top of everything else, but I haven't tried yet.
I've put about 600 miles into it so far, which is a combination of London supermarket and North circular Mothercare runs, plus plenty of motorway miles, and it drives great. Pulls well through the gears, although it gets through them quickly and you're left a little wanting for a 6th. Tax is £210 and mpg isn't amazing at 38, but I don't envisage putting more than about 6000 a year into it.