Best family car that doesn't cost a fortune to run?

TiTheRev

The Accord will be solid and some nice touches (auto shutting and opening boot would be handy with dog and muddy hands/boots), but am not a fan of Vauxhal/Ford. Their build quality is low and you can never expect much from them beyond 6/7 years, not to mention they will depreciate like the proverbial lead balloon.

As has been mentioned here before, maybe a Skoda estate would be worth a look? Build quality is ever improving and they essentially have the same engines as Audi/VW which are workhorses that last 200,000 miles plus.

housesitter

If you loved it loads and it never gave you any problems why on earth would you trade it in for something newer but a totally unknown quantity?


Why do people rush to buy a newer car? Is it just some sort of status thing?


Older Hondas (and most Japanese) are one of the most reliable cars going. They have depreciated as far as they are going to go. The engines pretty much never die unless you mistreat them. The only bad point, as with all older cars is rust. Which is just about washing and drying it well and often, and taking care of stone chips.

It's amusing to see so many new cars on the hard shoulder as I drive past in my 20yr old Honda.

I was pricing up diesels for my father who wants to buy a 2nd hand 08 plate as his "last car before I die". You should weigh up the MPG verses annual mileage for diesel before knocking petrol on the head.
The 2.2CDTi engine is very nice, but the so are the petrol alternatives.

Akom

New car because of Dog!!! He gets really ratty when i put him in the boot of my saloon otherwise i would love to keep my old Honda :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Will check out Skoda's though.

Lemonade_Pockets

[quote=
Why do people rush to buy a newer car?
.[/quote]

If everyone stuck to your mantra i suppose we'd all be living "the good life" eh???

Akom

Ended up buying a 2000 plate Volvo V40 for £1950 with 60k on the clock with full service history. I know there's a bit of stigma about Volvos but it drives lovely and i believe they're well built and should go on for years.

When i bought the car the battery was flat. They sorted that out no problem however the stereo needed a code and the garage had no record of it. I got £10 knocked off the price to sort it. I then phoned the Volvo dealer where it had been originally bought from new and they gave me the code for free and within seconds of giving them my reg plate.

Very happy :j

Anyway the V40 doesn't look like your typical Volvo anyway.

Still getting a lot of stick from family and friends though :rotfl: :rotfl:

vix_378

Hi,

I know your little one was due in Dec so I'm a bit late, but I thought I'd add this for others that might stumble across it like I did...

I work in Mothercare and parents-to-be will find out, car seats are not as universal as the manufacturers would like them to be. The new shape FORD FOCUS (I think 2005 onwards) are absolutely awful for fitting newborn car seats onto the rear passenger seats. The seat belts are too short to go around most of them without using a base (which can cost up to £115 on top of car seat price, and the co-ordinating pushchair may be more expensive too) so bear in mind when you are looking for your new car that your chosen pushchair/carseat combo may not be suitable. I have personally had a lot of disappointed customers that have bought the Focus thinking they were choosing a good family car and then had to shell out extra because their baby wont fit in! Should add though, that I haven't had many problems fitting car seats for the next stage (9months plus).

No real way of knowing whether car seats fit in cars without actually testing them so maybe take a trip to your nearest car seat shop whilst on a test drive?? Don't know if they'd let you but they might!

Hope this is useful

ukbandit

seat toledo is the same as a passat, same internal engineering(everything is badged VW) even has the older Audi dashboard.

however much cheaper, and solid cars (see my accident thread for how solid)

Chris2685

vix_378 wrote: »

Hi,

I know your little one was due in Dec so I'm a bit late, but I thought I'd add this for others that might stumble across it like I did...

I work in Mothercare and parents-to-be will find out, car seats are not as universal as the manufacturers would like them to be. The new shape FORD FOCUS (I think 2005 onwards) are absolutely awful for fitting newborn car seats onto the rear passenger seats. The seat belts are too short to go around most of them without using a base (which can cost up to £115 on top of car seat price, and the co-ordinating pushchair may be more expensive too) so bear in mind when you are looking for your new car that your chosen pushchair/carseat combo may not be suitable. I have personally had a lot of disappointed customers that have bought the Focus thinking they were choosing a good family car and then had to shell out extra because their baby wont fit in! Should add though, that I haven't had many problems fitting car seats for the next stage (9months plus).

No real way of knowing whether car seats fit in cars without actually testing them so maybe take a trip to your nearest car seat shop whilst on a test drive?? Don't know if they'd let you but they might!

Hope this is useful

Thanks, it's a bit late now as our baby has almost grown out of her infant seat
I didn't find any problems with the car seat in our focus though (the old 2004 model). I bought a surefix base anyway, just for extra stability. I think most people do don't they?

hunken

If I have enough money, I'd go for a Toyota Avensis anytime. Just look at all the cabbie,6/10 drives them