Recommend a good car.

s@sha

If you're still looking, I'd definitely recommend a Ford Focus. Ford have really got their act together in the last few years, and the Focus has been a Which? Best Buy for a few years in succession. It's above average for reliability, top in its class for safety, handles brilliantly, fairly economical to insure & run (depending on model) and there are plenty of them around second-hand.
With the recent introduction of the brand new Focus, it may be a very good time to buy an old-shape one, as even second-hand prices might have dropped a bit.

If you don't mind driving an automatic, you can get very good deals on ex-motability Focuses...the ones disabled people have had for up to 3 years on the motability scheme, then have traded them in for a newer model. A lot of people don't like buying them because they're automatic, but because of the restrictions imposed by the motability scheme, they usually have below-average mileage for their age & have been regularly serviced by the Ford dealer.
Their bodywork is also usually very good as well,because if there's any damage when they are traded in, the owner has to pay out for it.They can also be cheaper than a similar non-motability model, because sometimes a dealer will have a glut of them & will want to move them on quickly.

Ps: I don't work for Ford, but we got a very good deal on a 3-year-old ex-motability Focus Zetec in December & can't recommend them highly enough.

Magentasue

Agree with everybody about 4/5 door cars being essential with kids. Best cars I've ever had have both been Vauxhalls. Both have been reliable, cheap to get parts for and no rust problems.

gingerdad

I would say 4/5 door a must, we run a focus as my car and it works well, would also suggest maybe a 307 or 306 as you have a pug now.

KK

I agree about the four/five doors - friends of mine who have children and 2 door cars are driven mad by them. Also check the boot is big enough for a buggy. Where I live (Surrey) lots of people have Peugeot 306s and Renault Megane's for children. I have been delighted with my Peugeot 306 diesel turbo for fuel economy, reliability and size. You can fit loads in. Central locking is also really useful (although probably standard on most cars now)

alanrowell

Get a 5 door big diesel old model Focus, they are common, reliable, cheap to maintain, easy to find a garage that can deal with them and relatively cheap to buy

gord_3

What about a Skoda Octavia? Massive boot, reliable and very economical with the VW 1.9 diesel engine

in_my_wellies

I would say a 4 door is essential, but why spend £4000?
I look for low mileage cars with FSH and expect to pay up to £1000. The cheapest was a Proton from an old lady who had been offered £200 by the garage. I paid her £350 as I thought that fairer. It was 6 years old and I owned it for 5 years and in that time spent nothing on it except normal servicing and sold it for £100. I bought it at 42,000 miles and sold it at 102,000. I've bought a Sunny, Micra and Mazda 232 (which I still own) in the same way.
Good luck with the baby.

sevlow

I got my focus diesel (manual) as an ex motability at exactly 3 yrs old with just 25k on the clock. I have had the car for two years without a glitch. The garage I got it from seemed to have a lot of these motabilty cars but has now closed down.

Anyone know where to look on the interweb for ex motability ?

s@sha

Hi Sevlov,

Just did a quick search on Google & found this:

http://www.members-motoring-club.com/

Or I s'pose it's still a case of ringing round your local Ford dealerships & asking if they've got any in.

hibitdat

As many people have said, a wise bet is a modern Turbo Diesel, preferably a VAG (VW/Audi group) TDI - but the thinking driver should look for a SEAT equipped with this engine. The SEAT range in general offers exceptional value for money with all the build quality and reliability of a VW/Audi but far less of the expense!
Perhaps the best compromise is the Leon - a firm favourite of Honest John https://www.honestjohn.co.uk - the Leon is essentially a Golf/A3 underneath (and arguably better looking!) but will cost you far less to buy and service. The TDI engine is available in 90/110bhp forms (older models) and 130/150bhp in the new variants. However, if you don't mind a bit of hunting and want the absoloute best value, do a search on https://www.seat.co.uk for a used Cordoba TDI - I have seen smart, top of the range Cordoba SE TDI 130's go for very little money - something to consider!