Suitable car for family of 4?

Birdy12

OK, I will be a little more specific. Ideally looking for a 5 door, 5 seater, 1.6L engine (or thereabouts). Blimey, that still doesn't cut it down much.

Currently have a little Micra. Was fine when OH worked at previous job and had his own company car but new job didn't come with company car (not complaining as less tax paid).

We want something that will accomodate weight of bikes at the back, be able to cope with longer journeys and have bigger boot space.

Personally, aesthetically wise, I like the Nissan Qashqai or the Kia Sportage. OH likes the BMW 116 series or Audi something. You can tell there's a problem already, can't you, I'm thinking of price, he isn't :cool:.

I know there'll be a lot of opnions out there, but does anyone have good experience of any makes/models that incorporate the above criteria? Ideally, I wouldn't want to spend more than £12-13k (this incorporates new and used cards upto 2 years old).

We're open to anything really. Peronally, we haven't had a bad experience with a car...yet.

Cheers, Birdy

rodenal

I've recently picked up a diesel civic 5 door, would be a superb familty car. Alot of room in the back for the size of car, seat bases fold up the way leaving a massive space in the back, boot is a decent size and they come very well kitted out as standard.

Looks are perhaps debatable now, the back window is useless for parking but I don't find any great difficulty with using the mirrors - can also add a reversing camera or sensors for about £40 if you were struggling. Could pick up a 2 year old 1.8 petrol for under your budget - probably a diesel too but that would depend if you really needed one.

Other suggestions would be the usual focus / new astra etc. Personally I don't see the point in the jacked up nissan but they sell by the bucketload and get a good write up in the motoring press. I wouldn't touch any of the basic 1 series either, only ones worth having are those with 6 cylinder petrols or any of the diesels (none of which will be cheap). They're also quite cramped in the back.

MX5huggy

I chose a new Skoda Octavia Estate 1.4TSI (its got more BHP than the average 1.6) over a Used BMW 3 series touring for around your budget. Although the BMW would have been a a bit older than 2.

wba31

I think you'd get less BMW or Audi for your money than something like a Honda or Nissan.

The civic is a good shout, very roomy, very reliable. If it isn't big enough look around for the FRV. it's a 6 seater but in 2 rows of 3. The second row move backwards and forwards.

Gloomendoom

I'd recommend a Sportage. Having said that, you might struggle to find a current shape one for 12-13k.

forgotmyname

Mondeo estate.

Lithian

If he wants a 116i take away his man card! (its pointless when the 120i exists, gets the same fuel economy and is faster) They are also pretty cramped in the back.

Your budget would (just) stretch to a facelift Skoda Octavia VRS (59 plate on looks a bit smarter) if your bloke wants something a bit showy, and since this is MSE, it should depreciate pretty slowly.

Its not an especially huge car all in, its basicly a VW golf/Audi A3 with a decent boot.

If you like the softroader thing the Skoda Yeti is just about in budget (the 1.2 is about as quick as the qashqai 1.6) and got rave reviews when it came out, more comfortable than a Range Rover, more practical than a Maybach and faster than a Ferrari! (ish) Actually, just had a look at a broker and a brand new one is coming in less than £1k more than a 2 year old one on autotrader, £13476 for S spec which isn't the cheapest (adds alloys, fog lights and a few other things)

property.advert

Qashqai was / is perhaps still on my list.

If you are willing to go to 3 years, you can pick up ex Motability ones with very low mileages (sub 20k) for very good money. Your budget won't stretch to a new one unfortunately.

You can then add Nissan warranty out to 5 years as well.