Which Car...?

PaulineMac3039 · 24 July 2012 at 12:31PM

Hello, first post here so apologies if its not in the correct place, I was just after a bit or advice on which car to buy if anyone had any words of wisdom I would be most grateful.

I currently have a Mazda 5 which we are keeping, its a good car for our purposes as I am a childminder and need the space but its also quite a good family car, albeit expensive to run.

My hubby has a wee clio which is hanging by a shaky nail and needs to be replaced, he only uses this car to go to and from work. The kids have never been in it as its not suitable.

We are looking to replace it with a car which the kids are safe in, I have recently taken a job working some weekends, which can mean a wee bit of travelling for me (60ish miles) a weekend (not every weekend) so I would probably take this second car then, leaving the bigger one for hubby and kids.

So it needs to be 5 door, it will be doing around 20 miles per day, not motorway, and more at some weekends. It needs to do us around 5 years at least and we have about 3k

We are just looking for suggestions on what are the most family friendly/economical second hand cars.

Many Thanks

s1lv3rdal5 · 24 July 2012 at 12:46PM

Have you looked at a Citroen Berlingo ?
The diesel version will do 50mpg+

supermanjo · 24 July 2012 at 12:47PM

(facelifted) 2001-2004 Volvo S40 1.9 diesel. You can pick up fully loaded ones (heated leather seats, cruise control, sunroof, air con, climate control, electric windows all round, etc) for around £2,000 - £2.500.

They also have them in estates, they are called V40's. Should suit you're needs, VERY reliable, very safe, fairly economical (50mpg+ mixed) and a fairly sized car.

Do not worry about mileage, as long as it has extensive service history. I bought mine, a 3 owner with 170,000 miles and I drove it till it died around 290,000. Needed a new turbo which was a little uneconomical to replace, plus I wanted a change so I purchased a V70 instead.

You simply can not go wrong.