User reviews of Nissan Qashqai are so bad - what to go for instead?

ZiggerZagger

I am looking to buy a new/nearly new car. Couple of parameters
1. Is for me and 2 kids (family car) - had a 7 seater before and don't need that any more
2. I need a higher driving position - I prefer it but also I have a dodgy hip and find lower down cars hard to get in and out of
3. Must be reliable - I know everyone says that but as a single mum working FT, I have precious little time to cart it back and forth to the garage - so I'd like an extended warranty etc.
4. Budget £20-25k max


I'm driving a BMW 530d (took it over in the divorce) which is quite frankly the nicest and most comfortable car I have ever driven. But it's costing me a fortune (the suspension has just gone, it needed 3 new tyres last MOT etc.) and it's too low and is really bothering me getting in and out. The kids love that car . Before that I had a Ford Smax (Ok but it had its issues), before that a Seat Alhambra etc.
A Nissan Qashqai fits my bill perfectly but googling the driver reviews, it gets a terrible rating. I have looked a few others - Honda CRV (not sold on it), the Mazda SUV (forget the model), BMWX3 (bit out of my budget would have to be a lot more 2nd hand), think the X1 is not a high enough driving position, looked at the Smax again but there's something that puts me off Fords (even though it didn't cost me that much when I had it). What else am I missing?

andrewf75

Skoda Yeti

Marktheshark

andrewf75 wrote: »

Skoda Yeti

Beat me to it !

andrewf75

I started a thread yesterday as I'm looking to get one myself. I only have an 8k budget but I think with 20k I'd probably still be looking at them.

ZiggerZagger

one of the big problems I have with Skoda is their garages are nowhere near me. Even their approved retailers when I look them up on the website are miles away. Which for some reason puts me off. I normally take out a servicing or maintenance plan which will probably mean me taking it back to the garage which may be an issue. I will go and have a look at it though as I hadn't considered it at all.

ZiggerZagger

ok just looked and configured a pretty high spec model and it's still well under £25k (and I won't need a model with all those specs, I was just doing it to get a rough idea of price). I will definitely go and have a look when I can get to the garage (am now carless while BMW waits for parts!).

BeenThroughItAll

What sort of driving are you using it for? How many miles a day? What kind of environment will you be driving it in?

wba31

Why you not sold on the CR-V? Honda top the reliability charts most years and the CR-V is a great car...

If you can wait a bit they are releasing the HR-V later this year which will be based on the Jazz chassis, so a bit smaller, but still higher position? http://www.honda.co.uk/cars/comingsoon/hr-v/

Also are you looking at reviews for the new Quashqai? they have just launched a new model...

ZiggerZagger

I don't use it every day (I commute to work by train) but when I do use it, I tend to do longer journeys. So motorway driving (visiting family or going on holiday in the UK/Europe), carting the teenagers to sporting fixtures (this actually clocks up a lot more miles than you think!), shopping etc.. Son plays league football so plays at grounds all over the place. it's very mixed driving - I live in London so it's a lot of city driving, coupled with some very long motorway journeys and some journeys on pretty crap roads to obscure fields in the middle of nowhere (the BMW hated those icy roads - has a terrible grip in those conditions, notably when it got stuck in Longleat Safari park coming up to the lion enclosure in a hail storm! not my favourite moment). I'm a 10,000 miles a year type driver with the main driving happening on the weekend.

ZiggerZagger

hi wba31, the weird thing about the qashqai is the motor journalists do nothing but sing its praises but there appear to be a lot of people unhappy with the build quality and electrical faults (so lots of rattling on driving it on motorways and very loud noise, people are saying it's louder than driving a van on the motorway). I will test drive it but it's concerning. I read the whatcar (might not have been them but I think it was) long term review and even they got to 7 months and said it had a lot of noise and faults which they 'assumed' the garage would fix. I haven't seen reviews for the new model, I assume these are all for the older one....

ZiggerZagger

I test drove the CRV - I agree, it's a good car, fits what I am looking for but I just didn't get on with it. I'm also wondering whether coming from driving what I'm driving now, that any of these cars are going to seem a tad awkward and not as smooth/easy. It may be that once I've test driven a few more, I go back to it!