Good value low running cost family car

Bamba

Hi just wondering if anyone had any advice or suggestions,

Looking to buy a used car, max spend £10,000.
Family car , one child at the moment but hoping to have further 2 kids in next 4/5 years so thinking of getting a car that will last us.
Good safety rating, low running costs and upkeep and a large boot space. Will do long trips as family are opposite ends of the country.

We've looked at the Octavia estate and a qashqai but think 3 kids in a qashqai might be tricky.

Thanks

Herzlos

Ford Mondeo estate, low spec, lowered powered diesel.

mgfvvc

The Qashqai is not very spacious. The Octavia estate is a good family car with a pretty big boot. I'm not sure about getting 3 car seats across the back. If that's important to you, check the constant mumsnet discussions on which cars you can get 3 car seats into. I wonder if a Mondeo estate would be worth looking at?

Another possibility is the Vauxhall Zafira/Grand C-Max type. The rear seats in a C-Max are going to be a bit tight for 3 across and you lose the most of the rear boot in a Grand C-Max, if you use the back row. Zafira's are quite flexible, but I don't have real experience with them.

Going up slightly in size the S-Max probably allows you to use all 3 rows and have some boot space?

I recently had a Citroen C4 Picasso as a hire car and the second row was definitely wider than the Grand C-Max. Leaving my prejudice against French cars aside for a minute, that also might suit.

wba31

Looked at the i40 estate? not sure about 3 seats in the back but it's pretty big and the 1.7 diesel is really economical

interstellaflyer

Bamba wrote: »

Hi just wondering if anyone had any advice or suggestions,

Looking to buy a used car, max spend £10,000.
Family car , one child at the moment but hoping to have further 2 kids in next 4/5 years so thinking of getting a car that will last us.
Good safety rating, low running costs and upkeep and a large boot space. Will do long trips as family are opposite ends of the country.

We've looked at the Octavia estate and a qashqai but think 3 kids in a qashqai might be tricky.

Thanks

I had a Qasqai and regularly taxi'd my teenage daughter and her friends around, no problem with 4 teenagers, I currently have a Megane Mk3 estate and again no problem ferrying 4 teenagers around so I'm damned sure the Octavia wouldn't have a problem. If you only have one child now and are planning another 2 in the next 4/5 years, how long are you planning to keep the car?

Bamba

Hopefully as long as my current one. Have an 05 polo bought at 18 months old.

[Deleted User]

If you're planning to have 3 kids then a 7 seater I think is a must. We manage with a Zafira which you can get three children seats in but it is tight. If I had 10 grand to spend on a car I would be very interested in a Ford Galaxy or Seat Alhambra.

wba31

interstellaflyer wrote: »

I had a Qasqai and regularly taxi'd my teenage daughter and her friends around, no problem with 4 teenagers, I currently have a Megane Mk3 estate and again no problem ferrying 4 teenagers around so I'm damned sure the Octavia wouldn't have a problem. If you only have one child now and are planning another 2 in the next 4/5 years, how long are you planning to keep the car?

Teenagers don't require child seats though, and that's the quandry, to be MSE it's best to buy a child seat that will suit them from newborn to 7 years old, and they are massive...

interstellaflyer

wba31 wrote: »

Teenagers don't require child seats though, and that's the quandry, to be MSE it's best to buy a child seat that will suit them from newborn to 7 years old, and they are massive...

My Megane has facility for 2 isofix seats in the rear and a proper 3 point seatbelt in the middle which would take care of oldest child on a booster seat, the Qashqai would also have easily catered for 3 child seats in the back, I wouldn't have thought it would be any different for other cars of the same size ie Focus, Octavia etc. I know how big a child seat is, we used one for our daughter, the sort that once the child is a certain size, you remove the back and it converts to a booster seat.

Prothet_of_Doom

Can I get you to think out of the box.

Last year I spent £900 on the perfect car that would fit your needs.
I has 5 proper seats, a couple of airbags, and is fairly simple, cheap to fix and does not have a bad reputation for reliability. It will cruise at 70 mph (or more) and still give a decent fuel consumption.
Boot is large enough, 3 adults in the back is acceptable, but I've had 3 car seats in an identical car.
My son has an almost identical car that he was given my my father in law, so my decision to buy was based on the experience.

Some of them are assembled on the Wirral at Ellesmere Port (some in Poland)

What is it ? A mk4 astra 1.4 16V

I have had one fault since I've had it and that was a coil pack which was diagnosed for £15 and cost me £45 from ECP's. £210 from Vauxhall so rather not waste money.

I do 300 miles a week and that currently costs about £35 in fuel.

You say you want to think long term, but It will take 2 years to make 2 extra children, and in the meantime, you can keep £9100 in the bank.

In 2 years you can probably still sell it for £600.

Prothet_of_Doom

Deleted_User wrote: »

If you're planning to have 3 kids then a 7 seater I think is a must.

Why?

How big are children ?