Car suggestions

knightstyle

You say you like Fords so have a look at a BMAx, 2013 petrol ones seem to be good value at under £5k, owners like them which means not many around.

DCFC79

Buy whichever car your comfortable driving eg parking (reverse park too).

House_Martin

No question, Skoda Citigo..Its also "What Car s" pick and top of the reliability list of small cars.
Just have a test drive in it and you will see how everything about the car is spot on with the best gear box I ve ever used and it delivers a true 60 mpg if driven with a light foot,
Just do a few reviews of motoring mags etc and see what the experts who have the experience of driving and testing them have to say about the Citigo
.My company used them for heavy usage meter reading for utility suppliers and we hammer our cars to the ground , stop/start/thrash, and none of them in our section broke down in the 3 year lease.Unlike the former cars we used such as Vauxhall Corsas and Citroen C1.
After three solid years of none stop hard work I can vouch for the Skoda ( VW Up in a cheap suit ) Citigo. At only £8 k ish it was also a bargain.
I will be getting a brand new one myself very soon when I ve driven my useless , heavy, slow, thirsty Corsa D into the ground

FreddieFrugal

Thanks House Martin but a Citigo isn't the size of car we're after. It's same class as current car - although slightly bigger - you wouldn't get a double buggy in the back or two rear facing child seats behind the front row.

She'd love to have a city sized car but they're just not a family run around

House_Martin

FreddieFrugal wrote: »

Thanks House Martin but a Citigo isn't the size of car we're after. It's same class as current car - although slightly bigger - you wouldn't get a double buggy in the back or two rear facing child seats behind the front row.

She'd love to have a city sized car but they're just not a family run around

I had a Fiat 500 for a week, was a rubbish car in every way compared to the Citigo which with the back seat down had more room than the little Fiat 500. Can fit a single buggy with the back seat up I m sure in the back , not sure about a double.
I was glad to get rid of the almost brand new Fiat 500, everything about it was worse than the VW, steering, handling, drivability, braking, speed ( I did a ton once in the Citigo and it cruised quietly at 80 mph unstressed. Baffled at how it managed that with its little 3 cylinder 1 litre engine
. Ok, the Fiat 500 is cute looking..that was the only plus point and who s bothered about what suit it was wearing over its Fiat Panda platform

RichardD1970

Didn't rate the Citygo at all, although I would agree better than the Fiat 500.

After reading reviews and dong research etc it was our original choice, before physically seeing the cars and taking test drives.

That's why we ended up with the Picanto, felt much better made and much better quality interior and also had 5 years manufacturers warranty still on it.

It's a moot point anyway, the OP wants a larger car to accommodate their family and a city car just won't cut it.

GwylimT

I have a Jazz with two rear facing car seats, I'm very tall and I still have plenty legroom in the front, we have a single buggy in the boot along with a small dog crate, so we would definitel fit a double or tandem.

Syman

I have a 2011 Nissan Note.

With child seats the bench seat can be moved to give ample room for a double buggy.
Four doors, so easy to load/unload the offspring.
i have had no reliability issues
i find it to be reasonably cheap to run
Took four of us in it for a weeks holiday. Fitted two adults, 2 17yo girls and all the paraphernalia they required for a week away.

Crabman

mr_accountant wrote: »

Hyundai i20 mark 1.5 which is a big car for the class, almost like a small family car, decent rear seats and boot. Maybe a little more for the latest version at 2 years old or it's sister car Kia Rio, slightly bigger still though rear visiblely is not to good.

Both should be reliable though have 5 and 7 year warranties, but ensure the services are done on time and by the main dealer only to ensure warranty is still valid.

Neither is 'exciting' but all superminis are fairly bland IMO.

Except for the i20 clutch failure fiasco which Hyundai refused to honour under the 5 year warranty. They blamed drivers of a specific batch of i20s for the high failure rate and refused to accept the opinion of independent engineers, instead siding with their own dealerships (funny that).

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/hyundai/i20/59625/watchdog-clutch-failure-after-four-months

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3747477

FreddieFrugal

Think we'll try a Jazz and a Note.

Purely from video reviews, owner reviews and any other info I've got online:

I'm leaning more towards the Note because of the extra length, sliding bench, more kit included and it looks more up to date inside.

However it isn't as well reviewed as the Jazz and doesn't score as highly on Reliability Index or Driver Power survey.

But then again the Note still scores more highly than either of our current cars and they've been problem free for years.



I guess there's always a risk that you're going to buy a duffer.

Funnily enough the Jazz I've found on autotrader is being sold by the same dealer I bought my Focus from. Hopefully that's a good sign.



Basically at the moment I think the Note on paper is the better car for our specific requirements - but the Jazz statistically is the more reliable and better built car.


So we'll have to go and test them both.

Thanks for the advice.