Time to replace the aging x-trail. Need something low mileage as I average 25,000+ a year mostly for work. Looking for either a stonkingly insane deal on a new one (or pre-registered for pref) or up to a year old.

Most of my miles are motorway, but we live at the bottom of a steep hill and for two out of the last three winters needed the 4×4 to get kids to school/find food to eat etc. Prob could get away with snow chains but I have got very used to the high driving position, and having the 4×4 if I need it.

New x-trails are too much money. Ford Kuga I wanted to like but didn’t. Yeti’s are too small and too expensive. CRV’s bonkers money as well. Scout I like, need to see if it’s as long with the seats down as my x-trail (which will just take a bike wheels on and a a 2m glider wing 😉 ). Sportage looked almost perfect, but my wife went to look at one and didn’t have a good experience. Also seats don’t seem to go quite flat.

So requirements are strong diesel, big load space, room for family of four + Large labrador, decent MPG (50ish if I can get it), bluetooth stuff for phone/Ipod connection. Auto would be nice but can live without it.

Think I’ve narrowed it down to those two, so any experiences (esp as a bike carrier) much appreciated. And, in STW style, feel free to throw something else into the Mix.

Forester? Now they do a diesel they make more sense.

I’ve got a sportage; however it’s the last of the old shapes and the mpg isn’t so great on it; probably around 30ish. However it ticks all of the other boxes; I can get three (well; two adult and a 20″ kids bike) in the boot (ok; wheels off – I’ve just had a towbar fitted so I can use my Thule Ride-On carrier again) or it’ll comfortably house both my dogs.

I think the newer models are much more economical however I don’t think the load space is quite as good. Service from the Kia dealer has been fine and what’s not to like with a 7 year warranty … 🙂

Thanks Steve. THe 7 year warranty thing is definitely swaying me. I’m not very interested in cars at all. But I need something that’s going to be reliable and worry free. Which is why I considered the Lease route but it was going to be v. expensive for the miles I do. And for some reason (much be age!) I just don’t feel comfortable with PCP.

I did look briefly at a Forrester. Not heard good things about their diesels. Will have another browse tho.

Not really got anything to add to your choices but just wanted to second your views re. cost of the X-Trail.

The old model was great VFM and the perfect vehicle for an outdoorsey family. Sales must have collapsed when Nissan added 25%+ to the base price for the new model.

Its not really a 7 year warranty though. If the alternator packs up after 3yrs 1 month its not covered, for example. Likewise suspension bushes etc, whole arm needs replacing costing hundreds. Lots of grumpy folk on ukcampsite will confirm this, as the Sorrento is a popular tow car. That said, my brother-in-law’s Sorrento has never skipped a beat, & he’s not exactly gentle with cars, plus he tows a big caravan with it. My brother has a Sportage & its not exactly good on fuel. Has been reliable though, but he only does 4k a year.

Kia warranty is 2 yrs on battery, 3 on audio, 5 on paintwork and 7 on the rest.

We recently replaced wife’s Ford CMax with a Kia Soul, and the peace of mind from the warranty was a big factor..

We love our Octavia, looked at the scout but they were brand new at the time. Bought 18month old 1.9 tdi. 50+mpg if driven normally. I’m 6″4 and there’s still room behind me for someone with legs. Seats down it will swallow bikes whole. Try dig out clarksons review, he can’t fault it (even questions why you’d spend more on an Audi!).
There was a 4×4 octavia which rides a little higher than standard car.
And Skoda sponsor cycle racing.
Yeti might suit you more but they are popular.
Sure you wont here a bad experience from a Skoda owner.
Local dealer/service centre were useless, so we don’t use them, simples.

Scout was beyond my budget at the time too so we went with the Octavia 4×4 which is same size just a little nearer the ground (although not as near as the standard estate) and without some of the body kit. It swallows bikes, family, dog, work kit, luggage etc. We went petrol so cannot comment on the mpg/diesel reliability but on that front a million cabbies can’t be wrong – or if they are you will never get them to admit it.

Ta all. We drove a Scout and didn’t really take to it. Then looked at the basic Octavia estate which has some good deals on it which is good value but again it’s a lot of cash to part on something we didn’t really enjoy driving at all. Then drove a 2WD Yeti and loved it. Kind of now convincing myself i want the high driving position/ground clearance but prob can get by with snow tyres and no 4WD.

There’s a deal to be done on the Yeti as they want shot of it. Probably more of a deal than they currently offered 😉 Going to look at the Sportage again and maybe the unpronounceable Quashi thing,

Car dealers tho, it’s like being in the Fast Show with Swiss Tony.

I’ve got the Octavia 4×4, which is basically the scout without the bodykit. It sits 17mm lower than the scout but higher than the normal estate. Its been superb. It averages about 47-48mpg, i don’t drive that economically either. I can get my P20 or road bike in with the wheels on, but the Yeti 575 is too big. Alternatively it can carry 3 bikes, 3 people all the kit, etc inside the car. Equally camping with bikes, walking, camera kit, etc all fits inside with the seats down.

The grip is good. We’ve had some heavy snow the last couple of winters and its been excellent. I did switch to winter tyres last year which improved steering and grip. The ironic thing being i took them off 3wks ago and it was defeated for the 1st time in 3yrs in the recent snow on its summer tyres. 😕 With winters, it would have walked it.

Wor lasses car 2wd Fabia has winters on it and to be honest, its demonstrated how important the winters are. You’ll probably manage most slopes in winter with 2wd and good winter tyres.

Bottom line? I’ll replace the 4×4 with another one or a Scout 😉

Untitled by ritcheyp20, on Flickr

dad works for skoda and out of all the octavias, the scout was our favourite to date, even against the VRs etc.

we had the 140bhp TDi which was arguably nicer to drive than the 170bhp tdi in the VRS and the ride quality is much better, definitely a firmer ride but good quality no where near as harsh or uncomfortable as a VRS

Is the scout/yeti permanent 4×4 or electronic like the haldex audi/vw’s?

It’s electronic I think as it was explained to me. Certainly the Octavia 4×4 (scout or std) is the obvious choice esp as there are some cracking (ish) deals on them in terms of new and used. But if I am parting with this much money, it has to be something a little bit more than just a tool. And my wife really didn’t like the Octavia – she’s quite tiny and much preferred the Yeti. Couldn’t see much of the estate from the windscreen 😉

Now I’ve been looking at petrol Yeti’s. Not much to choose on MPG and it’s a bit nippier but I’ve got so used to Diesels now, I don’t think I can handle any more change 😉

New bikes are ace. Love buying those. Cars? Just feeling like a painful experience where it’s so easy to make a very expensive mistake. If someone rocked up with something about the right size/shape with a 1000 miles on it and it wasn’t brown, I reckon I’d snatch their hand off !

Yeti? seem to hear nothing but really good reviews about them?

They use the Haldex system so they run approxs 90%front 10%rear in normal mode and switch when needed. Mines the older Haldex2. the latest scouts have haldex4 (i think) which is a more active system

Just to finish this off. We ended up buying the ex-demo Yeti after two hours of negotiation got us a deal on just about the right side of okay. Pick it up next week. Just glad not to have to drag the family to any more car showrooms.

They use the Haldex system so they run approxs 90%front 10%rear in normal mode and switch when needed. Mines the older Haldex2. the latest scouts have haldex4 (i think) which is a more active system

Same as my A3 then. Ground clearance is my major issue.

We’ve got a 2011 Kia Sportage 2.0 Petrol with AWD as a company car (GF works for Kia). You have to really rev the engine to make any real progress eg over taking, but generally very refined and lovely to drive. Made it up ‘The Struggle’ (to Kirkstone Pass) when it was covered in sheet ice using the 4WD mode and normal road tyres, which was pretty impressive given it’s 1 in 4. Good ground clearance so OK for rough tracks, but comes with quite wide and low profile road tyres as standard, so not ideal for off road use. I’m very tempted to get one myself to replace my aging V6 4motion Golf.

Rumour has it that Skoda have stopped taking orders on scouts (and a number of other body/engine/transmission combos) due to the crazy long build times.
No more scouts?