Touran 2.0ltr diesel;

Does 46+ at speeds over 70 on motorway runs. Lowest figure seen is 32mpg whilst towing caravan, best 62 drafting lorries on a very busy M8 between Edin-Glasgow. 50+ not too difficult to achieve if you drive sensibly 😉
The Zafira is cheaper and will take bikes in the same way but is not as versatile seating wise. The Zafira seat are split 1 & 2 whereas the Touran has 3 individual seats which can be removed, repositioned, reclined, folded although not flat which can be a bit frustrating.
I have been looking at the Mitsubishi Outlander this week, mainly for it`s towing ability and the older 2.0ltr versions have the VW engine as opposed to the Cit/Pug 2.2 now fitted which has poorer fuel consumption I believe + it is way out of budget new/ish
Thought about the Volvos but fuel consumption looks a bit severe!!
Toyota seats and my( & MrsT)dodgy bck do not agree with each other 🙄

Had 4 people and 4 bikes in my Focus, though that was a squeeze, if we’d had to add kit it’d have meant piling it on top of bikes I think.

my octavia hatch fits a bike in the back with wheels still in, just have to turn the bars a bit. and last time i worked it out, it was 58 to the gallon. i drive like a codge these days tho 🙂

cb

We love ours

It swallows anything we put in it…drives nice and is economical. Everything is close to hand whilst driving.
We have the 1.8 TDCI 6spd 125ps ghia model with parking sensors F+R, tinted windows, alloys, cruise control etc but no leather seats or panoramic roof as we couldnt see the point in those as most insurances dont cover glass roofs(if anything falls on it then you’re buggered) and leather is just a pain IMO.
I regularly get 50mpg (real world figures from refill to refill) from my 62 mile round trip commute consisting of 16m dual carriageway and 15m back roads each way, but i dont venture above 70 often and mooch instead of surge when accelerating

We did look at the Smax before buying but preferred the larger galaxy as they share everything apart from the roofline sloping more on the Smax which restricts headroom in the 3rd row of seats. We have travelled with adults in the 3rd row with no issues or discomfort.

5LAB
We use it as a larger estate car so have the 3rd row folded down most of the time to have a huuuge boot space

Got a peugeot 307 SW that takes the Mountainbike easily after the arches.

Do miss my 406 estate that took three road bikes and 4 wheelsets and two sportsbags and a tent.

I get my bike in the boot of my Mazda 6 with the wheels off no problem. Great, reliable car, with various engines (mine’s a 2.5 petrol so not too economical, ahem).

My old Pissrat fits two with wheels off, or one with parcel shelf pulled over. 🙂