Here’s my shopping list, can you help me pick the right car.

Cheap – Under £3k
Estate – long enough for someone 5′ 8″ to car camp in
Wide enough to fit in a bike with both wheels (no essential)
2nd row of seats that fold down
Low insurance
Low(ish) car tax (£100 or less)
Reliable
Economical
Easy for my local garage to fix

Now a Belingo or similar, I’ve thought about it but can’t bring myself to drive one

Peugeot 407 SW?
Mondeo Estate?

Mondeo estate.

I sold my mark 3 (2004) one a year ago with near 170k on the clock.

I now have a much newer Passat. The Passat is faster, better equipped, shinier and generally nicer on paper. It is a great car for its intended use but I have no real affection for it. It’s a tool for a job.

I had the Mondeo 8 years and I genuinely enjoyed owning it all that time. It was never exciting but it never felt dull or crappy. It took me a year to decide it was definitely time to sell.

You could get a bike in the boot (29rfs at that) wheels out under the load cover.
It had half decent steering feel and handling (for a fwd drive barge)
I could do 500 miles in a day in it and get out without a single twinge or ache.

I only got rid because i needed something a bit smarter for work and fancied an auto.

The challenge would be finding one that’s been as anally cared for as my old one.

Not an estate but how abouts the likes of a Seat Alhambra?

Grand S-Max? Based on the Mondeo, but has sliding side doors which makes it easier to access the rear compartment, plus the rear roofline is higher, it doesn’t slope down at the back like most estates do.
Been around long enough to find one in your budget area I’d have thought.
There’s also the standard S-Max, which is a bit smaller.
I really don’t like Berlingos, but that’s down to the horrible van-based driving position, which doesn’t play well with my arthritic left knee.
Update: seems the S-Max doesn’t have the slidey doors, that’s on the B-and C-Max models.
Still got loads of space, as it’s a 7-seater, but smaller than the Galaxy.
There’s always the Zafira, but the older ones really show their age, the newer ones are very much better cars in every way.

Mondeo mk3. Mines not an estate but I can fit the bike in the boot with the wheels off easily enough. 50mpg. Pulls well in 2.0 tdci. Handle well

You do get alot of easy to fix /low milage comfy(assuming you don’t have an arthritic knee)/nice tailgate to hide under in the rain berlingo/partner for 3k…..

Do people really think people judge people on their cars……

singletrack standard answers are

1) skoda octavia estate
2) mazda bongo
3) subaru legacy
3) mondeo estate
4) any campervan

A 3 grand bongo. Rather you than me. + Hardly easy for garage to get parts for and fix cheaply….And by that i mean phone the factors and recieve parts the same day….

Also don’t get fixated on low car tax….. It’s such a small % of a cars running costs that often you get a much better car by buying one in a higher tax bracket because everyone wants cheap tax because they don’t understand the above. -ergo cheap to tax cars comanding a Premium.

Mondeo / Focus estate.
Loads of them about,
Spares are cheap.
Most garages can fix them.

Galaxy /Alhambra / Sharran tempting but budget a lot for repairs.

I’ve a ’58 Focus 2.0 TDCi Estate

Easily swallows three bikes (front wheels off) with the rear seat split, which leaves room for three adults.

Reckon I (5’9″) could easily sleep in it with one bike.

Tax is £140 / annum. I get 40 – 50 mpg depending how heavy my foot is.

Drives nicely and the pull from about 35mph in 4th is impressive.

Though I reckon a 2.0 TDCi Mondeo will suit you better and may even be cheaper.

Think your biggest problem will be that, at £3K, any vehicle will be ‘a bit of a punt’ – you might get a good ‘un , you might get a money-pit

At 3K you will get an older Mondeo no bother however getting one in good nick is the hard part. I was dead set on an estate but just gave up after everything I looked at turned out to be rubbish – at £5k.

For the ultimate ultimate – 2.2 TDCi estate. It’s a bigger engine but more economical than the 2.0’s. You may well find a Mk3 ST which has a higher probability of having been cared for, just for gods sake swap the 18″ alloys for something sensible as they eat tyres (sidewalls usually).

If you can’t find a 2.2 then try and avoid the 140hp 2.0, it’s a thirsty bugger.

You need to suck it up and get a berlingo, search for an older one or Peugeot partner with decent spec and the fancy modutop and roof lights.

We just got rid of a Honda Accord Estate with 250,000 miles….
HUGE BOOT … incredibly reliable (changed clutch and DMF about 180,000) and had turbo taken apart and cleaned at 200,000 and a bit of a jiggle with linkages due to living on a road with those speedbumps that there is no good way…(and probably also carrying a ton of floor covering and railway sleepers etc.)

Most impressive is right up to PX (for another Honda) we never had to top up oil between 12,500 mile services… other than that changed the battery once and had a few minor home jobs…

Not the most exciting car … 2.2 TDCI but reliable as hell and HUGE boot (not only fits bikes but 8×4 plywood etc.) and the model we had has the press a button to lift the boot… which when you are covered in mud with bikes and it’s chucking it down can be nicer than it might sound.

we never had to top up oil between 12,500 mile services.

Is that a thing unless you own a vw ? Never have to top up oil -except on the vw golf i had…..Even on my landy which leaks ….Which just goes to show how much oil vw engines burn.

“2) mazda bongo“

They don’t get regularly recommended here, or anywhere really, except the Bongo owners forum, which to be fair has a great name – Bongo Fury.

My FiL has one and it’s awful. It’s small inside (RWD means the floor is very high), badly laid out (engine is right between the two front seats under a huge transmission tunnel, you can’t have swivel seats or walk through to the rear) and it’s really thirsty (they’re all bad, but he went for the 2.0 petrol auto which is dire).

If you look under the bonnet there’s almost nothing there. Radiator, battery and a load of empty space where you ought to find an engine. So stupid.

Saab 95 aero wagon here.
Does most of the above except fuel economy. Diesel would be ok though.
It’s basically a Vectra in a ‘just as ugly?, but in a different way’ dress, so parts are easy to get hold of. Mines been super solid for the past 2 years. All it’s needed are consumables like a battery and pads, and some bushes. Oh, and a check valve split and cost me about a tenner to replace.
Dull and lifeless to drive, but at least the aero has the saving grace of an ok turn of speed.
Cavernous inside, cheap to insure, tax isn’t the cheapest but that’s down to engine choice.
Quite under the radar too? if that matters.
Comfy for longer journeys, and leather seats for easy cleaning post ride.
I treat it like crap and it just soldiers on.

Is that a thing unless you own a vw ? Never have to top up oil -except on the vw golf i had…..Even on my landy which leaks ….Which just goes to show how much oil vw engines burn.

Dunno…. based on previous/present cars my Escort 1.3 … used to suck oil through the crankshaft emission filter then into the corroded heater pipes that ran over the exhaust… quite a lot of fun when you stopped and the oil set alight at motorway services 😀

PUG 306 Gti-6 sometimes needed some oil and my BMW 330D (chipped) once (perhaps even twice) needed some oil…

In 180,000 miles we had the Honda it NEVER needed oil … If I was driving the BMW to the South of France I’s at least check the oil… I wouldn’t expect to have to top it up but I’d at least check and not fall over if it did.. The Honda I’d have fallen over if it needed oil between services…

My mum’s Fiat 500 drank the stuff… you wondered if it ran off petrol or engine oil! I’d visit and check oil that brother had topped up a couple of weeks previously and stick 1/2l into a tiny engine…

Whereas conversely or old Honda gulped oil. That was a type R and they have a reputation for that.
Saab likes? a tipple too. But i think that’s turbo seals.
And our old e46 did rolling oil changes by virtue of a leaky rocker cover gasket.

How about a Mazda 6 (like a Mondeo, but slightly cheaper). If I loose the company car I currently have I’ll be straight out to buy another!

How about Land Rover Freelander Mk1 2.0 Td4?

Easily get one for under £3k

Fold down seats and they’ll take a bike upright without the front wheel in place.

Mines lovely and I’ve never tried sleeping in the back but I think I could 8)

We’re in our zafira b right now. It’s a dull car but cheap to run. Huge, flat, low load space with the 2nd row stowed.

Bikes go in upright with front wheel off and seat posts up. One person could happily car camp in the back with the bike inside the car.

Mondeo diesel estate. Huge and a bit barge like, but you can easily drive it 500 miles, get out of it and ride – there’s a reason why reps liked them so much. Easy to sleep in with the bike in but wheels off. Or if you want to go old and cheap a Pug 406 estate. Much the same as the Mondy but cheaper. My last one did 255K and I only sold it as bits of bodywork kept dropping off of it and I ran out of gaffer tape to keep them on. The engine and drive chain we like new. The hand brake never works, btw.