I know, I kow hangs head in shame but through the abuse there is normally some good advice on here.

Right..

Wife going back to work end of jan so need a second (main) car for her, baby just turned 5 months, the current fiesta is not big enough for a full shop and baby gubbins and will be delegated to me.

The brief..

6k tops to spend
Don’t give a damn about the badge
Hatchback preverable
Petrol
Few toys would be nice
Something that is comfortableon long journeys as we’llbe doing alot of trips to Ireland next year. (dont mind getitng a roofbox aswell)

Contenders so far..

Focus 07 titanium 2.0 petrol manual £5800 in local garage

Meriva but the 1.6 petrol looks crap on paper(i hate them – wife loves them)

Mazda 6 2.0 petrol(maybe bit too big for her)

Ummm… thats about it

From your list I’d probably go for the Mazda6 – but that’s more Mondeo sized than Focus.
The Mazda 3 is based on the Focus.

I had a 1.6 Meriva as a hire car once and it was surprisingly OK. It only ran out of puff on the motorway – I guess ‘cos it’s a lot of frontal area to push through the air.
It’s still a fairly small car though, so check the boot for space!

Other cars to consider in the Focus size would be:

Seat Leon (boot hatch a bit awkward though)
Mazda 3
Skoda Octavia (1/2 way between Focus & Mondeo size)

Next size up

Mondeo
Mazda 6
Passat
Renault Scenic
Focus C-Max
Seat Altea

Focus sounds really good for that price. Whats the mileage on that??

If the Mazda is too big then that rules out Mondeos etc so the STW Collective might be stuck 😉

‘Boring’ option but a Golf? Should get a nice’ish mk5 for that money. I really like the current shape Civics. Might be worth a look?

Having a 14 month old though, its bonkers the amount of stuff you lug around. We’ve just got an Octavia vRS estate. Probably a bit smaller than our old Mondeo ST but feels roomier and its a cracking car.

Just seen the suggestion for a Passat. Get a LOT more for your money elsewhere and heard some slightly scary stories about reliability when we looked at them. They’re flippin huge too.

I’ve got a 57 plate 1.8 (petrol) Focus Zetech Climate Hatchback with c45,000 done. Owned from new full service history. £5K

Was going to put it on autotrader but its buried under the snow atm.

Boring Golf/Estate, or even a passat estate, or any spin off that build?

As DBW mentioned, once you have a buggy in the boot, it does not leave much space for shopping or luggage for trips.

Your boot soon fills up with kids tat, trust me 😉

Your boot soon fills up with kids tat

He speaks the truth. I thought the focus would be fine but withing 2 months I was down at Halfords buying a roofbox!

Cheers so far…

An estate is totally out of the equation, I wanted to get a high miler V50 but she was having none of it ? Think it was a 1.8 sport with 97k on the clock, but she said if it went wrong it would cost way more to put right than a foucs.

The focus were looking at as 41k on the clock

There’s also a top of the range Laurent & klement?? Octavia 55reg, 52k on the clock for 6k in bristol but want a garage closer to home

It’s a toss up really, an older higher mileage more ‘prestige’ brand or a newer less mileage more ‘common’ (for want of a better word) for the same price.

Whatever it is has to least us 4 years minimum.

Just seen the suggestion for a Passat. Get a LOT more for your money elsewhere and heard some slightly scary stories about reliability when we looked at them. They’re flippin huge too

Everyone has opinions, mine is that I’ve had utter reliability from my Passat. I’ve got the lease company printout for every bit of work done on the car up until I got it, and obviously all the bills since then. Oh, and it’s a turbodiesel, so it’s bound to explode within ten seconds, ‘cos those new-fangled turbos can’t be trusted. And to really make things bad, it had 70k on it when I bought it at 3 years old. High mileage doom!

Other than maintenance, it’s needed the sum total of a shock absorber and a parking brake switch. That’s in 120k miles. If that’s not reliability, I don’t know what is.

It’s really dull, mind you. But if what you’re after is space, reliability, quality (the doors clunk nicely, all the switches operate as if they were new …..it doesn’t feel 120k old) and a nice middle-class feeling of smugness, it fits the bill.

Just seen the suggestion for a Passat. Get a LOT more for your money elsewhere and heard some slightly scary stories about reliability when we looked at them. They’re flippin huge too

Got to agree with nickf on that one, think you are rowing against the tide a bit with a comment like that.

But you are entitled to say what you like 😉

I was in the same boat a few weeks ago as our Golf Gti was stolen and wanted to replace with a car we didn’t have to finance.

We don’t have a family and have a van for MTB/dog duties and we gave ourselves a budget of 7k.

We looked at focuses (boring and the TDci engine sounded like it was out of a transit, but handled quite well)
Mazda 3 sport 2.0 (ok, but pretty bad fuel economy and are prone to rust)

We decided on a 2006 Honda civic 1.8 vtec sport. Better performance than the mazda but gets 10mpg more than the Mazda. Really nice inside and has been really good in the snow compared to my previous golfs, audi’s etc.

I imagine they are a good family car too as the ‘magic’ style seats are ace and fold flat or up like cinema seats, I have been told you can fit 2 MTB’s in the back upright too.

Compared to the golf it’s saving us £600 per month too!!!

I like the Passat but she commented on the boot after we went to see one, although huge she would fall in stretching trying to retrieve the pram!

Its not an opinion, its the result of reading some reviews before I parted with the best part of £10k. In the end, I decided that the mind numbing boringness, chance of it costing loads to fix if it went wrong and having to get the Sport or SEL level to even get windy upppy rear windows wasn’t worth it!

Shame because I really liked them and was set on a black Sport estate with DSG etc…

Sorry Dave it is an opinion & you are wrong 😉

newer style diesel Vectra, the perfect car for when you’ve got a growing family and you’ve given up on life. Passat is pants.

The missus has had an 07 Focus Zetec since the summer. Very sound, and with a surprising amount of space.

Have a look at the Toyota Corolla Verso

Cracking family car, economical & reliable

£6k to spend…D4D Verso. Excellent car. Loved ours. Would buy another without a thought. The 180hp one has had a few issues, apparently. T2 spec is a bit basic, T3 is nice, T-Spirit posh but not really worth the extra.

Clicky here.

How about a lovely Merc C Class estate Diesel in black? 45mpg on a run 40mpg around town/mixed. Full service history. 12 months mot etc etc.

Yes, it’s mine. Brilliant car big enough for family stylish enough not to look likea load lugger!

For me I would always buy an older car from a prestige brand. They tend to be better looked after and the quality of components is generally much higher, so they break less often.
They cost more to fix when they do break, but I do most of my own maintenance and save money this way. Also by keeping an eye on the car mechanically, I can spot any problems that may need a garage before they cause damage to the car.
Get the V50 😉

No s, this is wrong:

Vectra

So very wrong…

I’d go go for the Focus too – good engine, top spec, heated windscreen (currently a BRILLIANT idea!), cheap to run and repair, handle well.]

Merivas are hateful, Mazdas are a bit dull and plasticky but pretty decent.

DaveyBoyWonder – Member

No s, this is wrong:

Vectra

So very wrong…

Too true 😉