Mondeo Estate. that thing will swallow the USS Enterprise

Pus you’ll be the envy on the rank 😉

We used to own a CMax. Great spacious car with good options for folding seats and even an option to buy bike clamps in the boot (fixes the forks to the floor). Fuel economy on our Euro4 was excellent too. However, we had lots of trouble with electronics. I should never have strayed from Honda (or at least Jap).
We now own a Honda FRV which has been faultless and very spacious. 6 seats and a large boot. Recently went to Spain with 4 bikes on roof, 1 kids bike in car, and 5 people inside+luggage – comfortably. Fuel economy is sh*te though (28-30mpg)

I can’t have any sort of van or old banger as I need a new or fairly new car under the terms of my work car allowance. Budget would be around £20k give or take and the plan to run it for 3 years.

I’d spend half that and pick up a 3 year old big hatch/saloon plus a towbar rack. You say ‘fairly new’, how old can it be at the start/end?

Superfli, which engine do you have? Surely not the 2.2 or 1.7?

b r,

6 years is the limit. The 3 series will be 4 years old later this year and so far it’s been (almost) faultless. However the lease runs out then and the car becomes mine (for the final fee) and I loose the comprehensive maintenance cover. As much as I think the car is ace it’s limited practicality and chance of expensive BMW repair and service bills (tyres are over £200 each) is suggesting I look for something more boring practical

If the price was right then something around 3 years old may be an option and just put some money aside to cover repair bills I ‘spose.

Fuel economy is sh*te though (28-30mpg)

it will be with 4 bikes on the roof 😉

I’ve just bought a new Roomster, more space inside than the Yeti and new C-Max, drives nicely and pulls pretty well – I have the 1.2TSI 105bhp. Cost me £12.5k with some extras and I like how it looks really – well compared to other van derived MPVs anyway. Also tried a Citroen C3 Picasso which I hated and looked at a Hyundai IX35 but am told they’re poor to drive – look OK though.

Very happy with the Roomster.

Our FRV is the 2.0ltr Petrol. 30mpg for the missus as her day to day car (town driving). The bikes on the roof prob made about 5mpg worse – I think it averages about 33mpg on long runs without bikes on roof.
2.2 diesel would have been preferred, but at £2k more to buy and the low mileage my wife does, it would have been at least 2 years before recooping the extra. It just hurts the purse a little at a time.

the sales lady told us we had the wrong bike as the brochure showed one in it.

That’d put me off buying a new Ford – the staff in our local dealer are universally, complete morons. When we were on the verge of buying a Fiesta ST a few years ago they tried to flog us a Zetec S instead by standing in front of us with the brochure and reciting from it, word for word. They also didn’t know what isofix was (none of them did).

If its 6 years, then keep the BMW, although if its worth less than the final payment – don’t.

Or buy a 4 year old Mondeo Estate – and sell it at 6 years.

The difference between paying for a new car (£20k) and one that is 4 years old (£10k) is (surprisingly) £10k (plus interest). This pays for an awful lot of repairs etc.

tbh I did this a few years ago when dropping off the company car list, but we had no age limit, so I spent a couple of grand on a 10 year 535i and also got new motorbike to commute on. Still got the Beemer.

Currently driving a 54 plate Honda Accord Tourer (Sport). Hasn’t skipped a beat, and has covered near 100k miles.

On account of being a lanky ****, rear legroom is always an issue, and have to say that the CR-V as mentioned before is way up there on rear legroom.

If I had your cash then the Skoda Superb would be on my list – massive legroom in the back, huge boot, decent to drive (great in 4×4 option) and very well spec’d.

Much as I’ve always erred from “MPV’s” they do make a certain amount of sense, especially in legroom sense.

Been looking for similar (tho a slightly lower budget and intention of keeping for its life).

Test drove a Yeti – solid but its not massive inside, the roomster is bigger. 5 month wait on new andn you would want the Elegance trim with a decent engine so looking at 20k +

Test drove a Touran – was really nice sport version so lots of grunt and an epic boot if you treat it as a 5 seater, current favourite though I have had a VW in various forms for years.

Going to tee up a test of an FRV and CRV as I really liked the drive of the 2.2 Civic we tested, the Civic was just too small though. The CRV errs to much into 4×4 territory for my liking really.