[Closed] family car options/recommendations

Ford Galaxy?

Most estates have more interior space than those mid sized SUV's

At that mileage either petrol or diesel depending on the deals. I do around 20k miles and diesel makes sense (large estate) while wife does 10k miles and we've stuck with petrol for hers.

True dat. Our old 307sw had much more space than an xc60

Most estates have more interior space than those mid sized SUV's

At that mileage either petrol or diesel depending on the deals. I do around 20k miles and diesel makes sense (large estate) while wife does 10k miles and we've stuck with petrol for hers.

yeah, i'm torn between fuel choices for probably obvious reasons.
kinda want to go back to petrol, considering i often need to drive into central manchester and the potential pollution charging that's being mooted (the current fiesta is my first diesel).

Zafira. Plenty about, popular with Motability clients for the reasons you need a bigger car. I wouldn't go the SUV route, unless your going really big, like a Hyundai Tucson. The most recent Zafiras are nice cars to drive, pretty well equipped, the older ones were a bit basic and had cheap plastics, but Vauxhall have upped their game a bit.
A Grand S-Max would be worth checking out, or a Galaxy, as suggested. Possibly a Mondeo estate, they're very long, same platform the Galaxy uses.
Might be worth checking the car auctions, BCA do auctions of ex-Motability cars, so you might pick something up a bit cheaper.
Caveat: Motability cars do tend to be fairly heavily used, insides often a bit grubby and stained, exterior marked, but they're rarely more than a couple of years old with usually no more than 20k on the clock, so as a family car that's, shall we say, slightly patinated, then it may be just what you need, no worries about kids spilling stuff on the seats, scratching the paint loading stuff in, etc. A good in- and outside valeting by the local Polish blokes to spruce the inside up a bit, and job's a good'un.
Usually it's pet hairs, and seat stains from spilled food and drink, with lingering fag stink, with scuffed plastic, but nothing too drastic.

I'll stick with the traditional 'recommend what you own'

Ford Smax. Nice to drive, plenty of good examples at your price, acres of room inside, good reliability.

Smax has previously been described as the only people carrier you would want to own rather than have to own.

I'm on my second now and as much as I would like a change I cannot find a good enough reason to buy any other car (but may well be tempted by a van, that is for another thread though!)

S Max? You can have a look round mine if you like.

As a family freighter it has been perfect.

We're on holiday with ours now and it has easily swallowed all of our crap, including body boards without compromising the cabin space for the kids. I get 40 mpg and it hasn't missed a beat apart from consumables.

SUV aren't very big inside relative to their size.

Do they still make Honda Accords? Mine was MASSIVE it was also a turd but that was pretty specific to that particular car. It looked like it was a Mondeo / A4 / 3 series sized car but it was a size up really.

Superb estate would be similar I think.

#team smax

Added bonus is that you can get the kids to read the name off the tailgate and then promise them that that is what they'll be getting if there's any more of their stupid carry on.

VW Touran, dull but on our second now, Skoda Octavia EST or the Superb EST (obviously) or Mondeo EST. Stay away from the mini SUV's. Thirsty, small inside, and big tyres that cost a fortune to replace.

CMax is decent balance of big enough for holidays/small enough the rest of the time, we were going to get a mondeo, but for day to day it was just too much car.

Got a 2 series active tourer now, like a Cmax, but less practical and more expensive. Very nice place to be though, so I prefer it and would have another. 2 years old 15k miles and £15k with all the toys you need.

I assume we are talking used but £15k gets you a lot of car. Superb, passat or golf estate if you are not bothered about driving thrills.

I went for an E class. For £15k you could get a nice facelift one and they are huge!

yeah, used. £15K is absolute max budget, i'd prefer to stick to nearer 10 really. i kind of assumed running costs would count out most big german marques.
plenty to think about here though, thanks!

You could get a Skoda Octavia 1.4 Tsi for that sort of money. I'd go petrol with your mileage if a personal rather than business purchase, they do use a little more fuel, but are more refined around town. Modern turbo petrol motors drive like diesels now, giving torque low down (a Good Thing in my opinion)
I have had diesels for nearly 20 years but have gone for a petrol Golf this time and have not regretted it.

I'll also go with recommend what you own.

Mine's a 10 plate 2.0 Mondeo Titanium X estate which would be below OP's budget by miles. Nice car, massive boot space, 140ish bhp, currently doing 50mpg overall (showing 53.6 but that's a fib cos I've checked it properly)

Wife's is a 63 plate 2.2Cdi XTrail. A bit agricultural at low speed, 170bhp, showing 47.6 mpg but actual is 46, similar space in the boot as mine but taller, 4X4 (kind of) & better at pulling our caravan.
It was just over 12k earlier this year.

I've been overthinking this for months now.

As said SUVs lose space for style. The non-grand C4 Picasso is my shortlist so far, useful thinks like three proper seats in the back mean you can be flexible with seats/storage.

lad at work did just get a c4 picasso and he loves it, but i have reservations as i've had a citroen and it went absolutely mental electrically, which has put me off them somewhat.

Loving our 5 series estate. Perfect car for us so far considering fuel, Size, convenience, handling, fun, reliability. 18 months in on a £12500 car that was 6 years old and 60000 mile in when we got it. F11 variety. Love the 8speed auto too, never thought I'd love an auto either,

Love the 8speed auto too, never thought I'd love an auto either,

Wife's old car was an 06 Merc CLK320, 7 speed auto. Went wrong at 70K, £1800 to fix, stepsons BMw 5 series auto went tits up, £1200 to fix.
I hate auto's cos theyr'e a waste of revs. 😆

I sell cars and was impressed with a 59 plate Pug 3008 I recently sold. I used it for 3,000 miles and it ticks a lot of boxes. You could pick a decent one up for under 3k.

Citroen C5 estates and Pug 508 estates (basically the same car) are good for the money too.

C-Max is a great car, so's the B-Max, I particularly like the sliding rear doors, but it's not a particularly big car, the C-Max might be the best compromise for size and utility.
Thing is, I've driven quite a few of the cars mentioned, apart from the Merc, the Accord, (too old) and the Superb estate, so I know what they're like to drive, and their size, but I can't give any clues as to day-to-day use.
Driven enough Zafiras and B-, C- and S-Max to know they're good driving cars, with lots of room, but it's whether the room is laid out how it would be most useful.

A couple of years in there hasn't been a huge difference in the running costs between the BMWs and the previous ford I had. I think it's been cheaper than the Hyundai I had before.

Fuel wise the BMs have been the cheapest cars I've had, I think it's only tyres that have been more, but still much cheaper than a small SUV with big wheels (Sportage or similar)

Do you really need a massive car?

We brought up three kids, drove around France every year and the biggest car I've ever had was an A4 estate circa 2006 which was actuall smaller inside than the recent crip of Focus/Astra size cars.

Whenever I've had people carriers as hire cars through work they feel like an awful lot of car for day to day use.

On your budget I would probably just get a medium sized estate.

Two kids? IMO an estate will be larger inside, cheaper to buy and run than SUV thing. For your budget you have lot of choice - from nearly new practical such as i40/Focus/Avensis to nicer such as v50/c-class.
Unless you do lots of kit carrying, then a small mpv (c-max/Toiran) would offer more space again.

I drive a Galaxy - but we've now 3 lads, all heading for 6' tall in next year or so, we canoe and bike weekly with five of us and I carry lots of kit for work most weeks. I'm looking forward to the day I can buy an estate and not drive the (wonderfully practical) tank that is the Galaxy....

lots more to think about! yeah, 2 kids, both v small currently (6yo and almost 1yo) but i'm somewhat planning ahead i think. i probably don't need a massive car right now, but looking at probably 3 or 4 bikes plus kit plus bodies, and i don't really think a van would cover all my bases (won't fit in the underground car park at work for a start).

i don't really want another auto, my citroen had an autobox and it was a hateful piece of crap!

in terms of estates i quite like the look of the seat exeo; anyone got any experiences?

I'd say but a vehicle that will fit 95% of your usage. The remaining 5% when you're loaded up with bikes just use a bike carrier.

I'd go for an Octavia estate personally but anything of that ilk should fit the bill.

CMax is decent balance of big enough for holidays/small enough the rest of the time, we were going to get a mondeo, but for day to day it was just too much car.

Ditto. We have two kids, with a roofbox & towbar bike rack we can get all we need in the C-max for two weeks' camping abroad. I can do a weekend camp without the roofbox if I take the middle seat out. Ours is old & high mileage, I'll be inclined to buy another when it dies. It's shorter than a Focus estate so it's easy to park.

If your heart is set on a 3008, motorpoint have them in on budget for 2015 models and the bigger 5008. It'll probably be an ex-rental. my smax from them was ex- Hertz, but no issues in four years of ownership.

Just don't take their finance and test drive else where, as their selling methods are ... Interesting.

in terms of estates i quite like the look of the seat exeo; anyone got any experiences?

We nearly bought one; in the end a cracking condition Ibiza estate popped up and we bought that.

Exeo is old Audi A4 estate, with all the kinks and worries pretty much ironed out and some Seat badges on. Really solidly built, reviews are brilliant.

If your heart is set on a 3008, motorpoint have them in on budget for 2015 models and the bigger 5008

If you're looking at a peugeot, try to take a lengthy test drive. I've got a brand new 5008 for work at the minute and have done about 3k in the last two months. The driving position is awful (my knee hits the enormous transmission tunnel when i change gear) and the seats offer no support whatsoever - my 13 year old Honda has more supportive seats. It is massive though and the petrol engine is very responsive. Seems to get through fuel at an alarming rate.

I've been looking at estates recently and am struggling to see past either a Focus or a Civic at present.

I should have added before, a roofbox is your friend when you've got kids. They're so useful for putting the odd shaped things in that UK holidays mandate with kids, and it means you can get away with a smaller car day to day.

We had a 3 series saloon before our current car, and I loved it, only had to get rid because the Mrs was crippling herself getting in and out because they are low. Especially in ED flavour. Would be crap for moving wardrobes, but swallowed a weeks worth of holiday stuff easily, boot was way bigger than a normal hatch. I'd have another, if I didn't have to get the Mrs in it.

yeah, a roof box is definitely in my future regardless of what I go for I reckon.
some decent 2008s on motorpoint too, actually, and I hadn't ruled those out either. got my eye on a nice looking exeo, but rear space/legroom looks a bit crap compared to some of the SUVs i've seen?

russ, is your 5008 one of the latest newest ones then? the icockpit version?
i'm looking at probably a 2014/15 3008, plenty of space for my little legs in there!

zafira tourer elite. perfect.

Andy - no idea what the icockpit is but it sounds fun. It's a 66 plate but it had zero miles on it when I picked it up about 6 weeks ago. It's not mine but I have sole use of it at work for a bit.

my only real reservation with vauxhalls is that my dad's had 2 merivas and a zafira, all of which spent almost as much time at the main dealers trying to sort out various niggles as they did on his driveway...

this is my 2nd zafira. 1st one did 147k. 1 breakdown which was some wiring corroded. sorted under warrenty. nothing wrong with the latest one so far. just gone through it's 1st mot clean.

Just googled icockpit and the one I'm using must be the previous one.

While I like SUV's (have one myself) they don't tend to have a lot of luggage space unless you get a massive one. I've had a Quasqai and a 3008 as hire cars and neither had much luggage space. Also had a Mazda CX3 while my CX7 was in getting serviced and while that was a lovely car to drive it had a very small boot. People carriers or estate cars are a better option if you need space. When my kids were younger we had a Fiat Ulysses and that was great as you could sort out the balance between seating and luggage space depending on your needs and with all the rear seats removed it was like having a van. I'm sure there must be modern people carriers with similar flexibility.

I have Kadjar, it's fine.

Boot space is good enough for the four of us away in a cottage for a week.
Camping would be problematic.

I would have bought an estate but the wife didn't want another estate. :sigh:

Cupholders are fine for a flat white but if you are a Venti latte drinker you may have issues.

Done a few long drives in it and it's nice to drive on long trips.

zafira tourer elite. perfect.

Nope. Utter *agony* on the back of my legs/sciatic after about 40 mins....

zafira tourer elite. perfect.

Nope. Utter *agony* on the back of my legs/sciatic after about 40 mins...

This is the thing about test drives, I'm not sure how long most dealers allow for test drives, but apart from one Vauxhall Vectra, which was so uncomfortable it only took five minutes for me to start wriggling around trying to get comfy, it's only after a couple of hours or so that you really start to find out all the little niggles that make a car really difficult to live with. There are certain cars based on vans that have limited seat adjustment, plus a footrest next to the brake/clutch pedal, depending on whether auto or manual, which causes me great discomfort after around half an hour or so, because I can't stretch my left leg out, aggravating the arthritis in my left knee.
I've also discovered the advantages of auto boxes in heavy, slow-moving traffic...
The advantage of having a job driving cars for ten or more hours a day, individually two to three hours, I get to find out how comfy a car actually is, I don't have any problems with current Vauxhall cars, the only cars I have comfort issues with are vans and BMW's! BMW's because of the harder suspension and low-profile run-flat tyres fitted to many of their cars. Not all, though, tbh.
But I understand many don't have the luxury of extended test drives, so I guess maybe the answer is to maybe try to hire a particular model for a weekend, or see if a dealer will allow an extended test-drive, to find out what it's really like; as I say, I really don't know how long an average test drive is from a dealer - when I get a lottery win and can afford a new car, I might find out! 😀

BillOddie - Member
I have Kadjar, it's fine.

The Kadjar is basically a Qashqai with a nice frock on!
To be fair, it, and the Captur, which is the Juke underneath, have both been substantially improved by Renault, as far as I can tell, only driven one Captur so far, and it was a much nicer car than the Juke in every way, and just as much fun to drive.
Looking forward to getting a Kadjar to drive one day, they're lovely looking cars, Renault have really got a good design team at the moment.

I just bought a Mitsubishi L200 4 door pickup - best car decision I have made in years (coming from BMW's)

Boot space is good and it is doing 40mpg town commuting. Bloody love it.

[IMG] [/IMG]

SUVs are less practical than they seem, but they can look pretty good
MPVs are the most practical, but they look awful
Estates are somewhere in the middle

I refuse to drive an MPV, would rather have a van! (I love vans!)

But we have one car and my wife uses it more than me. We have a merc e class estate. Plus a roof box. Plus a tow bar for the bike rack. Fits 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 big dogs in no problem.

Mitsubishi L200

Boot space

?

yeah, a pickup won't really work for me.
we already do have one big estate, a pug 406. my partner drives that more than i do. i'm inclined to go crossover or SUV still, i think (with roof box to supplement the slightly smaller than a big estate boot space)...

If you get a roof box, make sure you get one with double sided opening, makes day to day usage so much easier

And get one with quick fit brackets, again, much easier to lob on and off

If a proper roof box is too big to stash away when not being used I've found a HandiHoldall to be a great alternative: https://www.handiworld.com/handiholdall-111/handiholdall.html

That said I'm surprised at the current RRP, they've gone up a lot in the last two years.

I've had a 2006 crv since about 2008. It's massive in terms of load lugging capacity but most the recent SUV I've seen seem to compromise load space by trying to look nicer (slanting rear screen etc). Think I'll go for an estate when it's finally time to replace this one. Been bloody great for us though.