me and mrs g decided that its time for a new car at the weekend….our current one, a nissan almera is slowly and painfully dying and is costing us more to keep it going…
the other reason is that we need something with a bit more space…
i did suggest an estate but she refuses to consider one, a saloon would be out of the question due to lack of practicality, so we’re looking at a large hatch or a mini mpv…
at the moment our shortlist consists of the following:
vauxhall astra / zafira
ford focus / c max
kia c’eed / sportage
vw golf
skoda yeti
mercedes b class

can anyone recommend any others that we havent considered yet?
also does anyone have any ownership experience of any on the list?

A petrol Mazda 6?
Nissan Primera?

Both chain driven and ultra reliable.

You don’t mention what your budget is and whether you’re buying new/second hand.

Citroen C4
Seat Leon

Nissan Note SVE 1.6

You don’t mention what your budget is and whether you’re buying new/second hand.

sorry, looking to buy nearly new with a budget of around £13k…

A petrol Mazda 6?
Nissan Primera?

the mazda 6 only comes in a saloon or estate…both of which we are looking to avoid…we would consider the mazda 3 though
my brother has a primera…i’ve driven it and i hated every aspect of it…in actual fact i wont be buying another nissan again…

Citroen C4
Seat Leon

Nissan Note SVE 1.6

sorry nothing french, the leon is tempting, the nissan note…too small and its a nissan!!

They definitely sold the Mazda 6 in Hatchback form until 2012. My MIL has one.

If you’re looking at Golf/Leon’s why not take a look at an Octavia as well.

Vw touran, Toyota avensis estate.

We have an 07 Focus and a 62 C-Max both really good cars the Focus has been great through its 100000 miles. The C-Max is a very nice place to be, very comfortable and a fair site bigger than my Focus. I would definately buy Ford again, in fact if I didn’t want RWD my next car would probably be a Focus or Mondeo Estate. It still might be if the boss wont agree to a beemer.

We got a 3 year old Touran with about 28k on the clock inside your budget, have been very happy with it and it can fit loads in it. Performance is reasonable (went for the 2.0TDI – 140bhp) and having the 2 extra seats in the boot has come in useful a few times.

Good build quality too… oh and does the trick for bike ferrying duties, which is the most important thing!

Just about to order a yeti ourselves. Have you seen skoda have 0% finance at present? For 13k you could pick up a Rapid (jetta in a different suit).

If it wasn’t for the the irrational fear of estates Seat Exeos are stupendously bargainicious.

Seat Exeos

A mate has one. They’re almost identical to the last model A4 which was a grand car when we had it. Why not an estate out of interest? Fantastically practical IMO.

Have you considered octavia hatch ? We have 08plate elegance, solid reliable car and plenty of room inside (boot is bigger than focus estate or Volvo v50)

C-Max is good, I’ve got the 2.0TDCi. Only flaw is the boot opening is still a hatch-back style lip, rather than flush, like an estate.
I can see us replacing it with an S-Max, or VW Touran as the kids get bigger, but it’ll do us for a good few years yet.

If you’re getting nearly new, you shouldn’t face the problem of the dreaded 1.6TDCi turbo….

Why not an estate out of interest?

i dont have a problem with an estate…to be honest its what i would prefer as its practical for luggage luggin and bike lugging duties but the wife is adamant she wont like an estate and doesnt want one…her reasons?…they’re too big and she’s scared of driving one, ive pointed out that the audi a6 i had when we got married was probably longer than most of the estate versions of the cars we’re currently looking at such as the astra/focus/golf….and she had no problem driving that around…i think she has a problem with the image of driving around in an estate which why she doesnt want one…

the type of car we are looking at is something similar class of car to our current almera but with a bigger boot…therefore i’m having to look away from larger cars such as the mazda 6, toyota avensis, seat exeo, skoda octavia etc…the reason for this is simple…we still want a car which is reasonably cheap to run and insure…so something on a lower insurance group rating than our almera is a must..its the only way we can afford to buy the car…
because of this i am looking at similar sized cars to what we have got…but i am considering a mini mpv…this is more likely to tick more of the boxes for the wife in terms of increased luggage space, ease of driving, elevated driving position, reasonably cheap to run…for me it means less faffing about trying to get the bikes into the back…unless i can convince her to go for an estate

The Octavia is Golf based, so not really any bigger that the stuff you’ve listed.

Cheap, economical, big boot, looks ok: Fiat 500L; Vauxhall Meriva; Lotus Europa with a bike rack?

The Octavia is Golf based, so not really any bigger that the stuff you’ve listed.

i had considered the octavia but i dont think she’s too keen on one…yup you guessed it..mrs gonzy is a bit picky when it comes to cars!!

Fiat 500L; Vauxhall Meriva; Lotus Europa with a bike rack?

500L her first car was a fiat and she had a bad experience with it so wont go near one again…
meriva…is based on a corsa so is actually smaller than our current car…
evora….hmmm…..where do the kids go?

You may be able to find a brand new old shape (as they have just replaced it) Leon being sold off at a dealer for your money (this applies to the Octavia too).

You want something that is reasonably cheap to run an insure.

Our C_Max (1.6d) does about 50mpg on mixed driving, not as good as I hoped but good enough. the tax is £30 a year and the insurance is less than £300 for both of us. It only has 115bhp but its fast enough for family dutys.

I’ve just got a golf 1.6tdi, averaging 70mpg without fail and typical build quality. Can’t beat it imo.

Ignore the wife and get an RS6, you won’t want her to use it anyway 🙂

Just about to get a Seat Ibiza in FR trim with the DSG box – £10k gets you a 1.4 FR DSG on a 2011/12 that does 40-50+mpg, 140-180bhp and is fun to drive.
Same chassis as the golf, big boot, £30 tax (if its not the FR/CR spec.
The Ecomotive version is £0.00 road tax, 60-70mpg and comes in manual and auto boxes.

which of the many versions of the Ibiza FR you mention are you getting?

Have a Bocanegra or the 1.4TSI FR
FR and CR are the Trim/Suspension packs.
All the reviews rate the FR over the CR as its’s slightly less harsh, more stable and only slightly lower powered.
Same engine spec just a lower tune and easily chippable to the CR spec 😉

“a bit bigger”

Scratch the Golf, Astra, Focus Leon etc then. Yeti has decent luggage space but is not an estate. Octavia may be Golf based but has class leading boot.

Mondeo? Skoda Superb?

qashqai?

don’t buy a vauxhall, they are bloody awful.

For the cars size the yeti has a tiny boot. It was the deal breaker when we were considering one.

I fancied the mitsubishi asx but again wasn’t quite big enough but might be right for you.

me and mrs g decided that its time for a new car at the weekend….our current one, a nissan almera is slowly and painfully dying and is costing us more to keep it going…

i had considered the octavia but i dont think she’s too keen on one…yup you guessed it..mrs gonzy is a bit picky when it comes to cars!!

Those 2 statements don’t really sit well together…

From what you describe an Octavia estate would be perfect…

.i think she has a problem with the image of driving around in an estate which why she doesnt want one

Image?
What image?
There is no image. It’s a car FFS. 🙄

Those 2 statements don’t really sit well together…

In fairness, +1 She’s been happy to drive around in an Almera, yet is somehow above an Octavia? 😆 You need to talk her into a tourer – far more lugging room than some of the mini MPVs you’ve mentioned.

my mondeo is on 154000 miles, all its had done to it in that time is:
exhaust
couple of springs
brake discs/pads
new rear calipers
about 4 handbrake cables.
lots of diesel.
its a mk3, but you could find a mk4 easy within your budget.
the 115bhp engine is chain driven and never struggles to pull the car, mine has averaged about 50mpg over the time we have had it.
2.0 tdci 115bhp is the one, the more powerful ones are belt driven afaik.

She currently drives an Almera, but won’t consider an estate because of it’s image – now that’s funny! She has clearly demonstrated that she knows NOTHING when it comes to cars, which is reason enough to completely ignore her.

martymac,the 130 BHP is chain driven, too. I suspect that the newer 140 BHP is as well.

http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleAdvert/Hyundai/I40/410640
http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleAdvert/Mazda/3/419304
http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleSearch/Toyota/Urbancruiser
http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleAdvert/Volkswagen/Touran/415618
http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleAdvert/Ford/C-Max/413863

http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleAdvert/Ford/C-Max/414599

Any one of these will do. You’re welcome.

Ignore the wife and get an RS6

i’d love to get an RS6 but i think i’d come up short by about £50k… 😉

n fairness, +1 She’s been happy to drive around in an Almera, yet is somehow above an Octavia?

its not that she thinks she is above an octavia…her concern is the size of the car itself…she just doesnt feel confident that she could drive something that big…but she wants something with more space in the boot than the almera…i’ve been trying to sell the idea of an estate such as a focus/astra/golf estate or but she refuses to drive an estate even though its the most logical option…so the only other option is a mini mpv…she’s happy to consider these as even though something like a c-max/zafira may be as big as an estate she likes the idea of an elevated driving position…
in terms of not having a saloon…the reason we both wont look at them is that we need something that is more practical for load carrying especially for my bikes…

Just replaced an 04 Leon TDI Cupra with a 10 Leon TDI FR.

Previous car was brilliant and the new one is even nicer. Faster, quieter (though I miss the turbo whistle of the old PD engined Cupra). 50+ mpg pretty straightforward too.

Downsides – rear seats don’t fold fully flat so I don’t think it’ll be as roomy for luggage. The old one’s rear seat would fold forward with the seat backs in place and I could easily get two bikes in the space. Can’t do that with the new one… Solution will be a towbar mounted rack which is an extra expense.

cb – thanks for the suggestions…motorpoint is where i’ve been looking already…the hyundai is a saloon so its out, the mazda was one that we’d looked at and were considering…but the touran and the c-maxes look very tempting…now i need to find the time to go down and have a proper look at them…

I’ve had a Honda Civic for a few months now. Large boot for a hatch, easy folding seats for bike duties, feels nice to drive, paid £5.5k for an 07 1.8es with 32k miles. Happy 🙂

I love our Yeti. It’s not that big inside tho. Can get a bike in with seats down (not out) and one wheel off. Decent enough boot space for a big lab but not much luggage. Great car to drive and own tho. Really nicely put together and good to drive (even in the cooking 110bhp 2.0D I have). They are expensive tho compared to some other cars mentioned here.