New family car – anything to avoid?

i40 tourer? probably come up under your budget with more spec than anything mentioned above.

Give up totally on life and buy a Volvo V70.
As has been said here before, it’s like sitting in your favourite armchair only difference is it’s capable of doing 120mph!
’55 plate D5 sitting at 121,000 miles currently, not looking to swap it out anytime soon!

I went from an Audi to a Volvo and I’m constantly reminded that it’s not an Audi. It’s generally recognised that Audi do the best interiors, and it is noticeable. The Volvo is comfortable, but just doesn’t quite have that quality feel. It’s partly build quality, and partly design, and the Volvo is less good in both those areas.

Sounds like you need a diesel. If it was me, I’d be looking for a manufacturers warranty in case of any expensive problems rather than going for an older premium brand. I nearly bought a 2nd hand Mazda6 diesel but just far too many reports of clogged oil strainers causing engine failure?? maybe i’m being paranoid though!

I wouldn’t rule out MPVs as well. They drive great these days, and feel more spacious and comfortable than the equivalent estate.

That said, I ended up with the obvious choice recently octavia vrs estate (petrol)

I drove a new Astra for a couple of weeks whilst my regular car had some work doing to it.
1.4T; VERY nice to drive, pretty quick, much better rear room than the £ Touring I have. Boot was a decent size and they do an estate.

They do a 1.6T which has caught my eye….

Don’t laugh…but Peugeot 508SW. For the budget you could easily get a low mileage, less than year old GT or GT line. Brilliant cars, huge boot and loads of toys. Pleasant to drive and sips diesel, fuel economy is astonishingly good. I’ve had one for 2 years and it’s been faultless.

HH: That’s what happened to me; loose injectors letting combustion gasses into the cylinder head and then crystalizing in the oil. I managed not to destroy the engine but had the strainer cleaned out 3 times(in France, Germay and Italy..that was a stressful holiday!) before the cause was established.
Citroen/Peugeot/Ford 1.4 diesels suffer from this too.

Sure it has been said but skoda superb is superb. Huge space and full of kit. Its larger than an e class estate which takes 3 bikes standing up.. I also liked the kia ultima sportwagon and the big hyundai but the skoda is so good for the price. Plus if you have the cash they do a near 300 bhp 4×4 version…..

Ford Kuga.

Currently own an E-Class E220CDi. Great for munching miles and fairly frugal for it’s size… Roof bars and roof box and 40mpg to the Alps.
No cup holders though – drives me nuts!

Miss my A6 2.0TDi. I preferred the interior (cockpit). A4 wasn’t big enough for all our stuff (owned a 2.5 V6).

Drove my mums Mazda6 (Saloon) and hated it. Visibility out the back was pants and there are SO many buttons.

Passats are good at what they do, but the interior isn’t quite as refined – You get what you pay…

A6 for me.

If running costs and mpg can be ignored and you just want ‘lug-a-bility’ my Discovery3 takes some beating… But Volvo XC owners will probably disagree. (However the Volvo will only tow 2400kg and is useless off road – I digress and this should probably be on another thread!)

I’d definitely buy another although I seem to remember Renton? having one and complaining the paint was too thin….but I’m not giving that too much credence from his other postings.

Thanks for that doosuk ????

Fwiw it was a known problem on the Mazda that the pearl paint in blue or black were very thin and would chip easily.

I wish I had kept the pics showing the state of it.

How many kids?

We have 3. It changes everything… but not as much as 4.

We have to avoid the bump on the floor in between the two rear seats, it’s right pain.

Thankfully there’s only 2 kids so we don’t need to factor in the middle seat legroom.

Some good suggestions of cars I’d not considered up until now – just need to whittle down the list until I have a few I like to drive – and then get the wife to test drive them to make sure that she’s not opposed to the situation (yes yes, I know I know – but it’s much easier that way than dealing with a few years of moaning when she has to drive it)

E90 325i here, 1 kid + dog. Wanted something relatively fun that would be fine doing short journeys most of the time, which ruled modern diesel out. It’s an old 07 with a straight 6 engine, lovely to drive, very smooth. It hates petrol though, 20 in town, 35 motorway sort of figures.

No turbos or DPFs in there to explode. I’m hoping the extra fuel costs work out in the long term 🙂

Edit: Oh and, at 6’6″, it’s worth mentioning that BMW seemed to have better leg and head room than anything else I sat in!