Looking for a cheapish load lugger, any suggestions to narrow it down appreciated. I might use occasionally if needed, but have 2 of our kids in their 20’s who will share it and use more. They live in central Bristol and allegedly diesel vehicles are being banned or at least charged loads there next spring onwards. So as well as petrol, insurance group not too high because of their age although they both have been driving other stuff for a few years.

They cycle everywhere in the big city but when circumstances permit again, they’d use for trips out camping, taking their bikes, back visiting us or friends elsewhere etc. Their aged Corolla is on its last legs and want something a big bigger particularly to get a couple of bikes and clobber in.

Know it’s a lottery in sub £3K vehicles, will look for a long MOT, some history and maybe something Japanese for reliability but any tips/leads on any lower insurance group petrol mpv/estates to look out for would be great. Cheers

For that money I’d go with boring and well known. A Mondeo is the one that immediately springs to mind. The challenge you’ll have is that most cars of that sort of size and age due to the 3.5k budget will be diesel as that was the future of motoring 10 years ago.

Edit: Seem to be some out there althoufh at that price eBay or FB marketplace are probably better options https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010185145934

SEAT Leon estate?

Corolla Verso

Nissan Almera Tino

Mazda 5

All petrol, dull and not likely to get nicked

I’d say Honda Accord estate but they’re few and far between, especially for £3k and under.
Volvo V50? There’s one here in Yate: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/54-VOLVO-V50-T5-SE-2-5-TURBO-AUTO-AUTOMATIC-ESTATE-CAR-TOW-BAR/333754891207

From reading your post, it sounds like it’s your kids that need a car, and you’re prepared to give them £3k. Does that £3k also include their insurance?

You say they drive other stuff, does that mean that they haven’t got any No Claims – if so as the main drivers, with you as the Additional Driver insurance will start to get pricey. Especially if they don’t live in the same house.

Getting something £3k that’s reliable AND has low insurance for young city based dwellers will require luck IMO.

C3 Picasso. Loads of room with the seats down. Loads of legroom in back. My son is 6’4″ and his knees dont hit the back of the driver’s seat. I’ve had 2 of these now. Current one is a 1.2 Puretech. Sips petrol and is only £30 a year tax. Apart from a wheel bearing on our first C3 Pic, an 09 1.6 Petrol, no mechanicals so far (touch wood) The 1.6 was a bit juicier at about 38 mpg and the BMW/Peugeot engine needed the oil topping up every 1000 miles. It was still a reliable car.

May I present the Dacia Logan Mcv 1.2 – group 3 insurance. £3.5k should get you something reasonable, loads of space. Had one as a hire care in Spain and it was budget motoring at its finest. It had clearly been abused by every driver who had ever got the keys and shrugged it off in a nonchalant french way which I guess is the Renault influence. Its not pretty but 1.2 engine is well proven and it should be cheap to run.
No good for ‘making progress’ or whatever its called but you are not going worry when it inevitably gets scratched/trashed in city life and as a bike car.

1.4 or 1.6 petrol Berlingo.

No one wants the petrol ones as they are woeful on fuel compared to the diesels.

Great utility and outdoorsy cars.

Avensis.

Renault Megane Scenic..

I have the 2008 version, it’s probably the most comfortable car I’ve ever owned.

I never started out to buy one, This one was given to me. It was my mums car. She was buying a new car and the dealer only offered her £500 trade in value because it was due a cam belt change.

This particular model has a 1.4 petrol engine does about 34mpg around town and if I’m careful I can push it up to 40mpg on a run. But for me the best bit about it is, I can remove the rear seats and turn into a van.

older Xsara Picasso, not quite an estate, but MASSIVE inside.

Avensis 41-2 mpg on a 1.8 petrol engine, when I was looking with broadly the same criteria nothing else came close. ‘The Flying Shoebox’ according to my dearest.

Thanks, some good suggestions there I’d not considered.
Yes I’m basically subbing them on this, they live in separate shared houses there one with free parking outside so that’s where it would be most of the time, their current old thing is registered in one of their names with the other as a named driver. They’re cool about sharing stuff as and when, no arguments, makes sense there. About 2 years NCB I think, about 6 months left on the current policy to swap when something else found, and will probably pay a difference (hopefully not massive). So the insurance group is important in the circumstances of their age, use and where they live. One likes the idea of a big old Volvo but will cost a fortune on fuel, tax, insurance etc so trying to keep it real. The other one doesn’t care at all what he uses.
I know it’s a bit of a tall order all in all, but thanks again for ideas of stuff to look at so far.

Octavia 1.4 or 1.6. Big boot with the rear seats flat. Drives like a smaller car. Good reliability.

The private car diesel ban in Bristol is almost certainly not happening now, think it’s most likely to change to just a private car ban. Check the new consultation on the council website.

Can you get a mk3 Focus with the little turbo petrol for that? If so, one of them. Lovely smooth engine, £30 tax, decent amount of room.

I would have said the same as chestrockwell, 2 years ago. I bought a 1.0 Focus Estate 5 years ago, and it’s exactly as said – but unfortunately there are a lot of engine problems developing. Mine’s been fine, so far, but the Ecoboost engine seems to have pushed the limits. It has no tolerance to overheating, and up to 2015 had a pipe in the cooling system that was prone to fail. It has a timing belt that runs in oil, and was supposed to last the life of the car, but probably won’t. It’s a 12hr workshop job to change it, and as it ages it sheds fibres that clog the oil pump. Lots of horror stories, although I’ve no way of knowing what the percentage of cars affected is.

Vauxhall Meriva – impressive load space for a small car

+1 for 1.4 Turbo Octavia. Nothing bad to say about my 2011 mark 2 facelift, apart from water pumps.
Not that fast with 90kw, but economical at 6.5L/100km. Colossal room with the seats down & still small enough to be nippy around town.
The 1.6 non turbo might be cheaper to insure, but will be slower & thirstier, 75kw & 7.8L/100km (your market might have different options)

I’d be wary of turbos at that stage of a car’s life.

Skoda roomster

Renault scenic is a good call, petrol is less desirable than diesel, but you should easily get one within budget.
The seats come out, effectively making it a small van.
Citroen berlingo is similar to use, maybe slightly less comfy to drive.
Fwiw, i had a scenic, I didn’t like it, but it was comfy, good to drive and took 2 bikes easily with the rear seats out.

Ref: diesels and big volvos.

Check the maths, if most of its use is going to be big trips elsewhere then a few congestion charges might be insignificant.

I’d be wary of turbos at that stage of a car’s life.

Conversely you can buy a new core (i.e. the moving parts) for £70-£100 for a lot of models so its cheaper to fix a £3k car on the driveway than the same car 5 years ago when it was £15k and taken to a main dealer for the same fault and charged £1k+.