Hello,

There may be a big bill apporaching on the wife’s car, still working fine at present but unlikely to pass MOT next Feb, so got a few months to look for a replacement.

Looking for smallish petrol estate, Astra/Focus size probably, maybe Fabia.

These have reasonable boots with the back seats down but add a third or fourth person and suddenly the boot isn’t that great. So I was thinking, Fiat Multipla and Honda FRV might be smaller but with three seats in the front are their boots actually larger when there are three or four people inside as more seats can remain folded?

Anyone got a Multipla/FRV? How does the boot compare to a normal estate with people on board? Not just volume, which I can google, but size/shape etc, mainly for carrying bikes, no problem taking wheels off.

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Anything else with three front seats other than a Defender or the Scudo/Dispatch/Expert?

Cheers.

Nothing I can think of with 3 front seats, but how about the Ibiza estate (ST) or the Fabia version?

We’ve got a Citroen C3 Picasso for child lugging duties that is small (a foot or so shorter than a Focus) but has a fairly large boot because the seats are so upright.

It’s not been the most reliable car I’ve owned, but is very practical. Rear seats slide too, so you can sacrifice leg room in the back for boot space if need be.

Anything tall with a 70/30 rear split seat will take 3 people and 3 bikes.

Even better if you can remove the 70 fully and easily.

Mrs t-r drives a Peugeot partner because same reasons.

Triple front seats tend to be fixed passenger seats and not all that fun to sit in as a passenger and even worse if 2 of you are doing it.

Have you considered the Skoda roomster?

Large boot, tall roof line and I believe that you can remove individual seats in the rear

I had an older Multipla.

Brilliant car until the cambelt went early. Easy to load bikes in.

My wife has a Honda Civic hatchback (2008). The boot is astounding and the rear seats are very versatile in their folding options. If you can find an estate version it has to be worth a look.

The simple answer to compact, bike friendly for 3 is Berlingo….

We have Ibiza Estate, and it’s great as tiny car with huuuuge boot. But it’s not ultimately as big as a Fabia Estate, which would be better.

The other practical answer is a Focus or V40 – none too big for day to day, yet quite square inside.

Multipla boots are tiny with the rear seats in use.

Honda civic +1, I’m on my 2nd one now. Had a fabia estate in between, the Honda is better in every way. Seats fold down flat, space is huge, and seats fold up too, giving good space in rear footwell too.

Skoda Yeti or new Karoq? Both are not huge and (depending on spec) can have 1,2, or all three rear seats removed giving good load space. tsi engines seem reliable.

I’ve got the latest version of the skoda fabia estate. It does have a pretty big boot for the size of the car but as mentioned above, the rear seats don’t sit flush wit the boot floor when folded down which can be a pain sometimes.

You wont get bikes in the back without putting at least part of the back seats down, my other concern with loading a load of bikes inside it was the glass roof which takes up most of the roof. I couple of times when loading/unloading, my handlebars have knocked against the roof and I’ve had images of somehow breaking the glass. I now use a roof rack for the bikes most of the time as it’s easier/cleaner.

In short, although it has a decent boot for a tiny car, i don’t think this is the car you’re looking for.

Golf: I get my 29er in the boot, with front wheel off, plus luggage.

We’ve got a Citroen C3 Picasso…

It’s not been the most reliable car I’ve owned, but is very practical. Rear seats slide too, so you can sacrifice leg room in the back for boot space if need be.

I’ve had no reliability issues with mine, certainly not an exciting drive but comfortable enough. Split rear is great and I’ve had three full grown blokes in mine with bikes and kit for a days ride, comfortable enough* for an hour or two each way but takes some teslation skills. I’ve regularly managed to get the wife and I, two or three bikes, riding kit and luggage for a week away in the car comfortably too.

Had three people plus two medium bikes in my Leon estate at the weekend. Medium CX bike and medium hybrid. Front wheels off. Wasn’t the best fit. Current geometry mtbs would have had both wheels off.

Previous car was a Civic hatch, with the smart seating (can sit the base of the seat up) and complete fold flat it seemed to have a much bigger boot than it had any right to have. Lots of options to stack kit in the back seat space too with it folded up. My golf clubs seem to take up more room in the estate than they did in the hatch, may have been as the false floor was always set to low on the Civ but not the Leon.

If you’re trying to get three bikes plus three people the Civic/Focus size would be the absolute minimum I’d start looking at.

Possibly over budget but the new style 308 estate is huge and definitely seems to be a return to form (think 205, 306) for Peugeot in terms of handling and looks.

I’ve had no reliability issues with mine

Lucky You 😉

Ours didn’t get off to a good start when it ground to a halt on the entry slip to the A14, 20 mins after picking it up.
Turns out the fuel sender was faulty, so the gauge was showing 2 bars of fuel left when it was completely dry. Took the dealer 3 attempts to fix, each time telling me that they’d definitely fixed it.

Then we had the passenger door lock fail, causing the entire car to look with my daughter in the car. Luckily, my Wife had picked the keys up off the passenger seat, where they had been sitting until shortly before. Again, the incompetence of Richard Sanders, Northampton meant that 2 trips were necessary to get it sorted.

Front ‘power socket’ (cig lighter) failed, which we asked them to check at the same time as the door lock – it’s definitely not the fuse, sir; it’s the socket itself. Another 2 trips to replace the socket – they ordered the wrong one and eventually we checked the fuse ourselves, and guess what…..it was the fuse.

Rear exhuast bracket completely rusted through.

It needs about 0.5 litres of oil every 750 miles (1.6 Petrol VTi)

In hot weather (>25 deg. C) we get an ‘anti-pollution sensor faulty’ warning that randomly appears & disappears when the weather cools back down again.

I like the practical, sensible, family-friendly aspects of the car, but would not go near another Citroen (or the Richard Sanders dealership network) – even with your barge pole.

Golf: I get my 29er in the boot, with front wheel off, plus luggage.

Pic?

I am puzzled as to how a golf boot takes a bike with only one wheel off. Our V70 takes a bike sans wheels, but not one with wheels.

Edit: Golf boot and bike

And this may help

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/my-bike-in-my-car/page/2/

Was impressed with a Golf plus that I borrowed the other weekend .

I read the thread title as this:

Just logged in to see what pearls of wisdom you lot had to impart and came accross the spoof thread first, love it, the internet really does need more cat pictures.

Anyway, consensus above seems to be, apart from one who loved a less than reliable Multipla, than a conventional layout is best. This is good as the wife is now looking for an Avensis estate… Anyone got a petrol Avensis estate going, good nick and under £3k?

My choice of estate would be a diesel Accord or Mondeo but it’s not my choice and from what I’ve heard the Avensis is a bit smaller but very reliable? Doesn’t need to be exciting.

I had new shape Avensis as he car on holiday. It was the CVT gearbox on petrol 1.8.

Lots of toys, good space, huge boot with seats up.

Seats were comfy enough.

But, the CVT I just couldn’t live with. Utterly dreadful thing – it would rev up to 4-6k revs and barely move. Force it into a higher gear and it would go.

Friends have slightly older model that just shat it’s timing belt at 5yrs/50k on diesel engine

Newer Toyota autoboxes are not good.

Avensis petrol estates are good cars. I’ve had several, older pre- and post 2002? Shapes. The older you go, the worse underside corrosion will be, although the further south the car has spent it’s life, the better. They are workmanlike cars of acceptable (but not Volvo/Saab) comfort.

You could get something nice for 2k

Old civics post 2006 are spacious with the rear seats down as mentioned and are decent but I prefer estates if you can get away with them

^ belt change on pre 2008? Diesels is important as they go eary. Post 2008 are chain driven I believe

Will be petrol/manual whatever we go for so hopefully will avoid the issues as per above. New belt is standard procedure on purchase of a new (to us) car, unless said car is actually cheaper than the belt change, as haas been known.

Volvo V70/Saab 9-5 would be nice but running costs a wee bit higher. Found a 2L petrol Legacy estate, 2006 with 71k for £3k but can’t pursaude the wife.

Now becomiing a much a more normal “what estate for £x” thread. Her 18yr old Yaris has been very good, hence looking for another Toyota, but going to need a new fuel tank, plus exhaust and wheel bearings, and with the arrival of mini-H it is a bit too small so a good time for a replacement.Petrol Accords even rarer than petrol Avensises (what is the plural of Avensis?) Might just be boring an predicatble and end up with a Mondeo, loved my old one, was still going strong when the local garage killed it at 145k. Deathly dull but good boot, economical, reliable and very comfy. Not my choice this time though, I’ll have what she chooses, can only advise.