The indisputable greatest family & bike lugging car for £5k-£8k ?

With permission from Mrs Slim to take the plunge on a car that we can finally feel happy to own, I have the potential to spend circa 8k on a roomy family car that will double as a weekend bike lugging machine.

Ideally no more than 4 or 5 years old, economical as possible (1.9TD VAG previously owned & enjoyed).
A few toys and creature comforts would be appreciated, as would something easy on the eye.
The perfect car in my eyes would be able to swallow at least one bike in the boot with minimal fuss, as i’d like to avoid using roof bars/racks if possible.
Reliability and running costs are an important consideration.

After a bit of research my shortlist is as follows (all turbo diesel):

Passat Estate
Mondeo Estate
Mazda 6 Estate
Avensis Estate
Octavia Estate
VW Touran

Other ‘possibles’:
Fiat Multipla
Golf Estate
Focus Estate
Corolla Verso

We visited a VW dealership today and sat in a brand new Passat Estate and I was very impressed with the quality feel throughout, and the toys /cubby holes etc. If previous models were as well fitted as this then its a strong contender. A quick browse looks as though i could get something like an 07/08 plate with around 50k-60k on the clock in a fairly good spec.
Is the Octavia better all round? (ive read that the boot is much more roomy than a Passat), Is the superb folding rear seat on a Mazda6 a deal sealer?

Any other obvious contenders ive missed?

Drove a zafira today, it was a surprisingly decent drive, prefered it to my mates Octavia estate, just felt more comfy, and was massive inside.

Is the boot in the Passat better than it used to be? Ours was all pinched in.

Mondeo is incomprehensibly vast in the back, you could park a Mondeo in it.

I have, or my wife has…. a 56 plate VW Passat. 2.0. Absolutely brilliant car, drives very well and has a very good sized boot. Two kids plus extra bagadge in their foot wells if need be. Had a few VWs over the years and can’t say a bad word about them.

For what its worth I drive a RAV4 (06 plate), there is less length to the car so not so much space in the back seats and boot, but interestingly it eats my Orange Five in one. The Passat insists I take the front wheel off.

Of the two though the Passat is the better family car, drives better as well. Just be prepared to wince first time you do a complete tank fill. 70 litres costs a lot 😯 you do get around 600 miles out of it though.

I need to check out a Mondeo, ive heard good things about them, just a little concerned about reliability of Ford’s in general once they hit round 80k, ive heard of niggles and know people that have needed to throw money at them at this point.

I’ll also look at the Zafira, I like the Meriva too. I’ve counted Vauxhalls out in the past mainly as I hate their indicator system! 🙂

Is the boot in the Passat better than it used to be? Ours was all pinched in.

apparently not, and although a good size, it doesnt look vast and seems pinched in like you mention

Mondeo is incomprehensibly vast in the back, you could park a Mondeo in it.

sounds great, does it take a bike in one?
I’ve read on numerous occasions that the Octavia is bigger in the boot though

FWIW, I’ve had 4 folk and 4 bikes (with gear) in a Multipla. Unlike most other cars, the rear seats are completely removable, which means you get a lot more internal space when you don’t need them.

sounds great, does it take a bike in one?

easily

BUT

57 plate onward ford mondeos are really, really iffy with regards to the build quality and auto electrics. we’ve had multiple faults on all the company fleet cars, ranging from random “just won’t start” through to complete replacement of dash boards and two with very dangerous intermittent faults to the point where I have refused to accept mine back as it’s just not safe.

older versions are more reliable but still have electrical gremlins

All those are shite.

Honda Accord Estate is where its at.

druidh – ill take a closer look at a Multipla, im also a fan of FIAT multijet diesel engine

tazzymtb – thanks for the info, thats exactly what I suspected with Ford in general. Makes me very wary of the Mondeo

slimjim78 – Member

sounds great, does it take a bike in one?

You could fit a few bikes in the other mondeo you’ve parked in the boot, as long as there’s not a mondeo in that one as well.

So easy… Vw t5 van. Window, carpet and day convrt yourself. Perfect vehicle for your initial question, and you will probably add value.

Holden Commodore VT Wagon. Amazing amount of room. can get a bike in the back with the wheels on!

Anyone here use a Mitsubishi L200?..

bigrich – Member

can get a bike in the back with the wheels on!

Assuming that’s with the back seats down, you can do that with a Focus. TBH I’d be pretty disappointed in any decent-sized estate that can’t do this

(Avensis can’t incidentally… Nice enough car but the boot space is amazingly small, it’s like an anti-tardis. Doesn’t have a flat boot-edge either IIRC which should be mandatory on estates, once you’ve had one everything else is obviously rubbish)

My choice will be …

1. Toyota Avensis estate
2. Skoda Octavia/Superb estate
3. VW Passat estate
4. Corolla Verso
5. VW Golf estate
6. Mazda 6 estate

Bin the rest …

Northwind, I totally agree and should state for clarity:

im after an estate that’ll take a bike in the boot without the rear seat having to lay flat.

Main reason is child seats in the back which are a pain to constantly remove and replace when needing to chuck the bike in for a couple of hours.
I also agree that estates should really have a flat loading area with the hatch up, something the Avensis, (and Passat to some degree) appear to fall short of.

Silly thing but if you want to lug with it have you checked the rear seats fold flat? I’m replacing mine and so many of my shortlist dont have fold flat rear seats!

Mondeo does I know, passat and focus on that list don’t quite fold flat – if you put bikes in like me handlebars down to maximise space it means the front forks rub on the headlining on some.

Check this site for some reviews but try not to trust it 100% … 😀

Some estate car reviews …

slimjim78 – Member

im after an estate that’ll take a bike in the boot without the rear seat having to lay flat.

Makes sense… TBH I’d be surprised if anything in your list can’t manage that but it’ll take various degrees of hassle I’m sure.

i’d settle for one that accepts a bike (or two) with front wheel removed, or, with 60/40 split rear seats so our child seat can remain in place.

I tend to whip out the outside seat on our touran, the bike goes in standing up leaving loads of boot room and the child seat can remain in place.

Honda Accord Tourer

We have an 06 Zafira. Excellent motor, very roomy and 7 seats too. The folding rear seats are brilliant, loads of combo’s. And it will fit 2 bikes easy

Mazda 5?

I have a Premacy diesel, which predated it. It swallows a 29er whole, no bother. You can fit a bike in the boot space with the seats still up. Rear seats are divided into 3 and can be folded flat or removed. Reliability and fuel frugality both pretty good. Just not very pretty.

The 5 is not quite as fugly as a lot of MPV type cars, though.

How about a Berlingo Multispace[/url] or Partner Teepee[/url] with the 1.6hdi?

We’ve been looking at one for ourselves and considering the cars overall size, they’re huge inside.

The rear seats fold up or can come out completely and they have a lot of headroom.

I measured the one we looked at and the load width even at it’s narrowest is around 120 cm’s, whilst the load length is approx 99 cm’s with all the rear seats in place and then around 160 cm’s with the rear seats removed.

The Berlingo Multispace and Partner Teepee also has up to 3000 litres of luggage space compared to 1745 litres of a Mondeo estate.

The fuel economy seems pretty good as well at over 50mpg’s.

Seat Altea XL..lots of room and comes with the standard 1.9TD engine that works.

Citroen Berlingo Multispace. ‘kin Rad….
2 kids, 2 adults, 4 bikes and accoutrements….

I’ve heard far too many horror stories about the 05-11 Passat to ever go near one.

Here are a few Berlingo’s to give you an idea on prices etc.

ive just had the same dilema and ended up going for a touran.

the reasons are that :-

* its more versatile than a passat.

* the middle row of seats is all seperate and can move forward or backwards to give a bigger or smaller boot.

* the boot is a better shape than the passat in that you do not get wheel arches eating into the space.

* can also be a 7 seater.

* doesnt have the electronic parking brake.

* seem to hold their value better than a passat

Ive just paid £9000 for a 57 plate vw touran 2.0 tdi sport, 1 owner, full history and 55k on the clock.

Ive been looking for ages and you can still find 55 plat cars going for £7500 plus.

I drive the sports version of the Zafira at work and its easily one of the crappiest cars I’ve used. Admittedly it’s a police car and gets slightly more robust use than a family run about. But it’s slow, the turning circle is appalling, the steering is dead, it’s quite slow (especially compared to the 330d I also use regularly), the ride is very harsh and it gets upset mid corner by the slightest bump.

If it was my money I’d be looking at the Mazda estate, Mondeo or Octavia. The Octavia is slightly smaller seating wise but still has a big boot. I’ve got the new shape VRS and it’s lovely.

octavia has less rear leg room than a passat.

passat has less rear leg room than a mondeo.

I looked at a 60 plate top of the range mondeo demonstrater at a dealers. only had 6k on the clock and it was starting to look tatty inside already !!

You can get a late previous shape Mondeo ST TDCI easily within budget, low miles and good nick.
Brilliant cars. Powerful and pretty economical. Loads of toys even compared to newer cars. Recaro seated cars are worth tracking down, they were option extras on the Diesel ST.

i’d settle for one that accepts a bike (or two) with front wheel removed, or, with 60/40 split rear seats so our child seat can remain in place.

Peugeot 407 SW is what I have, it does the above and has a flat load area, and is a pug, which means that although everything ancillary will stop working in a comedy french fashion the mechanical bits will work forever.

I just can’t get my head round the hideous door cards on the old shape Mondeo- just look horrid.

Guess you’ll probably hear horror stories about any car, at some point things will wear whatever you have! For what its worth, I have a Mondeo on a 57 plate (last of the old shape so go a lot nmore/ lower millage for my money!) had it for a year now and hasn’t skipped a beat at all.

On the bike side, this weekend I had three whole bikes in the back and two on the roof and still fitted three passangers in (just!) I’ve been really impressed with it so far!

You can get a late previous shape Mondeo ST TDCI easily within budget, low miles and good nick.
Brilliant cars. Powerful and pretty economical. Loads of toys even compared to newer cars. Recaro seated cars are worth tracking down, they were option extras on the Diesel ST.

This is pretty much what I did!

splendid advice guys, thanks. I have plenty of new options to chew over.

I’m going to write off the Passat as ive now also heard too many negative comments.
Ill also check out the Touran a bit closer, I sat in one at VW dealership (brand new) and really liked the comfort, but wasnt totally convinced with the boot, but hearing about the versatile middle seat arrangement is good news.
I’m also keen to at least try out a Berlingo for size, only real sticking point is that for the money I half expected a bit of a quality feel, and although cars like Berlingo’s are extremely versatile, I cant help but feel like im sitting in a chunky plastic tonka toy. I can get over it, but not sure the wife will feel the same!

Despite a few naysayers, I think the previous shape Mondeo is still a strong contender.
But then im a fan of anything Peugeot and diesel…why is this such a dificult decision!?!

Does anyone have good reasons as to not consider an L200? Asides from losing around 10mpg (which may well be a dealbreaker) they look to cover all bases and then some.