Mid-sized family car help please

schumi84

schumi84

schumi84

Soldato
Joined
5 Sep 2006
Posts
3,553
Location
West Ewell, Surrey
Hi there all of you in Motors, I'm after a little bit of advice with regards to buying a replacement for my wife's Ka which is going to be getting written off in the next month or so.

We're basically looking for a 5 door hatchback in the 3.5-7k price range and ideally no more than 4-5 years old. With regards to size, my wife doesn't want anything too big as driving isn't her favourite pastime and wants something that is nimble and easy to manoeuvre.

With all this in mind she quite likes the idea of the newer shape Fiesta and Corsa or the Suzuki Swift (she learned to drive in the Swift when they released the newer shaped one). I have thrown the Ibiza and Cee'd into the mix to see what is around and there seems quite a bit of choice.

We have been on the lookout for said cars driving around and all seem to fit the bill, however I was wondering whether anyone here has any first-hand experience with any/all of them or know of any reasons why some we should steer clear of.

I will also be insured to drive the vehicle and with regards to engine spec, anything between a 1.2 and 1.4 would be ideal and preferably petrol as we don't do long enough journeys on a daily basis to warrant a diseasel.

I hope that is enough information to go on, so any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks very much in advance :)
 

schumi84

schumi84

schumi84

Soldato
OP
Joined
5 Sep 2006
Posts
3,553
Location
West Ewell, Surrey
As I already had this thread open I thought I may as well add to it as I'm back in the market for a family car change. The car that it will be replacing is a 1.33 2009 (59 plate) Yaris (what we went for in the end to replace the Ka) which has served us really well but with a second child in the family we really need something that bit bigger to be able to cart everything about.

I've not been given too many show-stoppers other than it can't be a diesel (mainly down to the scaremongering that is currently going on regarding them) but also because the car will mostly be used for short journeys and we don't feel we'd benefit from it. The only other thing is that needs to be no older than the current car (up to 5 years old ideally).

With those criteria in mind my first port of call was a facelift Civic (circa 2012 plate) mainly due to the huge boot space and clever underseat storage in the back. We initially looked at the Astra and Focus but unless you go for the estate the boot space is disappointing from what I have read. I'm a big fan of the Octavia, again the boot space is excellent and class-leading so they're the cars I've been looking at on the hatchback side of things.

Unfortunely due to the 'no-diesel' rule it does limit us with the choice of estates available to us (where a Focus or Astra would be a viable option) and the majority of Octavias. I'm not a huge fan of SUVs if I'm being honest but I've not ruled them out if there is something out there that fits, the same goes for MPVs.

The last couple of long trips we've done we've borrowed my dad's 2008 Vectra which really emphasised the boot space issue we currently have and as a result my wife hasn't ruled out the bigger hatchbacks (I like the look of the Insignia but not completely sold on the build quality/reliability)

We've got a budget of £5k - £8k for this car and would be looking to keep it for the forseeable future (no more children planned) so if there was a car we really liked the look of that was a bit over then we'd consider it.

Any personal experiences on the cars mentioned or any obvious ones that I've left out would be greatly received :)

Thanks for reading
 

xs2man

xs2man

xs2man

Soldato
Joined
21 Jul 2008
Posts
4,931
If your considering moving up to Insignia sort of size, then the Superb or Mondeo would be the goto motors for this price range I would think. Otherwise Focus or Octavia.

Not sure how well the 1.4 TSI would work in a Superb, but this looks like it would fill your needs well : http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&page=1

Or maybe something like this for a Mondeo: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...o=9000&postcode=dd114tw&sort=year-desc&page=1

Or sacrifice age for spec and get this: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...gregatedTrim=Titanium X&sort=year-desc&page=1
 

schumi84

schumi84

schumi84

Soldato
OP
Joined
5 Sep 2006
Posts
3,553
Location
West Ewell, Surrey
Thanks for the input guys, apologies on my part as it's a bit of a thread necro, I'm guilty of not fully reading a thread until it's too late and check the original date.

The Mrs said she would consider anything so I'll point her in the direction of the Superb and see what she says.

I quite like the look of the Auris estate : http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...m=5000&postcode=kt199rb&sort=price-asc&page=8

The newer Mondeos have been on my radar as I know they tend to get quite a good rep here on the forums.

Sometimes having too much choice is almost worse than being limited.
 

DanTheMan

DanTheMan

DanTheMan

Soldato
Joined
11 Oct 2005
Posts
4,797
Location
Manchester, UK
Maybe too small but we've just bought a Fabia estate. We needed the boot space but not necessarily the rear passenger space of a larger car and this suited us perfectly. We only ever have children in the back but there's plenty of room for 2 adults.

Boot space wise, it's bigger than our vauxhall astra was and bigger than the focus estate we looked at. It feels tiny to drive and ticked the box of being a petrol estate. The 1.2tsi engine with 110bhp averages around 45mpg with mixed driving 50/50 around town and on motorways.
 

sovietspybob

sovietspybob

sovietspybob

Soldato
Joined
25 May 2008
Posts
3,767
Location
North Wales
Auris would be a good shout, i've got a 2010 Avensis estate with the 1.8 valvematic engine and it's been very reliable for the 3 years i've had it. You have to rev them to get the performance but that's to be expected without a turbo, the plus side to that is they're a lot simpler than the turbo engines in other cars so potentially less to go wrong which is one of the reasons i got mine.
 

jigger

jigger

jigger

Soldato
Joined
28 May 2007
Posts
18,298
paradigm said:
Wants bigger than a Yaris, contemplating Insignia, recommends Polo...

Classic OcUK motors :rolleyes:

I'd definitely look at the Superb if you are comfortable with a larger car, they offer very good value and great loadspace.
Click to expand...

Never been in a new Polo I see.
 

jigger

jigger

jigger

Soldato
Joined
28 May 2007
Posts
18,298
Cool so have I. Strange then you seem to imply it's too small to make a decent family car. I've had all those cars and apart form some level of limited boot space they are all large enough for two adults and two children.

[TW]Fox said:
Nobody has as its not out yet.
Click to expand...

So the current one would be the new one then wouldn't it...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom