Used family car conundrum. Advice?

[Family_Guy81]

Our current Golf MK6 1.6 TDI has been a great car, but will soon not pass the ULEZ. We have a 3yr old and 5yr old, so need a family car that suits our needs. Petrol and auto preferably. Budget is max £20k.

Dilemma is, the wife is concerned about having something too big, and would be happy just having a newer Golf. My concern is we will outgrow this pretty quickly (kids getting bigger, family holidays with all the luggage, etc). It’s alredy a push when we go for a week away (roof box and foot wells fully loaded).

Wife isn’t a fan of SUVs and tend to agree (ride quality and usable boot space). Am I wrong? Estate is an option, but need the wife to be able to drive this as well so maybe too big? Or simply a case of her adjusting? I guess for the family car owners out there how much space really is needed?

Is there a good middle option I’m missing? Any advice?

 

[sovietspybob]

I'm no fan of SUV's as you point out you don't actually get any more usable space than a hatchback but they are huge to drive around and park with worse MPG and higher running costs, worst of all worlds.

You could go with a small estate, a focus/golf sized one? They're not much bigger than a hatch but with a usefully bigger boot for stuff.

My wife only ever drove fairly small cars before, Yaris, MX5, Clio etc but she's been fine with our Toyota Avensis estate which is pretty huge and makes family life a lot easier with all the extra space but living in London i guess that may be too big?

Other option is going electric if you're worried about zones and stuff? The new MG5 estate looks good, also the Hyundai Ioniq is a nice family car size and can be had for the 20k mark. But only really works if you've got a dedicated parking place where you could get a charger installed.

 

[nas]

GTD estate, and you won't need to spend the full £20k either.

 

[inflames]

Think golf/focus estates would be a call here. Something like a 3 series touring, A4 could also be a call. They aren’t a full size estate but with plenty of space.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

What about a mid sized MPV like a 2 series active or grand touring. Not pretty, but nicely done

 

[Abyss]

Wife isn’t a fan of SUVs and tend to agree (ride quality and usable boot space). Am I wrong? Estate is an option, but need the wife to be able to drive this as well so maybe too big? Or simply a case of her adjusting? I guess for the family car owners out there how much space really is needed?

Is there a good middle option I’m missing? Any advice?

I'm no fan of SUV's as you point out you don't actually get any more usable space than a hatchback but they are huge to drive around and park with worse MPG and higher running costs, worst of all worlds.

I don't really get this concept that an SUV doesn't have any more usable space for a similar size. I'll compare it with two cars I've owned (appreciate these are bigger than you are looking for):

Audi A4 estate
4.762m long
2.022m wide (inc mirrors)
1.847m wide (exc mirrors)

Skoda Kodiaq
4.697m long
2.087m wide (inc mirrors)
1.882m wide (exc mirrors)

So the Kodiaq is 6.5cm shorter but 6.5cm wider.

In the Kodiaq I get:

• 630L boot space below the load cover (or 720L in the 5 seat version) versus 490L in the A4. In real terms this is absolutely huge. I could barely fit anything other than the pram in the A4 below the boot cover, the Kodiaq swallowed up everything we packed for a week on the Isle of Wight with the load cover pulled over it
  
• A substantially more practical car including things like huge door pockets, 2 glove compartments, 7 seats if needed, sliding/reclining rear seats, better interior space etc. It's just generally in another league in terms of usable space.
  
• A car that is basically the same size as an A4 estate so no bigger to park, drive around etc
• The only real downsides are it's less engaging to drive, doesn't handle as well and the MPG is lower.

For a family that's currently having to use roof boxes and footwells on a Golf I'd be looking at things like the Skoda Karoq as a far more practical option for you. It's only about 10cm longer than the latest Golf but gives you up to 588L of boot space with the seats push forward versus 381L for the current Golf.

 

[uchuff]

Skoda Octavia? The 1.4 / 1.5 petrol engines are nice and they have bags of room. Getting something with more space that the missus would be happy driving was a key goal when purchasing, she's only 5 foot tall and was coming from a Punto and she really liked it.

We went manual though, I wasn't convinced on the reliability of the dry clutch DSG boxes in the standard power models, the wet clutch in the VRS seemed better.

 

[xs2man]

Golf Estate seems like the obvious choice here does it not? Your wife would be happy with a newer Golf, and you fear for a bit more space. Job jobbed.

 

[Relentless81]

Have a look at the Honda civic the boot is large for the class of car, not sure if the 1.0 and 1.5 litre petrol engines come in an auto though

 

[ZG002]

Golf estate, Leon ST (estate), Octavia either normal hatch (they offer a fair bit more space than the others in normal hatch form) or estate for more room.

All available with various petrol engines, I currently run a Leon with the 1.4 tsi with 150bhp and I get north of 40mpg which I think is decent.

Then they all have the option of DSG and you won't need to spend that £20k budget if you are willing to pick up a late model, both the Leon and Octavia have just had a new model release.

 

[NVP]

My wife used to drive a 207 but she's fine with my 5 estate. Smaller estates are pointless.

I've a 1 and 3 year old and my 5 is already getting tight and I've got an XL sized roof box too. No way I'd suggest getting smaller for the sake of it taking a tad longer for my wife to learn.

Currently on a family trip away, roof box full and boot full. 1 year old is already kicking the back of my chair. My kids are giants like their daddy though.

Spoiler

For @Acme

 

[xs2man]

My wife used to drive a 207 but she's fine with my 5 estate. Smaller estates are pointless.

I've a 1 and 3 year old and my 5 is already getting tight and I've got an XL sized roof box too. No way I'd suggest getting smaller for the sake of it taking a tad longer for my wife to learn.

Currently on a family trip away, roof box full and boot full. 1 year old is already kicking the back of my chair. My kids are giants like their daddy though.

Spoiler

For @Acme

To be fair, I also found this to be the case with my 5 series. I wouldn't want a smaller car for a growing family. I too had 2 young kids. When we bought the Alhambra the kids were much happier too, as they had extra space, sat higher with bigger windows, so they could see more too. We ended up not using the 5 series nearly as much (when we thought the Alhambra would just be for the occasional use when we NEEDED more space, it turned into the daily, and the BMW ended up the occasional car where I just wanted something a little nicer to drive). It took the wife all of 10 minutes to get used to the extra size of first the BMW, then the Alhambra. She still hasn't driven the Caravelle yet, but that's not unusual, as she usually takes a couple months before she wants to drive a new car.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Why so you need to carry around so much stuff?

Plenty of families have cars far smaller than a 5 series estate. They are huge, unless you have more than the average 2.4 children then it's difficult to see why nothing short of a minibus will do for people these days

 

[sovietspybob]

Why so you need to carry around so much stuff?

Plenty of families have cars far smaller than a 5 series estate. They are huge, unless you have more than the average 2.4 children then it's difficult to see why nothing short of a minibus will do for people these days

Do you have kids yourself?

Sure you can manage with a Corsa and 2 kids but why would you do that when you have the option to not struggle!

Having the kids not kick the back of your seat, space for a pram or bikes and still able to put shopping in the car are hugely useful and make life less stressful.

 

[xs2man]

Why so you need to carry around so much stuff?

Plenty of families have cars far smaller than a 5 series estate. They are huge, unless you have more than the average 2.4 children then it's difficult to see why nothing short of a minibus will do for people these days

It's not just about the need to carry about so much stuff every time though. A lot comes down to ease of day to day use too. For example, it was much easier buckling in both kids in the Alhambra than it was in the 5 series. It's easier now with my Focus because they can buckle themselves in now, but if they couldn't, it would be harder again than the other two cars.

As regards to the "carrying so much stuff", that would also depend on how much you are out and about I guess. For example, when my two were younger, we needed to take a buggy with us. That took up at least half the room in the boot of our 5 series. It took up most of the boot of our e91 3 series (as we couldn't fit it in the boot lengthways like we could in the 5 series, it had to sit across the boot, and took up most of it). Which is fine for a day out. But a struggle when you are going for a decent sized weekly shop. And pretty much you couldn't take the kids if you were hitting Ikea or Costco or something. And yes, we did manage to absolutely ram pack the boot of the 5 series estate and get away for a weekends camping a couple of times, but it was MUCH easier going away on such "adventures" in the Alhambra. Now though, without the need for a buggy, the Focus is fine for day to day running about. In fact, even the Clio is ok, although a bit more awkward with only 3 doors.

As the kids get older though, so their friends want to come along too. Or if you are trying to give someone else a lift, it's a struggle when 2 kids are in child seats, to squeeze someone else in the car too. My petite wife could just about squeeze herself between the seats, allowing whoever we picked up to sit in the front, but it wasn't comfortable, and she wouldn't do it for very long. By comparison, the other week there we had to take her parents down to Glasgow for a lift to a funeral, and it was simple in the Caravelle. We then picked up her (the wifes) 3 nephews to babysit while her sister took the parents to the funeral. So 4 kids seats, one teenager and the wife, along with a weeks worth of kids / teenages clothes was easy. Sure, that doesn't happen every day. But for us, often enough to warrant the big car.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Do you have kids yourself?

No and this thread has only added to my reasons why not

 

[phil675]

Having a conundrum myself deciding on my next car (not in a rush to buy). The Avensis I have has nothing wrong with it but 3 kids is starting to become a squeeze and as it's 15 years old may simply give up one day. I really don't want an MPV but looking at Sharans, Zafiras, Tourneo's etc they are really well designed and fit for purpose. What I would have is a Discovery 4 but they say don't buy one out of warranty which puts the price a bit too high for me. Wish there was a car that size without all the 4x4 bits that I'm not interested in, or a saloon with wide MPV seats. Did look at Kodiaqs but I wasn't that impressed with the interior.

 

[xs2man]

Having a conundrum myself deciding on my next car (not in a rush to buy). The Avensis I have has nothing wrong with it but 3 kids is starting to become a squeeze and as it's 15 years old may simply give up one day. I really don't want an MPV but looking at Sharans, Zafiras, Tourneo's etc they are really well designed and fit for purpose. What I would have is a Discovery 4 but they say don't buy one out of warranty which puts the price a bit too high for me. Wish there was a car that size without all the 4x4 bits that I'm not interested in, or a saloon with wide MPV seats. Did look at Kodiaqs but I wasn't that impressed with the interior.

Mercedes R-Class? You can get them with the AMG engine for proper family lols. Not overly common, but look like a good compromise between space / seats and a car like experience.

But yeah, Sharan / Alhambra / Galaxy are the best fit for the job. Touran / S-Max are a bit smaller / more car like, but you are more compromised on space. Disco 4 is a great choice, but they can really be hit or miss with regards to reliability. LR extended warranty is about £1500 a year last time I checked, so not cheap, that's for sure. If you buy from LR dealership though, should get you 2 years included (at least last time I checked), so that's worth £3k compared to non-LR dealer. Volvo XC90 is another contender here (with respect to 3 proper seats in the back / middle). I have heard XC60 too, but I have no first hand experience of that.

I guess I'm lucky(?) in that I have a genuine need for more than one vehicle, and so didn't really need to compromise so much with any of them. So my VW Caravelle is huge, and perfect for taking the kids everywhere, or going to Ikea / Costco etc. But it is essentially a van, so not for everyone. And not particularly cheap to run as a daily, although perfectly do-able. My kids are now bigger, so don't need the huge car seats, or buggies, so my Ford Focus (mk3.5) is fine as a cheap, runabout daily car for local trips and stuff. Then I have my Clio 197 for if I just want a fun blast on the twistie stuff (and airport / train station runs, so actually having a boot is useful, before anyone suggests that car should be an mx5 or caterham or something for the fun car). So none of the cars are REALLY compromised to too large a degree. Whereas almost every other suggestion would be compromised to some degree if you only need one car.

 

[NVP]

Why so you need to carry around so much stuff?

Plenty of families have cars far smaller than a 5 series estate. They are huge, unless you have more than the average 2.4 children then it's difficult to see why nothing short of a minibus will do for people these days

Just have a look at this:



That's folded haha! It goes in the roof box fully dismantled so I can fit the suitcases in the boot lol.

A double buggy does kill space but was needed as one baby still required a bassinet whilst the other was in a chair.

 

[phil675]

Mercedes R-Class? You can get them with the AMG engine for proper family lols. Not overly common, but look like a good compromise between space / seats and a car like experience.

I did look at the R-Class but the fuel economy, age of the cars and my family's expensive experience with Mercedes put me off. I have a motorbike for going fast so I'm not massively bothered by a car on the slow side, just don't like the image of a mumvan. I'll probably pick up a Superb estate next year, the back is quite huge, they seem to be reliable and cheap to run.