Family car for under £5k
Discussion
Hi all.
Spent a good (amusing in places, worrying in others!) hour reading previous "family car" threads, but need your advice. We're having our first baby in May and currently, to my total shame and regret, drive about in a Micra. Always loved my cars, so you can imagine how I feel about this.
Anyway, we haven't really got a penny, so I have a budget of £5k which will have to do for a family car with a loan etc, and the sale of Mike the Micra. I had to name it because it's so awful.
We need a bit more space, but probably not S-Max size just yet. There are loads of options, even for £5k - but all will be high mileage, and that's my worry. What reasonably sized, reasonable to drive, family car can:
a) Fit baby / child seats
b) Enough luggage for all three of us, including pram / pushchair
c) Shopping and or my mum in the back!
d) Cope with a 500-mile round-trip once a month or so, and ideally be a pleasurable experience
e) Do more than 20mpg like Mike the Micra
There are Merc ML270s with 120k; an X5 with 114k; 2008 Golf, 118k (bit small?); 2004 Touareg, c90k. Any advice for a car in this price range, with 100k on the clock and one which will do another 100k without much drama?
Thanks
Will
Godalming
Spent a good (amusing in places, worrying in others!) hour reading previous "family car" threads, but need your advice. We're having our first baby in May and currently, to my total shame and regret, drive about in a Micra. Always loved my cars, so you can imagine how I feel about this.
Anyway, we haven't really got a penny, so I have a budget of £5k which will have to do for a family car with a loan etc, and the sale of Mike the Micra. I had to name it because it's so awful.
We need a bit more space, but probably not S-Max size just yet. There are loads of options, even for £5k - but all will be high mileage, and that's my worry. What reasonably sized, reasonable to drive, family car can:
a) Fit baby / child seats
b) Enough luggage for all three of us, including pram / pushchair
c) Shopping and or my mum in the back!
d) Cope with a 500-mile round-trip once a month or so, and ideally be a pleasurable experience
e) Do more than 20mpg like Mike the Micra
There are Merc ML270s with 120k; an X5 with 114k; 2008 Golf, 118k (bit small?); 2004 Touareg, c90k. Any advice for a car in this price range, with 100k on the clock and one which will do another 100k without much drama?
Thanks
Will
Godalming
Octavia?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
Full of toys, good for another 80k miles
Octy Estate:
Slightly fewer toys but fewer miles too:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
That's what I'd buy.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
Full of toys, good for another 80k miles
Octy Estate:
Slightly fewer toys but fewer miles too:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
That's what I'd buy.
mailliw said:
There are Merc ML270s with 120k; an X5 with 114k; 2008 Golf, 118k (bit small?); 2004 Touareg, c90k. Any advice for a car in this price range, with 100k on the clock and one which will do another 100k without much drama?ThanksWillGodalming
My hatred of all German cars is probably not entirely justified.. but is there any reason why your list only contains German cars?Benbay001 said:
My hatred of all German cars is probably not entirely justified.. but is there any reason why your list only contains German cars?
Ha - combination of me trawling Autotrader and plucking names from my head. That, and probably some unjustified sub-conscious admiration of all German cars for their dogged reliability and so on...X5s, MLs etc will have high running costs and most likely expensive repair bills.
Something the size of a Golf will be fine. I managed fine with a Mk1 Focus 5 door. Before you buy though, take your baby seat along with you to the test drive. Some cars have narrow rear door openings that are a pain to get the seat through, others also have seat belts that will barely reach around a baby seat.
We bought a 54-plate 1 Series after the Focus and it was a pain in that respect.
Something the size of a Golf will be fine. I managed fine with a Mk1 Focus 5 door. Before you buy though, take your baby seat along with you to the test drive. Some cars have narrow rear door openings that are a pain to get the seat through, others also have seat belts that will barely reach around a baby seat.
We bought a 54-plate 1 Series after the Focus and it was a pain in that respect.
We have a little one and a 10 year old 150k Octavia 4x4 estate. Probably only worth £2k, but does everything on your list and is all the car we need. I am thinking of changing it as I've had it 5 years/80k miles now and whilst it's never let me down and will probably do another 150k miles with little more than routine maintenance, I don't really enjoy driving it that much. We still need an estate and four wheel drive, but I'd like more performance, so probably going to look for a Legacy 3.0 Spec B - doing fewer miles as I cycle to work will help.
mailliw said:
Ha - combination of me trawling Autotrader and plucking names from my head. That, and probably some unjustified sub-conscious admiration of all German cars for their dogged reliability and so on...
Definitely unjustified, I'd also personally avoid things like DSG boxes and some of the PD diesels. (and probably diesel altogether, unless you do a lot of miles)I have a old 2003 Civic Type S as my current daily, available at a fraction of your budget, plenty of room for 4 of us, solid, reliable, chain cam etc etc and even a hint of PHness to it (2.0, 160bhp). I honestly don't know why most people *need* anything more than this if they just want some cheap family wheels (or a Focus mk1, Astra G, Mondeo mk2 etc)
Edited by danp on Sunday 4th January 20:43
Any medium size hatchback will do you fine with one child.
I'd go for a focus or mondeo. Or have a look at a Kia if you want good value for money.
Seeing as you say you don't have much money, I'm struggling to see why you are considering 10 year old 4x4 SUVs... They're not exactly famous for running on a shoe string budget.
I'd go for a focus or mondeo. Or have a look at a Kia if you want good value for money.
Seeing as you say you don't have much money, I'm struggling to see why you are considering 10 year old 4x4 SUVs... They're not exactly famous for running on a shoe string budget.
Edited by Matt UK on Sunday 4th January 20:46
If you're just doing "normal" baby duty then a Focus/Golf/1-series will be fine and you can always hire something bigger for the odd occasions you go on holiday, etc.
If you're regularly carting the baby around the country visiting people, something like a Mondeo will do the job perfectly.
5k should give you a lot of choice!
I wouldn't buy a people carrier until child 3 arrives
Chris
If you're regularly carting the baby around the country visiting people, something like a Mondeo will do the job perfectly.
5k should give you a lot of choice!
I wouldn't buy a people carrier until child 3 arrives
Chris
Your posts are a bit contradictory.
You said you don't want S max in your first post then say its favourite.
Said a V70 may be too big for your driveway yet mention X5's, M270's etc...
Personally I wouldn't touch a big SUV for £5k if you have a child on the way and have to get a loan to buy your car.
S Max's seem to hold their price so why not a C Max?
Cheap as chips, big enough for the 3 of you and loads around.
Everyone wants the TDCi's so save money and go for the 1.8 or 2.0 petrol.
You said you don't want S max in your first post then say its favourite.
Said a V70 may be too big for your driveway yet mention X5's, M270's etc...
Personally I wouldn't touch a big SUV for £5k if you have a child on the way and have to get a loan to buy your car.
S Max's seem to hold their price so why not a C Max?
Cheap as chips, big enough for the 3 of you and loads around.
Everyone wants the TDCi's so save money and go for the 1.8 or 2.0 petrol.
mailliw said:
Hi all.
Spent a good (amusing in places, worrying in others!) hour reading previous "family car" threads, but need your advice. We're having our first baby in May and currently, to my total shame and regret, drive about in a Micra. Always loved my cars, so you can imagine how I feel about this.
Anyway, we haven't really got a penny, so I have a budget of £5k which will have to do for a family car with a loan etc, and the sale of Mike the Micra. I had to name it because it's so awful.
We need a bit more space, but probably not S-Max size just yet. There are loads of options, even for £5k - but all will be high mileage, and that's my worry. What reasonably sized, reasonable to drive, family car can:
a) Fit baby / child seats
b) Enough luggage for all three of us, including pram / pushchair
c) Shopping and or my mum in the back!
d) Cope with a 500-mile round-trip once a month or so, and ideally be a pleasurable experience
e) Do more than 20mpg like Mike the Micra
There are Merc ML270s with 120k; an X5 with 114k; 2008 Golf, 118k (bit small?); 2004 Touareg, c90k. Any advice for a car in this price range, with 100k on the clock and one which will do another 100k without much drama?
Thanks
Will
Godalming
Hi Will I'd choose one of these:Spent a good (amusing in places, worrying in others!) hour reading previous "family car" threads, but need your advice. We're having our first baby in May and currently, to my total shame and regret, drive about in a Micra. Always loved my cars, so you can imagine how I feel about this.
Anyway, we haven't really got a penny, so I have a budget of £5k which will have to do for a family car with a loan etc, and the sale of Mike the Micra. I had to name it because it's so awful.
We need a bit more space, but probably not S-Max size just yet. There are loads of options, even for £5k - but all will be high mileage, and that's my worry. What reasonably sized, reasonable to drive, family car can:
a) Fit baby / child seats
b) Enough luggage for all three of us, including pram / pushchair
c) Shopping and or my mum in the back!
d) Cope with a 500-mile round-trip once a month or so, and ideally be a pleasurable experience
e) Do more than 20mpg like Mike the Micra
There are Merc ML270s with 120k; an X5 with 114k; 2008 Golf, 118k (bit small?); 2004 Touareg, c90k. Any advice for a car in this price range, with 100k on the clock and one which will do another 100k without much drama?
Thanks
Will
Godalming
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-MERCEDES-BENZ-C-CLA...
The reason I'd pick one of these is that you can fit in it comfortably big boot no cambelts or clutches to worry about low miles compared to 4x4's better fuel 30mpg town 45mpg motorway I was getting 35mpg, 49mpg on my re mapped one.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-Mercedes-Benz-C-Cla...
or if you need more space:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-E270-2-7TD...
I hope this helps
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