Kia Sportage, Nissan Qashquai or MAzda 6 or CX5?

[Zippee]

I've been asked to help my brother & SiL find a new car with a budget of 20k (so likely a year old unless people know of any cracking new deals).
After sending them a long list of possibilities they have narrowed it down to the 4 mentioned above and will be looking at them over the next couple of weeks but I'm after real world opinions of them, good or bad, what model/engine to go for in each case? auto or manual etc?

They have a 3 year old son so it needs to be reasonably roomy, they don't have oodles of cash so reliability, running costs, warranty length etc are all considerations along with comfort and toys.

I'm not after alternative suggestions just advice on those already mentioned

[Zippee]

Thanks all - got Kia and Nissan lined up for this Saturday and will take a look at Mazda with them in a couple of weeks.

[Zippee]

Just as a quick update we looked at the Qashqai which they loved.
then went to Kia and they were disappointed by the interior quality compared to the Nissan
Then they looked at the Optima as a bit of a curveball and they loved it. Loads of equipment as standard, oodles of room and a very comfy ride - nothing to set the road on fire but a pleasant and comfy place to do the miles in.
As such they'll shortly be purchasing an ex-demo spec 3 in Pearl white, 7 year warranty is a great help to them as well.