Which Vehicle???

[Hudson1984]

Hi all,

well i'm still looking for my next vehicle...still can't quite decide on the route to take.

I want to spend about £5,000, It's not going to be the "flashy" car on the drive, it's a work horse.

The requirements:

We've 1 noisemaker (son)
1 Dog
and the wife and I

So that's all fairly simple.

The dog has a pretty large cage (it's crash tested and stuff so pretty heavy duty)
and children of course come with a raft of crap too.

Anyway, at the moment we're down to 1 car as the wife's on maternity and I now permanently work from home so our XC60 does it all.

It's pretty good in this role but i'm after something a little less nice to do the dump runs and trips to B&Q etc. Plus the dog mostly gets covered in mud when he's out so ideally we can keep the XC for nice jobs and the new car for the messy work.

We are planning on a second child (glutton for punishment) and we do like a camping holiday - by camping I mean cottages - the wife won't do tents.

I'd been thinking perhaps an s-max or a galaxy, but I don't think that's much different to what we have from the XC, the boot would largely be taken by the cage, and the mid row would be used as normal but of course all fold down for dump runs etc - which is what we already do with the volvo...

So perhaps a crew van or a caravelle? something completely flexible and a proper van when required.

Ideally I can find something to leave the cage in, but if I do need a whole load bed then just something with a boxy rear would make getting the damned thing back in would be great.

So:
Smax?
Galaxy?
Caravelle? (not really in budget though)
Crew van?
Nissan Pathfinder or similar?
Discovery commercial?

I'm lost.

Oh and a standard estate is too low in the roof for the cage so can't go that route.

[Hudson1984]

just on this, looking at the Smax and Galaxy, they don't seem to have load points in the boot - which will make securing the cage a problem...

so maybe not one of those

[Bumblebee7]

Citroen Berlingo, massive boot and sliding doors making it a doddle to get kids in and out. Isofix on both outer rear seats from cars 2009 onwards.

The wife and I are planning on having kids in the not so distant future so I'm forward planning what car/cars to get. Thinking small crossover for nice stuff for the wife, something sporty for me but with 4 seats and a Berlingo as a tip run/surfing etc. car.

Atm I've got a Honda Civic which would do fine as a family car, and an MX5 which would be less good. Thinking of something like Honda CRV for wife, Toyota GT86 for me and a Berlingo for local day out duties.

[Hudson1984]

yeah not really my cup of tea, and to be honest, a bit small. I'd probably take the Smax over a berlingo (If I can confirm the load point issue)

I do like the sliding door option though, which the C4 has I beleive.

[Smurfsarepeopletoo]

Skoda Octavia or Superb Estate?

I have an Octavia VRS Estate, has about 8 or 10 points in the boot for attaching straps, boot is a good size, can get them in loads of different specs to suit.

The Superb is even bigger, and you can get the 280 version if you want something fairly quick.

[Hudson1984]

would love one, but the cage is too tall to go in the boot.

could get a smaller cage but don't think the dog would fit sadly, and i'd begrudge replacing him

but yes, an estate ordinarily would be ideal just not in this scenario.

I have seen a couple of connects
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Transit-Connect-1-...

but over budget sadly as other than the price it's ideal (oh and a different colour)

[ZX10R NIN]

Nissan Elgrand:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-ELGRAND-RIDER-AU...OkAAOSwxq5dTsVQ

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELGRAND-CUSTOM-2-5-HIGH...

Hyundai i800

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008182...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/201911284...

Toyota Estima

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008202...

Toyota Alphard

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2008-TOYOTA-ALPHARD-2-4...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-Alphard-AS-Limit...