12 months, 15 mile commute, dog + countryside

[Tom_Spotley_When]

After my Jag died at MOT time earlier this year, I’m in need of a new car. A general apathy to new cars and a keenness to save some money before we have kids puts me in need of a new car with a likely budget of about £5k

Trouble is, I have no idea where to start and have likely over thought this massively.

- My commute has gone from 60 - 15 miles/day, so i reckon petrol’s probably better
- I live and work in the countryside. My commute is 60% single lane a-road, 40% unclassified country lanes in a morning. Evening is 60% country lanes, 35% B Road through a couple of villages and 5% a road. I’ll most likely whack some winter/all season tyres on it to get through the worst of winter
- I spend most weekends carting either a Golden retriever dog/bike/stuff about, so 4 seats a must
- Comfy enough for a couple of longer trips when Covid allows
- Not too fussed about manual/auto
- I like estates, sports cars and full-size SUV’s.
- With the exception of my old MX-5, I’m not a huge fan of Japanese cars
- I’d like to try and avoid any big maintenance bills
- I like heated seats

What would you buy?

£5k
Big Estate/SUV
Reliable/cheap to fix

Grand Cherokee? Merc ML? X5?
Volvo of some form?

Avoiding a big Kia/Hyundai type thing - they don’t inspire at all