Budget MPV advice

[Bubbs999]

Hi all,

following recent surgery to repair a double hernia, I now find it too painfull and difficult to climb behind the wheel of my beloved Rover 75 saloon.

I am looking for something easy to get in and out of, comfortable to sit it, and easy to drive. I also want to take the opportunity to get something more roomy.
I have a limited budget of up to £1500, but would prefer to spend around the £1000 mark and have money to get the car 'sorted' (Battery, service, brakes, suspension bushes, etc)

As I only cover up to 3k miles per year, I'm looking at petrol rather than my current diesel (hoping to avoid expensive dpf / flywheel issues).
I am 6ft tall and heavily built.

My current shortlist (not having test driven any of these yet) is :-
Ford Focus C-Max 1.8 or 1.6 petrol
Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 2.0 petrol
Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6 petrol
Citroen Xzara Picasso 1.6 petrol
Renault Grand Scenic 1.6 petrol
Renault Scenic 1.6 petrol
Toyota Corolla Verso 1.8 petrol

Any advice on the above ? (particularly from current/previous owners) or alternative suggestions ?

Many Thanks

[jeremyh1]

I have a Toyota Privia 2.0 D4D it is massive but best of all it has 300k on the clock 240K that I have done with just servicing ,batteries and clutches
heres one
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-previa/173421395...

Very comfortable but the downside is they are so boring It wont let you down though and your having too many fears a Toyota derv will look after you

[rallycross]

Have had quite a few on that list I’d say with your limited budget try and find the cleanest example With lowest owners and best history of any of them - rather than being too model specific as cars at this price range vary so much from car to car.

The grand scenic is definitely worth looking at for your requirements - really comfy with quite high seating position and surprisingly is actually quite a nice car to drive - these are dirt cheap as Meganes from this era have a bad reliability record. The last one we had was one owner for 10’yrs old and it had never broken down or left then stuck so they are not all bad. You will get quite a late plate car for the budget:

Picasso Xsara is similar to above again mega cheap and decent to drive we’ve had petrol
And diesel ones well past 100k miles and they were ok, feels a bit older than the scenic.

[kdri155]

I have a 1.8 petrol C4 Grand Picasso and it's used as a taxi, bough it with 32k on it 3 years ago it's now on 122k and been very reliable, aside from usual service parts tyres, brakes etc the only issues I've had are;

Brake pedal switch failed, common fault takes out the abs, esr and cruise control bought a revised switch with loom extension £38.00

Dash mounted electronic handbrake switch broke a mounting lug £42.00 and a 2 minute job to replace.

Coolant sensor has failed twice, £8.75 each time 15 minute job to replace.

Tailgate micro switch failed so boot wouldn't open £38.00 about an hour to fit.

Mpg wise I regularly get 29mpg around town and mid to high 30s on a run, overall I've been very happy with it and would definitely recommend one, prior to this I had a Xsara Picasso petrol which was also very reliable over 3 years work use.

[markoc1982]

I have owned a 2008 Corolla Verso for 5 years and 50,000 miles.
Used as a family car with 3 kids. It's the 2.2 d4d diesel.
Been very reliable and the back rows of seats fold down to provide a flat floor really easily.

Comfortable and relaxing to drive with plenty of room! I'd definitely recommend one!

[ZX10R NIN]

Mazda5 Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Peugeot 807

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Galaxy

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[MrAverage]

I don't know an awful lot about them but see plenty of honda FRV's round our way. Most of them are petrols

[kieranblenk]

Add the Nissan Almera Tino to your list.

[Bubbs999]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far

Having read about and looked at the cars, I'm leaning towards :-

Ford Focus C-max (owned Focus and Mondeos before, so its a known form - I know I like driving them)
Citroen Picasso (C4 or Xsara) - once owned a ZX and they seems a better car than some reviewers suggest
Toyota Corolla Verso - Toyota synominous with reliability

I like but am unsure about :-

Renault Scenic / Grand Scenic - unsure about idea of electronic parking brake and seems a bit of a faff to start (card, clutch, push button, wait)
Mazda 5 - should basically be a Ford underneath, but never owned one and unsure

I have written off the idea of :-

Ford Galaxy - like, but at my budget all are high mileage abused knackers
VW Touran - again like, but difficult to find at my budget without fault or starship mileage
Nissan Almera Tino - driven my neighbours X-Trail and realy don't like - also test drove a Primera once - not for me thanks

Please keep the advice coming

Many Thanks guys and gals

[ZX10R NIN]

The Mazda5 is a very good reliable car the sliding doors are a nice bonus the 2.0 is a Duratec so running costs are sensible there's really not a lot to say they're as good a car as the C Max but you get a better spec car with a bit more space.

You do find the high spec sport models get snapped up quickly.

[Jag_NE]

You should be fully recovered in a month or two, i wouldn’t bother changing to a st box for the sake of a few weeks discomfort personally.

[Bubbs999]

Gents

many thanks for all the replies and advice

I now have my new shed

link to thread :-

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[ZX10R NIN]

I wish you luck OP that engine has a rep & it's not a good one, but maybe you've got a Wednesday car.

[Bubbs999]

From the service records, the car clearly has had its issues in the past (loose injector seals, etc),
but as the previous owner was obviously not a 'car' guy, he took it to his local specialist garage for everything, including bulbs and wipers.

All MOT and service advisorys he had have been promptly addressed from the receipts. The guy had it from new and has spent thousands in maintenance.

I'm hoping as I do 3k miles a year it will serve me well for the next 3 - 4 years.

Bought my last car (Rover 75 diesel) at 12 years old, now 15, and it has been a paragon of reliability.

Fingers crossed and some preventative maintenance from myself

Edited by Bubbs999 on Thursday 26th July 15:16

[techguyone]

I had one of those in a petrol, all I had go wrong in mine was I had to replace some dashboard LED's it was fine apart from that.

Well except I had the 1.6 petrol and it was gutless on acceleration, fine once moving, but exiting roundabouts and junctions was a bit butt clenching.

[rallycross]

That looks like a good result for very little £ should do exactly what you need it to.