What car (£12k) - family estate/4x4 - to lease or buy 2nd ha

[crispyshark]

Evening all,

Due to growing family....10 month old and her kit (and maybe plans for another), dog and all the general gear, we need a bigger car.

Currently have a golf r hatch coming to the end of a lease as the main hack and have a TD4 Freelander as my weekend/shooting/dog barge.

Looking for an estate or 4x4 for the load space. I love sporty motors (as my garage will show) and if I could factor a decent engine in, then great!

Currently spend £350 a month on the golf so that is the the budget for a lease. Happy to spend less though.

Alternatively do I take a loan for 3 years worth of lease payments and buy something second hand?

Any decent ideas as I'm stumped right now and just find myself constantly looking over my budget for the 'sportier' option....need a reality check.

I'm open to all suggestions??

TIA

CShark

[Dapster]

I was in the same position wondering what family car would follow a Boxster and a Caterham. My advice is forget anything pretending to be sporty and concentrate on something trying to do the job you need - ie being a family car. There are a few brilliant family cars - Skoda Superb Estate, Volvo XC90, Citroen Grand Picasso and Ford S-Max to name a few.

I would recommend the S Max. Huge and brilliant as a family car, and a very decent drive as well. Go for the top of the range Titanium Sport X with the petrol Ecoboost 240bhp turbo with the powershift box and you can't go wrong. An early 2011 model will be c £15k private up to £30k for a 66 plate pre reg new model.

I've just traded my old shape owned for 3 years for a new shape and it's a fantastic car - couldn't recommend one highly enough.

[crispyshark]

Really like the XC90 but I'm struggling to find one on my budget that won't be a potential money pit.

Friends are getting an S Max.....not sure I'm ready to surrender to that type of car just yet!

[Welshbeef]

Seat Alhambra SE Lux (or VW Sharan) post 11 reg is perfect electric sliding doors means easy access for the kids and the rear two seats are proper adult seats. Plus all 5 rear seats are alll isofix which is perfect.

S Max has a dire driving position if you are tall I've noticed it and two others over 6foot. The rear two days cannot accommodate adults. Panoramic roof which is great means you cannot have a roof box as the weight will crack the glass.


Toyota Verso is a good call.

Merc R Class 7 seat option very left field but good.

Merc GL

BMW X5 but the 7 seat option is like hens teeth I've yet to see a used one for sale with the option.

Vauxhall Zafira not my cup of tea

Citroen Grand Picasso apparently very good buy dog ugly

Pug 5008

Great thing about all of these is the kids parafinalia etc goes in easily

[crispyshark]

I'll check out some GL's but I imagine I'll be stretched on my budget and running costs.

Ideally a Disco would be good but the buggers really hold their value and I'm not convinced by the realisability on D4&5's

[alock]

crispyshark said:

Looking for an estate or 4x4 for the load space.

The estate version of the Golf/Leon/Octavia has an enormous boot. You need an enormous SUV to better the volume.

[Cold]

You should be able to find a smart Disco 3 with that budget. Reliability is no better or worse than most of the other cars suggested so far.

[Dapster]

crispyshark said:

Friends are getting an S Max.....not sure I'm ready to surrender to that type of car just yet!

You are never going to wake up wanting a people carrier, but once you have one and realise just how much easier your life with kids becomes with one, there is no going back. Your requirements for a car change from getting the back out on the way to work pretty quickly...!

Welshbeef said:

S Max has a dire driving position if you are tall I've noticed it and two others over 6foot. The rear two days cannot accommodate adults. Panoramic roof which is great means you cannot have a roof box as the weight will crack the glass.

Can't comment for drivers over 6' but I'm 5'10" and it's fine, and I can't imagine another couple of inches is going to make it that horrific, but you can always sit in one and see. You are right, the rearmost seats are kids only, but if you need 7 adult sized seats then your shortlist would be very different - Galaxy, Alhambra, Sharan, Disco etc and nothing else. Also you can safely use roof bars with the glass roof - my Ford branded Thule bars were bought from the Ford website and rated to 75kg.

[crispyshark]

Cold said:

You should be able to find a smart Disco 3 with that budget. Reliability is no better or worse than most of the other cars suggested so far.

Anything to look for on these? Is it the D4 and 5's that have the issue with turbo failure?

[anonymous-user]

Lease a Skoda Superb at 230pcm/10k

They make a 300 bhp version of the superb.

[Welshbeef]

Learn2MergeInTurn said:

Lease a Skoda Superb at 230pcm/10k

They make a 300 bhp version of the superb.

Fails on 7 seat requirement.

[crispyshark]

Learn2MergeInTurn said:

Lease a Skoda Superb at 230pcm/10k

They make a 300 bhp version of the superb.

I might be willing to over look the 7 seats for that. Where's that deal?

[Welshbeef]

crispyshark said:

Learn2MergeInTurn said:

Lease a Skoda Superb at 230pcm/10k

They make a 300 bhp version of the superb.

I might be willing to over look the 7 seats for that. Where's that deal?

The 300bhp superb isn't £230pcm though and 87 seats out the window plus performance is dulled due to its bigger mass.

[Chester draws]

What about a Touran?

We've had one for the past 8 years since our two boys were baby and toddler. It's never let us down or not been able to do anything we've asked of it.

2.0 diesel is the only engine I think is suitable for the car / our use.

You can get the 2.0 diesel 190 bhp R line for £360 / month.

[crispyshark]

Chester draws said:

What about a Touran?

We've had one for the past 8 years since our two boys were baby and toddler. It's never let us down or not been able to do anything we've asked of it.

2.0 diesel is the only engine I think is suitable for the car / our use.

You can get the 2.0 diesel 190 bhp R line for £360 / month.

I'm not ready for the Addison Lee look just yet (no offence)....just not sure I can go down the people carrier route...would rather sacrifice the 7 seats....maybe a big estate would do for now....but then I think, yeah, just get a second hand 535d!😂

[Welshbeef]

crispyshark said:

I'm not ready for the Addison Lee look just yet (no offence)....just not sure I can go down the people carrier route...would rather sacrifice the 7 seats....maybe a big estate would do for now....but then I think, yeah, just get a second hand 535d!??

3 seats don't fit over the back seat of a F10 535d which is wider than an E60 535d (if your going older).

It really comes down to putting someone else's needs about your own. Radish Lee look or otherwise

[crispyshark]

Welshbeef said:

crispyshark said:

I'm not ready for the Addison Lee look just yet (no offence)....just not sure I can go down the people carrier route...would rather sacrifice the 7 seats....maybe a big estate would do for now....but then I think, yeah, just get a second hand 535d!??

3 seats don't fit over the back seat of a F10 535d which is wider than an E60 535d (if your going older).

It really comes down to putting someone else's needs about your own. Radish Lee look or otherwise

You speak truth WB...as has everyone else. Thanks.

So basically is it better to rule out estates? Got everyone in the Freeloader on Sunday (wife, grandparents and mini shark in her seat) so I can't go smaller than that.

[Welshbeef]

crispyshark said:

You speak truth WB...as has everyone else. Thanks.

So basically is it better to rule out estates? Got everyone in the Freeloader on Sunday (wife, grandparents and mini shark in her seat) so I can't go smaller than that.

We'd like the Seat Alhambra SE Lux proper 7 seat and even I can sit in the back two seats in comfort.
We might go S Max titanium c 240bhp petrol
Or an XC90 go really cheap £5k and see how it goes

You really do need lots of space for stuff & you'll likely need a roof box for the above for those trips away (weekends etc) makes a lot of sense and you simple don't have to worry.

It's not a sports car it's not fast never will be and you'd not be driving like that with wide and kids in the car as kids will be sick or risk or accident you take a different style.


Have a fast car 2 seater etc for fun but fun in a family car doesn't really equate.

[ZX10R NIN]

I say a 7 seater E Class estate works if you don't want an SUV they're robust & reliable as well as having plenty of space, it seems you won't be in need of the seven seats all the time so these tick a few boxes, plus they're not a goppingly ugly as the R Class.

W211

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

W212

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

If you're willing to give up on the 7 seats:

Audi S6 with the 5.2 V10

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Mercedes E55 AMG

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

BMW 545i

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Leftfield

Vauxhall Insignia VXR 325bhp 4x4

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2wd Version

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

[Welshbeef]

ZX10R NIN said:

I say a 7 seater E Class estate works if you don't want an SUV they're robust & reliable as well as having plenty of space, it seems you won't be in need of the seven seats all the time so these tick a few boxes, plus they're not a goppingly ugly as the R Class.

W211

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

W212

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

If you're willing to give up on the 7 seats:

Audi S6 with the 5.2 V10

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Mercedes E55 AMG

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

BMW 545i

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Leftfield

Vauxhall Insignia VXR 325bhp 4x4

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2wd Version

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

He has made clear 7 seats is the requirement otherwise let's list anything....

With the Merc estate 7 seat the issue is when those seats are used there is essentialyl zero boot space or no way to safely secure all the luggage if those back two seats are being used.