what family car shall we buy?!
Discussion
hello
after more research than is healthy looking for a new family car i have trodden the age old path to being back to where i started out! (CMax...)
im hoping some of you guys can advise on good options to suit our requirements. im not a car fan and neither is my better half (hence the Jazz!) and neither of us particularly want a mobile money pit (as we call cars in our house) but accept that its tough luck and we need to get one that will last 5-7 years within budget that isbt a fortune to run or repair etc.
we are a family of 4, we have long legs and have out grown our tiny comedy honda jazz as my daughter is now 7. my son is 2 and is obviously going to get a little bigger i would expect......
we have a budget of £7k maximum for the purchase, want a petrol car with a sensible insurance and tax group that will be reliable and not cost a fortune when its not reliable and it needs to go to our mechanic. also it should be a car that does at least 40mpg in real life scenario with no more than 45k mileage!
we live in east London so will be doing city driving but wont be using it for commuting, just weekends and holidays (would like to drive to europe every few years and not burn petrol for fun but thats not really too big a priority). we will drive to suffolk every month and it will need to have a big boot. we dont however want a giant of a car like an SMax and most estates i have seen have no where near the leg room in the back for my daughter in the car seat when we have the seats right back in the front.
cars we have shortlisted are CMax (not sure if thats just big enough or just too small though!), Zafira, ocatvia, peugeot 3008, focus estate, skoda rapid
we have no issue with ugly cars (i like the nissan cube for example!) but im not convinced by french cars or korean due to reputations for being a little cheap or unreliable. i hate cars that need too much maintenance as we dont have time to get to our mechanic and keep our jobs! and expensive parts also annoy me so we/i are very awkward to choose a car for.
so our parameters are:
£7k purchase cost max
tax up to £220
insurance up to group 15
mpg 40pg real life
reliable
plenty of boot space
plenty of leg room in back
not too big (our driveway isnt massive)
im a car philistine to be honest and i know for a fact that you guys are died in the wool petrol (piston) heads who know a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to cars.
i come with begging bowl in hand after your knowledge!
any help would be really appreciated
im losing the will to live with this!
WHAT SHOULD WE BUY?!
PS; should i avoid cargiant!
thanks
Mike
after more research than is healthy looking for a new family car i have trodden the age old path to being back to where i started out! (CMax...)
im hoping some of you guys can advise on good options to suit our requirements. im not a car fan and neither is my better half (hence the Jazz!) and neither of us particularly want a mobile money pit (as we call cars in our house) but accept that its tough luck and we need to get one that will last 5-7 years within budget that isbt a fortune to run or repair etc.
we are a family of 4, we have long legs and have out grown our tiny comedy honda jazz as my daughter is now 7. my son is 2 and is obviously going to get a little bigger i would expect......
we have a budget of £7k maximum for the purchase, want a petrol car with a sensible insurance and tax group that will be reliable and not cost a fortune when its not reliable and it needs to go to our mechanic. also it should be a car that does at least 40mpg in real life scenario with no more than 45k mileage!
we live in east London so will be doing city driving but wont be using it for commuting, just weekends and holidays (would like to drive to europe every few years and not burn petrol for fun but thats not really too big a priority). we will drive to suffolk every month and it will need to have a big boot. we dont however want a giant of a car like an SMax and most estates i have seen have no where near the leg room in the back for my daughter in the car seat when we have the seats right back in the front.
cars we have shortlisted are CMax (not sure if thats just big enough or just too small though!), Zafira, ocatvia, peugeot 3008, focus estate, skoda rapid
we have no issue with ugly cars (i like the nissan cube for example!) but im not convinced by french cars or korean due to reputations for being a little cheap or unreliable. i hate cars that need too much maintenance as we dont have time to get to our mechanic and keep our jobs! and expensive parts also annoy me so we/i are very awkward to choose a car for.
so our parameters are:
£7k purchase cost max
tax up to £220
insurance up to group 15
mpg 40pg real life
reliable
plenty of boot space
plenty of leg room in back
not too big (our driveway isnt massive)
im a car philistine to be honest and i know for a fact that you guys are died in the wool petrol (piston) heads who know a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to cars.
i come with begging bowl in hand after your knowledge!
any help would be really appreciated
im losing the will to live with this!
WHAT SHOULD WE BUY?!
PS; should i avoid cargiant!
thanks
Mike
Edited by mchb on Sunday 9th July 18:22
Edited by mchb on Sunday 9th July 18:22
The Jazz is a deceptively big car inside and there's plenty of room in them for your kids for a while yet, when I can get 5 adults in mine.
Look at a Civic as well, they will have the Magic seats like your Jazz does, but a bigger boot.
A real world 40mpg is going to be a tall order in a bigger car unless you go diesel, which brings problems of it's own. If you are doing low annual mileage and mostly town bound, stik with petrol and take a slight hit on fuel consumption.
Another car that leaps out at me is a Prius. Loads of room, dead reliable and cheap to run. Actually, this would probably be ideal for you and you should put it at the top of your list.
Look at a Civic as well, they will have the Magic seats like your Jazz does, but a bigger boot.
A real world 40mpg is going to be a tall order in a bigger car unless you go diesel, which brings problems of it's own. If you are doing low annual mileage and mostly town bound, stik with petrol and take a slight hit on fuel consumption.
Another car that leaps out at me is a Prius. Loads of room, dead reliable and cheap to run. Actually, this would probably be ideal for you and you should put it at the top of your list.
the jazz is too small for what we need. car seats and long legged parents make for twisted legged children!
i have had a chat with a friend about the civic actually and i am keen to have a look. they would be great if they have the room we need.
the prius is a funny one i hadnt thought of. arent they a pain for parts and expensive to purchase? loads of cabies have them so i suppose you may well be right
thanks for the reply, very much appreciated
Deerfoot said:
I'd be looking at an Octavia estate out of your list.
This ^Or more specifically...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
(the boot floor on the hatch is the same as the estate, it's only the space above the parcel shelf you gain on the estate).
mchb said:
the jazz is too small for what we need. car seats and long legged parents make for twisted legged children!
i have had a chat with a friend about the civic actually and i am keen to have a look. they would be great if they have the room we need.
the prius is a funny one i hadnt thought of. arent they a pain for parts and expensive to purchase? loads of cabies have them so i suppose you may well be right
thanks for the reply, very much appreciated
Here are some Prius in your budget on Pistonheads https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Category=u...i have had a chat with a friend about the civic actually and i am keen to have a look. they would be great if they have the room we need.
the prius is a funny one i hadnt thought of. arent they a pain for parts and expensive to purchase? loads of cabies have them so i suppose you may well be right
thanks for the reply, very much appreciated
Toyota make very reliable cars and their Prius is supposed to be very reliable even for a Toyota.
Willy Nilly said:
The Jazz is a deceptively big car inside and there's plenty of room in them for your kids for a while yet, when I can get 5 adults in mine.
Look at a Civic as well, they will have the Magic seats like your Jazz does, but a bigger boot.
A real world 40mpg is going to be a tall order in a bigger car unless you go diesel, which brings problems of it's own. If you are doing low annual mileage and mostly town bound, stik with petrol and take a slight hit on fuel consumption.
Another car that leaps out at me is a Prius. Loads of room, dead reliable and cheap to run. Actually, this would probably be ideal for you and you should put it at the top of your list.
Civic is a good shout, and you'll easy get 40mpg mixed driving in both the 1.4 and 1.8 petrol (I average 38/39 mixed driving with a heavy right foot in the 1.8 (1.4 more efficient); up to 52 motorway cruising at 58). Very spacious too.Look at a Civic as well, they will have the Magic seats like your Jazz does, but a bigger boot.
A real world 40mpg is going to be a tall order in a bigger car unless you go diesel, which brings problems of it's own. If you are doing low annual mileage and mostly town bound, stik with petrol and take a slight hit on fuel consumption.
Another car that leaps out at me is a Prius. Loads of room, dead reliable and cheap to run. Actually, this would probably be ideal for you and you should put it at the top of your list.
Friends had the C Max - then within a year they ditched it for an S Max instead.
SMax is big enough C Max is tight.
We have an S Max now too does the job perfectly. We spent £5.8k on our 57 reg 1 owner car Totanium so you'll have £2k in the pocket
Zafira we looked at is rubbish much smaller and the quality wasn't there - that said I don't rate Ford that highly realistic to BMW or Audi my last 3 steers.
SMax is big enough C Max is tight.
We have an S Max now too does the job perfectly. We spent £5.8k on our 57 reg 1 owner car Totanium so you'll have £2k in the pocket
Zafira we looked at is rubbish much smaller and the quality wasn't there - that said I don't rate Ford that highly realistic to BMW or Audi my last 3 steers.
Welcome to Pistonheads and, don't worry, we spend far more time talking about this sort of thing than Porsches, Maserati, Caterhams etc!
Of all the cars you've mentioned, I would agree that the Octavia is probably best - albeit I don't think it has seven seats so, if that's going to be important, you might want to think about a Roomster.
Some friends of ours with very similar parameters to you are very happy with the up-spec VW Touran.
The only thing I would point out is that £7k is a funny price point; it's too expensive for disposable bangers but it's cheap enough that you're going to be looking at cars a few years old. This is compounded by your keeping it for 4/5 years requirement. Buy very carefully indeed and build a repair fund would be my advice
Of all the cars you've mentioned, I would agree that the Octavia is probably best - albeit I don't think it has seven seats so, if that's going to be important, you might want to think about a Roomster.
Some friends of ours with very similar parameters to you are very happy with the up-spec VW Touran.
The only thing I would point out is that £7k is a funny price point; it's too expensive for disposable bangers but it's cheap enough that you're going to be looking at cars a few years old. This is compounded by your keeping it for 4/5 years requirement. Buy very carefully indeed and build a repair fund would be my advice
The answer is a Mondeo but the Insignia/Mazda6 are well worth a look , I'd also say that these in normal hatchback form will have more than enough room in terms of both boot space/leg room be careful as to what engine you have as living in the East Ham because you might fall foul of the mayor's proposed ULEZ extension so although you may not want a petrol it may be the way to go.
Mondeo in Titanium spec with either Turbo or non turbo form both will do 40+mpg on a run but in turbo form it's a much more relaxed form, but they're £240 Tax
2.0 N/A
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
2.0T
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
Insignia SRI 1.8 £220 Tax
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
Mazda6 1.8 £190 Tax (not as well kitted out as the two above)
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
2.0 TS2
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
A good leftfield option is the Mazda5 as good as the C Max with a little bit more space:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
Mondeo in Titanium spec with either Turbo or non turbo form both will do 40+mpg on a run but in turbo form it's a much more relaxed form, but they're £240 Tax
2.0 N/A
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
2.0T
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
Insignia SRI 1.8 £220 Tax
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
Mazda6 1.8 £190 Tax (not as well kitted out as the two above)
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
2.0 TS2
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
A good leftfield option is the Mazda5 as good as the C Max with a little bit more space:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
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