What estate/other for growing family?

[Fuzzarr]

Hello there,

I am usually very good at deciding what car is best for my needs, but on this occasion I am struggling a bit.

We had a baby last year and it's likely there'll be another further down the line, so we're thinking an estate is best to haul all of the stuff (especially for trips away etc). Also I do a fair bit of DIY and tip runs so the extra load space would make life a lot easier.

It would also be good if it could (before the next baby arrives) take four adults as well as the child seat, so a reasonable middle seat in the back is also desirable.

It won't do huge miles so a diesel is not desirable and MPG isn't a huge factor. Budget is a rough £12k.

So far on the shortlist we have:

Honda Civic Tourer (decent boot, could be a bit tight in the back)
Hyundai i40 (seems big enough, but the 1.6 petrol is a bit weak)
VW Passat (seems like a good option but there are hardly any about)
Skoda Octavia (seems to tick most of the boxes, the 1.4 TSI looks like a good performer too)
Skoda Superb (love these, but not many about, and they get snapped up very quickly)
Mazda 6 (previous (2011ish) and current gen (2014ish) - good engines, love the styling, but big enough inside?)
Ford Mondeo (a good box ticker, but not many about with the 1.6 turbo motor, newer 1.5s are out of reach)
308 SW (mixed feelings about these, the touchscreen-operated heater controls and fuse box in glovebox kind of ruin an otherwise good package)

There are MPVs and SUVs of course, but the thought of a Scenic fills me with dread and SUVs seem to be big on the outside but not all that spacious on the inside.

Have I overlooked any good options?

Thanks!

[clockworks]

5 series BMW? Plenty of space. Mostly diesels though, but not a problem if you do the occasional longer run.

I had a '57 plate E61 525d for 3 years. Took it from 94k to 123k. One service, new battery, 2 sets of tyres, wiper linkage and a new relay for the air suspension. Averaged just shy of 40mpg (measured, not indicated). Bought for £11500 at 5 years old, traded in for £6500.

[Toed64]

There are a few more things to consider about running costs:

How long will you keep the car?
How worried are you about depreciation?
Will you take it to the main dealer for service and maintenance?

In your shoes, I think I might reduce the budget a little and buy a slightly older car. I would also avoid the small high pressure turbo petrol engines because I've seen a few too many of them that have failed catastrophically. The slightly larger capacity motors seem much tougher.

Here are some ideas:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2011-61-SKODA-SUPERB-1-...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2011-11-SKODA-OCTAVIA-2...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2011-61-HONDA-CRV-2-0-V...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-325i-M-Sport-Tourin...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-Forester-2-0-XS-...

Edited by Toed64 on Friday 9th February 23:21

[Mo28]

Ford S-max?

[Torquey]

I'd have said a civic estate before seeing you'd mentioned it already.

Even the hatchback offers a huge amount of boot space - more than most other hatchbacks.

I've had 4 adults and childs seat in a civic many times but you don't really want to be doing more than 15-20 mile journeys like that.

[Fuzzarr]

Toed64 said:

There are a few more things to consider about running costs:

How long will you keep the car?
How worried are you about depreciation?
Will you take it to the main dealer for service and maintenance?

In your shoes, I think I might reduce the budget a little and buy a slightly older car. I would also avoid the small high pressure turbo petrol engines because I've seen a few too many of them that have failed catastrophically. The slightly larger capacity motors seem to much tougher.

Here are some ideas...

I can see this being a 5+ year ownership prospect. Maybe even longer if it won't be ruinously expensive to do so. It would be good to minimise depreciation, I've run cheap cars all my life and pretty much all of them have been sold for the same or more than I initially paid for them. However I appreciate it's a different story here as it'll be at a different end of the market before and after I've owned it (more miles, older etc), assuming I buy something just a few years old with relatively low miles.

Something I have neglected to mention is that it ought to be a manual.

The Honda CR-V is a wildcard option. Something about it appeals, and even ones 7-8 years old are still knocking about the £10k mark, so prices seem to be pretty stable. Fuel economy is a bit crap on the 2.0 but this probably doesn't matter a great deal given the mileage it'll do.

[Fuzzarr]

Mo28 said:

Ford S-max?

Can't decide if this is a step too far when it comes to size. I am aware they're decent to drive, though, which is a bonus. The third row of seats would almost certainly spend their lives folded down for a bigger boot.

[Chris1712]

This has Volvo V70 written all over it. Humongous load space, super safe for the kids and spacious for adults.

[BugLebowski]

Any question involving estates has to include Volvo!

I would go older and cheaper:

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

[drgoatboy]

Went through this a few years ago and ended up with the Octavia. Huge boot, plenty of room inside, cheap to run and touch wood has been very reliable. I've had mine nearly 5 years now, longest I have ever owned a car.
We've got the scout with the 1.8tsi engine. quite a rare engine but I feel it suits the car very well with plenty of punch, quiet and reasonably economical (although it does drink a bit of oil which is quite common). the 4x4 has been useful a few times when the conditions get slippy. Having the roof bars means if we ever have too much for the boot I have a bag to go on the roof (and with 2 kids we never travel light)

Had a superb for a bit which was very nice, huge in the back but the boot actually was virtually no bigger and it was only a bit higher quality finish inside.

[Sargeant Orange]

I'm in a similar boat OP.

Narrowed it down to an Merc E Class or Honda CRV. Both diesel though.

Don't underestimate the amount of crap you need for a weekend away, a 3 series or Civic size just won't cut it (barring a roof box).

E class rear legroom isn't what I expected so will likely go CRV.

[stuartmmcfc]

Mo28 said:

Ford S-max?

This all day long. The 3 we’ve had have all been fast, handled well and ideal family transport.
Now the c300h merc estate we’ve bought to replace the last one isn’t as good tbh and is awful in the snow.

[drgoatboy]

Sargeant Orange said:

I'm in a similar boat OP.

Narrowed it down to an Merc E Class or Honda CRV. Both diesel though.

Don't underestimate the amount of crap you need for a weekend away, a 3 series or Civic size just won't cut it (barring a roof box).

E class rear legroom isn't what I expected so will likely go CRV.

Just to let you know the boot in an e-class really isn't any bigger than an Octavia (at least not in the real world), and its going to cost a lot more to run...

[Toed64]

We abused one of these for 4 years and the only failure was a headlight bulb!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-57-REG-HONDA-ACCOR...

[kieranblenk]

Seat Leon Sport Tourer should be comfortably in budget.

[IanCress]

From your list i'd be looking at the Civic and the Superb. Issue with the Civic is that if you want petrol then you only have one choice, the 1.8 petrol. If you're used to the torque of a turbo engine then you might find it a bit week.
The Superb is massive, but as you say the petrols are rare. I see there's a few 1.8TSi engined cars in the £8k-10k bracket. Looks like the 2.0TSi is a very rare thing indeed.

[Fuzzarr]

BugLebowski said:

Any question involving estates has to include Volvo!

I would go older and cheaper:

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

Hmm interesting. I do like Volvos but never had one. This vintage has isofix points too, which helps. Looked up some manual 2.5Ts and they're £520 to tax, which stings a bit, but obviously the purchase price is considerably below budget. Hmm!

There's the odd T4 knocking about though, with the 180bhp 1.6. Not familiar with that engine, but still seems fairly grunty and the tax is considerably lower.

I did look at V60s briefly but the V70's shape is much more practical. XC70 could also be an option.

[Fuzzarr]

kieranblenk said:

Seat Leon Sport Tourer should be comfortably in budget.

I like these, but I think it's a touch too small in the rear legroom/boot department. Cheers for the suggestion though.

[Fuzzarr]

Toed64 said:

We abused one of these for 4 years and the only failure was a headlight bulb!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-57-REG-HONDA-ACCOR...

I love these Accords. Even had a DVD of the Cog advert. I can't help but think even the latest of these are a bit too old now to be a contender, unfortunately.

[kiethton]

Know of a PH'er selling an '07 E500 estate that may fit the bill?