Sensible(ish) Family Car Needed - £7k max

[ron130888]

I have started my search for a new family car. Both my wife & I keep coming back to the same conclusion which is a MK3 Ford Focus of some sort as she isn't comfortable driving anything bigger than Focus/Golf sized and it meets our criteria below.

Does the PH community have any other suggestions other than a Focus 1.0 or 1.6 ecoboost?

The must haves are:

£7k max purchase price
Petrol
Manual
5 doors
Reasonable running costs
Ideally built 2010 onwards (wife's criteria)!

I have seen a couple of Renault Megane GT's which I think look smart (i'm a bit of a Renault fanboy) but they are rare in petrol form.

I've ruled out Audi A3's & SEAT Leon's.
I can't afford a BMW 1 Series that I would be happy with.
I like Alfa Guilietta's but am put off with stories about the Multiair engine.
Astra's don't do it for me and Golf's seem quite expensive in my opinion.

Thanks in advance!

[budgie smuggler]

Octavia. Marginally longer than a focus, but no wider and driving one feels exactly the same as a focus. The difference however is the boot, it's about twice the depth, so you can get buggies and crap in a lot easier. Check the specific model of engine before you buy though, I believe the TFSI require cam belts regularly whereas the TSI models don't (chain).

[KomodoWagon]

I'd second a Skoda Octavia. One of my sisters-in-law drives one (although hers is an estate) and she's been delighted with it. Hers is really old; a mk1 they bought for banger money. But it swallows all their stuff and has been very reliable (considering it's now almost 20 years old).

Other thoughts - Mazda 3? Volvo V50? (Pretty compact, for an estate.) Qashqai?

[Deerfoot]

Civic 1.8?

[ron130888]

Thanks for your replies.

I would love an Octavia vRS and totally agree that it is basically Focus sized but I think she has a perception of it being too big for her to be comfortable in .

The Mazda 3, Volvo and Civic are all good shouts, will do some research.

In your opinions, am I right to be concerned about the Ford Ecoboost engine issues or is it the typical internet hearsay that has blown out of proportion? I have read about the recalls and am aware of ETIS so can check if any potential purchase has been fixed.

[budgie smuggler]

ron130888 said:

Thanks for your replies.

I would love an Octavia vRS and totally agree that it is basically Focus sized but I think she has a perception of it being too big for her to be comfortable in .

Just get her to try driving it, that's all I did. When she sees how much family crap she can get in the boot she'll be sold.