£15k - family “white goods” car

[bobsavage789]

Morning all,

My sister and brother in law are about to buy their first car, and have sought my advice as the family petrolhead.

Requirements:
- big boot
- CarPlay
- enough rear seat space for child seats
- £15k budget
- automatic
- max. 45k miles
- petrol
- SUV or estate
- cruise control
- good reliability
- ULEZ compliant

Nice to haves:
- leather seats
- sunroof

So far I have suggested:

- DS7
- Seat Ateca
- Kia Proceed

The Seat and the Kia both seem fairly reliable, but I’ve struggled to find much information on the DS7.

They have zero interest in speed or handling, and their usage profile would rule out electric, hybrid and diesel.

Any thoughts?

TIA

Edited by bobsavage789 on Friday 22 November 13:52

[CardinalBlue]

Karoq?

We're on our second one as the "family" car.

[croyde]

Get a lot of Duster for that.

I ran a basic 1.0 petrol for 3 years. Wonderful car, easy to drive and look after.

At home in traffic as well as runs out of London to as far as Skye and Cornwall.

Comfortable and sips fuel.

[the-norseman]

Ateca,Karoq,Tiguan all the same car really, but yeh I'd be looking at a Duster.

14-15k will get you in a 2022.

Edited by the-norseman on Friday 22 November 11:39

[Boosh-36]

Duster all day long.

[SlowV6]

Sticking with SEAT, how about a Leon 2.0 TSI XCELLENCE Lux (190ps) DSG?

Fractionally over budget but 2yr main dealer warranty.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410014...

Big boot
Heated leather
Virtual Cockpit
LED lights.

[bobsavage789]

CardinalBlue said:

Karoq?

We're on our second one as the "family" car.

Yeah Karoq and Ateca are essentially the same car. I just prefer the styling of the Ateca, and had a very reliable Seat before, so purely a subjective thing.

[bobsavage789]

SlowV6 said:

Sticking with SEAT, how about a Leon 2.0 TSI XCELLENCE Lux (190ps) DSG?

Fractionally over budget but 2yr main dealer warranty.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410014...

Big boot
Heated leather
Virtual Cockpit
LED lights.

That does look nice, though slightly too far away. A Leon estate is a good suggestion though!

[bobsavage789]

The Duster looks like one to investigate further: it certainly has rave reviews on here!

I think it was initially filtered out on AT by the “CarPlay” requirement, though it looks like there’s some sort of smartphone mirroring feature.

[Jayho]

Can also get a lot of Dacia Jogger for that too.

[bobsavage789]

Jayho said:

Can also get a lot of Dacia Jogger for that too.

Cheapest automatic on AT is £21k, so no go…

[Skodillac]

If they want a big, practical shaped boot, they want an estate car, not an SUV - short of going to Landcruiser sizes, which I get the impression is beyond the scope of this ask.

Skoda Octavia or Superb will deliver. Also, Honda Civic Tourer - more boot capacity than some versions of the Mer E Class by volume.

If seat height in the back for installing squirming toddlers is more important, then perhaps an SUV shape wins, but even then for boot space and shape they'll be better off with an MPV than an SUV in general, something like a Toyota Prius Plus for example.

[PistonBroker]

Skodillac said:

Also, Honda Civic Tourer - more boot capacity than some versions of the Mer E Class by volume.

Came here to say Civic Tourer.

I bought our 16/66 Dtec as a stopgap car to replace a leased Disco Sport . . . that was 4 years ago. It's been a fantastic thing.

Interesting stat about the load volume. Having run the Land Rover, a Tiguan before that and a CRV before that, I have marvelled at how much I can cram in the little Civic.

[okv3]

Mazda6 Estate. Love mine, although mine is petrol manual you will find a 2.5 Petrol which had auto as standard. Has all of their requied equipment and more.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Skoda Scala?

[Skodillac]

PistonBroker said:

Skodillac said:

Also, Honda Civic Tourer - more boot capacity than some versions of the Mer E Class by volume.

Came here to say Civic Tourer.

I bought our 16/66 Dtec as a stopgap car to replace a leased Disco Sport . . . that was 4 years ago. It's been a fantastic thing.

Interesting stat about the load volume. Having run the Land Rover, a Tiguan before that and a CRV before that, I have marvelled at how much I can cram in the little Civic.

Yep. I just sold one after 5 great years with it. boot and load space was epic, I just started running out of rear legroom because my offspring became adult sized, so I got myself a Skoda Superb to replace it. The Civic was a great car, pretty much a perfect all-rounder. Mine was a 1.8 petrol auto - reliability was flawless, not a single fault experienced. Economy was more than acceptable too - I could drive from Dumfries to Reading on 3/4 of a tank.

[bobsavage789]

bobsavage789 said:

The Duster looks like one to investigate further: it certainly has rave reviews on here!

I think it was initially filtered out on AT by the “CarPlay” requirement, though it looks like there’s some sort of smartphone mirroring feature.

Turns out it performs very poorly in safety tests. For that reason alone, I don’t think the Duster is suitable.

[bobsavage789]

okv3 said:

Mazda6 Estate. Love mine, although mine is petrol manual you will find a 2.5 Petrol which had auto as standard. Has all of their requied equipment and more.

Can only find manual versions, and am not sure about CarPlay on these, but they look like a lot of car for the money.

[bobsavage789]

Skodillac said:

If they want a big, practical shaped boot, they want an estate car, not an SUV - short of going to Landcruiser sizes, which I get the impression is beyond the scope of this ask.

Skoda Octavia or Superb will deliver. Also, Honda Civic Tourer - more boot capacity than some versions of the Mer E Class by volume.

If seat height in the back for installing squirming toddlers is more important, then perhaps an SUV shape wins, but even then for boot space and shape they'll be better off with an MPV than an SUV in general, something like a Toyota Prius Plus for example.

I have tried to explain this to them several times, so they’re willing to consider an estate now.

They originally suggested a Quashquay, and I refused to help them if that’s how they wanted to proceed!

[bobsavage789]

PistonBroker said:

Came here to say Civic Tourer.

I bought our 16/66 Dtec as a stopgap car to replace a leased Disco Sport . . . that was 4 years ago. It's been a fantastic thing.

Interesting stat about the load volume. Having run the Land Rover, a Tiguan before that and a CRV before that, I have marvelled at how much I can cram in the little Civic.

Do these come with CarPlay? They seem to have stopped making them in 2017 or so.