Budget MPV advice

[Bubbs999]

Hi all,

following recent surgery to repair a double hernia, I now find it too painfull and difficult to climb behind the wheel of my beloved Rover 75 saloon.

I am looking for something easy to get in and out of, comfortable to sit it, and easy to drive. I also want to take the opportunity to get something more roomy.
I have a limited budget of up to £1500, but would prefer to spend around the £1000 mark and have money to get the car 'sorted' (Battery, service, brakes, suspension bushes, etc)

As I only cover up to 3k miles per year, I'm looking at petrol rather than my current diesel (hoping to avoid expensive dpf / flywheel issues).
I am 6ft tall and heavily built.

My current shortlist (not having test driven any of these yet) is :-
Ford Focus C-Max 1.8 or 1.6 petrol
Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 2.0 petrol
Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6 petrol
Citroen Xzara Picasso 1.6 petrol
Renault Grand Scenic 1.6 petrol
Renault Scenic 1.6 petrol
Toyota Corolla Verso 1.8 petrol

Any advice on the above ? (particularly from current/previous owners) or alternative suggestions ?

Many Thanks

[Bubbs999]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far

Having read about and looked at the cars, I'm leaning towards :-

Ford Focus C-max (owned Focus and Mondeos before, so its a known form - I know I like driving them)
Citroen Picasso (C4 or Xsara) - once owned a ZX and they seems a better car than some reviewers suggest
Toyota Corolla Verso - Toyota synominous with reliability

I like but am unsure about :-

Renault Scenic / Grand Scenic - unsure about idea of electronic parking brake and seems a bit of a faff to start (card, clutch, push button, wait)
Mazda 5 - should basically be a Ford underneath, but never owned one and unsure

I have written off the idea of :-

Ford Galaxy - like, but at my budget all are high mileage abused knackers
VW Touran - again like, but difficult to find at my budget without fault or starship mileage
Nissan Almera Tino - driven my neighbours X-Trail and realy don't like - also test drove a Primera once - not for me thanks

Please keep the advice coming

Many Thanks guys and gals

[Bubbs999]

Gents

many thanks for all the replies and advice

I now have my new shed

link to thread :-

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Bubbs999]

From the service records, the car clearly has had its issues in the past (loose injector seals, etc),
but as the previous owner was obviously not a 'car' guy, he took it to his local specialist garage for everything, including bulbs and wipers.

All MOT and service advisorys he had have been promptly addressed from the receipts. The guy had it from new and has spent thousands in maintenance.

I'm hoping as I do 3k miles a year it will serve me well for the next 3 - 4 years.

Bought my last car (Rover 75 diesel) at 12 years old, now 15, and it has been a paragon of reliability.

Fingers crossed and some preventative maintenance from myself

Edited by Bubbs999 on Thursday 26th July 15:16