Second hand family car choice - help please?

Get yourself a Subaru. I had one for 8 years and the missus has had one for 5 years. In a combined 13 years and 200,000 miles of ownership, she has replaced one cat (rock damage) and I have replaced 2 wheel bearings, a MAF, and had the immobiliser re shielded. That's it. THey are used to cart kids, dogs, logs, timber, bricks and just about anything else. The interiors are just about as new. The build quality is superior to my replacement Mercedes, and the subi has the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in.
You should be able to to pick up a diesel Forester or Legacy for your budget.

They're slightly quirky in that old fashioned, pre Peugeot, Citroen way, and you wonder "why do they do it like that?".
Then you realise!

grahame":1s3bhxpz said:

One baby daughter expected just before christmas. That will be it. The car will also be used (occasionally) for mountainbike trips. So, I hope, the level of abuse will be fairly low.

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With such a small family, I'm not sure I'd bother with any of the mini-MPVs. The majority are compromised in some form and their only real benefit for families over cars are the ability to easily get three car seats across the 'back' seat and seven seats for lugging their friends around.

I'd suggest it's probably unlikely you'll still have the car by the time this becomes a requirement so as a second car I'd go for something that better to drive, more economical and newer/cheaper.

MPVs and the like are great for what they are (previosly owned a Scenic, a Grand Scenic and now on an S-Max, and have tried all of the others) but wouldn't pick one if I didn't have three kids.

Citroen Berlingo?

Family size, mpv, huge loadspace (for mountainbikes, the dog, her shopping etc...), cheap to run & insure , 2.0hdi diesel engine is used in plenty of other PSA cars and is generally reliable and quite frugal.
I have a Mk2 Berlingo but the newer shape ones are also very nice.

If you must go MPV then I'd tip a vote to the Touran of the three. The Toyota is a bit plastcky inside, the old style CMax isn't really an MPV as the rear seats can't really be adjusted, and the new one is really a 2.5 seater at the back. The Touran is great but felt a little van like to me.

Others to consider include the Mazda 5 which is nice because it has sliding rear doors, making it easier to get kids in and out of. It suffers from a smaller rear seat arrangement like the new CMax.

Look at the Honda FRV too. It's a six seater with three upfront, so little one can ride next to you making long journeys in particular easier. Also useful if you need to all travel with maximum boot space. Major downside is that two kids will see squabbling over the front seat!

The SMax is the most car like to drive - feels more like an estate car than an MPV. It is huge though - not much smaller than a Galaxy so could well be overkill.

also a bit different to your options would be a honda c-rv. its a lovely to drive, not to expensive but pokey when it needs to be. it also has a nice driving height yet isnt too big to maneuver in town.

we bought one for shwmbo when our second spawn arrived and she loves it and i must admit my little gokart is getting ignored by me as the crv is nice and comfy

another benefit is the realtime all wheel drive. most of the time it runs in fwd and only kicks in the rear wheels when things get slippery, so tis good for winter without the expense of permanant 4wd.

C-Max now out of the equation - the Finance Director didn't like the mirror mounting! Oh, and wasn't happy either with the test drive or the attitude of the dealer.

So I'm now tasked with finding a diesel "fat Polo" (as she's started referring to the Touran) or diesel Verso, about 3 - 4 years old, less than 40k miles. Any hints or tips for fertile hunting grounds other than the dealer/manufacturer websites and Car Giant?

Auto-trader? Just tried the following search:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used ... rt/default

Just spotted this thread.What ever you do,DONT buy anything with the Ford 1.6 Diesel engine in it.That then includes the Volvo's Citreon's and pugnuts.I work in the trade and I know that when the turbo lets go on these engines(and they do let go)the engine is scrap too.Because when the turbo goes,so much of the damaged turbo ends up in the engine that its impossible to get it all out again.

Go down your VW route.These days the VWs are now where near as reliable as they where a few years ago and some say the 2.0d engine is not as good as the 1.9d but I dont know many cars that are bullet proof now.
Just make sure its got all its history.Keep these oil changed regular and you should be fine.

Hope that helps.Eric

I owned an 06 Verso with the 2.2 engine. It was good. You hardly ever needed first gear and it returned excellent fuel economy. It was at least 3 times more reliable than the VW I had after it. The only less reliable car I ever had was a Rover 45 with a K series!

However, unless you are going to regularly put a couple of small passengers in what amounts to be the crumple zone, from my experience, (wife, two ten year olds and driving to camping holidays, etc) an estate car is better. The company car policy I currently live under only allowed me a Focus estate. I would prefer a Mondeo but the Focus can swallow a lot of stuff and in over 18 months of mixed driving has returned exactly 63mpg. Its luggage space is better by far than the Verso's.

We've got a 57 plate Corolla Verso and, although it won't set your pants on fire, nothing has gone wrong with it either. It also has pretty versatile seats, which basically converts it to a van with windows in a few seconds...