To ask which family car you own?

[DriveAway]

Posting here for traffic.....

My other thread gained 0 posts so I thought I would rephrase on here.

Money is tight so I need to make sure that I am making the right decision. I am wanting to buy a 3 year old Nissan Qashqai. It is a small engine 1.2 but I am told it has plenty of power for motorway driving.

Can I ask which car you would recommend for a family car which is reliable, spacious and cheap to run.

BMW 1 Series. Lovely to drive but the back is a tight squeeze, boot is an OK size to get shopping! Not an ideal family car in all honesty. I only have 1 child though so it isn't really a problem for me. If you have a rather big family, then maybe look into a Vauxhall Astra Estate or a Ford Galaxy.

Just had a Qashqai as a hire car following an accident and hated it
Terribly underpowered - wallowed round corners - unforgiving gearbox - awful visibility
DP drove it whilst on holiday with me and was happier to return to his 16 year old VW which felt like a sports car in comparison
The only thing I liked was it had a better camera for parking than my current VW

Ford Expedition EL. 5.4L seats 8 and 3 huskies. The best car I have ever owned, I will definitely be getting another one.

Skoda Octavia estate. Second Octavia and I'd have another, great cars for comfort, handling and reliability. Just feels solid. Current car is 1.5 diesel and plenty of power on motorway and hills, loads of leg and storage room.

We've got a Citroen C4, it's not what I went looking for but it's comfortable, spacious and has a huge boot , we also have a focus. I'd love a Dacia duster or a VW touran/toureg , I had a quashqai as a work hire car last year and it was awful, so much lag on the pull away it was dangerous at roundabouts and junctions also not huge across the back seat.

SsangYong Tivoli is pretty nippy and has loads of interior space which is why we chose it.

Fiat 500x, the Multi-Jet diesel model. It's £20 road tax and fuel seems to last a while. I think it's a 1.6. DH who has to have a powerful car for overtaking on the motorway (apparently) approves of this more than my previous Hyundai i30 and Ford Fiesta.

Normally a Honda CRV (amaaaazing boot) and great all-round car to drive with family.

Had a Qashqai on holiday recently, felt much smaller than CRV and boot felt tiny in comparison.

VW Tiguan here and it is lovely.

We have a 1.2 Nissan Pulsar 2016. It's a great car, very nippy and good on motorways. It feels far better to drive than my sister's 2014 Qashqui, but I believe the latest ones are good.

Although it seems fairly small from the outside, it is deceptively spacious and takes our big extended rear racer easily. The boot is decent too, it can fit our suitcases and a buggy no problem, not that we have the buggy anymore. I think my favourite part of the car is the rear camera, makes reversing much easier. I'm actually quite sad that our finance is up later this year and that we'll have to swap it, it's been a great car.

Go for any Toyota model with the lowest spec in terms of electrical gadgets the better .

A verso or auris

Thing is OP, taste in cars is personal. My parents love their VW Golf but I find it wallowy and as a passenger it makes you feel quite sick. I also hate that all the VW cars are just variations on the VW theme.

Through DH’s work we have had access to a lot of cars over the years. I thought the BMW 1 series was terrible - awful driving position and gearbox. There was an auto Corsa which was literally the worse car I’ve ever driven. I don’t like the clutch in the Focus and I’m yet to find a Peugeot I would ever consider owning. And yet all of these cars sell thousands and thousands every year because people like them.

All you can do is ask for a test drive that includes motorway driving and see for yourself!

We’ve always been pleased with Qashqais, for what it’s worth

That should say variations on a Golf. Obviously they are variations on a VW theme

I love my Seat Ateca, think it's only a 1.2 petrol but it's a plenty big enough engine.

Previously had a Hyundai i40 which was also brilliant.

@ZippyBungleandGeorge we have a C4 too and it's perfect for us x

Hey,
Just answering your question from before. It was a brand new car. Lovely to drive around the streets but there was no welly on the motorway. It was a petrol one also.
BTW I was looking for a new second car recently and Nissan told me the same spiel about the 1.2 having a turbo and therefore you don't need a big engine. To be fair they seemed pretty convincing.
Like another poster said a car is subjective and you need to give it a go yourself
Oh yeah and also we are only a family of 3.
Let us know what you decide on. X

If you're on Facebook join the Nissan qashqai owners group for any questions you have. I did this before choosing which engine size/year/fuel type. Everyone is very helpful. General consensus from what I've seen though is 1.2 petrol is fine for pootling around town but underpowered for motorway driving and not particularly fuel efficient. I have the 1.5 diesel which is fantastically economical and nippy but I do the miles for it, wouldn't recommend if you don't do that many miles or longer trips.

Quite a few have mentioned mazda. Do they do SUV style that is cheap to run?

The Mazda CX-5 is the equivalent to the Qashqai. Very nice it is too. Mazda don't make downsized petrol engines though (I think the petrol in the Mazda is 2.0).

To answer your other question, we run older cars these days (used to have new ones on PCP but I got sick of the financial impact). Current fleet is a Saab 9-5 estate which is about 14 years old, and a Nissan Murano (like a massive, luxurious Qashqai) which is 10 years old. They're both very good the Nissan in particular is a motorised armchair although I'm a proactive maintenance kind of person so they get treated much better than decade-plus-old cars normally do.

We have a RR Evoque and a Mazda CX-5. I much prefer the mazda, we’ve never had any problem with them, great boot space.

I would go for a VW Passat 1.9(estate) fits us in (2 kids, me, mum, 3 dogs plus assorted weeks camping gear and 2 dog crates in it- very fuel economic did lake district, week going round lakes and back on 1.5 tanks - wouldn't have anything else! though my golf was good too- fited all of us in no problem till the new dogs in car rules came into effect and we had to put crates in instead of the dogs snoozing on laps or in the footwells!

Far and away the best car for what you're looking for would be the Kia Sportage, They're reasonable to buy and run, they've a long warranty and they drive brilliantly.

Family of 5, 3,11,10 year old and we have a kuga. I love it! The boot is massive and the kids are comfy

We are going for a Peugeot 3008 next.

The Dacia Logan engine sizes are less than 1L 😮

I currently have a Peugeot sw308 which I absolutely love.

I've had Cmax's and I liked those as well.