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.

I have a 2015 Qashqai 1.2, do similar mileage and driving to you. I love it. Nice to drive, good family size, economical to run. Is fab on the motorway. Will get one again when I trade in in a couple of years.

Rottnessferry - going well ta, no flying this year or last, cycling any journies less than 3 miles. Cut down meat/fish to virtually non- existent, sticking to one child public transport to work. Heating down to 18 degrees in winter, so yep doing fairly well ta. What you doing???

So....now considering a qashqai 1.6 turbo. Looking at galaxy, c max, s max and mazda too. Volvo out of budget i think. The above cars are probably also out of budget I bet.

I have a Honda crv and love it. I have 3 car seats and it's got loads of space (especially gloriously big boot)

How old are your DC OP? And how many?

Really look at the inside space on the Qashqai. The boot is a really awkward shape which means it's hard to fit much in eg suitcases have to be very carefully positioned so that the boot/(rear windscreen) will shut.

My DCs are teens, and although DS is bigger than me, he is not what I would call big, and DD is petite, but it is quite cramped in the rear, with limited leg space. The central seat has no leg space at all. They were out of car seats when we got hte car, but I can't imagine there being much space.

My wider family has owned many toyotas between us, I’m told totalling over 50 years combined ownership over the last decade or so. They have all been faultless, nothing ever broke and all have high safety ratings. I’d never consider anything else

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso has amazing 3 full size rear seats and tons of space. It would see your family grow into tall teens

The newer engines have a lot of power. However the smaller engines work harder, and therefore have a shorter life than a larger engine.

Another urban myth. Most of the increased power on the latest small petrol engines comes from add on stuff like more efficient fuel injection, better cooling, better turbos etc. Nothing to do with the actual engine itself. The small petrol engines don't rev any higher than bigger engines, and many are 3 cylinders which have a bigger capacity per cylinder. There's nothing to suggest they won't last like a bigger older engine. in fact they'll probably last longer.

Honda Civic 1.8 here, not the latest shape, the model before.

Massive boot, good-ish mpg, reasonable cheap and one of the most reliable cars you can buy.

Got a 2013 with 40k for about 8 grand and much much prefer it to the focus I was driving before.

My DB and his DW have three kids and they've had a Ford C-Max for several years and love it. They had a dog for most of that time too and she fit in the boot with the luggage. Their girls are big too (14, 12 and 10), and they all fit happily on the back seat.

I had a Skoda Octavia before my present car and I loved it. It was a workhorse of a car, but it had good acceleration, it was comfortable and good fuel economy. I'd get another Skoda if I needed a reasonably priced car that would last.

We have a Skoda Superb - it's basically a VW in all but name and about £20k cheaper. It's a fabulous car to drive, loads of room in the back for our three teenagers and whippet and a cavernous boot. We've had ours 3 years and the only issues have been self-inflicted knocks - nothing mechanical at all. As it's leased, we're just wondering now whether to part ex it for another one or just pay the final amount and keep this one.

Prior to this we had a Renault Grand Scenic which was great while kids were younger but wouldn't buy a Renault now. Have also had Fords and looked at the C-Max when we were buying the Skoda but the service at our local dealership was so bad we walked out. Test drove the Honda CRV too, but the boot was tiny.

Tax on the Superb is £30 p.a. and it's very economical to drive (I don't know the exact numbers, but I drive it every day locally (around London - so not the most fuel efficient driving) and I reckon I fill the tank up once a month. It's a 1.4 petrol engine and isn't sluggish at all.

Vauxhall zafira tourer 1.4 turbo.
7 seats move back and forward even 6ft son can sit in boot seats. Great for when got Grandparents over or kids friends.

58 Nissan Quashqai, its done 90000miles and its still going fine (touchwood) It's a 2l petrol though and does have a bit of a kick.

Before this I had a really old Nissan that just kept going, they are brilliant cars, pretty much bombproof.

forgot to add, I only have 2 kids primary school age so they have plenty of space.

Yep, Skoda is always worth a look. I drove a Fabia estate for years and used it as a real workhorse.

Only time it let me down even slightly was trying to get up a steep hill with four adults, a mobility scooter and a load of ikea flat packs abord. We made it but it wasn't quick. 😂🙈😂

@DriveAway Yes we thought that 1.2 turbo Qashqai was a good idea too. We bought a low mileage one with a 66 plate.

Absolute disaster. Within weeks it started making a strange noise and the Nissan main dealer confirmed the engine had failed. It had been correctly serviced and only 20K on the clock. It came back from the dealer last week having had a whole new engine fitted. Luckily it was covered under warranty or it'd have been an £8K bill.

If you google Qashqai engine failure you'll find it is actually a known issue for the 1.2 turbo. We've been lucky, Nissan agreed to replace the engine immediately but not every one has been so lucky.

Other than that - yes it's fine on the motorway and pulls away OK at junctions. We were pretty happy with it but this one but we won't be keeping it.

With three kids the options narrow quite a lot.
Have never owned a Qashqai, but having been in them, I'd be surprised if three car seats in the back was a particularly pleasant experience.

Personally, I'd probably go for a Prius+.

Having moved away from more muscly cars to a bog standard Prius when my kids came long - I'd really recommend them. Ultra cheap to run (60+mpg on the motorway, petrol too), cruises quietly at 70, quicker than anything away from the lights, ultra reliable. Unless you like cruising at 100 and are some sort of Top Gear bellend, what's not to like?

For the past 3 years we have had a focus 1.0 EcoBoost. Brilliant car, plenty of pick up, room in the boot.

However our pcp was coming to an end so have just changed to a 1.7 kia carens crdi manual, 10k on the clock.

It's a brilliant car. Can go up to 7 seats but the bonus is the rear seat are 3 separate so plenty of room for 3 car seats (as middle seat has fixing) or for 2 car seats and an adult can sit in the middle comfortably.
There are different models (1,2,3,4) we have gone for a 2017 model 3. So has things like heated seats etc. But a model 2 would be sufficient for your needs and affordable at your budget.

Both of these cars have come as recommendations from my brother who not only had them himself but also work for a large car company (not brand specific) who buy and sell 1000s of cars daily. He works on every model imaginable so could recommend cars that wouldn't depreciate ridiculously and have lasting power.

The verso was our other option .

I would suggest you test drive your top cars, even If you just look at a higher spec to get a feel.for it.

Also be prepared to travel for something good. We had to go 90 miles for ours to get the spec we wanted.

-quicker than anything away from the lights

Not really, at nearly 12 seconds to 62mph it’s no quicker than the 1.2 Qashqai which really is a bit of a slug. The 1.6 diesel QQ is likely a much better option than the 1.2 petrol although not exactly a great ball of fire itself.

Would anyone consider buying a diesel (2016 model) considering the congestion zones that are popping up all over the country soon. Diesels are cheaper tax due to low co2 emissions but still produce more of the other pollutants. Will they keep upping the tax and congestion charges due to this on diesels so should I stick with petrol?

Recently sold our 9 yr old Touran which we had from new. Didnt have a single problem with it. Loads of space and 3 proper seats in the back.

Mow have an octavia estate which is fab and better on motorways but i wouldn't want to sit on the middle seat in the back for long periods so maybe not great for a family of 5

We've given up buying a family car as even things that say they fit 3 car seats (eg Citroen C4) don't, when tested, fit three car seats! Pointless. Amazed no manufacturers have caught on there is a gap in the market.

Ford c max

@DriveAway

Might want to research the Qashqai reliability a bit. This is just the first hit I found (from whatcar.com reviewing 2014-2018 models.)

"Is a used Nissan Qashqai hatchback reliable?
Unfortunately not, judging by our latest reliability survey. While earlier Qashqais performed acceptably, 47% of second-generation diesel models and 46% of petrol versions had problems – a pretty disastrous showing, in other words. A high volume of electrical faults was largely to blame, but there were other problems, too, all of which means the Qashqai puts a serious dent in Nissan’s reputation for making reliable cars.

Nissan as a brand finished in 27th place out of 31 manufacturers. "

Love our trusty 2.0l vw Touran