MPVs - need some advice on what to buy please

[PositivelyGlowing]

Currently thinking of buying an MPV, however I have certain requirements which I'm finding it difficult to meet:

a) Must have a low sill at the rear (for easier dog access)

b) Must have a high internal space (much nicer if you have big dogs)

c) must be a petrol engine

d) must be a manual, not automatic

Was looking at a second hand Ford Tourneo Courier (link so you can get an idea of the type of car I'm after: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/ford/tourneo-courier) but then found out the engines have a problematic 'wet timing belt' which is very costly to replace (over £2K), my local garage for example won't touch them, so I've ditched that one.

Any suggestions please?

A Yaris Verso would be perfect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Yaris_Verso) but sadly Toyota don't make them any more.

A number of people I know who have big dogs drive vehicles like the Renault Kangoo, Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner or Vauxhall or Vauxhall Combo Life.

Maybe a Mazda 5? My MIL has a great pyrnean (pirnean? Pirneen, big dog) who's a solid 78kg.
It's been reliable, manual, petrol and is just big enough with the rear seats out (it's a seven seater, so she's still got the centre segments of seats).
The dog can just about jump in and out, there's no lip etc on the sill, though it is still reasonably 'off the ground' so there is a back up ramp to run him up when he doesn't fancy it.
Will admit, they've not made them for a while, but otherwise seem to tick your boxes!
Good luck with the search.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions so far, the more the merrier. 😀

If you've ruled out the Ford Tourneo Courier second hand because of the engine issues (they also have issues with the Powershift automatic gearbox, which is what put me off) then similar vehicles - van-based MPVs - would be the Volkswagen Caddy Life, Renault Kangoo and the Berlingo/Partner/Combo Life mentioned above.

You haven't said what your budget is, but the Tourneo Courier is now in a new generation and it's basically the new VW Caddy with Ford badges, so it might suit you better.

Very few manufacturers make proper MPVs for the European market any more. One which does tick most of your boxes is the Dacia Jogger with the 1.0 TCE engine, although you'd have to see the sill height for yourself.

Thanks very much, from a brief search I particularly like the VW Caddy Life so will look into that (and the rest).

To add to that, a lot of the VW Caddy Life's seem to be diesel unfortunately.