Seat Arona, Skoda Kamiq or something else I haven’t considered?

[CatStoleMyChocolate]

We need a new car (currently driving a small hatchback). While I work on persuading DH we need an actual, family size car, can I get some thoughts on the above cars, please?

We need something bigger than a small hatchback (not much of a challenge!). But we don’t need a “big” car. This will be the sole family car for two adults and two children. We need a significantly bigger boot. Parking sensors would be nice. Needs to run well on motorways and around town.

Does anyone have either of these cars? They both look good on paper but I’m not sure if we’re missing obvious alternatives.

We will definitely be buying second hand - budget would be around £12k, ideally,which seems to get aomething that’s about 4-5 years old. Would it be wise to stretch the budget for something slightly newer? We anticipate keeping it long term rather than upgrading in a few years time.

If you read the used car review for each of these on the What Car? website, the reviewers suggest alternatives.
I’m looking for the same sort of thing and I’m considering a VW T-Roc as well,

Suzuki Vitara? Good reliability and not that “long” so helps parking and mpg pretty good.

Have you looked at the Skoda Scala? Different shape to the big taxi driver Skodas but a great boot and really good reviews.

Not quite the same, we have a Skoda Karoq and love it, recently had the Kamiq as a hire care when the Karoq was in for service and found it really comfy to drive,solid and had felt ‘natural’ driving along.

We have a Ford Focus (Mk4) and it is huge for a family of 4. We have a parking camera on ours. We have a small age gap (23 months) so had a lot of kids paraphernalia at one point. We've taken it camping. Rear seat space / legroom is amazing.

I’ve had many VAG cars over the years. I keep going back to Skoda as the build quality versus the price is good. I won’t pay the extra for a VW now.
I’ve driven the Kamiq and I liked it - I have the Karoq which is the next size up.
I had a T-Cross from the garage last month and I didn’t like it as much.
But I would also look at Honda, Nissan,Toyota and Kia.

My brother has just got a Skoda Kamiq, he loves it. He has got the plug in hybrid one after having a Volvo V60 for years & says it is the best SUV he has had. Anything from the VW stable, Vw, Audi, Skoda or Seat would be a good buy, look at the Seat Equivalent, you can often buy for less & get better equipment spec.

We have a Kamiq and love it! I spent ages researching something similar to you and decided on the Kamiq as it seemed to offer a bit more space with takes up about as much room on the street as a hatchback (we're in London with on-street parking). It's lovely to drive and doesn't feel too big - we had a hatchback before too. The boot is a decent size although you may want to compare with the larger karoq as well. The karoq is the mid size version so might also suit you, and when we were looking there were more used karoqs available as the kamiq model hadn't been out that long, but that may have changed now.

I test drove the Seat Arona and Seat Ateca when I was changing my car and they're both nice cars but I found the Arona a little bit on the small side and the Ateca a bit too big. In the end I went for a VW TRoc which is in between in terms of size and I really like it. 2 kids here too.

VW are far from quality these days. If you want to buy something and keep it long term then you need to be looking at Toyotas.

@Ilovegermany , can you say more about what you didn’t like about the T-cross please? That’s also on my list.

I’ve seen the driving position of the Kamiq described as not much different to a normal hatchback, as opposed to the higher position of other small SUVs. Do those of you who have them feel that in reality?

Sorry for butting in @CatStoleMyChocolate !

Thank you - this is really helpful!

@ClaudiaWinklepanda and @Ilovegermany , I have actually looked at the T-Roc and T-Cross, but I have a feeling they’ll be out of our budget from initial browsing.

@Shade17 - I have looked at Toyota but things like the Rav-4 are out of our price range. I am also still struggling to get my head round hybrids - definitely don’t want full electric.

@confusedlots - that’s the conclusion I came to about the Ateca without having driven one! I definitely need to do a few test drives. I’ve also ruled out a Kia Sportage for the same reason.

Others I’ve looked at include the Ford Puma (though I find it an odd-looking car), Nissan Qashqai (though it looks a bit big for us and I also keep hearing Nissans are less reliable these days), Hyundai Kona (would need to check boot size) and possibly something else but I forget. I’m discounting anything with boot capacity under 400 litres.

Suzuki is one I hadn’t looked at - are they reliable? I see a fair few locally.

Butt in as much as you like, you’re asking the questions that are in my head 😂

We have a T Cross and in terms of size and boot capacity etc it fits the bill as a family car for us. I love how it looks and the amount we can fit in it, and it feels really spacious for everyone in it. The higher driving position is great, and even though it feels really spacious, it's actually narrow in dimensions so it's easy to park and still have space to get kids out if no parent and child spaces.

Ours is an automatic and the stop-start engine/gear selection is a real pain at every junction. Unless you turn the stop-start off entirely, it literally turns the engine off every time you stop at a junction/traffic lights/roundabout, so you need a much bigger gap than you realise.

It's not the end of the world as you can just turn the feature off whenever you get in the car, but it's an annoyance compared to our other car (an electric corsa, which I also feel is big enough for our family but sounds like it wouldn't be for yours).

Why would you need a much bigger gap with stop/start?
I've got stop/start on my VW Passat which I've had for 13 years and love it. It stopped working for a while (i.e., didn't turn off when I stopped) when the car needed a new battery and I really missed it. It is one of the features I'm looking for in my next car.

I liked the look and feel of the Skoda Kamiq, but didn't like the manual handbrake and lack of autohold (and stop/start).

Similarly the MG-ZS.

I liked the VW T-roc, but didn't like the hung rather than floor mounted accelerator (although that's just having had a floor mounted for so long, but I was surprised how much I noticed it on the test drive).

Oh yes, being able to get out of it in a parking space is definitely a plus!

I’ve never had a stop/start car (ours are both 13 years old) so I don’t know why a bigger gap is needed.

I think our budget is similar to yours, @CatStoleMyChocolate , we could probably get a slightly newer Skoda than a VW.

I did look at Toyota but I don’t like the look of the Yaris X at all, it was out of budget and I like something squarer. We’ve had Toyotas in the past though, and they’ve lasted well, apart from the rust on our current car.

I've got a Seat Ateca and love it.
It doesn't seem huge but is really roomy inside with a great boot. I had to replace a qashqai - it is slightly smaller, but so much bigger inside.
How old are your DCs and how long are you planning to have the car for? Most teens reach adult size fairly quickly and it can be a real squash in the back with long legs and big feet!

@Seeline , the kids are currently 9 and 5 but the 9 year old is tall. We won’t be having any more kids so only have to factor in two car seats.

We do quite a lot of long distance driving (every school holiday) to see family so I’m keen whatever we get accelerates a little better than our current car and is a bit more comfortable inside. We’re not hugely bothered by bells and whistles, and we’re not “car people” (can you tell?!) - we just want something safe, comfortable and affordable.

My DS what about 12 when he started to have difficulties getting his feet into the rear of the qashqai - he didn't have huge feet, but the doors didn't open wide enough, and the back of the front seats were weirdly shaped. However, it wasn't long before there were issues with getting adult length legs in too!

We have a Kamiq and would agree it feels more like a car than an SUV

Bloody love it. We bought it brand new when it was first released. Delivery date: the week before the first Covid lockdown!!! Hardly drove it for six months 😂

So it's 5 years old now and we've had no issues whatsoever. Just normal maintenance. Ours is an auto, I'm not sure what models they do now, our friend bought one after being driven in ours as well.

Thank you @CanOfMangoTango (love the username!) - really sounds like the Kamiq might be the way to go. Would love to hear from people with Seat Aronas as well! They both get great reviews on the Honest John website.

@Chasingsquirrels the bigger gap is needed because the car doesn’t move as soon as you put your foot down. If you’re used to manuals I can see why you wouldn’t notice a difference because you’re using that time to manually change gears anyway, but I’m comparing to my electric car which just goes as soon as my foot is down. There's definitely a difference between gaps I can comfortably do in my electric car and the ones I could do in the T cross.

It might not be the start-stop causing the issue, but either way the T Cross is noticeably annoying when you stop even very briefly at any junction or roundabout. My husband does most of the family driving so it’s still our “family car” with all the benefits I like, but I personally don’t take it when I’m driving myself.

I'm on my second Honda CRV found both really reliable and would probably still be driving my first if I hadn't killed it in a collision. Loads of room in the back and the boot is great to.

Ah, I misunderstood the meaning, I thought you meant you had to leave a bigger gap between you and the car in front when stopped in traffic, whereas having re-read your subsequent post I now think you mean a bigger gap needed to pull out into?

I can see what you are saying there, although I don't think it is true for me.
When stopping at a roundabout I wouldn't necessarily engage the stop/start (i.e., would keep in gear with the clutch depressed) unless it was clear there wasn't going to be a gap for a few cars.

Whereas at traffic lights or in slow moving and stop start traffic, I would let the stop/start engage.

For me, stop/start is for when you would normally come to a complete stop and engage the handbrake (which with an electronic parking brake my Passat does when I come to a stop, disengage the gear and take my foot off the brake pedal).
Actually having written that, I'm not sure people do engage the handbrake in the same way as I was taught in traffic any more, and rather they use the foot brake pedal.

@Chasingsquirrels I thought the same as you, that a longer gap was needed to stop or something.
Does it take a long time to get used to?