Tell me about your large estate car please!

[Spareincoming]

We bought a volvo xc90 having been reassured by the real world recommendations from Mumsnet and it great until it was stolen 2 weeks ago in Glasgow so I am turning back to you all for your real world recommendations!

We have a seven seater Skoda and have decided we don’t need another 7 seater but would like the boot space of an estate.

We’ve previously had a Focus estate which I loved but found with car seats in the back it became quite space limited for front seat passengers and driver.
Immediate possibilities that spring to mind include: VW Passat estate, Mazda 6 estate, Volvo v90.

my ideal car criteria:

• Not a Skoda - we’ve had awful problems with the dealership with ours, and have had to use a dealership 100 miles away to get sorted, currently the car is ok but it’s tarnished Skoda for life for DH.
• 2-3 years old.
• petrol as we don’t want the add blue and DPF issues due to not doing huge weekly mileage.
• Larger engine size as we occasionally have to tow with my car.
• large back seat for 2 car seats plus someone in between
• Leg space for front seat passengers when a rear facing child seat is used behind their seat - likely to be in use for another 3 to 4 years.

@EverythingIsComputer Trust me when I say I’m surprised by my feelings that the v90 was vast when coming from an xc90!
it may be down to having a pokey Ford Fiesta as a loan car and an annoying DH in the car with me.

I’ve been looking at XC60s and V60s online tonight, size wise they’re similar to my much loved Focus estate of years ago, which is appealing. I’d just got used to parking the XC90s vastness but will happily downgrade vastness!

The irony is, DH and I had been jokingly saying watch where we leave the XC90 since we’d got it as I can be working in some dodgy areas, then it got stolen in the most unassuming, unlikely place!
But the insurance company have been brilliant, even down to reimbursing us for the train and taxi home, which I was not expecting at all.

The V90 and V90 differences are mainly from the rear seats backwards.

Would it be worth going to a Volvo dealer and comparing the xc90 and the v90? Rather than having the hire car as a reference point?

Although fair warning on the v90. People will think you’re a traffic cop.

@ScaryM0nster I had an ex police car years ago - a big Vauxhall vectra estate, brilliant car - and had people moving out my way left right and centre!
I’ve persuaded DH we don’t need to do a 160 mile round trip tomorrow to see the Toyota Corolla as I won’t buy it, so now we’re doing 240 mile trip to see a dealership with an xc90, a V90, an xc60 and a V60 in stock, in the right petrol and plug in hybrid combinations I think we want to see and within the right price bracket.

DH hasn’t clocked the mileage change yet but it’s his fault for having a career that means we live in the arse end of nowhere - it will be worth it… I think!

Worth a look: Volvo V90, VW Passat Estate, or Mazda 6 Estate.
All have big boots, good rear space for car seats, and solid petrol options for towing.
192.168.1.1

192.168.100.1

I used to have a Corolla Touring Sports and whilst boot space was really good, the rear passenger space was not roomy so you're right to avoid if that's a requirement.

Curious as to what other's think of as essential. Washer fluid warning wouldn't be on my radar at all. In 27 years of driving i've never run out. In my current car which I've had for 4 years I've never even topped it up (gets done at the service)

I’ve run out before but I almost always have some in my boot so not a cause for concern. Absolutely not on my radar as a must have. Petrol light on the other hand - yes after once walking 2 miles in my pyjamas and slippers when I had no idea I was about to run out. I was very young.