MG HS, Kia Sportage or Tucson

[Hotchocolateandmarsh]

We are looking at SUV cars that could fit three children in if needed (one would be out of car seats potentially). Ideally 20-30k and a few years old.

MG - we could get brand new but it still seems like a new brand, unsure about reliability. Does have three isofix points. 6 year warranty

Kia - I like the brand, 7 year warranty. Slightly smaller in the back and two isofix points. Feels more reliable. More expensive so 1-3 years old.

Tucson - no warranty past 3 years. Slightly smaller in the back and two isofix points. Feels more reliable than MG. More expensive so 1-3 years old.

Any suggestions/ feedback real life experience with these cars?

Tucson has a huge boot and we regularly get 3 teenagers in the back. I expect all are well specced vs European brands when it comes to extra gadgets like heated seats etc.

Kia or Tucson. I’ve had a Tucson as a hire car and it was lovely to drive. My friend has one as her company car and does a lot of mileage and no problems with it.

We currently own a Kia and an MG although slightly different models and I would highly recommend both of them . We have had both from new , our Kia is now 15 , has done 160k , had the air conditioning unit replaced just before its warranty expired and all we’ve done since is a partial exhaust . The MG is a ZS and is 4 and is a lovely car to drive , very comfortable for long distances and we’ve had no problems with him at all .

I've got a Kia and 3 children, 2 of which are not in car seats and I find it too small. Boots not that big either. We had an estate for our previous car and will be going back to estate when we get rid of this one

I will say that the Kia is very reliable though and I do like that side of it

Kia

The Sportage is really tight in the back if you have two car seats in. A slim teen would fit but if you have a broad / wide teen, then it might be tight or you might end up needing slimmer car seats, so it might depend how long you are planning on keeping it.

How old are the DC in car seats? Are they in the HBBs or still RF? My parents have a Sportage and we have a britax max safe pro and a joie 360 both RF in the back (my DC are almost 2y and 4.5y), and out of all of us, only my slim DF fits and it isn't comfy for him. Could you take the 3 DC + the 2 seats to a dealership and test whether they all fit?

Mgzs previously here and it was great, could fit a non folding wheelchair in the boot without parcel shelf, only reason I swapped was I needed a wheelchair accessible vehicle as my sons abilities changed. Literally had not one single issue

Kia and Hyundai are the same company so just pick which one you think looks better.

avoid mg if you can get the others but they seem ok. Parking sensors are terrible as have seen people drive into and scrape other cars with no idea and no sensor warning

Toyota RAV4 or Honda CRV is what you should be looking at.

It would be one RF and one HBB. I think this would be our next test once we have really narrowed it down. To test the seats in an actual model.

Thanks this is something to check if we did a test drive for sure!

I think we have avoid these purely because of road tax for second hand cars a few years old and the jump from £120 to £500 a year. Unless you can say it’s worth the significant increase? And it’s a drastic difference in care performance. We aren’t massive car people so basic specifications are suitable for us.

I know it's not on your list but have you considered Peugeot? One of the bigger models, 2008, 3008 or 5008?

I have a Tuscon and love it. The boot is huge. Pretty sure mechanically the Sportage and Tuscon are the same so other than looks are identical (it was once described to me as non identical twins!)

No, the husband is flat out no on Peugeots but oddly pushing the MG 😂

I adore my Sportage. Can regularly get three teens in the back (plus big dog in the boot), but I think the middle seat would be uncomfortably narrow with two car seats either side.

Haha! Fair enough.

DH and I are the opposite! Peugeot only in this house. He has one, I have one. Two of his DC's have one. His ExW has one lol.

Out of your options then, I'd go for the KIA.

Look at the previous generation models for both (up to 2022).

That dont incur the higher tax bracket and you still get unparalelled reliability versus every other car thats been listed on this thread.

I had a 2018 sportage. The outside was lovely. The inside was basic looking but fully spec’d. I didn’t have two child seats but with having one, I’m surprised that it’s a tight fit. I currently have a 330e estate and it’s sooo much smaller.

peugeot are much more reliable nowadays. They have an oddly small steering wheel which I hate but some people love. Otherwise also very well spec’d. I had a love hate relationship with the sat nav. It notifies you of every speed camera and I couldn’t work out how to turn it off. Every few miles on the m1, there was a loud bleep like the world was ending.

Our current car beeps when ever the temp
gets below 4C and it scares me so much. I’m not sure my blood pressure could cope with that 😂

Bumping as I'm also looking at the tuscon but open to other recommendations for a car with big boot. Thank you

MG depreciate hugely - they’re not sought after cars. My sister has one and hates it. Cheap and nasty

Luckily, this was a very specific bong but my current car makes the same bong for 3 degrees or less as it does for catastrophic failure - and anything in between.

We had a hired MG ZS on holiday a couple of years ago and it felt very plasticky. DSM has had one from new and when she had an issue with the clutch fairly early on she had a real problem getting it dealt with under warranty. She bought it because my dad struggled to get into her old Astra and after he died she offered to sell me it so that she could downsize but then withdrew the offer because she was having problems with it and didn't want to offload them on me.
A colleague has a 2019 Sportage which she loves. She keeps looking at replacing it but can't find anything to beat it.