Car to fit 3 adults and 2 car seats?

[TheHouseofMirth]

Our Punto's getting old and when MIL comes to stay and we go for a day out it's very "cosy" in the back seat with three so it's time to get a new car but I have no idea where to start.

Thanks to a windfall we have a budget of up to £15k but day to day we're on a tight budget so running costs need to be low and reliability high.

I started out thinking a 5 seater, like a C Max would be fine but as we're likely to keep this car for a long time (though DEFINITELY NOT having more children) am wondering if we should go for a 7 seater? Would we find it useful to be able to transport a couple of DSs's friends etc?

Going from the Punto I wouldn't want one of the larger 7 seaters like an S Max I looked at a 5 seater C Max and a Zafira today but failed to get excited about either of them (though Vauhall's lifetime warranty is appealing). Also wondered about a Toyota Verso.

Can anyone help me before I explode?

We got a Corolla Verso to replace our old Corolla so that we could take my Mum in the car. Very much like the car, we have done a fair amount of driving in Europe and it is fab for that, extra seats have occasionally come to the rescue.

Turning circle is rubbish (54 reg) but newer ones might be better. I was warned about this before I bought it but it is a bit irritating. Not at all happy with it at the moment as the Dual Mass Flywheel has failed and it will be back from garage next week with a flipping £1700 bill. It's a diesel though and used for too many short trips and I'm sure it isn't an issue on a newer one which your budget will buy or on the petrol version (1.6 is apparently underpowered, 1.8 uses a lot of petrol). We have apparently been very unlucky and this isn't just a Toyota problem but just something to be aware of. I now am having to research a small car to replace the KA to do our everyday running around in which wasn't the plan at all when we got the Verso.

Rather than a people carrier, how about a wide car that can fit 3 in the back comfortably like a Ford Mondeo. The diesels are very cheap to run.

Or if you want 7 seats a big estate with extra fold-down rear seats in the back. Height doesn't always mean extra space for bums, just tall hats.

It feels like such a minefield. Despite Fiat's fairly crap reputation our Punto's 10 years old now and the only things that have ever gone wrong with it are the exhaust and the winsdcreen wiper motor. My next door neighbour has a brand-new top of the range Mondeo which has been back to the dealer countless times since they bought it.

Esian, that's exactly what I was thinking. Any ideas what I should be investigating estate-wise?

We've got a Fiat Multipla which is great. Seats 6 comfortably, not too enormous to drive around day to day, and the diesel that we have is pretty economical to run.

The new ones - 54 plate onwards - aren't as weird looking as the first ones either.

Had Dh looking at What Car and it seems there aren't so many of those 7 seater estates around now - possibly because of safety concerns with the back seats.

You could look at the qashqai+2 or the S-max like you say but is it really worth having the extra seats for occasional use? By definition it would be a bigger, heavier vehicle which will increase running costs.

Know exactly what you mean about a minefield. We had a big debate about whether to keep Verso once repaired but came to conclusion that we had done all the research to come up with Verso and nothing much has changed. Did look at a Mazda 5, thought it looked a bit big.

Vauxhall's lifetime guarantee sounded good but then read on a forum some small print saying about if car was uneconomic to repair then it would be written off or something rubbish like that, was rapidly losing the will to live by then.

We did think about replacing Verso with a Honda Jazz as were very surprised at how much room there is in them but didn't fancy taking on the Autobahn with one. Thinking about Honda, what about their 6 seater, is it the FRV?

I think I'm going to get myself a nice little sports car and buy Oyster cards for everyone else

Yanbu