Family car - impossible

[Girlswithflowers]

So we are four people- tall teen dds. We like to camp.

I'm fed up of diesels which seems to dominate the large spacious family car market - i think their value is going to crash and our driving style with (normally) daily short runs and the odd weekend isn't great for these engines ( i have dpf issues in the past).

Looking for used max 5 years old and no more than £14k and reliable. Why is this so very hard!

You could try the latest model of Touran 2015 onwards. There is an option of the 1.4tsi petrol engine and it has a large boot and is spacious for family of four. Only go for the higher Spec sel version though.

That would be why we have an 05 reg Legacy...

You might have to go a bit older to get a prestige model with a bigger petrol engine, but then economy/range suffers

Oh thsnks - beginning to think I might need to compromise on the diesel issue for more choice.

Could you get a trailer or a top box instead of a new car to provide extra room to transport stuff?

I do need a new car though and trailers always give me the heebies!

We have a VW touran, family of 4 plus dog. Big campers. We add a roof box for camping and remove the middle seat. We also would prefer it not to be diesel but will change it soon for a newer version and hopefully will get a petrol engine then. Otherwise it is our perfect car, I love it!

have a look at large estates - a Skoda Octavia is mid-size, a Superb is huge - and you can get them at that age / price range

Mondeo estate, the boots are absolutely huge and passengers in the back have decent legroom, nice to drive as well.

I didn't want a diesel either but almost every mini mpv has one. Gave in in the end.

Have you thought about a trailer instead ?

We ended up keeping our smaller car which is barley used for short trips rather than getting a much bigger car we only need 4 / 5 times a day ?

Girlswithflowers as I said above the current touran has a good petrol option..definitely avoid diesel or you will end up with one of the cars affected by the emissions saga. Diesel cars smell awful in cold weather are bad for health and not suited to short journeys.

We have a Ford kuga. Lots and lots of room

You can get a petrol version of the Hyundai Tucson

I've been looking at 2016/17 budget up to £15k ideally less. I like being high up so suv of mpv better.

Petrol-
kuga - boot too small
Tuscon- mixed reviews pricey
Mazda cx5 - petrol engine sluggish (no turboboost) boot okay but not massive
Qashqui boot too small
Xtrail - 5 seater a maybe
Touran

Diesel
Mazdax cx5
Ford Galaxy
Seat Alhambra - pricey

What have missed?

I should say I've got a 7 seater atm and i only really need 5 - rather have extra boot space!

I'm surprised you found the kugas boot too small! When we looked it was one of the biggest we could find and thought that Tucson was much smaller!
We can get pram, 2x dogs and 5/6 bags of shopping in at once

An estate car is the best type for camping. Loads of space inside plus you can add a roof box without going over height limits in car parks etc.

I have a diesel Golf estate and it's brilliant, really solid, comfortable and very reliable. I average 56 mpg which is pretty good. A newer one (mine is 2012) would be even more efficient I imagine.

We had this issue 2 tall adults and 2 tall teens and we have a skoda octavia massive boot lots of leg room too and really economical compared to our old astra. Plus easily avalible in petrol and in upur price range it was one ofnthe few card with that much legroom

I do too much town driving to have an estate. Re the Kuga - the spec on auto trader has the 2016/17 models with a tiny 406l boot so I'd discounted it.

Try Mazdas, love mine. No idea on cost second hand as I had mine new but super reliable, less than £1000 spent on repairs over 10 years!

What I really want is a volvo x60/90 or BMX x5 - but i can't afford it!!

Ps Mazdas are naturally aspirated apparently so don't need turbo, hence bigger engines but don't use more fuel (according to rep)

I've got a mazda 5 atm - lovely looking car, full leather, electric sliding doors, sports model, kids seats fully independent do mega comfy but the diesel engine is ticking time bomb due to the dpf and im fed up with it now.

@Girlswithflowers we have a 17 plate and it fits all that 🤷🏼‍♀️ I think you've said it yourself you have your heart set in certain models so realistically nothing will 100% live up to that