FlightMan

Looking for a family car, between £4 - 5k.

Criteria, in no particular order.

1. Safe.
2. Reliable
3. +30mpg
4. No more than 5 years old with less than 60,000 on the clock.
5. Cheap to insure.
6. Gotta be able to do weekends away for 2 adults and kids.

Any and all suggestions welcome!

Cheers all.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Citroen C5 estates depreciate like mad. My brother picked one up last year, still within warranty, 30k miles for £6k.

scoobyboy

similar to what im looking for the other half but only up to 4k, at the minute looking at civics from 01 onwards so new shape and quite well specced i think plus for some reason it's the same price for me to insure the 1.6 vtec as the 1.4

Petem95

Skoda Octavia?
VW Passat?
VW Bora?

Any of them would fit the bill I would imagine (and all similar cars).

David Lock

Flame away but I've always found Volvo Estates seem to fit the family bill. I get just over 30 mpg in my 2.3 petrol turbo which is pretty good for a brick and of course yoy can get the family, dog and kitchen sink in as well. dl

Dr Hu

Mondeo TDCi 130 - big car, very good dynamics & 50mpg, plus its a mondeo so the values fall through the floor in the first 2 years

FlightMan

Try finding one with less than 100,000 on the clock and i'd agree with you.

Some good suggestions ( Bora/Octavia etc )

Anyone got any experience of Laguna's ( new shape ) and Rover 75's?

Keep 'em coming folks!

logiclee

You can get a really good, high spec, low milage petrol Mondeo for £4k-£5k.
There are 2002 cars with 35k miles on autotrader for under £5k

Even the 2.0 has a combined economy of 36.2mpg and an extra-urban figure of 48.7mpg.

Look hard enough and you can find TDCi's for around £5k with under 60k miles but they will be early examples and low spec.

If you enjoy driving the Mondeo is a far better drive than the older VAG or Vaxhaul stuff.

Cheers
Lee

logiclee

Mechanical and electrical reliability is the downside on the Laguna, they get slated in every survey.
I've owned a 75, they are comfortable but dull. Engine wise forget the 1.8 petrol it's way underpowered and the V6's will use too much fuel for you.
That leaves you with a 1.8T or the diesel. The 1.8T is OK and makes reasonable progress but is coarse sounding and runs out of puff. The diesels are OK but they are old tech without VNT's so dont expect any performance below 2000rpm.
For a Family the 75's boot is a problem, its shallow with a poor entrance and can make loading difficult.

Cheers
Lee

Sub97

Nissan Almera?

We are looking at these as a mum's car. Get a 2-3 year old one with 15-20k on it for under 5k. SE spec gets you electric everything, climate control, parking sensors.

We are struggling to find anything to beat it in terms of value, spec etc.

MarkCSC

I got a 2000 Saab 93 LPT with 59K on the clock for £4k. Not that cheap to insure though, but not bad.

TopBanana

I'd go for the Mondeo

Duck_Pond

What about a Mazda6? Huge boot and usually come very high in the owner surveys. Diesels are very good, and handle well.