My wife and I have just had twins and our 2003 Honda Civic is now not big enough for us. We'd like to be able to carry 3 adults and the twins but there is not room for an adult in the back of our car with 2 car seats in place. Also, once we have a double buggy in the boot there is not much room for anything else.

As a replacement we've been looking at a used Honda FR-V but I'm wondering if a Ford Mondeo (either the 2000 or 2007 model) will be able to fit 2 child seats and an adult in the back? We've ruled out the 7 seater people carriers (Verso, Picasso, etc) as it seems they can't carry 3 adults and 2 babies in reasonable comfort and with a sensible amount of luggage.

I'd be grateful to hear your opinion on what might best suit us. Reliability and low running costs are important to us and I'd rather not buy something that is underpowered.

Once my wife goes back to work she will use the car for her 10 mile round trip commute so I think we need to look at petrol rather then diesel engines.

Our budget is up to around £8,000, including part exchanging our Civic.