This is a slightly strange one, so bear with me.
Quite frequently, someone will recommend a Toyota Estima. It's what used to be known as a Toyota Previa when they imported them to the UK. They are now only available as private imports from Japan.
I used to live in a part of London where a lot of people were of a strict religion that obliged them to have large families. They ALL drove Previas and Estimas, including very old ones, and they kept going for ever.
Now, you probably think importing a car from Japan is way too complicated, but I happen to know of an honest importer fairly near you (Peterborough). They import pretty much only Estimas to use in their campervan fleet and have done so for over a decade so know what they're doing. If anyone can find you a decent one, it's probably them (speak to James).
www.bumblecampers.com/imports.html
It may be possible in theory to get into an Estima for £3.5k, but not likely, at least not one you'd want. Also, we don't know how the OP feels about auto.
BTW, I did look at the MOT histories of the cars I linked, non are perfect, but nothing too alarming (IMO).
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Personally from experience I feel the Mazda is only a 6 seater. The middle bench is quite narrow.
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Personally from experience I feel the Mazda is only a 6 seater. The middle bench is quite narrow.
Maybe, but this is what the OP says re rear space;
It will be just children in the rear seats so no need to worry about lots of space.
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Personally from experience I feel the Mazda is only a 6 seater. The middle bench is quite narrow.
Maybe, but this is what the OP says re rear space;
It will be just children in the rear seats so no need to worry about lots of space.
If they need to be in child seats they will take up more space, depends what age they are.
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The Mazda 6 would be fine I think, a couple of the children are tall enough to not need boosters and could squeeze in the middle haha
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The Mazda 6 would be fine I think, a couple of the children are tall enough to not need boosters and could squeeze in the middle haha
Back in the 1980s we had 5 kids aged from 5 to 15 (2 mine +3 second wife's) and were highly pleased with Peugeot 504 Family estates even the third row seats were big enough for adults.
Not been available for years, unfortunately, very solid vehicles.
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They were great but rusted badly. Maybe no worse than many others of that period. The 505 was even better, same qualities but better protected. Many ended up in Africa to see out their days.
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They were great but rusted badly. Maybe no worse than many others of that period. The 505 was even better, same qualities but better protected. Many ended up in Africa to see out their days.
I think 504s were the UK's most stolen car for a while - no sophisticated security and a very large market for them. The fairly recent 307SW was available with seven seats but, as I've been rude about them on another thread, I can hardly suggest one now..
A mate of mine had a Renault 21 seven seater!
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Okay so I’m able to up my budget to £6K… £6.5K at a push but I’d rather spend as little as possible! Would you recommend any different cars for this price or should I stick to the ones mentioned?
As mentioned, the Toyota Verso (1.6 and 1.8 petrol).
Ford Grand C-Max (1.6 petrol, not the 1.0 Ecoboost).
Kia Carens.
Zafira Tourer.
But you will also find more examples of what has already been suggested with the new budget (especially the Zafira)
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Get a Dacia Jogger 7 seater on PCP 4 years
New car, warranty, no hassle, hand it back at the end
You will have a better quality of life over the next 4 years for your £6.5k than a diesel that will be worthless and increasingly expensive to run and own
Or a petrol 7 seater (if you can find a good one)
Put £4K down as a deposit to lower your monthly PCP rate
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Get a Dacia Jogger 7 seater on PCP 4 years
New car, warranty, no hassle, hand it back at the end
You will have a better quality of life over the next 4 years for your £6.5k than a diesel that will be worthless and increasingly expensive to run and own
Or a petrol 7 seater (if you can find a good one)
Put £4K down as a deposit to lower your monthly PCP rate
That is a bold statement. Is Dacia paying you, or is that part of the Dacia warranty?!
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But I think it’s a fairly likely statement
With the vast increase in used prices, it’s becoming more expensive to find a good used car.
That task is made more difficult when trying to find a good used 7 seater car with a smaller pool of cars available.
That pool reduces further if you want a good used petrol 7 seater.
Why have all that hassle and any maintenance and repair bills when for similar money you can lease a vehicle that will be new with a warranty, more efficient and cheaper to run.
As an ownership experience a newer product would be a nicer experience and as such would result in a better quality of life in terms of car ownership.
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In all honesty, it's probably what I would do, but a Jogger on PCP for 48 months is just short of £12,000. Buy something decent for £6k used and you've got an awful lot of money for repairs.
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Get a Dacia Jogger 7 seater on PCP 4 years
New car, warranty, no hassle, hand it back at the end
This sounds like a dream but I’m a student and only work part time so it’s just not affordable for me atm :( maybe in a few years… so surprised at how cheap they are, that’s crazy!
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Good morning just seen this post. I think there's one decent choice here that reduces the risk quite a bit and it's a Toyota Verso. There are quite a few on autotrader in and around the price range. I say this as there is no doubt that Toyota build a long lasting tough vehicle, we have a 19 year old Corolla that is still a decent car with life in it, cheap to run and easy to fix. Of course with high miles and age, things will go wrong but it helps when the vehicle is well built to begin with. Try and find one with petrol engine and services every year. The diesel is fairly good but more to go wrong, petrol is the wiser choice. A very tough, boring but reliable car, that would be my choice, they can also be maintained by any decent garage.
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Thank you for the reply Bazza! Again I’m not able to find many petrols- I’ve always been told diesel are the better choice which I now assume must be to do with MPG (although I’m not really fussed about that). Would a petrol with higher miles or a diesel with lower miles be preferable for the Verso? Also of the diesels is there a preference between the 1.6 and 2.0? There’s a few 2.0 that come with the touch screens which would be cool! There’s a 2.0 diesel for £6k with 66k miles and full service history on auto trader from a private seller, or the same but 80k from Facebook marketplace full Toyota service history (although nobody has mentioned searching on marketplace on here so perhaps I should steer clear?)
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As mentioned, the Toyota Verso (1.6 and 1.8 petrol).
Ford Grand C-Max (1.6 petrol, not the 1.0 Ecoboost).
The verso and c-max both look good but I’m struggling to find them as petrols. The c-max looks ideal, I’ve seen a couple of the 1.6 petrols but all quite high mileage… around 100k- is that quite high? Ideally would like this car to last 3/4 years if possible. I’ve seen a couple of diesel ones that are lower mileage- private sellers with genuine reasons for selling. There’s a 1.6 diesel with 58k miles and full Ford service history or a 2.0 diesel with 48k miles and full service history? Both around £7k… titanium spec (although I can’t see much difference between that and the zetec) do you think either would be worth it/suitable? Is the reason for the petrol recommendation because of city driving? If so would a weekly trip down the motorway improve the suitability?
Also been recommended to get a qashqai +2… but apparently they are the most unreliable car in the uk according to “Which?”
Sorry again for all the questions, I promise I have been doing my own research but I don’t have anyone else to ask about these specifics/opinions haha
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Yes, everyone is saying petrol because diesel only makes sense of you cover a lot of miles. A weekly blast down the motorway will help, but they are really meant to be run for a decent distance whenever you drive. Short journeys will decrease reliability and repairs on a diesel cost more than petrol.
A couple more suggestions:
I'm pretty sure a Chevrolet Orlando is effectively the same thing as a Vauxhall Zafira Tourer. Likely to be cheaper because people will be worried about maintenance (Chevrolet no longer exists in the UK) but there's actually nothing exotic underneath.
I also think there was a seven seat Fiat Doblo. They're a bit rough and ready, but should be easy / cheap to repair and have sliding doors so very practical. Unsure on reliability, but you see hundreds of Doblo vans charging around.
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The reason for petrol recommendation is due to a combination of reliability and running costs. It is all too easy to think of running costs as simply mpg, in which case diesel obviously wins, but there is much more to it than just that. If something goes wrong on a diesel engine, it will cost much more to fix than a petrol equivalent, routine servicing is going to cost more, and of course diesel itself is more expensive to buy at the pumps than petrol. It is generally reckoned that for diesel to be worthwhile you need to be doing circa 15k miles or more per annum. Of course there are situations where diesel makes more of a case for itself, even if doing less miles, such as if you have a caravan (particularly a big one), because the torque of a turbo diesel will make it much less hard work.
The fact that you will be doing a weekly motorway trip will make things better for diesel in one respect, because the reliability problems surrounding modern diesels are generally due to being used only for shorter journeys clogging up DPF's. But the budget you are working with means you will be looking at older cars which throws up two potential issues. 1, as any car gets older, things can and will start going wrong (see comment above). 2, you may unwittingly buy a car who's DPF is on its last legs resulting in a crippling bill for you (rather than its previous owner).
There are some diesels which are a less risky purchase than others, but unlikely you will find anyone on the forum pointing you in that direction. As I said at the start, keep it simple!.
Re the Qashqai, yes they don't have a great reputation. That doesn't mean they are all bad, but with a small budget, you need to reduce the risks as much as is possible by looking at cars generally regarded as being fundamentally reliable. Even then, it is going to be a bit of a gamble, but the odds, for you, are better.
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