First gen Mercedes B class had more rear legroom than an S class of the same period, but a £4k one will be a gamble.

As well as the Avensis mentioned above, Ford Mondeo, Honda Accord, Mazda 6, Volvo S80 or V70?

Might also be worth looking at a Honda Civic which is smaller than the cars already mentioned, but very spacious. Apart from oil consumption on 2012 (9th gen) cars, reliability is very good.

Edited by badbusdriver on 15/01/2024 at 14:33

Id suggest a Berlingo or one of its cousins but very few were sold with petrol power in the timeframe that matches your price.

........ 4 adults can comfortably travel long distances in. So plenty of rear leg room.

My budget is fairly limited £4000 .......

Ideally I'd like somthing I can keep for years.

You said petrol, but diesel would be more economical for long distances. Your budget limits you to older cars, so if you want it to last for many more years, a non-corroding aluminium one would be best. Here's something with loads of rear leg room....

www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202311073741777?s...a

....and it's done many fewer miles than most of the other 12 sub 4k aluminium limos on this site!

The OP asked for one with 50 miles of St Leonards, this one is only about 145 miles away so almost within touching distance.

It is also likely to cost a huge amount of money to run. Remember that parts and repairs will not be in any way related to the purchase price, they will be in line with far newer similar cars over £60,000.

It does not sound like the OP has this sort of cash to gamble with.

How about a Mondeo. Should be a good number available and they had plenty of space, our 2002 example was large and the newer ones (like you would be getting) are much bigger. The 2.0 Mazda designed petrol is a robust motor (the 1.8 is OK but a bit gutless in a big motor), at this money I would avoid the 1.6 turbo petrol and all diesels.

but although there are a few nearby, a quick check of the Mot histories reveals loads of rust advisories which means your £4-£5k car is on borrowed time. Must be down to your coastal location. ..... The cars you’re looking at are all over a decade old and salty air fair eats into subframes and suspension components.

Not if they are made of aluminium (see my above post). My A8 is over 18yrs old - the only corrosion I have had to deal with is a small spring on the sun roof baffle.

My first thought was the Nissan Pulsar, which has cavernous rear legroom. Prices for decent newish models are nearer £6000

Not been around for a while but still lurking. Had to reply when I saw the Pulsar mentioned, a car about as popular as pox in a brothel, think I must have been the last person with the balls to type Pulsar until today. Posters from the past will remember we had one and what a great car it was. The price helped (we got £6000 discount on a brand new car) but in the years we owned it not a single issue. The rear legroom was limo like and the boot not half bad. We bought the 1.6 DIG-T since the 1.2 DIG-T did not have a great reputation for reliability and the only downside was the mpg, about 35 mpg at best but when you consider it had almost 190 bhp that was quite acceptable.

When we bought it many on here told me it would be a disaster and would not see it any other way, its the main reason I don't come on much. They said it would be worthless when we sold it (if we could actually find a buyer) but in truth (possibly thanks to covid and a shortage of good used cars) we had no issues at all and got a really good price (the smallest loss we have made on a new car).

It was a hard act to follow, finding a car as good and as roomy for sensible money was impossible but we eventually settled on an Octavia iV (got a decent deal on a pre-reg) and have to say we are more than happy. Its a better car than the Pulsar in every respect but we expect to loose a fortune when we come to move it on.

But having looked at and driven several earlier Octavias I would not recommend them to anyone. Very noisy and despite the size of the car the space in the rear was not great (the Focus's we had were better and they were not that great either), seemed that the designers wanted a huge boot and forget the rear passengers. The seat base in those earlier cars was also very low making getting out awkward.

Your budget is below what I would think would get you a really good car but you may just be lucky.

Edited by thunderbird on 18/01/2024 at 16:45

I had a 2004 CMax 1.8 petrol in Zetec trim for 10 years. It proved reliable and reasonably comfortable. Mine had the three part rear seats where the centre section could be folded up into the boot space (or removed completely), the outer seats then could be slid back diagonally giving a four seater with masses of rear legroom. Not sure if this feature was carried forward to the later models.