Best Large Family Car < €10,000

Cionád

Ok, so a friend of mine is looking for a large used family car that is:
1) large enough (buggies, child seats etc need to fit)
2) safe
3) cheap to run
4) reliable
5) preferably petrol Engine
6) not an MPV
7) not sluggish

I'm thinking either:
2001 1.8 ltr Toyota Avensis
2002 1.8 ltr Ford Mondeo
2001 1.9 (*Diesel*) Volkswagon Passat

What think yee? And any more idea's?

unkel

For €10k you can have any of those a few years younger!

Would you consider a Rover 75, especially the diesel? It costs lots less than any of the others for same year / condition. The 75 was developed from scratch by BMW and it has the same diesel engine you'll find in a BMW 320d / 520d

If not, go for the Mondeo. Fine car and cheap as chips

bazz26

Cion&#225 wrote: »

Ok, so a friend of mine is looking for a large used family car that is:
1) large enough (buggies, child seats etc need to fit)
2) safe
3) cheap to run
4) reliable
5) preferably petrol Engine
6) not an MPV
7) not sluggish

I'm thinking either:
2001 1.8 ltr Toyota Avensis
2002 1.8 ltr Ford Mondeo
2001 1.9 (*Diesel*) Volkswagon Passat

What think yee? And any more idea's?

Best thing to do is take a test drive in all three and see which one you like.

I would imagine the Mondeo will have slightly more room than the other two. If going for a Mondeo make sure it is the 1.8 litre Zetec model, that has the more powerful 125bhp engine and better equipped than the slugish 1.8 litre (110bhp) LX model.

2001 1.8 litre Avensis, I had one of these and found the rear leg room and boot to be very practical. 1.8 litre petrol is less common though but has around 127bhp which is nippy enough.

VW Passat, I found access to the rear and rear legroom to be pretty average in the Passat. They tend to be a bit expensive though especially the diesels and can suffer from niggly problems.

Others to consider:

1999 - 2003 Honda Accord, well built & generally underated, definately worth a test drive in.

2002/2003 Nissan Primera, these are generally cheap to buy, well equipped and have plenty of space, again worth a look.

2002 Mazda 6, uses the Ford Mondeo chassis, good looking car imo and big enough on the inside.

unkel

Yep, good point, bazz26. Best test drive any car that will be on your shortlist so you get a could idea of the look and feel of them

BnA

1.4 Octavia has been a great family car for us.

Cheap to buy. Cheap to run.

Reliable as bejeepers

M A S S I V E boot. Buggies, prams, babies.... the whole freggin lot will fit in there.

Big solid safe car. 1.4 Petrol is not the most exciting in the world to drive but it's not too bad and is easy on juice. For 10 grand you would get a good nick 2004 like this...

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=726082

If you were to go for the Mazda 6 or the Mondeo or the Passat, make sure you get the hatchback version. A hatchback saloon is the only way to go when trying to load buggies and the like. Trying to ram a buggy into an already full boot through the opening of a non-hatch can be fairly frustrating.

Henry Ford III

BnA wrote:

1.4 Octavia has been a great family car for us.

Cheap to buy. Cheap to run.

Reliable as bejeepers

M A S S I V E boot. Buggies, prams, babies.... the whole freggin lot will fit in there.

Big solid safe car. 1.4 Petrol is not the most exciting in the world to drive but it's not too bad and is easy on juice. For 10 grand you would get a good nick 2004 like this...

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=726082

If you were to go for the Mazda 6 or the Mondeo or the Passat, make sure you get the hatchback version. A hatchback saloon is the only way to go when trying to load buggies and the like. Trying to ram a buggy into an already full boot through the opening of a non-hatch can be fairly frustrating.

OP's original point 7/. Not sluggish.

QED.

RobAMerc

As ever I would suggest driving them to see, but in my opinion a Mondeo TD - maybe even estate would be the best bet -hugh space, refined, reliable and would even be fun to drive.

It certainly is light years ahead of the other two dynamically.

I think Avensis in 2001 meant "biscuit tin on wheels" in Japanese

SouperComputer

2002 Mazda 6, uses the Ford Mondeo chassis, good looking car imo and big enough on the inside.

Actually, its doesnt. They are a different platform. The 2007 Mondeo is based on a platform that will be used in some Volvos IIRC.

The Ford Fusion however, is based on the Mazda 6 platform.

Personally, id drop the Passat from the list. Overpriced and overrated. Octavia is a good option, but a 1.4 with family means overtaking and generaly peformance will be borderline. TDI is the way to go. If you are not doing a lot of stop-start driving, the 1.6 petrol may actually work out to be more economical than the 1.4, so bear that in mind.

Henry Ford III

SouperComputer wrote:

Actually, its doesnt. They are a different platform. The 2007 Mondeo is based on a platform that will be used in some Volvos IIRC.

The Ford Fusion however, is based on the Mazda 6 platform.

Personally, id drop the Passat from the list. Overpriced and overrated. Octavia is a good option, but a 1.4 with family means overtaking and generaly peformance will be borderline. TDI is the way to go. If you are not doing a lot of stop-start driving, the 1.6 petrol may actually work out to be more economical than the 1.4, so bear that in mind.

I believe it's a Fiesta on stilts.

p.s. Focus and Mazda 3 share the same platform.

mike65

What about a A6 1.8t, 150 bhp so not slow but not ruinous to run either.

http://cars.rte.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=729191
http://cars.rte.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=678749
http://cars.rte.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=321151

Mike.

l33t-krew

Peugeot 406 ftw!

Best cars ever produced!

seriously though. They are cheap now.

This is my 3rd one.


1998 Peugeot 2l diesel @ 193,000 miles. Still going strong except a dog ate the seatbelts :eek: :mad:

2001 Peugeot 406 175,000 sold it on. Was still going perfectly

2003 Peuegeot- Current car. It is at a meagre 120,000 miles. :cool: long may it last.



They even have 7 seat versions which we have to buy ^^

Captain Slow IRL

Honda Accord.

Cionád

Thanks for all your responses,

The Octavia seems nice, but a 2004 model that has a 1.6 engine is about 13-14k so wud have to go get the older model, or get a 1.4...

The Mondeo is the front runner so far, seems to tick all the boxes, but a newer Octavia is tempting, even if the engine is small

barryfitz

Here, How about something completely different and worth a mention. The Hyundai Elantra Hatchback, has a Ginormous boot, this one is under 10K, 2004, and only 34K on the clock. My dad used to drive one of these, and I have to say it was very comfortable, and roomy, we are all fully grown adults now and we had no problems fitting into the back seats.

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=354402

You coud try a diesel one either (have no idea what the engine is like)
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=299444

colm_mcm

the diesel is 116bhp. same as in the old Santa Fe and Tucson. As far as I know, the diesel sold in the UK as the only engine option, whereas we got the awful 1.6 as the only option.