Suggestions for a good family car

patzer

Hi All,

I'm going to be a dad for the first time in January (all things going well) and I was hoping to get some suggestions for a relable safe family car.

I have a 2001 Passat TDI but it has 154k on the clock and I'm afraid that its going to pack it in soon. Its a great car but parts and servicing are expensive, don't even go there with reagrds to VW main dealer costs.

Anyhow, I'm hoping to be in a position to change the motor early next year but am curious to see what recommendations you might have. I'm tempted to travel over the pond to try to save some cash but any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm leaning towards a "car" rather than a MPV, don't have any preferences regarding body type but I guess a hatchback or estste would be more pratical than a saloon.

My budget is about €5-6k and I have to bear in mind running and servicing costs as I do 25-30k miles per year.

Any thoughts are greatfully welcome.

Pat

Zube

motors usually suggests a Skoda Octavia diesel.

Personally, I'd prefer this Alfa 156 diesel estate.

Biro

Keep the Passat.

pred racer

Zube wrote: »

motors usually suggests a Skoda Octavia diesel.

Personally, I'd prefer this Alfa 156 diesel estate.

Id love that alfa. /insert drooling smiley face/

cabrwab

Alfa is lovely,
But cream leather and child do not mix!!
Car seat will have those seats destroyed. good option though.

Why not keep the passat for a while will do the job perfectly for awhile anyway, until number2 arrives!!

HashSlinging

Keep the passat! 150k on that engine is fine.. Start getting it serviced at a indy, or learn to do it yourself for 70euro !

Very safe and they are spacious, no need to change.

patzer

Thanks Guys,

I'm just conscious of the fact that the Passat might let me down with a bang e.g. clutch or gear box etc. I know thats a risk with any motor but I bought the car privatley a couple of yaers ago and over time I've come to believe that it may have been crashed in a previous life (it was imported from the UK in 2004).

The Alfa is a sweet motor, would love it parked in the driveway but may not be the other halfs first choice (she doesn't like estates, I love them). The Octavia is a nice car but will thecost of parts etc be on par with VW's.

Do you have any opinions on the following (bearing in mind that I will probably have to go for Diesel):

Mondeo
Avensis
Pug 407
Laguna

I've had a look at cargiant.co.uk and they seem to have good quality motors in the sub £5k region

Cheers

Pat

OldmanMondeo

OP First off, congrat's.

Secondly, I have a Mondeo Hatchback and 2 kids, 4yo and 1.5yo. I find this car excellent for the needs. I did have a Mondeo Saloon and found that it could be a little arkward getting buggies, bags et al in and out of the boot, nightmare when you have weather we had recently. Any of the cars you have listed auld be ideal, but I would recommend getting a h/back over a saloon. It will make thing a little easier. If I was changing tomorrow I would look at another Mondeo, the Diesel I have is getting my 50mpg and has enough pull from the engine. Look for the Zetec model in the Diesel, more extras and more poke, 115bhp over the 90pbh the LX model has.

Zube

pred racer wrote: »

Id love that alfa.

Me too. Might be in the market soon...

2 Espressi

Congratz Patz!

Of the 4 you posted, I'd avoid the French cars, based purely on anecdotal evidence of electrical gremlins (though the Laguna is the worse offender).
Avensis is bland, but well screwed together, Mondeo or Octavia would get my vote as well. My brother-in-law, himself a recent Daddy, praises the rear hatch and massive rear storage of the Octy. 2.0 Diesel has plenty of poke, but returns good mileage.

Unless the Passat is about to fall over, I wouldn't worry about replacing it.

HashSlinging

patzer wrote: »

Thanks Guys,

I'm just conscious of the fact that the Passat might let me down with a bang e.g. clutch or gear box etc. I know thats a risk with any motor but I bought the car privatley a couple of yaers ago and over time I've come to believe that it may have been crashed in a previous life (it was imported from the UK in 2004).

T £5k region

Do you have the UK reg, you can run the reg through the UK HPI system, it will tell you if the car has been crashed or not, even if it was crashed it could have been small. I'm sure one of the lads on here can help as i'm not that familiar with the categories.

On the passat put 3k aside for maintenance over the next couple of years , drive it till it has 500k on it. No one has suggested you need a new car, if you were driving a banged out punto with the same mileage it would be different but the passat is designed for a lot more mileage than what you've done and by all counts is reliable.

patzer

Dont have the UK reg but does anyone know if I can contact the motor tax office (or some other dept) and get the reg, Surely there must be some records when it was reregistered