Nissan Note vs Kia Venga vs Dacia Logan vs Skoda Roomster

Hmmzis

The time has come to change the current car to something more child friendly. The current one is a 3dr 15 year old Corolla. What I'm looking at is a reasonably priced small MPV or estate to carry a bike, child, the missus and myself.

My current usage of the car is to go to the shops once a week, go down the country once or twice a year and getting to cycling races (mostly Leinster). Total mileage for the last four years has been a bit less than 10k miles (or 2.5k miles a year on average).

So far I've narrowed it down to the following four.

Dacia Logan 1.2 16V (didn't get test drive in the petrol, all sold out)
Pros: cheap, big, simple, massive boot
Cons: bit noisy, not sure of resale value, sold out till July

Kia Venga 1.4L
Pros: feels big, good visibility, 7 year waranty
Cons: bit expensive, boot a bit tight, drives like a pillow, awkward to fit a child seat, lots of complicated bits to go wrong

Nissan Note 1.2XE
Pros: looks nice, cheap (with the 4k scrappage discount), comfy driver seat, decent boot space (sliding rear seats)
Cons: lots of complicated bits to go wrong

Skoda Roomster 1.2 TSI (still have to test drive it)
Pros: looks and feels big, big boot, reasonably simple
Cons: expensive

I think the current favorite in the house is the Note. Ticks a lot of the boxes apart from it being a simple car.
The Venga was well specced in the base model (not exactly a plus in my book) but neither me nor the missus were too enthusiastic about it after the test drive.
The missus didn't like the looks of the Logan much but I'm in love with the boot space of it (just thinking of the amount of bikes and wheels that could fit in there ).
The Roomster is a bit of an outsider since it's the most expensive one and we're not quite sure why. Maybe that's going to change after a test drive, one can never know.

Would anyone have any experiences with the above four cars or any comments on what to watch out for with the brands or dealer suggestions, or if I might have missed a good alternative in the price range?

colm_mcm

Roomster is out straight away. It's an antique at this stage and was an also-ran 10 years ago never mind now.

I reckon the note is the best of this lot.

Hyundai ix20 maybe?

Hmmzis

colm_mcm wrote: »

Roomster is out straight away. It's an antique at this stage and was an also-ran 10 years ago never mind now.

I reckon the note is the best of this lot.

Hyundai ix20 maybe?

Thanks Colm, I did have a look at the ix20. From the looks and from info online it's the same as the Venga underneath but for some inexplicable reason costs 3.5k more.

colm_mcm

Aye, but aren't Hyundai doing scrappage deals too?
€4k off, free servicing and stuff?

bazz26

Peugeot 2008
Renault Captur
Ford B-Max
Toyota Verso-S
Opel Meriva

Hmmzis

colm_mcm wrote: »

Aye, but aren't Hyundai doing scrappage deals too?
€4k off, free servicing and stuff?

Found a page of the deal but from the small print it appears the promotion expired at end of April

Hmmzis

bazz26 wrote: »

Peugeot 2008
Renault Captur
Ford B-Max
Toyota Verso-S
Opel Meriva

Thanks for the list, had a look at them.

20008 - SUV not what I'm looking for (no need for the clearance, smaller boot than similar sized MPVs)
Captur - same as above
B-Max - too expensive for me
Verso-S - just a bit on the too expensive side (unles I can peruade them to give me some brand loyalty discount)
Meriva - too expensive for me

I do like the Verso-S but even with PCP finance the monthly payments are a bit high.

Hmmzis

In the end I went with the Note 1.2 SV (couldn't get the sliding rear seats in the XE version). Just overall it seems to be the nicer car to drive and with that discount the Nissans have now it's quite hard to be beat on price as well.

colm_mcm

Well wear.

Hmmzis

Just an update of this little endeavour of mine. Got a call this morning from the dealer informing me that the sliding rear seats are no longer available on the Note. Bummer.

Sort of thinking now if going for a different brand might be a better idea and Hyundai appear to have similar discounts available now. So the ix20 or maybe i30 are in the game again. Will just double check on the weekend if the bike fits fine in the Note without the sliding back seat. If not then that's back to square one.

stimpson

I looked at the Note with the inlaws a couple of months back. They ended up buying a Corsa for nearly the same money. Much nicer car to drive (can't believe I'm saying that about an Opel)

beazee

I've an IX20 (2011) 1.4 petrol:
- very good visibility
- good seating position
- roomy on the inside
- no issues getting seats in for both the newborn and the 5yo
- my wife loves the compact size of it so she can park it anywhere in the city
- 5y warranty was a big YES for be deciding for this model
- the 1.4L engine I find a bit underspec'd for the size of the car, bringing consumption up to 35mpg

Hmmzis

Thanks for the responses lads, I will certainly have a look at the ix20 (hopefully there are some improvements over the Venga). The i30 is also now in the same price bracket even though it might have a somewhat smaller boot.

In general I'm not too concerned about fuel consumption due to me low mileage I'm doing. The biggest priority is boot size and shape. There are some big boot cars that have a very sloping rear hatch and when I put a bike in the back with only the 40% part of the seats down the handlebars have a tendency to bang against the rear window (rules out a good few hatchbacks unfortunately).

AMKC

Citroen C3 Picasso maybe or the C4 Cactus. You could buy a nearly new Ford B-Max if you could find one you like for the price you want to pay. They are the bast car in there class to drive and it looks good too. Also why not have a look at the Skoda Yeti and Honda Jazz maybe. You could look at the Fiat 500L and 500 L MPW too. You will either like them or not like them.

Hmmzis

Thanks for your suggestions AMKC, much appreciated.

I have seen the C3 Picasso on the streets from time to time and I do like the looks of it. The strange bit with that car is that I can't find anything about it on the Irish Citroen dealer websites. Have they stopped selling it, all sold out?

The Cactus looks more like a SUV/Crossover, just not what I'm looking for.

Used B-Max's are a bit scarce with petrol engines and the interest rates for used cars are on the high side I think (10% APR from AIB). Even with a 5 year HP scheme the monthly payments for a 131 B-Max are on the upper limit of what I intend to pay.

I do like the Yeti a lot (even though it's a bit towards a crossover) but it's just soo over my budget

The Honda Jazz. Somehow I've managed to completely ignore that one. Cheers for that, will have to have a look at it. The price seems to be reasonable enough even without a discount.

The Fiat 500XYZ are in the same price bracket as the Skoda Yeti and if I would be willing to spend that amount of money I'd just go for the Yeti most likely or a brand new B-Max or Meriva or... (there's so much more to choose from at those sort of prices).

finalfurlong

You will be surprised by room in honda jazz.has a relatively high roofline for hat class of car which makes boot very luggage,bike friendly

bazz26

There is a new Honda Jazz being launched soon, if that doesn't bother you then you should be able to get a decent discount off the existing model.

AMKC

Hmmzis wrote: »

Thanks for your suggestions AMKC, much appreciated.

I have seen the C3 Picasso on the streets from time to time and I do like the looks of it. The strange bit with that car is that I can't find anything about it on the Irish Citroen dealer websites. Have they stopped selling it, all sold out?

The Cactus looks more like a SUV/Crossover, just not what I'm looking for.

Used B-Max's are a bit scarce with petrol engines and the interest rates for used cars are on the high side I think (10% APR from AIB). Even with a 5 year HP scheme the monthly payments for a 131 B-Max are on the upper limit of what I intend to pay.

I do like the Yeti a lot (even though it's a bit towards a crossover) but it's just soo over my budget

The Honda Jazz. Somehow I've managed to completely ignore that one. Cheers for that, will have to have a look at it. The price seems to be reasonable enough even without a discount.

The Fiat 500XYZ are in the same price bracket as the Skoda Yeti and if I would be willing to spend that amount of money I'd just go for the Yeti most likely or a brand new B-Max or Meriva or... (there's so much more to choose from at those sort of prices).

Your welcome.
Yes it is a good looking car the C3 Picasso and a bit different. No idea about why that is. Might be some at Citroen dealers maybe.

I think if you are not into the SUV/Crossover cars then yes may e the Jazz is the way to go.

Thats a quite high interest rate alright.

Yes it would be a lot of money for a Fiat when you could have a better car that is also a better looking car. Have not seen too many of them on the road.
Have not seen to many off the Mini Countrymans on the road either but its probably only a matter of time before they are everywhere.

As Bazz said above there is a new Jazz coming so you might get a good deal on the current one if it suits you and you like it.

colm_mcm

Have not seen to many off the Mini Countrymans on the road either but its probably only a matter of time before they are everywhere.

Hopefully not.
To be fair they're out a long time now (2010) They'll hardly catch on all of a sudden.

marklazarcovic

stick with toyota and get the yaris verso

colm_mcm

They stopped making them 11 years ago though.
People stopped buying them long before that.

ba_barabus

colm_mcm wrote: »

They stopped making them 11 years ago though.
People stopped buying them long before that.

I think he means the Verso S which is largely based on the Yaris. OP even my 67 year old mother thought they were a car for older people.

She got a Yeti TSI in the end.

colm_mcm

Hard to make a good case for the verso s. Like the urban cruiser and iQ, it's Japanese built which makes it too expensive.
They are built very well though, so if it was being kept for a long long time it might make sense. A 1.33 petrol would be the engine to get IMO.

marklazarcovic

verso verso s, toyota sienta, jazz, all low engined economical reliable cars