What type of Estate/Crossover/Van would suit me?

edanto

We have a 3 door hatchback at the moment, and I'm forever dropping the back seats to move crates of equipment around, ladders, poles.... I need something with a much bigger storage area.

I don't know much about the car market, and I'd hope to find suggestions here of a few models/types that I can research more.

My requirements:

- Purchase price of 6-10k
- As above, large cargo area without having to drop rear seats
- Low running costs, tax, insurance (open to hybrid. Not going all-electric, and reluctant to buy an old hybrid which may have older battery tech/poor batteries)
- Never go off-road (no need for 4wd etc)
- Power to move a full load
- Car generally used for domestic use
- Annual Mileage about 15k

Wife & I have heard recommendations from family to look into Honda CR-V Diesel, maybe an 07 or so with 60-90k. Looking forward to driving one. Don't really need 4WD. Prefer low running costs.

On a boards thread about CR-Vs, one poster mentioned that some estate models might give much better efficiency ; any suggestions pls?

peasant

edanto wrote: »

...I'm forever dropping the back seats to move crates of equipment around, ladders, poles.... I need something with a much bigger storage area.

While a nice big estate (Mondeo, Passat, Citroen C5) will give a much bigger loading area, it still won't swallow ladders or poles without putting the rear seats down. Commonly the length of the load are would be somewhere between 1 - 1.3 m with the seats up.

Have you looked into roof racks or trailers ...might turn out cheaper in the end

edanto

Thanks, good point. The ladder I have folds up fairly small, so with a large cargo area in an estate/crossover I should be fine. The gear I have moves in stackable crates, so again they fit well in a typical cargo area.

edanto

Thanks for mentioning the Passat; I found a 2010 Passat Estate 1.6 Diesel (bluemotion model) just over €10k that might fit the bill. Garage salesman mentioned 50mpg long distance; I'd better look into that and the tax costs a bit. It could be the first test drive if nothing else. Seems to tick a lot of our boxes.

edanto

Thx for the advice; at the end of the day while I liked the estates, Mrs edanto didn't like any estates and we've settled on a Quashqai which works for us both.

2008 Quashqai with only 40,000 km on it; 1.6 Petrol. All the room I want in the back for storage and running costs seem OK.

Tax is based on cc, so actually cheaper than the tax on co2 for the same model. Dealer is offering a 30 month warranty with it (surprised I can get a 30 mo warranty on an 8yr old car).

All-in, top of budget, €10k price.

colm_mcm

You are paying a huge premium for the mileage and the warranty, as in an extra €3-€5k.

edanto

Thanks. I don't want to make a mistake like that.

I thought the premium for the low mileage was closer to 1.5-2k, and I was happy with that. I know the warranty can be bought from Mapfre etc for e500.

Better re-assess, thanks! Haven't committed yet.

colm_mcm

Looking at it, qashqais are still going for bigger money than I thought, relative to other ones with more mileage it's not massively more expensive.
It's still expensive for an old car, but sure that's supply and demand for you.
I would try and haggle a bit off if €9995 is an asking price on the window.

edanto

Thx. I made a little progress on the haggling, will be getting 4 new tyres, 2 sets of brake pads and a new battery, but no movement on the price. All told, those repairs would have cost me ~e700 so it certainly feels like I'm getting something with value. Appreciate the advice here and behind the scenes.