Upgrading from estate car to...what?

yellow hen

Currently have an estate car that has served our family well. I definitely like having a decent boot and being able to bring kids bikes etc on days out. So we;ve been looking around and based on aesthetics and price only, we're liking the
1. Ford mondeo estate
2. Ford Kuga
3. Kia Sportage
4. Peugeot 3008

I suppose the categories that we need to consider the above under are (not in order):
1. General comfort and look
2. Cost to purchase and cost to service
3. Cost to run on fuel. Find the current estate pretty heavy on diesel. We mostly drive in a small town and then long distance every third weekend or so
4. Having a decent resale market.

Would love opinions from readers who know something about cars (because we know nothing!).
thanks.

colm_mcm

For bikes you need sheer length in the load bay which crossovers just don’t have.

yellow hen

colm_mcm wrote: »

For bikes you need sheer length in the load bay which crossovers just don’t have.

Sorry, should have been clear. they're only toddler bikes!

ForestFire

yellow hen wrote: »

Sorry, should have been clear. they're only toddler bikes!

Toddler bikes quickly grow into Kid bikes and teen bikes and before you know it you will need to buy multiple cars to replace the bikes....:)

But maybe your planning further changes along the way.

Trading in a Octavia Estate next week for a Leon Estate so these are possible options (Our bike is also about to grow next week also)

awec

The boot in those sort of cars you've listed are not as big as you might think. It will be a lot smaller than your estate boot.

Zubeneschamali

I ran an S-Max for 10 years as the kids grew - best family car ever bar none.

uck51js9zml2yt

I went from an Octavia estate to a superb estate.
Wife has a Kuga. definitely won't hola a bike of any size.
She was pushing me to get an SUV but I didn't want to give up on an estate.
The superb boot is cavernous!
I've a thread on it in the last 24 hours

Shefwedfan

The height of a crossover is great. Stick a tow hitch onto the back of it and you will carry all the bikes you want.

The boot is not big on them so you need to be careful if you need to carry other equipment as well as the bikes. You might end up with a roof box.

First thing before recommending any of them is what sort of mileage are you doing? you have a list which would standardly be all diesel. Do you need diesel or should you look at alternatives?

GreeBo

+1 on the Superb estate, huge and pretty good spec.

Depending on cash you could also look at the Telsa Model X...huge inside and pretty much no fuel costs, but it aint cheap to buy.

peasant

For sheer practicality and usefulness there's nothing better than a van like the Peugeot Rifter / Citroen Berlingo / VW Caddy or any other popemobile thingy. They can be had with reasonably frugal engines too.

Aesthetics would be the big stumbling block there...just depends on whether you want form to follow function or the Jones's

Lantus

So ideally bikes are best suited on the tow bar unit. Out the way and easy to mount etc. Buts it's expensive and you need a tow bar.

Second cheapest option is roof bars and bike mounts. My route as we don't want to fit an aftermarket tow bar.

Estates have huge boots. Octavia and superb have massive boots. 7 seater with last row folded have big boots. Everything else is a sliding scale to something smaller.

Shefwedfan

Lantus wrote: »

So ideally bikes are best suited on the tow bar unit. Out the way and easy to mount etc. Buts it's expensive and you need a tow bar.

Second cheapest option is roof bars and bike mounts. My route as we don't want to fit an aftermarket tow bar.

Estates have huge boots. Octavia and superb have massive boots. 7 seater with last row folded have big boots. Everything else is a sliding scale to something smaller.

Roof mounts have a huge drag on a car. If you are doing a lot of travelling around the extra fuel you are burning might mean the tow bar is a better buy!! just worth considering

Lantus

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Roof mounts have a huge drag on a car. If you are doing a lot of travelling around the extra fuel you are burning might mean the tow bar is a better buy!! just worth considering

Yep. I only put the roof rack on when we go cycling which isn't too often. Otherwise it's in the garden...