Family Saloon Upgrade - rear leg room

grahamjenks · 14 Mar 2016 at 14:44

I take my comments about the Superb back for the latest 2015 model , definitely now looks a lot sleeker than the old model. Sadly its just about out of my price range (can't see me getting £2.5K off the listed prices for 1 year old car). Loath to invest in something first introduced in 2008 for something I expect to keep for a number of years.

GinG · 14 Mar 2016 at 15:04

grahamjenks said:
I take my comments about the Superb back for the latest 2015 model , definitely now looks a lot sleeker than the old model. Sadly its just about out of my price range (can't see me getting £2.5K off the listed prices for 1 year old car). Loath to invest in something first introduced in 2008 for something I expect to keep for a number of years.

How about a PCP deal or are you buying outright? Skoda currently doing 0% deals. May get you in the new model.

trackrat · 14 Mar 2016 at 15:51

paradigm said:
Not in comparison to something that's physically longer to begin with it doesn't.

What an utterly bizzare comment

What was bizarre about throwing the Honda Civic into the mix, the OP asked about cars with decent legroom and the Civic has that and the boot is not that small for the size of the car.

Firestar_3x · 14 Mar 2016 at 16:05

Does it have a bigger boot than a Focus?

The OP states he is looking at A4 sized cars, so moving from a Focus to a Civic seems a bit pointless?

asim18 · 14 Mar 2016 at 16:20

Rear leg room you say? 15K you say?

Might as well go all out...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201601220315110

Genuine lol at Civic for leg room

grahamjenks · 14 Mar 2016 at 16:55

GinG said:
How about a PCP deal or are you buying outright? Skoda currently doing 0% deals. May get you in the new model.

Plan is to buy outright. Can't justify spending what will probably be 5-7.5K more in the long run (especially as the money in my pocket isn't exactly making loads of interest).

asim18 said:
Rear leg room you say? 15K you say?

Might as well go all out...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201601220315110

Genuine lol at Civic for leg room

Hrm, very nice but not sure the insurance would be great on that! Or the fuel consumption for that matter...

iaind · 14 Mar 2016 at 17:14

Ignore asim, he gets a bit troll-ey

Anyway, I'd try and put the aesthetics to one side personally. You're looking for a practical runaround for the factory, not something to pose in maccy-d's car park with. The previous Superb really is a great fit for your requirements and its not like it looks terrible. I completely get the concern about spending 15k on something that came out 8 years ago, but the simple answer is just to not spend 15k! You can get a great example for 12k or less

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201603091799204
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201601310573874

shadow_boxer · 14 Mar 2016 at 18:16

Octavia estate?

iaind · 14 Mar 2016 at 19:14

Octavia isn't actually that big - it's closer to a golf but has a larger boot.

rodenal · 14 Mar 2016 at 19:18

Yeah Octavia and a4 are both a good bit smaller in the back than a superb or even Mondeo (though the mk3 octavia is a bit bigger) The 3 is similar.

I've always thought passats seemed bigger in the back than the Audi but I can't see how that can truly be, so I'm sure I'm talking nonsense.

The civic is a bit bigger than you might think for rear legroom due to the floorpan - comparable to the a4/Octavia, but not what I would say was big enough for a family car

iaind · 14 Mar 2016 at 19:23

I might be wrong but I always thought, at least with the older models that the a4 was an elongated golf platform so similar to the octavia but the Passat shared a6 underpinnings. The Passat has always been larger than the a4 certainly.

The 3/A4/C class confuse a lot of people, the think that they must be huge because they're saloons/estates but they're really not very big cars. Cars like the mondeo/superb/mazda6 are considerably larger despite not occupying a "higher" class

rodenal · 14 Mar 2016 at 19:32

Don't think so, they both use longitudinal engines (for this money at least), whereas the Octavia and golf share the same chasis and transverse applications - the passat definitely seems bigger though

g60dubster · 14 Mar 2016 at 19:34

iaind said:
I might be wrong but I always thought, at least with the older models that the a4 was an elongated golf platform so similar to the octavia but the Passat shared a6 underpinnings. The Passat has always been larger than the a4 certainly.

The 3/A4/C class confuse a lot of people, the think that they must be huge because they're saloons/estates but they're really not very big cars. Cars like the mondeo/superb/mazda6 are considerably larger despite not occupying a "higher" class

A4 has never platform shared with the golf, only 1996-2005 passat and A6 of similar time. Passat sat between A4 and A6 in dimensions.

Latest passat uses MQB platform with golf, octavia, A3, leon etc. Octavia is the largest hatch on the MQB platform, only slightly smaller than a passat

A4 uses MLB with A5,A6,Q5 etc (newer ones are MLB 2)

Abyss · 14 Mar 2016 at 19:49

grahamjenks said:
Plan is to buy outright. Can't justify spending what will probably be 5-7.5K more in the long run (especially as the money in my pocket isn't exactly making loads of interest).

Hrm, very nice but not sure the insurance would be great on that! Or the fuel consumption for that matter...

You can actually get a superb for your budget (or very close!):

https://broadspeed.com/CarView/Skoda/Superb/41464/TSI_1.4_125PS_Petrol_S_Manual_5_doors

£15,984

Ok it's the base model and lowest power but the SE is far from povery spec on the superb. When I last spoke to my local Skoda dealer they were willing to price match Broadspeed so worth speaking to your local dealer.

roccles · 14 Mar 2016 at 20:10

Also in a similar position as the OP so finding the suggestions very informative. I am interested to know what the 1.4 engine is like on the Superb? While I tend to drive pretty sedately I always like to know there is a bit of ompf if needed.

grahamjenks · 14 Mar 2016 at 20:49

Well I think that's probably ruled out an A4, realistically the 3 series, based on size and what I'd get for my money.

Feel like I'm left with Mazda 6, Superb, Mondeo or a Passat.

In terms of room, it just needs to have enough room to get my seat back with a car seat behind. If the car seat fits now, it'll fit for the foreseeable once turned to be forward facing. It doesn't need to huge in the back.

Boot space is important, but not the be all and end all, roof box is always on option for holidays if I really need the space. Something that can get 3/4 decent size suitcases in the boot is enough (and frankly the focus easily fits 3).

I do like something thats decent to drive. The Focus is a 1.8 petrol so nothing special, but handles well and has enough power when required, don't really want to take a backward step if I'm upgrading.

I know the answer is to go and check them out and I will, but good to get peoples opinions.

rodenal · 14 Mar 2016 at 21:37

grahamjenks said:
Well I think that's probably ruled out an A4, realistically the 3 series, based on size and what I'd get for my money.

Feel like I'm left with Mazda 6, Superb, Mondeo or a Passat.

In terms of room, it just needs to have enough room to get my seat back with a car seat behind. If the car seat fits now, it'll fit for the foreseeable once turned to be forward facing. It doesn't need to huge in the back.

Boot space is important, but not the be all and end all, roof box is always on option for holidays if I really need the space. Something that can get 3/4 decent size suitcases in the boot is enough (and frankly the focus easily fits 3).

I do like something thats decent to drive. The Focus is a 1.8 petrol so nothing special, but handles well and has enough power when required, don't really want to take a backward step if I'm upgrading.

I know the answer is to go and check them out and I will, but good to get peoples opinions.

Our rear facing car seat fits with loads of room in the back of the Octavia, but our nephew in his forward facing car seat (who is 2 1/2) can kick the back of my seat, so bear this in mind - or at least buy some sort of cover for the back of your/the passenger front seat if you end up going with one of the smaller options.

I couldn't spend the money on a Mondeo - it's a great car and you'd get something very new for the money, but I just couldn't do it. The Mazda probably falls into a similar category for me leaving the Passat or Superb, at which point I can't see past the Skoda - especially if you can somehow get into a new model

fergie128 · 15 Mar 2016 at 09:10

I wouldn't discount the Mazda, its a really nice car. Personally I'd be heading for a test drive in a Superb or a Mazda 6.

weeble · 15 Mar 2016 at 09:30

grahamjenks said:
Well I think that's probably ruled out an A4, realistically the 3 series, based on size and what I'd get for my money.

Feel like I'm left with Mazda 6, Superb, Mondeo or a Passat....

Am in a similar boat, albeit with an older stockier child, as the 13 year old family hack is beginning to need a bit more attention. Being garaged in a city brings added challenges to cars in the same sector developing middle aged spread since a decade ago! So overall width is a consideration too.

Discounted the Superb as too big for small city streets, and car parks.
Discounted the Passat as diesel only (don't do enough miles to warrant).

Post-facelift Mazda 6 is a serious contender for us, as dimensions are similar to existing motor.

Good luck OP in your testing