Best family friendly car with a bit of poke for 12k?

[TW]Fox said:
The trouble is that these days petrol cars are just as complicated so it's 6 of one half dozen of the other. The days of petrol cars being simple and hassle free are over, most are turbocharged with direct injection etc
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Still much less problems with petrol engines though.
 
ahenners said:
Octavia VRS should suit those needs rather well. I have a 63 plate 220 petrol covering 15k a year. It's fairly cheap to run, easily able to get 40mpg+ on longer journeys, and nothing has gone wrong in the 50k I've put on it since buying just over 3 years ago. We have 2 young kids (under 4) and we've had no problem fitting everything in holidaying in the UK - Center Parcs mainly with some tent camping on occasion too. It's a great balance of quick, enjoyable, practical and sensible.
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I think I'm pretty much sold on the Mk3 VRS petrol estate, the problem is finding one, they're like hens teeth!

a1ex2001 said:
Just accept you are old and get another superb a smaller car will annoy you every time you go away!
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I had seriously thought about it, the Mk3 looks considerably less old manny....
 
coupe69 said:
I think I'm pretty much sold on the Mk3 VRS petrol estate, the problem is finding one, they're like hens teeth!
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Do you *need* the estate specifically? Ours is a hatch and it's still very practical. The Estate boot is only about 20L bigger but appreciate it offers a slightly different shape and opening if you have dogs or some other requirement. If you'd be fine with the hatch you may find it a bit easier to find one.
 
coupe69 said:
I think I'm pretty much sold on the Mk3 VRS petrol estate, the problem is finding one, they're like hens teeth!



I had seriously thought about it, the Mk3 looks considerably less old manny....
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It’s a great family car! Once you get bored of flooring it everywhere for a week you’ll miss the extra comfort and refinement!
 
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Sounds like perhaps you should stick with the Superb unless 170hp isn't enough for you. One problem you will face is some of the estates with bigger engines fall into the 'old man' category as well e.g. Jag, Merc etc.
You've then got the estate variants of hot hatches (e.g. Golf/Focus you have mentioned) but you don't have the budget for an R and some of them might feel a bit small for family usage coming from a Superb.
Octavia vRS Estate is maybe the only move but there's a risk you'll be sat there in 3 months time feeling you've spend a lot of cash for a bit more grunt but not necessarily much improvement in comfort/space.
 
coupe69 said:
I think I'm pretty much sold on the Mk3 VRS petrol estate, the problem is finding one, they're like hens teeth!
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Yeah, they are, I'm selling mine at the moment and I've had enquiries from 3/400 miles away!
When I was looking there were only three for sale second hand with more than 10k miles, there's a few forums where you occasionally get them before they go on the big sites, it took me a couple of months to get one in the end
 
mikeyw85 said:
What are all the "recent issues with diesels"? Are we talking about diesel-gate and subsequent bad press?
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yeah, I was thinking diesel-gate. Last time I looked at used cars, about a year ago, there seemed (to me) to be a lot more diesels on the market than I previously remembered, and that their prices seemed to have dropped (to me) more than the petrol equivalent.
 
I would be looking for a petrol hybrid. Something like a Toyota CRV. I own a diesel but it will be my last. A lot of cities are introducing stupid congestion charges now. Of the cars you mention, probably the Focus ST (because you said you didn't want an old man car).
 
^The proportion of diesels on the used market will be increasing simply because it represents the aging of vehicles previously sold, and new diesel sales were rising considerably until recently. So e.g. the used diesel market today will be based on cars sold a few years ago. This is especially pertinent for e.g. 3 year old fleet vehicles that were first registered before the 2017 tax changes - diesel was very attractive in those days. Essentially the used market will implicitly lag trends in the new market rather than necessarily being a knee-jerk "quick everyone offload your dirty diesels". If you wait a couple of years, you'll potentially see a reversal of this trend, because of the drop in diesel sales in 2018 (and probably 2019, but I don't have stats for that).
 
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