New Family Car Ideas?

[Nem]

Hi

We've currently got an Audi A3 Saloon which is now too small for us with out 8 month old daughter so looking for some to replace it with.

Budget is around £20k but a tad more if something really looks good. Needs to be auto and preferably petrol, the A3 is a 1.4 and something a bit larger would be nice. 20k miles give or take 5k would be our aim too.

Biggest problems currently are rear space, with the baby seat in you can't even get the passenger seat all the way back which we'd like to resolve, and also with the saloon boot it's just a small opening to feed the buggy into which isn't easy.

We're currently looking at a VW Arteon, hatch style boot and is very large and also has tons or room in the back seats too. R-Line model, 2.0l, auto and around 20k miles for our budget or just over.

Any reason not to go this way, or more importantly anything else to look at?

Thanks!

Nick

 

[Armageus]

Skoda Superb?

Edit:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105303268377
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104081114599

 

[paradigm]

I've just bought this for the wife at the same £20k budget (cost me £20,500~) to replace her 2015 Skoda Yeti, as whilst the 3-year old was fine, getting the newborn's seat in and out was cumbersome, and the boot was too small. This one has done more miles than you were looking at, though one with 25,000 miles should be doable for £21-22k.

OK so it's technically got the same engine as your A3 Saloon, but with the hybrid assisting the drivetrain, there's 218PS on-tap which makes it more than quick enough.

As a direct comparison to my S3 Saloon that I got rid of last year, the interior quality is just as good (if not slightly better), though I still prefer MMI over the touchscreen interface here. That said, it's still very well equipped and works great with the digital dashboard and steering wheel controls. Far more comfortable, and less road/cabin noise as well.

This one is the 9.9KWh battery. So far it's been really REALLY good, I can't fault it. The level of equipment is good, the comfort is lovely (ergocomfort seats), the technology all seems to just work, and as both a child and load-lugger it's been wonderful.

We've been getting around 23~ miles to the battery with the climate control switched on, and yesterday I managed 27~ with the climate switched off (reviews and owner stories suggest around a 5-mile loss with climate turned on), I just pre-heated the car whilst it was plugged into the mains (not using an installed charger at home, just the "granny" lead, as even from flat it's a 4.5hr charge). Yesterday I drove it to work which is 16 miles away down mainly dual-carriageway, I arrived with 10~ miles of range left and plugged it into the free 7.2KW chargers we have at the office, again scheduling the car to be warm and charged for when I leave work. Drove home (in the torrential rain, so lights and wipers on fast) and got home with 6 miles of range (home is a higher elevation than work, so more uphill sections). I could happily use this daily and drive purely on electric.

Alas, this is the wife's car so I won't be doing that, but she tends to stay local (within a 10mi radius) so should be able to do most, if not all, her driving on electric as well.

To that end, I filled the tank on the day I picked it up (Sunday) and so far I've only ran the engine once, just to see what GTE mode was like (surprisingly brisk with the full 218PS from both engine and motor).

EDIT: More Pictures

Yesterday we took it on a 50~ mile round trip (so beyond the battery range) and it returned an average of 83.1MPG, with 71% of the drive covered under "zero emissions" driving.

 

[chanjy]

I have also just purchased a £20k Passat GTE Advance estate

There's loads of options out there though even if you're petrol only

• A4
• A6
• Superb
• Octavia
• Passat
• Tiguan (lower spec though)
• Peugeot 508
• DS7 Crossback
• Mazda 6

You might want to check the Arteon boot opening is wide enough for your baby equipment purposes, can be annoying having to jiggle prams around to make them go in. I haven't seen it in person but it doesn't look quite as practical as an estate.

 

[Nem]

I've just bought this for the wife at the same £20k budget (cost me £20,500~) to replace her 2015 Skoda Yeti, as whilst the 3-year old was fine, getting the newborn's seat in and out was cumbersome, and the boot was too small. This one has done more miles than you were looking at, though one with 25,000 miles should be doable for £21-22k.

OK so it's technically got the same engine as your A3 Saloon, but with the hybrid assisting the drivetrain, there's 218PS on-tap which makes it more than quick enough.

As a direct comparison to my S3 Saloon that I got rid of last year, the interior quality is just as good (if not slightly better), though I still prefer MMI over the touchscreen interface here. That said, it's still very well equipped and works great with the digital dashboard and steering wheel controls. Far more comfortable, and less road/cabin noise as well.

Yesterday we took it on a 50~ mile round trip (so beyond the battery range) and it returned an average of 83.1MPG, with 71% of the drive covered under "zero emissions" driving.

That's a very interesting option, not even looked at anything 'electric' to be honest so I'll have a look, certainly can be had in the millage and price range or there abouts, and looks the same quality as the Arteon inside to be expected.

We drove an Arteon last week and found it very nice, certainly ticks everything I can seem but just wanted to make sure we're not missing something.

I have also just purchased a £20k Passat GTE Advance estate

There's loads of options out there though even if you're petrol only

• A4
• A6
• Superb
• Octavia
• Passat
• Tiguan (lower spec though)
• Peugeot 508
• DS7 Crossback
• Mazda 6

You might want to check the Arteon boot opening is wide enough for your baby equipment purposes, can be annoying having to jiggle prams around to make them go in. I haven't seen it in person but it doesn't look quite as practical as an estate.

Arteon boot works fine, it's the full hatch so the boot and glass all open up right up to the roof itself, same as the A5 Sportback.

Our early thoughts were an A5 sportback which also has the full hatch opening, and I also very much like the 'look' of the A4/6 avants, I'm very much an Audi advocate, but we've had so many bad experiences with Audi dealers and Audi Uk over issue with the A3 gearbox my fiancée won't entertain another Audi at all. Thankfully I'm keeping the TT and she's not having a say in that! Being involved with the TTOC it's pretty much a given basically.

She also poo pooed the idea of the Skoda even though it's very much the same car as the Arteon etc etc.

Thanks

 

[paradigm]

It's probably worth mentioning that since picking the car up 16 days ago, we've used 5 miles of petrol range (trip has dropped from 380mi range to 375mi), and covered 307 miles in that time.

It's surprising (at least for me) how much of my driving can be covered by ~30mi battery range.

 

[jpaul]

It's probably worth mentioning that since picking the car up 16 days ago, we've used 5 miles of petrol range (trip has dropped from 380mi range to 375mi), and covered 307 miles in that time.

can/do you prevent the petrol engine even being warmed up ? (recent autogefeul,skoda hybrid, was it, addressed that dilemna in their design)

 

[paradigm]

can/do you prevent the petrol engine even being warmed up ? (recent autogefeul,skoda hybrid, was it, addressed that dilemna in their design)

The petrol engine doesn't kick in at all in E-mode. I can probably count on one hand the amount of times the petrol engine has run since picking the car up!