Hi

I'm thinking of changing my beloved Subaru Forester for something more fuel efficient but I still want to accommodate 2 adults, 2 teenagers and 2 dogs with enough luggage for a fortnight (even if I do need to stick some of it on the roof!)

The dogs want height and width, the kids want elbow room, I want air con, the OH wants to enoy driving it, and we all want a big of legroom.

Just curious - what do you all drive that would meet these requirements and what mpg do you get?  We are hoping for 45 miles +.  Any thoughts?

I have a Mondeo Ghia x, Estate all the extras and getting good miles to the gallon.  Have two teenage boys one is 6'3" tall hubby and plenty of room in my boot.  I can fit 2 Leos in or my 3 little ones and kit bags.  I have a roof box for the times where we need more boot space for hols etc. 
Hope this helps Yvonne

Ford Galaxy. Get approximately 50 mpg. Air con all through and loads of headroom and elbow room.

I'd second the Galaxy, the deisel.

I used to have a VW Sharan (very similar to the Galaxy) and for a big car they are very good.  As poloaussie said you have to get the deisel, the petrol versions are appalling on mpg.

Currently have a Peugot 307 SW, fine for MPG and space but I wouldn't get another one had lots of problems with the electrics

A Ford SMAX - same floor space as the Galaxy, slightly less head room in the back though. Tonnes of space, about 47mpg (deisel), nice to drive........

You'll laugh at this. I currently have a Golf hatchback in which i put the back seats down, managed to fit a crate in the back for my friends Spin and also had enough room for my Berner. Its also a diesel and its 53mpg. In view that i wish to have more dogs i am looking for an estate or people carrier with good mpg on it. Though i'm looking for a continental car(German or Scandinavian) so seeing what others suggest on here.

I recall seeing the Parkers guide as something which gave mpg amongst other interesting details about different cars on the market, new and older ones. This may be worth picking up for assistance as well.

Suejaw - if it was just me and the dogs I'd happily go for a smaller car too.

After years of 2 car ownership we're now trying to stick to one car as my OH uses planes and trains to get to work most of the time so consequently we are trying to please us both :)

DawnR I really like the sound of the Ford SMAX but people carriers aren't really our preferred option - we never need the extra seats.  I think we are leaning toward an estate and currently on the list for review is Volvo V70, Toyota Avensis, Mondeo.  Sadly Audi has come off as it's not roomy enough (?) and as we used to have a BMW that gave us problems we don't want another. 

Heading off today for a look see...

Good luck, I think it is a pretty good time to be buying as the dealers need the sales.

We only use the 2nd row seats (ie fitting in up to 5 people), the back is permenantly down and fitted out for our pampered pooch.  Her bit at the back looks better than ours!

DawnR

Just a word of warning about the SMAX. I went from a Nissan Terrano to an S-MAX and couldn't understand what was making my back/joints so bad, until I realised it was every time I travelled or drove the SMAX. I

The S-max is definitely a drivers car, it holds the road really well, and doesn't suffer from the roll often associated with MPV's, but it might not suit if you or any family members have joint/back problems. Another problem I had is that the tailgate is extremely heavy and again caused me problems.

In desperation we purchased a Landrover Freelander and things have started to settle down again. The only problem now is that we are left with an S-MAX that gets hardly any use!!

I love the Galaxy but there is problems with a lot of them sadly, the old one and the new one seems to be plague with equally as bad problems. I know you will get the few who say their is perfect but it was voted last year the car people had the most problems with .. Air con being the worst offender in it ..

I had the Mondeo Ghia X estate it did about 45 MPG.

Went back to a Zafira 1.9 DTI   just back from Manchester and it did 56 MPG over my 650 mile trip.  Can't ask more than that. I can get a huge trolley, a seperate table, a puppy pen and 4 vari kennels in.. that is the boot only.

I've got a V70 - it's very juicy but it is the all wheel drive version (but not the cross country)  I did have a V70 classic before that and it was better.  If I was looking now, I'd certainly consider the Honda Accord Tourer - even more interior space than my Volvo.

Have to say that we have had 3 Galaxy's and never had any problems with them. Only got rid of mine to buy a motorhome but husband still has his. Love them.

I had one to Alison, did love it to bits , really really loved it for the dogs and nearly bought the new one recently till I saw the British people's report based on thing going wrong with your car. I think it was titled Most unreliable car or something. I thought it was just my bad luck as the Air con went on my galaxy 2 years old had to get it fixed twice and it never seem to work the same, my freinds went in hers about 2 weeks after mine.    I then bought a mondeo Ghia x estate 2 years ago and loved this to but again my air con went.    This went to the air con specialist this time rather than the dealer and I told him that the air con was so important to me for the dogs and he said don't buy another Galaxy then as the new one is as bad. 

It is a shame really as overall they are great cars.  I will see if I can find that report on line , I actually saw it on the BBC news one night.  I think if I remember the worst car was the Galaxy followed by the S-Max,  the Mondeo came out OK well certainly better. Funny the Focus seems not to be plagued by the same troubles.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2008/06/20/ford-people-carriers-named-as-britain-s-most-unreliable-cars-86908-20614188/

The 2008 Reliability Index produced by Which is based on the repair history of 89,762

Thanks to you all for your replies.  I think we may be about to make a decision but as the most used word yesterday was practical followed by sensible, economical , roomy, and reliable, I fear I'm kicking and screaming my way to the final yes!!

Those were the sort of words other people used and I'm longing for the days when words like, impractical, thirsty, great performance, torque, handling, stylish etc were the way we chose cars...

When my OH starts to wear beige shoes and I declare a love of bungalows I fear we will be lost forever but in the meantime I'm going to pray that the credit crunch is over soon and we can buy a car with joy rather than resignation :)

...and just to add another nail in the coffin of my mid credit crisis, we even said no to the sport version in black, with leather seats and sat nav.  Oh crikey it's all worse that I thought...

Toyota Avensis - apparently beloved by taxi drivers, gulp

> If I was looking now, I'd certainly consider the Honda Accord Tourer - even more interior space than my Volvo.

I'm on my second Accord Tourer and would have bought a third in a year's time ... but they've changed the model and I've a horrid feeling it's not going to have the same space in the boot. I shall be most disappointed if not, as I can't find anything that matches it for build quality and reliability against price. I'm driving my husband's Vauxhall today, as he has done an airport run in the Tourer, and it feels a rackety old thing compared to the Honda.

If you're not looking at buying brand new, the Tourer is definitely worth a look.

(Also just saw the comment about heavy tailgates and my heart sank at the thought of having to go back to a car where I actually had to open the boot myself instead of pressing a button. How lazy is that?!)

M.

> If you're not looking at buying brand new, the Tourer is definitely worth a look.

We did have this on our list originally but couldn't match our price and mileage criteria within 150 miles.  There are a lot of v high mileage ones but nothing around 60k which is what we wanted.  I did wonder about visibility out the back too but as I say I couldn't find one to test drive that we could buy - except for one red one which was a no purely on colour!