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I know nothing about cars, I didn't even know what ours was until wife told me this week. A 2008 Ford Fiesta apparently.

Wife is after a new car with bigger boot. So it can fit a double buggy we will need very soon. Old car worth about 3.8k and we don't want to spend more than 3k. So a budget of 6.5kish.

Stuff she wants, automatic, big boot and enough room to carry 4 of us comfy. Any suggestions? not considered leasing tbh..anyone with family car they recommend.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201109381064096/sort/priceasc/usedcars/price-to/7000/page/1/radius/1500/postcode/m202wj/keywords/qashqai?logcode=p

It's the automatic bit of those criteria that make it tough. Autos in smallish cars tend to be either crap, or uneconomical, or both. And rare. Does she really need it?

The wife had an auto Civic until recently. Nice car, but the transmission was awful. CVT auto, which are less inefficient than the usual slushbox, but at the mercy of decent software controlling the electric clutch. Sure had decent software. CVT autos are pretty common on small autos these days, and if you do look at one, I'd suggest you take it on the longest test drive you can get away with, and vary your speed a lot to try it out. At their worst when you come to a roundabout and try to pull away without fully stopping. Takes an age to think about which gear it should be in.

Bigger boot means bigger car. How much bigger is she prepared to go? Does it have to be a hatchback or would she consider estate or saloon? How many miles do you do - how worried about fuel economy?

Do a search with your criteria in on Autotrader and the most common thing to come up are Vauxhall Astras, 3-4 years old with around 30k miles on. Never been in one, but probably worth a test. Should be a slightly bigger boot than the Fiesta I would think. If you change to estates you get a load of Astras again, and also 3-series Touring, although these are all older for that price. Nice cars though.

The Vauxhall auto boxes are terribad, avoid.  Syncro`s are bad for going £800 a pop too.

cheers will have a look tonight online...

To get an idea of what car you can get at that price that suits your needs, have a look at:

http://www.usedcarexpert.co.uk/buy/-/price/from-5000/to-7000/postcode-ls11+0es/type-small+family+cars/transmission-automatic/doors-5/order-distance+low+to+high/

I'm doing some work for that site, and spoke to someone who test-drives a lot of the cars for the reviews, etc.

He said:

Renault is silky smooth
A golf always looks good but is dull
Kias and Citroens are to be avoided
Mazdas are fun to drive
Fords and Vauxhalls are cheap to service

So you might want to consider what he says (or not) when making your decision.  It's definitely worth driving a few to see the difference for yourself, and checking out the space they have (and access is also important too, a big boot is no good if the opening is too high or narrow, etc.).

cant fault much of that advice Kinbo - but fwiw i wouldnt buy a renault

as for cars with small engines i would avoid auto gear boxes at all costs - they are always terrible no exceptions. I would only have one if disabled/necessary for some reason

not sure what you pay for them nowadays but a golf 1.9tdi would be a nice car and super economical (and thats  a huge factor in running costs nowadays)

thanks again some excellent advice and sites to look through.

Need to have auto as my acl op didn't go great and waiting for followup operation so hard to use clutch and our lass is yank innit :P