U need a used, reliable family car with space for child seats

We have plans to grow our family in the coming year or so from one to two children, and I have just discovered that my trusted 2003 Honda Civic won't fit two child car seats plus granny in the back.

We use extended rear-facing (ERF) car seats for added children's safety, so we are not considering narrower forward-facing alternatives (invested quite a lot in the first ERF seat already).

So we need three real seats in the back, preferably sliding for adjustments, but it needs to be automatic due to wife's disability.

The problem is our budget only goes to £6000 in a stretch and we want it to be the most reliable car possible in budget. That means most of the automatics we find at a good price use gearboxes that are not recommended by your website (nor any of the others I've checked).

Having searched high and low, I think I'm pretty much down to three possible cars: Citroen Xsara Picasso (a later edition), Peugeot 307 SW, or Honda F-RV. Which is best?

Asked on 4 March 2014 by ocoiso

Answered by Honest John
With a bit of luck you might find a Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0i 4-speed automatic. That was actually the best of the Xsara Picassos and, of course, has three separate individually sliding rear seats.
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Clever way to carry 6 in 2 rows, like a Multipla, but with Honda quality. 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2 all chain cam engines.
Makes sense of the 307. Up to seven forward-facing seats. Good to drive. Decent diesels.
 

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