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What sporty, 5-door, reliable cars could you recommend?

Our 12 year old Audi A3 2.0 TDI Sportback has done 100,000 miles, so will be going, and we need a third car to back up our Ford S-Max 2.0 Ecoboost and Porsche Cayman GTS. The front runner is a Mazda 3 2.0 165 Sport, which you report very favourably on. It will be for general/family use (we have 3 kids: aged six, eight and ten) and Drivethedeal can supply one for under £20,000. Are there any other suggestions that should be considered for a sporty, five-door, good to drive, reliable car? We wouldn't touch VWG at the moment and a Ford Fiesta ST would be nearly perfect except it may be a bit small. Secondly, if we go for the Mazda, I cannot find any mention on the Michelin site that they do 18-inch cross-climates (which the Mazda rides on).

Asked on 18 February 2017 by sja429

Answered by Honest John
You can get Cross Climates in 205/60 R16, which is the other size on the Mazda 3, but the Michelin site becomes very frustrating looking for 18-inch whether you just look for tyre size or try to input the actual car. You're obviously looking for a bit of power, but we had huge fun in the low power Mazda 3, though admittedly in Northern Scotland on almost empty roads: www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/mazda/mazda-3-2017.../?
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