Can you recommend a prestigious estate car with seven seats for £5000?

As I work from home and do all the school runs and camping/driving holidays, I have a 2001 Mercedes-Benz ML270 (95,000 miles) but I want a car with better fuel economy and that is also cheaper. My wife insists the replacement is a 'prestigious' make to ensure her status when she occasionally drives it to her work. I need a 7-seat estate car with leather seats, roof bars, fuel economy of around 50mpg and lots of boot space for bikes. My budget is around £5000. Mileage and age are not an issue, but reliability is. Can you recommend something?

Asked on 29 June 2010 by Jason Jones

Answered by David Ross

The Volvo V70 came with seven seats as optional extras (the back two are rear-facing) as did the Mercedes-Benz E-Class W210 model. There aren't many others around, unfortunately, so you may find it tricky to track one down. However, both the Volvo and Mercedes-Benz are in your budget and have decent records for reliability.

Tags: estates large boot fuel economy 7 seater reliability

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