We have a largish dog so need a 5th door ideally. I'm not a big fan of the 2 series tourer styling I'm afraid. We are both graphic designers and are very fussy about the way something looks, possibly too fussy but can't change the habits of a lifetime. I'm starting to look favourably at a Golf now, higher spec but not a GTi.

We have a largish dog so need a 5th door ideally. I'm not a big fan of the 2 series tourer styling I'm afraid but the 3 series GT looks interesting and there are a few petrol versions around, including one in Norwich which isn't that far from me so thanks for that suggestion. We are both graphic designers and are very fussy about the way something looks, possibly too fussy but can't change the habits of a lifetime. I'm starting to look favourably at a Golf now, higher spec but not a GTi.

If you are considering a Golf one other car you should be looking at is the Seat Leon. We have had a 1.4 TSi 140 PS for 3 1/2 years and its been absolutely faultless. Does everything a Golf would do for a lot less money (when we bought it £5000 less than a Golf with the exact same engine). Bigger than a Polo so that part of your brief is matched, go and see/try one.

We have just ordered a new Skoda Superb. We need a bigger car but loved the1.4 TSi engine so much that in reality the Superb was the only sensible choice. ££££'s less than similar sized VW's and Audi's and every bit as good. Even with the 1.4 TSi engine the car is well capable of safely overtaking slow traffic on A roads which is always one of my requirements.

When my Leon goes into the trade next March someone is going to get an absolute bargain. Will be very sorry to see it go. Would probably keep it for the wife if the Note she has did not match her needs perfectly regarding carrying a wheelchair etc for her aged mother.

As for our local dealers the VW are pretty pathetic. Been 3 times now since June 2015, you struggle to get a sales persons attention and as soon as you say the "petrol" word they loose what bit of interest they might have initially shown. The Nissan lot were much better. Really keen on selling a car and did a deal that made brokers look expensive without much hard negotiating, located a car over 100 miles away and shipped it down for us. The Skoda dealer has been excellent especially when you consider we have been about 5 times in a week, tried 3 cars and have been very picky regarding the order details and spec. In the salesmans shoes I would have been thinking I was a tyre kicker.

We liked the Qashqai very much and we liked the new Tiguan, we even looked at the X-Trail which was actually my favourite of the breed. But I am not a huge fan of these faux offroaders (just weigh more and use more fuel than their hatch siblings) and the wife found that getting into the passenger seat in every model we tried caused hip pain, not a great feature.

Having gone through the process of choosing a biggish estate recently, I found the Audi A4, Mondeo and Hyundai i40 to be the most available petrol solutions.

In the end, I crossed my fingers and bought a new diesel A6. Doing mixed town and long journeys it has been cheap to maintain and reliable over 36k miles and 3.5 years.

I could sell it now to WBAC and have suffered £3.5k pa depreciation and be saying "What diesel problems?"

I'm not keen on French cars, I just don't have faith in their reliability, particularly longer term. That may be terrible prejudice but they just don't appeal.

There's an important safety-related reason not to buy any Peugeot or Citroen which has its heater and aircon settings adjusted only by touchscreen. This is potentially dangerous: I don't think it applies to all Peugeots and Citroens but anyone thinking of buying one should check.

This applies to the 308. Remember trying to turn the heater down in the one the salesman brought for us to sit in. Mild spring day, heater on full, how do you turn it down. You have to change to the correct menu on the radio display sir, and by the time you ahve found it you are probably into the back of another car.

But we did not take the 308 SW out onto the road for another reason. I am 5'9" and with the drivers seat in a normal position I could not sit behind myself. I believe the SW has a bit more leg room than the hatch, if that's true it must be really compromised.

Check if you are interested.

Vw has clearly stated over time where its brands stand in their hierarchy. Skoda is the budget brand, and as such it is deliberate policy for skoda cars to lack the sound proofing/deadening that its more upmarket sister brands have.

Although I am a multiple skoda owner, I must say the constant road roar etc is very tiring and disappointing. Latest drives in a variety of their latest models show no improvement and their diesel models are particularly noisy.

Budget is in the context of vw brands. Its the bottom of the pile in vag boardroom eyes, meant for poor folk and poor countries.

That ironically has its advantages as well as its intended disadvantages.

Check out a Mazda 6 estate petrol 2 ltr, within your budget and will do over 42 mpg, easily so if you are careful on the right foot and not doing many long trips. Good looking too, japanese reliability hopefully, reasonable priced servicing as it's not a diesel - (avoid [the modern/latest] mazda diesel like the plague!)

No spare wheel though.

Edited by nailit on 26/11/2016 at 13:30

Not yet known on the new models, 2013 onwards for the new mazda 6 etc. and not mentioned in this thread IIRC.

London already has dis-incentives against older diesels in it's ULEV congestion charge - but how many UK car owners have any need to drive INTO Central London, a very small minority as most commuters either use public transport or don't drive right into the centre - occasional visitors either use public transport or take the one-off hit.

It's commercial vehicles that'll be affected most, where diesel currently dominates far more than cars AND which have a harder job finding a green alternative.

Increasing use of EVs isn't the answer because that just puts more power station pollution out in the countryside.

In this day and age of fast internet connection, part of the solution is reducing the number of people/vehicles that need/want to go into the centre of big cities - reduce the overall need for vehicles.

Had a quick look around a Civic tourer last week, a very impressive car. Massive boot, and a lovely quality feel about it. I'm very tempted by the hatch as my next car, if I can live with the rear visibility problem- the door mirrors and reversing camera probably compensate for it. The 1.8 would be my choice, as one of the best petrol engines around, I enjoy the rev range of a decent petrol, so not a problem. Would miss the low down pull of my Octavia 1.9 but not the noise and tractor like feeling! Incidentally, re: the Honda 1.6 diesel, I can't find any DPF issues with it or any major problems so far, indeed it is universally highly praised.