Hello everyone!

First of all, let me introduce myself.

31 year old elec. engineer from Croatia, have a small 1 year old, and the old car (2004 Mazda 3) is ready for replacement.

Been following HonestJohn site for some time now, mainly because of the good/bad section on car reviews. Basically all data you need to know when looking at a certain car.

I've been looking at a number of cars, as one of the new criteria is that the car has to swallow baby seat, and both parts of the stroller in the trunk. Consumption does not get the final say, but important also. The last 3 still in the game are the following:

Mazda 3 sedan 2.0 petrol, 120HP:

+: killer looks, japanese made (my old one has 205000 km without a fault), big boot

-: not a lot of space on the back seat (wonder if I could fit a 0 group baby seat there, as it takes a lot of space), trunk opening as bad as on my current Mazda

Skoda Octavia 1.6 TDI, 105 HP:

+: a lot of space on back seats, trunk opening can swallow an Airbus inside, excellent fuel consumption

-: average/pensioner look, high price here in Croatia (22500€, whereas Mazda comes to 19500 in the similar spec level)

New Suzuki Vitara, 1.6 VVT petrol, 120 HP:

+: cool crossover looks, nicely equipped for the price, gives same amount of space in back seats as Mazda, 375L trunk seems as it could just fit both stroller parts, has cam chain

-: fit and finish (the door just doesn't want to clap when you gently try to close, completely unimpressed by that), price for diesel version goes sky high (21500€, unacceptable for a smaller car with this fit and finish), 1,6 petrol says 5,3L/100km (53 mpg), tests give 7,5L/100km (37 mpg)

Further to consumption, Mazda has 5,1L/100km (55 mpg) on highway test at 100km/h, and 7,0 (40) at 130 km/h, which is, for a 2.0 petrol, excellent. Skoda excells here and gives 4.8L/100 km (58 mpg) average on 130 km/h highway test.

Which one would You choose ? Why? Please elaborate.

Maybe some other suggestions?

Thanks in advance for Your advices.

Regards,