Avoid diesel at this price, your mileage doesn't warrant it, and older or leggy diesels can be unreliable.

The P12 Primera looks especially good value at the moment, and as you say £3.5k will buy you a good one. (SE trim and above gets a standard reverse camera)

The 1.8 model should give mid to high 30's MPG and won't lose too much in performance compared to your 2.0.

£5k on a current shaped Mondeo, h'mmm, it will have done a lot of miles.

Another suggestion would be the 1.8 VVTi Toyota Avensis, not the most exciting car, but dependable; A T3-X or T4 gives you plenty of equipment. T2 is the base model and gives you Aircon and steel wheels, but not so many were sold. T3-S gives you basic trim but built-in SatNav, so many were company purchases.

Others would be the previous Honda Accord or the Mazda 6 (2 models ago), but for £3.5k I'd probably go Primera or Avensis and keep back some dosh for unexpected bills. HTH.

Edited by 72 dudes on 08/02/2013 at 15:46

but with a baby on the way need to get something newer and with airbags.

Airbags are a no-no with rear facing baby seats fitted to the front passenger seat and aren't helpful for babies/small children in forward facing child seats in the rear of the vehicle.

Babies and young children do not have much mass (and hence little inertia), and whilst they appear fragile, generally fare very well in high impact collisions, provided that they are seated in an appropriate carrier and suitably restrained.The design of the car is almost irrelevant compared to the carrier. For the best safety, put your dough into maintainance of whatever you buy and leave NCAP ratings to the yummy mummies and the Guardianistas.

I had a 1.6 K reg Primera, replaced it on 172k miles (10 tears old) with a P12 2.0 SVE Primera.I think the P10 is a better car, no Renault parts, but don't let me put you off, my comments are personal and I have no experience to know if others cars of a similar age / mileage are better or inferior.

The P12 uses more petrol - perhaps 25mpg in town, low 30's is the best on motorway at 70 mph, I don't drive the car hard, but, I'm not a slow coach either.

Check the parts, I've just replaced the exhaust, one section was Nissan only, spent over £500. Also go for the 16" wheels, the ride will be better and cost of tyres much lower than with the 17" wheels.

Reversing camera is wonderful, and a great safety aid, built in SAT NAV OK, it's europe wide and is based on road names not post codes, I've never updated the disk so cannot comment on cost.

The rear seats do not fold flat, and the wheel arches intrude into the boot, so the boot space is less than the P10.

If you do go for the P12 I suggest you consider looking at www.npoc.co.uk as it's a good source of info about the car (Nissan Primera Owners Club). Primera prices are soft, so you will get more car for your money.