What'll I do about my family cars?

What'll I do about my family cars?

Hi Shane Scenario...two petrol cars at home..1.6 n 1.8..both 07 s... average mileage combined 800km.. It s with regret to see the mazda 5 n nissan quasqai moving on but they have been great while the family were small.My query Shane is a)is diesal the answer... b)what is the best scrappage scheme available ....Not sure what we want Shane but a family size for the five of us and a small size would suit... In your capable hands i trust...Thank you

Our answer:

Hi Alan,

Lots of good options around. If you need a big people carrier then the two best bets are a Ford S-Max or a SEAT Alhambra. Ford has a good 'scrappage' scheme going but SEAT doesn't - mind you it does have some 0% finance offers and he Alhambra is conspicuously good value already. 
 
Also well worth a look, and a shade smaller, is the Opel Zafira Tourer - a massively underrated car and it has a really good scrappage offer running on it at the moment. Up to €4,500 depending on Ts and Cs. 
 
As for something smaller, I can't recommend the Honda Civic highly enough - a compact family car into which you can squeeze five and luggage. 
 
That brings us on to the diesel versus petrol debate. You'd have to upgrade to the pricey 1.8 to get a petrol Civic so the more affordable (and brilliant) 1.6 iDTEC diesel is the right one to go for. 
 
There's no petrol version of the Zafira Tourer, nor of the Alhambra so that's that but there is an impressive 1.5 petrol turbo EcoBoost version of the S-Max, which could be worth looking at if you're doing low mileage. 
Shane O'Donoghue

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