Best Used SUV/MPV under £2500

[smallzoo]

I had some great advice on another post about a hatchback for dogs and the basic advice was to look at am MPV/SUV so we have 'narrowed' it down LOL to the following ( all around 2005 to 2008 )... Has to be petrol, 5 door, as I said before 6k miles a year, pref auto

Ford C-MAX
Vauxhall Zafira
Seat Altea
Nissan Qashqai+2
Toyota RAV4
Honda CRV
Suzuki Grand Vitara
Kia Sportage

I dont want to make everyone too much out loud but interested on peoples own experienced with these

Thanks

[Xcore]

2.5 S max

[POIDH]

There is a huge, and I mean huge, internal size difference in those SUV shaped cars and any MPV cars.

How much space do you and the family need?

[nunpuncher]

smallzoo said:

I had some great advice on another post about a hatchback for dogs and the basic advice was to look at am MPV/SUV so we have 'narrowed' it down LOL to the following ( all around 2005 to 2008 )... Has to be petrol, 5 door, as I said before 6k miles a year, pref auto

Ford C-MAX
Vauxhall Zafira
Seat Altea
Nissan Qashqai+2
Toyota RAV4
Honda CRV
Suzuki Grand Vitara
Kia Sportage

I dont want to make everyone too much out loud but interested on peoples own experienced with these

Thanks

Tragically we've had almost half that list as family/stable hacks. I'll go through in order of ownership

- Suzuki Grand Vitara 2l petrol. The oil pump failed, no warning lights or indication of drop in pressure. It just died and got shipped off to the scrap yard
- Nissan Qashqai 2l petrol had a few suspension issues but otherwise reliable. Not much bigger than a golf inside. Kept it 2 years then the wife started complaining about it drinking so much petrol (averaged about 25mpg)
- Kia Sportage 2.0crdi. Replaced the above about 3 years ago. No issues but engine is rough as anything. It's a bit of a reverse Tardis. Looks big outside but feels like a Golf from inside. Rubbish front seat space, good rear seat space, boot is about average
- Honda CRV 2l petrol. My daily snotter. Terrible on fuel, absolutely gutless, loads of space inside, good reliability.

The Honda cost me just under £2.5k and tbf it's been good appliance motoring. It probably has the best boot space out of the lot of them and offers great versatility based on how the rear seats slide, tilt and fold. My main reason for buying it was wanting something that I could chuck bikes in and can even get my sons pit bike in the bike.

We had a few MPVs when the kids we're younger. When our focus was more on interior space (getting 3 child seats across the back) than boot space. We've only got 1 tiny dog so dog transport has never been our primary reason for buying. I'd imagine things like boot floor height may come into that sort of decision. MPVs it's usually low but a lot of the SUVs its quite high, often with a large lip.

[smallzoo]

nunpuncher said:

Tragically we've had almost half that list as family/stable hacks. I'll go through in order of ownership

- Suzuki Grand Vitara 2l petrol. The oil pump failed, no warning lights or indication of drop in pressure. It just died and got shipped off to the scrap yard
- Nissan Qashqai 2l petrol had a few suspension issues but otherwise reliable. Not much bigger than a golf inside. Kept it 2 years then the wife started complaining about it drinking so much petrol (averaged about 25mpg)
- Kia Sportage 2.0crdi. Replaced the above about 3 years ago. No issues but engine is rough as anything. It's a bit of a reverse Tardis. Looks big outside but feels like a Golf from inside. Rubbish front seat space, good rear seat space, boot is about average
- Honda CRV 2l petrol. My daily snotter. Terrible on fuel, absolutely gutless, loads of space inside, good reliability.

The Honda cost me just under £2.5k and tbf it's been good appliance motoring. It probably has the best boot space out of the lot of them and offers great versatility based on how the rear seats slide, tilt and fold. My main reason for buying it was wanting something that I could chuck bikes in and can even get my sons pit bike in the bike.

We had a few MPVs when the kids we're younger. When our focus was more on interior space (getting 3 child seats across the back) than boot space. We've only got 1 tiny dog so dog transport has never been our primary reason for buying. I'd imagine things like boot floor height may come into that sort of decision. MPVs it's usually low but a lot of the SUVs its quite high, often with a large lip.

- Bad re the Vitara
- We were looking at a Petrol Sportage, maybe the petrol engine a bit smoother ?
- For the reasons you mentioned we were looking at the Qashqai + 2, 25mpg doesnt sounds brilliant though
- The Honda story sounds so familiar to what have heard before..very reliable motor that you can throw anything at but poor MG
I didn't realise it was gutless although we are not buying a dog mobile for speed !

Not too worried about boot floor height as we have a ramp for our three dogs ( 2 large , one small )

Thanks