Choosing a family car Mazda CX5, Nissan X Trial, Mercedes E Class, Audi A6

Transportation, Travel and Trips
21
As mentioned above and in the title I will only choose between the

Mazda CX5, Nissan X Trial, Mercedes E Class, Audi A6

Secondly,

No I do not want to be doing 25000km a year in a cheap car.

To be honest I don't want to be doing 1km in a cheap car.

"cheapish"... I lease my cars for 2 years. In my cases leasing a Mercedes E class is cheaper than leasing a Vauxhall Zafira. Cars with 2 different price tags. But Zafira looses her value in the first 2 years. So in my case "cheapish" works differently.

VW Touran is at good leasing price and will make 2 years with us in May. Middle daughter now walks so no need for "double pram", other smaller pram is in place, hence E Class and A6 are in the game.

22
Personally, when I was riding in the back of my boss's A6 (RS Avant, the V10 version), I didn't find the car that comfortable. Certainly not for the price (though he apparently bought 2nd-hand, having someone else swallow the 30-50% deprecation). Sitting in the driver-seat is something different, of course. But I sat in the back as a kid long enough...

To each his own, of course.

But even though I drive very little and could probably get by with a 10000km/year lease, it would still drive me nuts to have this limit nagging me in the back of my head.

That, and the fact that I would basically "rent" the car would totally take the fun out of owning it.

I get that with leasing a new car, you just don't have to think about a lot of problems that come with owning a car for fifteen years (like my current one). Rust, gearbox-problems etc.pp...

But while my bills from the yearly service are higher, my deprecation is zero. So I believe to still come out ahead ;-)

Maybe once the car drives itself and I can read a newspaper while it carries me to my destination, I will enjoy driving a bit more.

Until then, a commute by car (that I have to drive) is my worst nightmare. Regardless of the size of the car and the distance.

And because of that, I would try to spend as little money on it as possible.

From your initial list, I would probably try the E-Class.

If you check mobile.de, you should get a wider selection of cars. Especially, if 4x4 isn't required.

23
An RS6 is not an A6

Well, it is, but it takes the hard riding suspension of the A6 and makes it harder.

The OP is not asking what is the cheapest way to drive around or how to search for cars in Germany - the OP wants feedback on the cars they have chosen.

If you do that - you get 2 camps - the X-Trail camp and the E-Class camp. I'm in the latter - I've owned older varieties of both cars and enjoyed the ownership experience of both - and clocked big KMs in both. But given a choice of 1 to do 50km each way each day - it would be the comfy luxury-saloon rather than the 7-seater compact SUV.

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try Autokunz.ch for demo cars with low mileage & low prices.

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I just watched it. Until now I was unaware about a NEW Touran being available since Dec 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GjP0qSN8Kk

I can see a lot of similarities with the VW Passat I drove back in December.

I like it.

26
Painful reality check for me today as I went around to all dealerships.

This time I properly fitted the child seats and had the kids with me.

None of the cars in the title thread are suitable for me:

Especially disappointed with the X-Trial regarding the 3 child seats test.

Mercedes E Class - fits the 3 maxi cosy nice, but to get kids in sleeping position need to move passenger and driver seat very forward and that makes it super uncomfortable.

"Multimac" might be a solution but apart from it being very expensive system seat to not recline, so its a no.

I cannot justify the price of VW Sharan and Seat Alhambra. To me they don't offer much extra for their price tag. The rest of the cars with 3 seats on the back didn't make it on the list.

VW Touran it is... again. That saloon car will wait for few more years.

As I was told here on the forum once..."Practical, real life solutions aren't always sexy!"

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The only time to consider a multimac is if you are buying something meaty - M5, E63, XFRS - otherwise stick for cars that will take 3 seats as standard.

IIRC EVO fitted a 4-seat Multimac in an M3

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at least put a nice sticker on it

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The price might be lack of competition, and much smaller scale of sales.

These minivans (VW Sharan, Ford Galaxy, Renault Espace, Citroen C8) are 4.8m long and weight about 1.8 metric ton so add passive protection against a car slamming from behind. But that's just me where a few of my relatives and acquaintances had such car accidents, and in one case severe injuries happened in a smaller car hit from behind.

30
You are right. Never seen it from that angle.

VW Sharan is around 2,290 kg

VW Touran is around 1,556 kg

31
I like your post. Made me smile

And that is what I do for living, vehicle graphics.

I will cut myself same sticker tomorrow!

Cheers

32
No meat for me, thanks. Looks like I've become vegeterian.

33
There are a handful of Alhambras sub 30k.

http://www.autoscout24.ch/de/autos/s...&yearfrom=2013

(I'm not sure I'd go without 4x4 on such a heavy car in Switzerland - but you get a lot more results when you drop 4x4).

Boss has a Sharan (and 3 kids, has had a Sharan pretty much since the facelifted models came out late 2010/early 2011), co-worker has an Alhambra since September.

From what I understand, the Touran is less expensive because it is really a smaller car and offers less "sophistication".

Outside the luxury models, the Sharan is probably VW's car with the least changes made over the years.

Rumors are, it's going to disappear in 2017 in favor of a "large" Touran.

But nobody knows for sure.

34
Bearing in mind that I will have no credit history in Switzerland, do you think I will be given the option:

lease a car (pay a bigger deposit) or shall I prepare my self for a cash purchase? (example; they say to me - "you don't have 3 months pay slips, you cannot have a lease" ?

35
From memory (going back 6 plus years) you need to have been here for 6 months before you can get a lease and a year for a loan.

36
Check KIA Sedona.

https://www.google.ch/search?q=kia+s...h&q=kia+sedona

Although not available in Europe (you can import) it looks very nice. I might go for it in the next months.

37

Available as "Kia Carnival" here. Apparently.

Autoscout lists 59 cars. None of them the 2015 edition.

I would really, really think very hard if I wanted to own (much less import) such a car.

38

I got one after a month, they did ask for a bigger deposit but getting a lease was no issue at all as I had an employment contract and B permit.

39
Thanks Jamiebae!

40
Thanks. Kia is not my cup of tea.