23 Feb 09
Who needs a full-sized family car when these hatchbacks are so well-equipped and well-designed?
Small family cars these days have rear seats which will accommodate tall teenagers or even big adults with comfort, plenty of load-space and all the gadgets, gizmos and creature comforts.
Here are five great-value all-rounders that'll keep your costs down and fulfil all the requirement of a family of four.
1. Citroen C4
The C4's unmistakably a Citroen, whether in conventional curved-end five-door form or in its chopped-tail three-door body style. Its cabin has neat details such as a fixed-hub steering wheel and optional safety devices such as the lane-departure warning, and it's both pleasingly high-tech and traditionally comfortable. And while the C4 has not been exactly trouble-free, the initial reliability bugs and build-quality glitches should have been ironed out by now.
The strong, quiet 1.6-litre diesel engine returns 60.1mpg (90bhp) or 58.8mpg (110bhp), with its low 125g/km carbon dioxide output keeping tax down too. The 1.6 petrol engine (110bhp) still returns almost 40mpg, though, and if buying nearly-new or used, comes up a lot cheaper.
Either way, the C4 is cheap: Citroen dealers offer large discounts and incentives such as cashback, free insurance at the best of times, and right now, they will be even more open to an offer. There are 2008-registered C4s with minimal mileage around for less than £9,000, and last year's models - with less than 10,000 miles on the clock - for under £7,000. The closely-related Peugeot 308 is similarly low-priced, if duller-looking.
