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Cambourne7: Your countryside living matches mine almost exactly! I too live a 20mile round trip to the nearest town.Perhaps like me your choice will depend on your likely winter conditions - being between hills it can, and is, sometimes impossible to get out of the village in the winter for a week or two. We do have a LandRover as a back up but if this is to be your main car then perhaps it needs to be a 4-wheel drive?For bullet-proof you can't beat the Skoda & Hyundai.Perhaps another consideration is who will mend it? Does your favourite garage specialise in particular models? Perhaps it might be worth asking them for advice & perhaps asking them to look out for one for you?
I would go for a Ford Focus or Fiesta. Reliable cars and spares tend to be cheaper than other makes. We have always had two Fords up until a couple of years ago when we decided to just have one car. We searched for months for a Ford Mondeo Estate diesel but couldn't find one. We also looked for a Focus C Max 1.9 diesel but there were none available. Plenty of 1.6 or under but would not have pulled our caravan. In the end we opted for a 2008 Vauxhall Zafira but have already had to spend money on it. Our previous Mondeo and Fiesta went round the clock and we only had to pay out for maintenance items such as brakes, tyres, exhausts etc.
Peugeot 406 estate. You'll pick up a 53reg (think this was the last year they were made) for not a lot of money, the back is a cave with seats down, 50+mpg. Mine has 240k on the clock.Good luck
We searched for months for a Ford Mondeo Estate diesel but couldn't find one.