A guy called John Cadogan advises on cars.
He has some good info and is a qualified engineer.

One thing he said that appealed to me was along the lines of ' ........... no car is perfect at every task. If it can tow 2500 kgs safely it won't be so good around the shopping mall car parks. 
Work out what you will be doing for 90% of the use of your car, buy one that does that perfectly.'

Just tested a Skoda Fabia wagon. I think that is their bottom of the market model. Bit too small.

Too much depends on your preferences.

Do you need new or newish?
Would an older second hand do?
How often, how much do you tow?
What sort of driving do you do?
Do you have a big family?

And these are just a few

My wife has a Suzuki Ignis,  a small 4 cylinder 1200cc motor
Will sit comfortably on a freeway at 120 all day and get 5 l/ 100k.
But for more than two people, not so good.
I have an Isuzu MUX,   a 4 cylinder 3000cc turbo charged diesel.
Great for up to 7 people, eats miles and can tow 3ton.
But it's big and heavy and gets around 8l/100 k
Need it for towing things, boats, caravans etc, but a a commute car, not all that great.

I also have my run around, a 1999 Toyota echo.
1.5 litre, 4 cylinder, bit of a bomb, but mechanically great, I make sure of that.
Body work is a mess, paint peeling ( as all Toyotas do) and a few pre purchase dents.
But for 2000 bucks, it's a great run around and about 6l/ 100k.
Can tow up to 750kg and does so reasonably regularly.

All three cars have different roles
All three cars are great at those roles.

Think carefully
Do you need the latest model, it will depreciate very quickly.
Or is an older model better suited for your purpose.

station wagons have sort of been yaken over by SUVs

depends how long you want to keep it.

if you want a car for a long time that has boot space and you can chuck a mal on the roof,  a D max , a honda HRV , a mazda cx7 , a pajero sports all good vehicles.

i'd go a hyundai over a kia.

you want something where there a re a lot of units on the road as then parts are cheap and mechanics know how to work on them

so, for that reason, i would not touch a skoda

saw an Hyundai i40 station wagon today ... I didn't realise they made them as station wagons. Looked nice. Might be worth a look for FD.

Johnnie wrote on Jun 22^nd, 2021 at 8:22pm:


Lurveley.

You can sleep in the back of a falcon wagon

Test drove an Outlander today. Great car for only $30k. I'm going to test out a Skoda Octavia and a Haval H2 before deciding.