Anyone know anything about cars?

[Mich the Tester]

£50K miles is end of life for most French cars.

Bollocks. I had a Peugeot 407 and it lasted nearly 100,000 km (60K miles).

[Old Hack]

Having lots of torque they tend to give a better drive in the bigger heavier 7 seat people carriers.

They do, absolutely, but to be honest, not many women drivers would benefit from it, and as she's only just passing her test (hopefully), I am not too sure she'd noticed/be bothered.

[formant]

I know absolutely nothing about cars at all - my family never had one, I did not get one until I was 25 etc.

However, my wife will hopefully be passing her test soon and will want a car. It looks like the best bet for us is oen of those big people carrier things, the ones with loads of seat or storage space depending on how you configure it.

Can anyone recommend any ones which are particularly good or ones to avoid? I would probably want to spend less than 5k if I can.

Volvo XC90s are fantastic. Unlikely to get one that isn't ancient for under 8k though. Most 6 year old ones still go for around 11k.

[DS23]

go for a grand c4 picasso. diesel 2 litre. 7 seats, comfortable, nice design touches, reasonable build quality. 45mpg. loads of them about - should be able to get a good-un for 5k.