#67 Cars with three car seats

Different options.

SUV. Looks better. More expensive.

1. Audi Q7. 2007, 60k miles, £14k
2. Kia Sorento. 2014, 60k miles, £12k
3. XC90. 2013. 60k miles. £18k

MPV. Cheaper. Far more sensible option.

1. Citroen C4 Picasso. 5 seats. 2011, 60k miles, £5k
2. Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. 7 seats. 2009, 60k miles £5k
3. Ford S-Max. 5 seats. Can get 2009, 60k miles, for £7k
4. Ford Galaxy. 7 seats. Can get 2008, 60k miles, for £7.5k

Dream car. 

1. Tesla Model S. 2016. 15k miles. £40k.

If money was really no option I'd buy a Tesla. Love so much about them, but the electric cars are the future and driving around knowing it's barely costing a thing would be awesome. But money is a significant consideration so that is out.

If looks were more important than money I'd choose an SUV. But right now they are simply not and I would prefer to have additional funds in the bank.

So from the models I've been able to find out that comfortably offer 3 child seat spaces in the middle/2nd row it's down to Citroen or Ford.

We've currently got a Ford Focus, have had it for about 5 years and 60k miles upto the current 100k miles and it's been brilliant so would happily keep with Ford. Citroen's do come highly recommended by online reviews and appear - after a 10 minute check - to be slightly cheaper too :)

So how much do I think we can afford?

Or should that be - "how much will it cost and how will we pay for it?"...

From my research this afternoon I'm hoping to be able to buy a car for £5-7k at some point in Q1 2018 prior to the birth.

Options to pay for this are in order of preference

1. Get paid a bonus by work and use that to buy the car with cash.
2. No bonus from work, have saved up a medium amount and take out a car loan.
3. No bonus from work, haven't saved up a penny and need to take out a significant loan.

Priority is to first have enough money to pay off my HMRC loan - which we pretty much do now - will confirm on the 1st November with finance review. But then having some money put aside for emergency savings and starting to build a car fund seem to be of similar importance!

Let's hope for a bonus which can be put into the car and prevent me having to take on any additional debt!!!