Top 100 Cars 2016: Top 5 Mid-size Estates
Mid-size estates for mid-size families
1 BMW 3-series Touring
For many, the BMW 3-series is the ultimate drive: space, luxury, performance — it’s all the car you’ll ever need. The entire 3-series has been updated with more efficient engines and reworked interiors; sat nav is standard across the range too.
The estate version is most practical — and it still looks sleek. Fitted with four-wheel drive (or, in BMW-speak, xDrive), it handles with razor-sharp precision and should keep you motoring whenever winter weather arrives for real.
- Price: £26,405 – £41,665
- Our pick: BMW 320d xDrive Luxury, £33,970
- Engine: 1995cc, 4 cylinders
- Acceleration: 0-62mph: 7.5sec
- Top speed: 145mph
- Fuel | CO2: 59mpg | 126g/km
View the used BMW 3-series for sale on driving.co.uk
2 Mercedes C-class Estate
It’s arguably the most stylish estate on UK roads — plus one of the most comfortable — and has a well-built cabin. The driving experience can be described in one word: smooth, whether you’re talking about the engine — petrol or diesel — ride or gearchanges.
You do pay for some of the swoopy style in boot space, but there’s room for a holiday’s worth of suitcases. The boot is powered on every model in the range.
- Price: £28,865 – £68,010
- Our pick: Mercedes C220d auto SE, £32,875
- Engine: 2143cc, 4 cylinders
- Acceleration: 0-62mph: 7.4sec
- Top speed: 145mph
- Fuel | CO2: 66mpg | 109g/km
View the used Mercedes C-class for sale on driving.co.uk
3 Skoda Octavia Estate
The Octavia is one of the best family cars you can buy at any money. It’s got a spacious cabin and a cavernous boot and it rides beautifully without getting all wallowing in the corners.
Under the bonnet are some of the most efficient engines around, for both petrol and diesel buyers, and the automatic and manual gearboxes are excellent. You’ll notice that this write-up is straightforward, to the point and without frills. Much like the Skoda Octavia, in fact.
- Price: £17,485 – £29,115
- Our pick: Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDi 150 SE, £22,985
- Engine: 1968cc, 4 cylinders
- Acceleration: 0-62mph: 8.5sec
- Top speed: 135mph
- Fuel | CO2: 71mpg | 106g/km
View the used Skoda Octavias for sale on driving.co.uk
4 Ford Focus Estate
Whether it’s fitted with a tiny 1-litre engine or the growling 247bhp 2-litre block in the ST hot hatch, the Focus is great fun to drive – which helps to disguise the fact that the car is now six years old and slowly being overtaken by rivals with superior comfort, better technology and more space.
The last of these attributes is why the Focus is best as an estate — buyers could find the hatchback’s boot a bit small. A midlife facelift has improved the cabin, keeping the Ford in contention.
- Price: £17,095 – 27,395
- Our pick: Titanium 1.0T Ecoboost 125PS, £21,695
- Engine: 999cc, 3-cylinders
- Acceleration: 0-62mph: 11.2sec
- Top speed: 120mph
- Fuel | CO2: 58.9mpg | 110g/km
View the used Ford Focus’ for sale on driving.co.uk
5 Honda Civic Tourer
It may look as if it has been half eroded, but the Civic is a solid buy for drivers who value build quality, comfort and a warehouse-size boot — at 1,668 litres, the Civic’s one is 168 litres bigger than the BMW’s.
The quirky two-level dashboard still seems to put form before function, but in all other respects this is an utterly practical car, which, when fitted with a diesel engine is so frugal that it has a theoretical range of 817 miles from its 50-litre fuel tank, and is exempt from road tax.
- Price: £18,650-£26,370
- Our pick: SE Plus Navi 1.6 i-DTEC, £22,180
- Engine: 1597cc, 4-cylinders
- Acceleration: 0-62mph: 10.3sec
- Top speed: 121mph
- Fuel | CO2: 74mpg | 99g/km
View the used Honda Civics for sale on driving.co.uk
Top 100 Cars 2016 contents
- Top 5 Sports Cars
- Top 5 Large 4x4s & SUVs
- Top 5 Luxury & Prestige Cars
- Top 5 Electric & Hybrid Cars
- Top 5 City Cars
- Top 5 Superminis
- Top 5 Hot Hatches
- Top 5 Two-seat Roadsters
- Top 5 Warm Hatches
- Top 5 Supercars
- Top 5 Family Convertibles
- Top 5 Coupés
- Top 5 Compact Crossovers
- Top 5 Large Crossovers
- Top 5 Five-seat MPVs
- Top 5 Seven-seat MPVs
- Top 5 Mid-size Estate Cars
- Top 5 Large Estate Cars
- Top 5 Mid-size Family Cars
- Top 5 Large Family Cars
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