I drive a Ford Territory

Pros - It's got grunt
- Easy to drive with good turning circle, usually one swing into a car spot
- Massive! So much room and can fit the pram and the highchair into the boot and still have room and can have the bulky car seat and still fit in two adults in the back beside it.
- Visibility is awesome. Lots of windows, high up so you can see
-Aircon vents in the back for the kids.
- Price - I got a five year old car for 17,000. Brand new they start at 40,000


Cons - Lots of windows meant that the car got really hot inside and quickly, but we got the windows tinted and its now great
- Likes highway driving - easier on the fuel. Running down to the shops seems to eat the fuel
- The only faults Ford has found with them is the ball joints need replacing (expensive!) and the windows have a habit of going down and not coming back up. Both of these things were fixed on mine at the time of purchase.

We used to have a Rav 4 which I absolutely loved, but the boot was poky, the front seat just about had to kiss the dashboard to fit the baby seat in and the biggest prob - the transmission was dying in a six year old car. Apparantly it will happen in every Rav 4 (auto) in the 2000-2004 models and it costs over 5K to fix.

If you want to look thoroughly at a car, I used a site called Complaints Corner. I googled it and thousands of owners are listed, talking about the good and the bad of their car. It's where we found out about the Rav (unfortunately after we got it), and the Territory. The other thing we did was before we purchased the Territory, we took it to a Ford dealership and got their mechanics to look it over. It was more thorough than a RACV check and cheaper too.

Good luck - I HATE car shopping!!!

Corelly x