Thanks girls for all the suggestions and comments.

My mum has the "Compact" version of the safe and sound in her Merc and it isn't that much smaller - narrower as opposed to shorter.

We went looking at cars today - ruled out the Mazdas, but found some other options - Ford Mondeo, Holden Epica or Holden Captiva. All of these start at around $27k-$32k. So if we can sell my car for around $20k, that shouldn't be too much of a stretch. Also DH's cousin works in a car dealer and can do us a good deal...

So has anyone got a Mondeo, Epica or Captiva?

Odette, I'll call that place on Monday, thanks fro the suggestion.