What Car? Q&A - What family car would you recommend for

Q: I have a budget of up to £20,000 and need a family-sized car with five seats and a large boot for golf clubs.

It must be easy to drive for both my wife and myself and equipment and safety levels should be good. I am also going for a diesel engine.

I have been looking at the new VW Passat, Audi A4, Honda Accord and Saab 9.3. Also looking at 4x4, Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V or the Toyota RAV 4.

What would you recommend?
Steve Langton

A: Of the Audi A4, Honda Accord and Saab 9-3 we'd recommend the Accord. While it's expensive compared with its rivals from Ford and the like, it's still £2000 inside your budget according to What Car? Target Price and is an excellent product. The 2.2-litre diesel is one of the best you can get, with lots of flexible power and refinement.

The A4 is a great car too, but our favourite diesel, the 2.0 SE, is £1100 outside your budget, according to What Car? Target Price. The interior quality is superb so you might want to stretch your budget.

All of the small off-roaders you list are good, although the RAV4 will be replaced by a new model next year. Any version you buy now would suffer a hit in residual values as a result.

Of the Honda and the Nissan we'd point you towards the X-Trail. Honda's 2.2-litre diesel doesn't work so well in the CR-V.