On my way to a LAN party this afternoon my car broke down, recovery managed to get it started but on loading it onto the trailer bit the turbo blew (and probably some engine damage), the amount of work needed (from the list of failures according to the diagnostics) make it uneconomical to repair/transplant an engine so I'm looking at a new car.

What I need:
Leg room
good economy and fairly low insurance (group 10 or less ideally) I do up to 250 miles a week mostly dual carriageway so the economy will make a difference
reliable

What I would like:
Cd player
Air con
cruise control
6 speed gearbox
reasonable grunt in the engine

Got around £2k currently if I shift some money around, can probably borrow some more for it if it's a good deal, either bank or family

Anyone got any suggestions? Looking currently at:
Ford Focus'
Ford Mondeo
Vauxhall Astra
Vauxhall Vectra
Seat Leon/Ibiza

Not bothered if it's diesel/petrol as long as it meets what I need

Ford Focus is a lovely car to drive, cheap to run, and so generic that parts will be easy to get and not expensive. Downside is that earlier models have crap rear view, and the turning circle is just about wide enough to circumnavigate Greater London....well ok, not that bad but it's not tight

I have a Focus at the moment, it's a company car though and I've been made redundant, so it goes back next month.

Great car all round, but I was looking to buy a car and the Focus is well overpriced. The Mondeo is a better option, but it might tick over into Ins Group 11 or 12.

Plus, my Focus is the 2 litre Titanium, and it doesn't come with cruise control (option only). Whereas, it's included on much lower spec Mondeos.

The Astra is quite nice, and has a decent amount of rear leg room, but at the expense of boot space. I test drove a couple of Vectras the other day, 1.9 CDTi SRI was a nice enough drive, with plenty of poke in the 150BHP model, but Mondeos feel better to drive IMHO.

I've just bought a VW Passat. It's not as urgent as Vectras and Mondeos, but it is very well screwed together and much quieter inside the cabin. I pick it up on Tuesday.

Focus is overpriced for what it is. It's a nice car don't get me wrong, but the Mondeo is just as nice to drive (so long as you're not intending on actually racing the thing) and is much more economical.

The new model is gorgeous (Mk4/2007) and i've heard good things about the fuel efficiency of the 2.0 diesel engine but can't give you any figures.

Obviously being a Ford it's reliable enough and when it does go wrong it can be fixed cheaply.

The Vauxhalls will go wrong lots. That's about my experience of them as parental cars (Although I did drive the 2000 Astra/ 1999 Vectra and they were awesome, but i'm assuming you're looking for something a little newer than that...)

Can't help with Seats.

Considered a Passat?

Diesel Toyota Avensis.

Lots of driver legroom, being a diesel it'll have good economy. Now there's a new model the old ones will be cheaper, but they're still very nice inside. Being a Toyota it'll never break down.
The only thing I don't know about is Cruise control. I guess it may be on the higher trim models, but for £2k I doubt you can get that.

EDIT

Done a quick search. I could only find the old old model for that price which isn't as nice.
How about a Corolla? I'm 5'11" and could still put the seat back one more notch if I needed to. The old models are bland but the 2001 onwards (inc 2004 update) are nice, especially inside. The only downer is that I can only find petrol ones in your price range.

Have a look at the Skoda Octavia VRS mark 1 (1.8T petrol) I had one and it was a fantastic car. It had everything on your list and more. Also a bit of power when you need it and economy if driven normally.
I have the new one now (2.0T) but actually prefer the look and handling of my old one...

The Leon would be my choice - possibly the best looking out of all of them and built with on a Golf chassis with VW engines.

Vauxhall have been steadily going under for decades and I wouldn't go anywhere near them with my own money. The Mondeo is a nice car and I would get one if I couldn't afford a Bora/Jetta or Passat.

Just, anything but French....

Yeah people have suggested the leon/ibiza for the VAG engines IIRC (and the 1.9tdi is no slouch) and they look nicer than the similar aged Golfs (and cheaper)

I can't really afford a bora/jetta/passat unfortunately I am slightly drawn to a vauxhall as the parts are quite easily available.

Yep, I know from experience yesterday the engine can surrender on me

UNDER group 10 insurance and good economy, I'm used to averaging 40+mpg combined or 50+ pure motorway,
that is group 16D and gives combined of 35mpg, so realistically around 30.....

And it's WELL over budget with the cheapest being £2.5k

Had a look at a few cars, thoughts/suggestions?

Well I've had a look at a few to see what I can get for my money

Mondeos:
Option 1 2004 model with the facelift (so has stuff like cruise control)
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/974874.htm an 03 one with a bit less and a bit of a lower price

Honda Civic:
Civic number 1 It's a bit higher on insurance (had to go 1.5i as any larger and the road tax is a fair bit extra)

Toyota Corrola:
Corrola number 1 1.4 but seems ok

Vauxhall Astra:
Astra 1
Astra 2
Not sure on those, had a look at Vectras but can't find anything without stupid miles on it

Mitsubishi Carisma:
Carisma
Looks decent, what about reliability etc?

Fiesta:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1343968.htm 1.8td, no idea how reliable they are...

MG ZR:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1343923.htm bit of a sportier option

I fancy the look of the Ford Mondeos to be honest, size isn't too bad, the other ones I have looked at online (passats etc) seem to be a lot more expensive, in terms of sale value, tax and insurance

Any ideas on reliability, which is more entertaining to drive?

Mondeo - I really like them, great to drive and pretty reliable, but an 03 plate 2 Litre Zetec with a Radio Cassette stereo?

Toyotas are very reliable, but isn't 2 grand a bit high for a 51 plate?

Astra - I used to have a 1.7 DTi (not the TD, there is a difference, even though it's still a turbo diesel). It had absolutely fantastic fuel economy. It didn't have a trip computer to tell you lies, it was just a case of fill her up, run her, fill her again and count the miles. It returned 60-65mpg on round trips to Scotland, and used to do 50+ just pottering around. I'm not a slow driver either.

Just don't expect armfuls of power when you put your foot down.

Check the steering rack isn't weeping, it ain't cheap to replace. Also, the air mass meter can get lazy and starve the engine of power - but simply disconnecting the power to it makes a huge difference to performance, at the cost of about 5mpg.

MG ZR is just a rover 25 and has probably been thrashed, personally, I wouldn't touch it.

Fiestas are pretty good little cars, that 1.8 diesel is a big heavy lump though (I had the same in an Escort van), it delivers a decent amount of power but it sounds like it runs on coal.

Never been in a Carisma

Don't believe all you read about the Civic - the 1.5 can give good economy, but you have to drive like a granny to get it. I haven't driven one myself, but a mate had one and complained incessantly about it. Plus, he had a pretty big accident in it ( a Merc Sprinter pulled out in front of him) and none of the airbags deployed.

Despite the lack of CD player, I go for the Mondeo out of that lot.

Spreadie, there are 2 mondeos, an 03 with 100k and cassette (fine with me as I'll be putting my Harmon Kardon iPod kit into it and use the cassette as line in) and an 04 with CD Player I think (facelift one)

the 04 one has things like cruise control, cd player etc which I don't think the 03 one has, and the price reflects it (as well as being nearly 35k fewer miles on the clock and a year newer.... but a saloon)

The mondeo really is the one I am looking at, got to see how much I can borrow from family etc and call the insurance company on monday about if it's possible to transfer my policy to a new car instead of cancelling then taking up a new one and losing the ncb so far accrued

The civic is probably your best bet. They're cheap, reliable and will last forever. And the engine will keep working, even though they can do about 9k RPM.

Ah, I didn't spot option 1.

The LX is still a decent spec, and they have the quick clear windscreen (unless it was smashed and replaced with a cheap one), they are great in winter. No more scraping and spraying. Plus, 115BHP is a reasonable amount of power.

That is almost certainly the best of the bunch.

That was what I thought, that and a remap would be possible on the engine

It's the one I'm leaning to, with the 03 mondeo 2nd

Bally, the Civic will go a long time, but the insurance is a lot higher on them than the mondeo, and with the extra tech I think the mondeo wins out