Family car buying made easy with Motorpoint Swansea – The Motorpoint Experience

Advertising feature/Paid collaboration with Motorpoint

Choosing a family car is a huge decision. After buying a home it’s probably the biggest purchase most people will make. Yet with so many makes and models on the market, each with their own unique features, it can be difficult to know where to start.

Motorpoint invited us to their Swansea store to experience, in their words, “car buying made easy’ and to test drive a family car.

Specialising in nearly new cars, Motorpoint are a national company with 17 stores across the UK plus an online store. They have thousands of cars on sale from more than 30 different manufacturers and promise their prices can’t be beaten.

Here’s how we got on putting the Motorpoint experience to the test.

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What we are looking for in a family car

Cars are definitely not my specialist subject and I didn’t have a make or model in mind before our test drive experience. Thankfully though we were able to talk to Mike from Motorpoint, about what we were looking for so that they could suggest some cars that would suit our needs. They have thousands of cars available from more than 30 manufacturers, so there were various options available for us.

As a family of five, we need a car with enough space for us all to feel comfortable and not cramped. We love heading out on adventures so we need something with plenty of boot room for picnics, welly boots, wet weather gear, beach stuff etc, and robust enough to withstand the inevitable mud, sand and dirt that ends up on shoes and clothes after days out. We often have our children’s friends in the car for after school playdates or to transport to their various activities and clubs, so a seven seater car is a must for us, ideally with adequate boot room when the back seats are in use too.

When our children were younger, we needed a car that could fit three car seats in a row, but now with just our eight year old in a booster seat, and the other two aged 12 and 10 and almost as tall as me, we need space for growing children fast approaching the teenage years.

Something I love about our current car (a Volkswagen Touran) is that the driver’s seat is higher up than other cars. As someone who’s only 5ft tall, this really helps give me more confidence when driving because it means I can actually see what’s going on.

I also want a car that looks contemporary and stylish, perhaps a little bit edgy but not too sporty-looking; something that looks like it’s being driven by a 43 year old and not a 23 year old.

We also want a car that’s efficient, reliable and – perhaps most importantly – safe.

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Is a Peugeot 5008 the car for us?

It took us around 45 minutes to drive from our house in North Cardiff to Motorpoint at Swansea Enterprise Park, where we were greeted by Sales Manager Mike who has worked for the company for more than a decade. He suggested a Peugeot 5008 for us – although he said if it wasn’t to our taste we were welcome to have a look around the spacious store to see if anything else took our fancy.

The first thing that struck me about the 5008 was the gorgeous deep blue colour – it’s called Celebes Blue – and the striking shape; it definitely met my brief of being contemporary and robust without being too heavy-looking.

My next thought was how clean the car was – needless to say our family car is not that shiny on the outside or tidy on the inside.

Reassuringly, all Motorpoint cars are under warranty (this one in particular still under manufacturer’s warranty) and are checked by Motorpoint experts to ensure they are safe.

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Our family cars get well-used and we keep them for several years, rather than replacing more frequently, so buying with a low mileage is an important factor for us. It’s good to hear then that the majority of cars at Motorpoint are two to three years old and have low mileage. Our Peugeot was a 2021 plate with just 13,000 miles on the clock, and priced at £31,999.

The store itself is big and spacious. There were other customers choosing cars at the same time as us but as it’s so big I never felt like we were getting in anyone’s way and as they have hundreds of cars on display there was no danger we’d be fighting over the same car.

My children loved the store – my daughter is already planning on what to get for her first car and my boys were quite taken with some of the sports cars.

There are toilet facilities and even a small café on site, plus seating areas if you need time to think through your options.

Motorpoint has 17 stores across the UK plus even more cars available online and if you see something you like elsewhere they can arrange to get it to your nearest store.

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Exploring Swansea in the Peugeot 5008

Test drives are available seven days a week on all vehicles on display and are, as you would expect, completely free. You’ll need a photo card driving licence with a supporting second proof of identity (either debit card/credit card or passport). They are unaccompanied and you get to go out on your own.

Most test drives last for around 15 to 20 minutes but for the purpose of this article we had the car for a whole afternoon, giving us plenty of time to explore Swansea.

If you’ve read Cardiff Mummy Says for a while you’ll know Swansea is a special place for me because it’s where I went to university and where I met the man who is now my husband.

We always love an excuse to visit with our children and so, with the sun shining, this was the perfect opportunity for us to head to Oxwich Bay in the Gower for a picnic, accompanied by a bag of lovely food kindly given to us by Motorpoint along with a fab Motorpoint picnic blanket – always a handy thing to have in the boot of your car.

There are lots of in-depth technical reviews of the Peugeot 5008 out there, written by people far more capable and knowledgeable than me, so I’ll leave that to the experts. What I want to tell you is how we got on when we took the car on a family adventure.

I’m not the most confident of drivers so my husband drove to begin with, finding it easy enough to figure out the controls. I took over later on the quieter roads and found the car comfortable and smooth to operate. The steering wheel was a lot smaller and more manageable than you would expect in a car of this size, which might not be an issue for some people but for short people like me with small hands, things like this make a massive difference.

It always amazes me how much technology in cars is constantly changing – it was great to see an inbuilt navigation service although it took me a moment to realise that the 5008 uses a key-less fob to start! We also loved how quiet the car was, especially on the big roads. It has automatic lights and wipers, parking sensors and a rearview camera which comes on automatically if you’re reverse parking, which I loved.

My children loved that their seats could individually adjust and recline, while I liked that the two front seats have separate climate control functions, meaning no more disagreements on one of us being too hot while the other is too cold. The boot is also huge – we could definitely fit all our gear in it for a week away, and even with the foldable back seats up there was a sizable boot space.

I’ve never driven a Peugeot before and it’s not a make I’d really considered previously. I enjoyed travelling in and driving in it though and having read a few full reviews it scores well so it’s definitely on my radar for the future.

Our experience at Motorpoint means I’d also definitely recommend them for hassle-free car buying.

The Motorpoint Price Promise and hassle-free buying

Forget the stereotype of dodgy car sales people haggling prices and fearing you’re being ripped off. At Motorpoint, the price you see is the price you’ll pay. You won’t have to barter to see how low the sales person will go, or be steered towards a particular car because they’re getting a good commission.

As the company explains, their network of buyers, combined with their ability to buy in bulk, means that Motorpoint can purchase cars extremely competitively. They then pass these savings on directly to customers so the price you see is the best possible price they can offer.

Motorpoint also offer a Price Promise which means they will refund the difference if you find your car cheaper elsewhere. All their cars are nearly new, with low mileage and under warranty, plus there’s a 14 day money-back guarantee if you do change your mind.

For someone who is not confident with car buying this is a huge plus point for me. I like to know I’m not being taken advantage of and I don’t have the knowledge or the confidence to haggle.

Simply, the price is what it is and it’s unbeatable.

There are various flexible finance options, with advice on personalised finance plans tailored to you available in store. They offer a part-exchange service on your old car and you can even drive your new car away on the same day. That said, there’s no pressure to rush a decision; test drives are no obligation and you don’t have to decide on the spot.

I found the Frequently Asked Questions page of their website really informative and useful on all of the above.

We found the whole experience really positive. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable, the choice of cars was extensive and all were nearly new with very low mileage. The staff listened to our needs and recommended cars based on what would suit us. It’s definitely made us think about our next car purchase and we may even look to buy one sooner than we had planned.

We test drove this car from Motorpoint in Swansea. If you’re looking for a car, head to their website or visit the store for a no-obligation browse.

Motorpoint, Swansea Enterprise Park, Samlet Road, Llamsamlet, Swansea, SA7 9AG.

Visit the Motorpoint Swansea website here.

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