doctorchris
Established member
The Fusion would meet your needs and, as it's not very popular, you may find a used one at a good discount. I cannot see any reliability problems as it is based on the Fiesta and similar to the Mazda 2, both reliable cars and cheap to fix if they do go wrong.
As regarding tyres, a few years back we rented a house next door to a big butchers in the Peak District. They had a fleet of delivery vans which I think were front wheel drive. Now, they get a lot of snow in that region and I noticed that the vans were fitted with snow tyres which presumably saw them through the worst of the weather. So, fitting M+S tyres to a Fusion would probably see you off most wet campsites with a bit of care.
However, don't underestimate the size of the New Panda with the back seat down. I can fit my bicycle in without removing a wheel and the roof bars give you the option of fitting a roof box. However, the Jack Russells could be a problem, unless you have a cage for them, as they would have the run of the car and the little buggers would be everywhere by the time you reached your destination.
As regarding tyres, a few years back we rented a house next door to a big butchers in the Peak District. They had a fleet of delivery vans which I think were front wheel drive. Now, they get a lot of snow in that region and I noticed that the vans were fitted with snow tyres which presumably saw them through the worst of the weather. So, fitting M+S tyres to a Fusion would probably see you off most wet campsites with a bit of care.
However, don't underestimate the size of the New Panda with the back seat down. I can fit my bicycle in without removing a wheel and the roof bars give you the option of fitting a roof box. However, the Jack Russells could be a problem, unless you have a cage for them, as they would have the run of the car and the little buggers would be everywhere by the time you reached your destination.
