If you value reliability above all then I couldn't recommend the Citroen Xantia highly enough. I don't mean it's useless in every other way, it's got lots of good things about it, but I mean it's not really a flashy car, or insanely fast or anything. It is powerful though, got plenty of oomph! We used to carry a small caravan too and it managed that ok, although we did feel it with the increased petrol use, which was one of the reasons we got rid of the caravan in the end. Plus caravans take a lot of work so we decided to just stick to tents in the end.
When we got the Citroen Xantia I was really amazed by the suspension, I loved it, so lovely and soft, I hardly felt a thing, felt like the opposite of the princess and the pea. I've sort of got used to that over the years but I still appreciate it when I get into less comfy cars and then back into ours. We've had some repairs needed on the suspension, but the garage said that was pretty normal with Xantias of this age, and anyway it wasn't too expensive so all's well that ends well.
It's nice and easy to drive, and me and hubby are quite different heights so it's nice to be able to adjust the height of the steering wheel. He always said it's quite powerful for a car that size, I'm not too fussed as long as it gets us from place to place. Anyway all I can say is that the Citroen Xantia doesn't feel too heavy or cumbersome when you're trying to move it into and out of spaces, getting through traffic, or parking, that sort of thing. I suppose the only problem is that it's quite long so the bonnet can be a tricky one to see.
I think probably the thing that'll make us get rid of it in the end will be the petrol costs. We might actually just change to a diesel one as those are supposed to be a lot better cost wise, although I think I might be swayed by some modern fancy things like satnav and other bells and whistles in a more modern car. I'd definitely stick with Citroen though.