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Hi,
Sorry if asking too much...
Downsizing from a 3L 6 cylinder '98 Honda Odyssey. Love it (power, comfort, quiet, space for chucking in the bikes, etc) but over the next 5 years might end up costing me too much in terms of servicing, high petrol cost and risk of breakdown - e.g. auto transmission failing again.
Can you suggest a few vehicles?
- Mostly just me and my 3yr old but occasionally one or two other adults.
- 90% around town but a few long road trips each year.
- Hoping for something manoeuvrable, economical around town but also good on the big road trip.
- Comfortable and quiet both around town and long road trip.
- Clean, tidy, modern interior
- Will carry around scooters, little bikes, balls, etc. But, though not as convenient, a smaller car an option as could get a roof box, bike rack, etc. Have seen a few Ford Focuses with roof box on them.
- Would be nice to have a higher ride and ability to go on beach etc but this is secondary to everything else above (90% around town).
- This sounds silly, but also a cheerful feature or two, e.g. a sun roof.
- Can afford between $10-15K. Trade in get about $1.5K

Perhaps the best option is to buy a new used car for $10-15K, keep for 5 years then trade in for $5-7K and repeat process. Would this be the most economical way? Seems to be more economical than buying a $20K car to keep for 10yrs. I've considered keeping our current car but I think in long term will cost a lot more than if buy something now.

This is a really wide ranging question, and it really depends on the sort of car you like personally, however I'll attempt to give you a few suggestions and you can go from there.
Mazda3 (or import model Axela) is a popular hatchback with some cheerful design features. It's a model with a good reputation for reliability, a reasonable amount of room in the back (particularly with the back seat folded down) and a practical everyday car around town. Like most hatchbacks, the only box on your wishlist it doesn't really tick is the higher ride.
The Focus you've suggested would meet a lot of your criteria although I'm not sure about reliability on earlier models.
A model you could consider that does have a slightly higher ride height is the Suzuki SX4. These are like a bit of a "pumped up" Suzuki Swift. As good as the Swift is, I think it might be a bit small, and from what you are saying, you don't need anything like an SUV/Crossover vehicle such as the Suzuki Vitara or Toyota Rav4.
Basically, from a reliability perspective, try to stay with mainstream Japanese models.
There are (of course) lots of other cars you could consider such as the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic etc, but they could be considered a little bland.
Once you have seen some of these models, you should start to get a feel for what you do and don't like, so if I'm these don't appeal, let us know why (too big, too small etc??) and we can go back to the drawing board.
Good luck in your search.