options for a growing family

Chippy_Minton_2

Andyf33 wrote: »

Soon to have 4th child and need to trade in my 3 year old estate car for a more practical people carrier with 7 seats.
- any views?
Any alternatives

Contraception?

zobo_3

We used to have Zafiras.....had 2 old style then got one of the new style but just didn't like it as much. Have sice replaced it with a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso which we absolutely love. There are 3 good sized seats in the middle row and you can but the rear seats up and down without having to shift all the other seats forward like you do in the Zafira...a real pain if you have car seats fastened in in any other way than by isofix!

mrcow

babybimbles wrote: »

Bumping again

We're in desperate need of a new car. I don't want to spend more than 8K, hubby thinks we should stretch it to £14K but that's a lot of money to put into a car and I really don't want to if there's no need. The only thing I want is an automatic and something that isn't to big. I will be taking the kids out during the week so we won't need all seven seats up except when going out as a family so looking for a good compromise between a proper seven seater and a smaller mpv.

We are looking at the Touran as it's not too big but not sure how it will accommodate two boosters, one 2nd stage and one baby car seat.

Would the Chrysler be a good choice? They sound like buses!!

tia

When you say "not too big" what do you mean?

We bought an automatic triptronic Seat Alhambra (same as Galaxy/Sharan) for £11k a couple of years back with 20k on the clock. I have to say that it is perfect for what we needed. The 7 seats are removeable so you can have five seats and a massive boot or six seats and half a massive boot. Or less seats and a massive massive boot if needed. The parking sensors mean that the size never dwarfs you and you get so used to manouvring it that it doesn't matter anyway.

Two years on and it's still suiting our purpose well. We go on family vacations very comfortably in it.

I never liked the S-Max as the car seats would have been dangerously squashed in together for my children. At least with the roomier car that's not the case.

babybimbles

AdrianHi wrote: »

I would consider total cost of ownership over the period you will use it and not focus on purchase price alone. The Chrysler is big, expensive, very practical but I'd be too nervous about it's reliability record especially if you need to be careful about expenditure. Friend of ours have had 2, some expensive warranty work done on aircon and power steering. Now out of warranty door electric motor on one side failed recently, local dealer gone bust, next nearest so far away they haven't had a chance to fix it yet. Local garages won't give fixed price quote as they would have to strip down and investigate how it all works.

I really liked the ride I had in an S-Max last year, my only reservation is no spare wheel which is same situation with the Touran. My favourite of the MPV bunch is Toyota Verso but it's automatic gearbox is hopeless.
I'll suggest test driving a Touran with the DSG auto box (it's an utterly brilliant auto geabox) if available and try a S-Max.

Yes I've been looking at the Chrysler and the Kia Sedona and believe they are quite heavy too. The wheel thing is an issue and I've learnt about the DSG auto box from these forums. I am concerned (as someone has pointed out below) that three car seats together will be a squash and that it might be better to go for a Galaxy over the S Max just to get more room. I think we need to have a look at them in the flesh.

babybimbles

mrcow wrote: »

When you say "not too big" what do you mean?

We bought an automatic triptronic Seat Alhambra (same as Galaxy/Sharan) for £11k a couple of years back with 20k on the clock. I have to say that it is perfect for what we needed. The 7 seats are removeable so you can have five seats and a massive boot or six seats and half a massive boot. Or less seats and a massive massive boot if needed. The parking sensors mean that the size never dwarfs you and you get so used to manouvring it that it doesn't matter anyway.

Two years on and it's still suiting our purpose well. We go on family vacations very comfortably in it.

I never liked the S-Max as the car seats would have been dangerously squashed in together for my children. At least with the roomier car that's not the case.

Yes you have a point about squashing car seats. We have an Nissan Almera Tino which although has three proper back seats and accommodates two high back boosters and a 2nd stage, it is tough for 8 and 6 year olds to belt themselves. The Alhambra is the same size as the Sharan/Galaxy. They just look so big compared to the Touran or Smax but I could live with it. The Touran definetly suits our budget right now though unless we opt for an older car.

babybimbles

zobo wrote: »

We used to have Zafiras.....had 2 old style then got one of the new style but just didn't like it as much. Have sice replaced it with a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso which we absolutely love. There are 3 good sized seats in the middle row and you can but the rear seats up and down without having to shift all the other seats forward like you do in the Zafira...a real pain if you have car seats fastened in in any other way than by isofix!

This was a favourite at one point, I can't remember now why I crossed it off my list. How do you move the middle seats to get to the rear if you have car seats on the seats?

babybimbles

Just to add that i'm concerned about how safe the rear seats are if they are flip style - how safe are they with booster seats ? And we do need some boot space for pushchair etc.

vikingaero

babybimbles wrote: »

This was a favourite at one point, I can't remember now why I crossed it off my list. How do you move the middle seats to get to the rear if you have car seats on the seats?

With difficulty.

The rear bench slides so it is possible to slide the bench with an installed baby seat forwards with the baby seat in-situ. When you do it the belt stretches (but gets in the way when loading up). If you have a baby in the seat when sliding the bench it's still possible but limited when babys feet hit the front seats when sliding.

You can install the baby seat on the near side and use the 1/3 split folding seat for access. I find it easier to pass an infant over the rear seats through the boot.

sarahg1969

We looked at the Zafira when we were buying recently. I was surprised that they have put in a bench seat in the middle. Who on earth designed it like that? Did they not think that the majority of their target market would need to use car seats?

We've had a Galaxy, an Espace, a Volvo V70 (with seats in the boot) and now a C8.

I'd have liked another Galaxy, but I'm not keen on these very flimsy rear seats that a lot of the manufacturers are now going for. I know that the Sharans still has proper seats in the back row (but I didn't want that because it was an "old" shape!!).

Espace - never again. Ours had done 23k miles when the turbo went. It was "repaired" under warranty, only for it to have been done wrongly and fail - in France! Anyhow, when it went into the Renault garage in France, they fixed everything that was wrong with it. Even serviced the air con!

V70 - OK, but as outr family has grown, the part-time rear seats were no good.

The C8 is the latest one, which has been OK so far (touch wood). Very roomy indeed inside, with proper rear seats and still room for a big shop in the boot. I know they have a bad reputation for flimsy plastics and crappy electrics, but they are a v cheap secondhand buy.

sidawson

any of you thought about the mercedes vito, we hire one when we go away as can't all fit in the likes of espace, galaxy, sharon, zafira.....well not if we want to take luggage or anything with us, the newer models have a good size boot on them and are 8 seaters so can still be driven on a normal licence for all those who passed after 1997.