People carrier

Miss_Cinnabon

Looking to get a new car next year, and hubby likes the look of the mercedez benz v class estate, it has seperate seats, which is ideal for the kids, does anyone have any info on this car ie its safety rating?

what other mpv's would be good?

we have a toyota previa just now and i would be happy with just a newer version as it does us well

elvch01

The V Class is overpriced IMO - my sister had one and only had the one - it felt like driving a Transit van. The maintenance & depreciation costs can be large too.. She had had 2 Toyota Previas in the past and is on her 3rd Chrysler Grand Voyager. I have a Chtysler Grand Voyager 2.8 diesel and am quite happy with it. The diesel engine is repsonsive but is definitely of the older generation (i.e. sounds like a tractor), but I knew that was the case when I bought it. When the seats are all stowed, the loading space is HUGE. I have friends with Ford Galaxys & VW Sharans who are happy with them

Irrespective of whatever size of car you are looking for, I would always advise to go for one that has fold-flat seats so you don't have to remove & store them

AdrianHi

princess_pixiedust wrote: »

we have a toyota previa just now and i would be happy with just a newer version as it does us well

They stopped making the Previa a few years ago, nearest you get is a Corrolla Verso which isn't anywhere near as spacious.
Grand Voyager or possibly VW Caravelle only sliding door options.

Hintza

Mazda 5 might be worth looking at if it's not too small? Quashquai 7?

grace1990

My best advice would be don't get a people carrier!

AdrianHi

Mazda 5 seems tempting but it is in the end only a full time 4 seater vehicle which is a bit odd for an MPV. The centre seat on the main middle seating bench is so narrow it's useless and the seats in the back are really for small children or bigger people and short jouneys.
Shame, it's a nice looking vehicle and the sliding doors are great.

Hintza

grace1990 wrote: »

My best advice would be don't get a people carrier!

I tend to agree, but I can see why folk have them (just). Currently driving a Zafira (on hire), gutless, badly geared, tends to tramline and wander. Awful car.

I have just seen that Ssanyongs are very cheap just now and 7 seats is a I think a £500 option (and OK its not an X5 and you will all slag it off) but at those prices??!!

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/best_deals/item.htm?id=5989

Miss_Cinnabon

thanks for replies, its not gonna be a brand new car, sorry should have been clearer, we have a r reg previa at the mo so anything newer than that will be fine:D

will roughly have between £5000-£7000 for the car

nullogik

A couple of potential candidates that will fit within your budget:
- Citroen C8/Peugeot 807 (tend to suffer from electrical gremlins)
- Renault Grand Scenic (best with a diesel engine)
- Renault Espace (not the best for reliability though)
- Ford Galaxy/VW Sharan (steer clear or any late model low spec VW Sharans in black with auto boxes and diesel engines as these are most likely ex-private hire cars like Addison Lee)
- Kia Sedona
- Mitsubishi Grandis (nice MPV but the petrol engined ones are very thirsty and the diesel engine versions are a little unrefined)
- Volkswagen Touran

Of course you could go down the estate route, such as Volvo V70, Mercedes E Class, Audi A6 with rear facing seats.

babybimbles

nullogik wrote: »

A couple of potential candidates that will fit within your budget:
- Citroen C8/Peugeot 807 (tend to suffer from electrical gremlins)
- Renault Grand Scenic (best with a diesel engine)
- Renault Espace (not the best for reliability though)
- Ford Galaxy/VW Sharan (steer clear or any late model low spec VW Sharans in black with auto boxes and diesel engines as these are most likely ex-private hire cars like Addison Lee)
- Kia Sedona
- Mitsubishi Grandis (nice MPV but the petrol engined ones are very thirsty and the diesel engine versions are a little unrefined)
- Volkswagen Touran

Of course you could go down the estate route, such as Volvo V70, Mercedes E Class, Audi A6 with rear facing seats.

gulp. My father just came back from the auction with a VW S TDI 115 diesal autobox that's an ex-private hire car. 56 plate with 89,000 on the clock. I'm not happy - what could be the potential problems? He paid £5900 for it. We will be the third owners, the first was a hire company, the second a private individual who only had it for 5 mths.

jeannieblue

Hintza wrote: »

Mazda 5 might be worth looking at if it's not too small? Quashquai 7?

Avoid the Mazda 5 - if you do some research, you will find that you need new tyres around every 6k... :eek:

The Corolla Verso is a good vehicle. Late Galaxy's are alright - early ones are not......

And majority of us on here know to avoid anything beginning with the word Mercedes... :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Check out the Voyager in the sense that there is a rumour that Chrysler are pulling out of Europe - could have potential warranty and parts problems in the future. I don't rate them anyway - pricey to maintain. I'd avoid French, tendency to have electrical problems.

VW are good - Galaxy has a VW engine in it. Parts reasonable and generally easy to obtain.

Why Toyota stopped producing the Previa is beyond me - especially the early ones - they were really good vehicles, better than the later ones.

Not sure what Honda have people carrier wise - they tend to produce pretty good vehicles but I have no knowledge there...