7 seaters

mollysmum

Garage i bought it from finally got back to us and has said they will put new head gasket in and fix any other problems so car will be like new when driven but we will have to pay £160 for the head gasket and they wont charge labour???? but it will take 4 days to do????? meantime i cannot get to work without a vehicle and he cant lend me one till this one sorted???? any suggestions??

Arfa__

Been running a Zafira A from 2005 for year and half now. I like it. As a 7 seater it is a bit cramped. But there's only 4 of us, so does fine. Its just handy having them extra seats for odd occasions for ferrying extra kids and people around. I wouldn't recommend squeezing 7 in every day or for long journeys. Also bear in mind the Zafira is a bit narrower than the Galaxy, so you'll only get two kids seats on the back seat leaving the middle seat a bit of a squash.

1.6 a bit gutless? Well mines a 1.6 LPG, I have no problems with it. Sure you'll notice it being slow off the mark when fully loaded, but when you've got the whole family in the car, who cares if that Beamer to your right leaves the lights a couple of seconds quicker than you? Its fine round town, and happily holds 70 odd on the m-way, easily managing 29mpg (on LPG), even hitting 31-32 with some careful driving (pulse/glide etc).
If you want some nippy, check out the Zafira GSI 2.0, that'll sort you out - nigh on 200bhp, give it a remap and couple of mods and definitely give all the boy racers a run for their money, if you're that way inclined. ;-) Bit pricey mind, still go for round the £6-8K mark.

As to reliability, only broke down once - coil pack died - £120 to fix (inc labour etc). Recently had some hassle with AC leaking, but that could easily happen to any car.

sysiphus

I've had two Zafiras, first a 1.6, then a 1.8.

Neither could be considered sporty and the reduction in fuel economy moving from the 1.6 to the 1.8 was not worth it for the small increase in performance.

There are plenty of them about at reasonable prices, they are cheap(ish) to run and relatively cheap to insure.

Rolandtheroadie

Arfa__ wrote: »

Sure you'll notice it being slow off the mark when fully loaded,

who cares if that Beamer to your right leaves the lights a couple of seconds quicker than you?

Its fine round town,

So it's a bit gutless then.

As you say, it's fine round town (that was the salesmans line when he tried to sell me a 1.6. "It'll do the wife pottering about with the kids in it".)

funkycoldribena

Ive had a MK2 Galaxy for a year now with no problems.Back 2 seats are proper thickness and theres just enough room in the boot for a pushchair and some shopping.Had a Toyota Estima before and the boot was huge but they are known for head problems (I didnt get this in 2 yrs) and I dont know what they're like in a crash,dont forget older zafiras and estimas have one seat with a lapbelt.

Jo_R_2

We were recently looking for a 7/8 seater and quickly decided to steer clear of Galaxy/Zafira because of the lack of boot space - thee will be shortly 6 of us and needed space for a double buggy at the very least.

We looked at a lot of options and being on a fairly limited budget, we took a shine to secondhand Ford Tourneos - basically a more domestic minibus:D They're hugely in demand however and we made a strategic decision to go 'down' a grade so to speak and look at Ford Transits. We are now the proud owners of a Ford Transit 100, 9 seater which is brilliant:D It's a 2.5 diesel and the space is great, plus it was a bargainous price.

jeferey

I had a Zafira diesel for 4 years with no problems - I read somewhere it looked like they would turn out to be the most reliable Vauxhall. I sold it to my neighbour when it was 6 years old who ran it for a further 4 years with no major problems.
I now have a 6 seater Honda FR-V diesel (fantastic car IMHO) which I bought partly because of the lack of boot space in the Zafira and also the safety issue mentioned by other people on this thread regarding kids in the back and having a rear end shunt. I only ever had 6 people in the Zaf anyway so getting a 7 seater wasn't an issue.
Do you need 7 seats or would 6 do?

harz99

mollysmum wrote: »

Garage i bought it from finally got back to us and has said they will put new head gasket in and fix any other problems so car will be like new when driven but we will have to pay £160 for the head gasket and they wont charge labour???? but it will take 4 days to do????? meantime i cannot get to work without a vehicle and he cant lend me one till this one sorted???? any suggestions??

Short Wheelbase Transit minibus and p/ex your rover for it asap!?

misterspivvy

I don't know anything about Zafiras, but yes you should deinitely steer clear of Galaxys, they are awful. Plagued with electrical problems and 4 cylinder petrols commit head gasket suicide- probably cracking the head in the process and a swine to work on too. Its one of those cars that was a pup from the word go. it's why they are very cheap now.

gabyjane

Sandoval wrote: »

The curse of the Rover head gasket...

To be honest if you'd done any research into the car on the internet before buying it you probably would have made a different choice.

Hmm well we have an MG ZR and knew the head gaskets were prone and still bought ours as quite new when we got it..we have had it almost 3 years and it has been a fab car with no probs but the HG went a few weeks back and cost in the £500 mark to get repaired..a few hitches but i would buy another tomorrow as love the car.

OP we are hopefully paying for a Zafira this afternoon after i hopefully haggle! I have 6 minded children and need them all in the car at once tbh so this is a good option for me as a smaller 7 seater out of the choices. IF we wanted to spend more or had more to blow i would go for a renault grande scenic but they are a bit iffy on the electrics so be warned!

As for the others either too big for me or too much in tax etc.
Good luck x