Frugal 7 seater help

psarinuk

Hello all

I am planning to buy a used 7 seater diesel car. The car should have low CO2 output and frgual as I've to do quite a few miles every year. I've shortlisted the following but would be great if I could have some opinions and answers before I go to get one:

1. Peugeot 307 estate 1.6L HDi. There are 2 seats in the boot for kids, are they detachable (don't think they can fold flat)? Can you get any estate and buy these seats seperately?
2. Renault Gand Scenic 1.5 DCi. This one seems to have proper 7 seater but is it true that only the last 2 seats fold down? Also I am not sure of Renault build quality and reliability?
3. Audi A6 Estate 1.9 Tdi (the shape before the latest 2006 one). This one is the priciest and hardest to get as a 7 seater but I already have an Audi Saloon and love the build quality. Do you know if the kids' seats in the boot are detachable (don't think they can fold flat), so you can take them out if you don't need them? I know you cannot install the 2 seats in the boot if you get any A6 estate as it needs lots of mods..

Apart from my thoughts above, if you have any other inputs towards these cars or have an alternate car to suggest that fits the criteria above, please let me know.

Thanks for all the replies in advance..

davidjwest

My partner has the Renault Grand Scenic, albeit the 1.6 petrol engine and I would say the following:
The rear two seats are only designed for children and while you could technically fit an adult in there I believe you can't do it for insurance purposes. I have sat in the rear myself and wouldn't recommend it, I'm just over 6 feet tall and wouldn't put a child over the age of about 8 in the back for any length of time.

Not sure if the other seats fold down or not, never had to try that as the car is spacious inside. We recently went on holiday and got 2 adults, 5 children (aged 5 -9 years) in the car with 2 full sized suitcases, 3 large hand luggage cases and 3 other medium sized holdalls. We had a Ford Galaxy hire care in Spain and struggled to get it all into that which was a surpise as the Galaxy would appear to be a much larger car - although you do get 2 full size rear seats in that.

The Renault is quote nice to drive and *mechanically* reliable. However, we've had various electrical problems as follows:
1. Automatic hand brake failed, cost £550 to replace as you have to replace the entire unit and can't even replace a cable on its own. If you can get one with a normal hand-brake then I would definitely go for that.

2. The dashboard is electronic and that failed recently. Renault agreed to replace it free as this should have been done under a recall anyway but it was still a pain as it took 2 weeks to get the parts and when they'd done the work the mileage went back to zero! So watch out for this if you buy one with suspciously low mileage and check it's been replaced.

3. The electronic key broke and cost £200 to replace again taking 2 weeks as they had to get a new one from France.
4. The alarm has a tendancy to go off for no reason despite having been looked at by several different garages including Renault dealers.
My partner bought the car two years ago, it's an 05 plate with around 50k on the clock so not had a hard life really. It's cost getting on for £2,000 in repairs and MOTs etc since getting it, but other than the electrical problems the car has been sound. Build quality is reasonable, reliability other than electronics has been good.

If you do get one, the diesel is the one to go for but get one with as few electrical bits on it as possible!

Peugeot 407 SW or Mazda 5 would be worth looking at I reckon.

psarinuk

Thanks davidjwest for sharing your experience, I am looking for the 2 extra seats for kids aged 1 and 4, so that should be fine. Sorry to know about your expenses on the grand scenic, I am more inclined towards the 307 SW diesel now (easily available) or Audi A6 estate 7 seater (rare to find).
Does anyone know if you can get any 307 estate and fit the seats in without much effort?

UnderPressure

Out of the cars you mention the one that I personally would consider is the Audi but for me that would be my second choice, my first choice would be a Volvo V70, the extra seats in the boot are only for children but they fold flat into the boot floor when not in use, the diesel version is awesome and build quality well for me far superior to even Audi.

There are a few examples on EBay here is one though this is 7.5k they can be had cheaper:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VOLVO-V70-AWD-SE-D5-TD-ESTATE-GEARTRONIC-7-SEATS-2004-/250720639290?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3a601d593a

That one is the all wheel drive model and awesome car in every way

HTH good luck...................

psarinuk

Hi UnderPressure

Thanks for your tip regarding Volvo V70. Very tempting but not as frugal as A6 or 307. Its vehicle tax CO2 band I (£200) and the combined MPG is 43 which is quite less than 55-60 for the 307/ A6..

UnderPressure

psarinuk wrote: »

Hi UnderPressure

Thanks for your tip regarding Volvo V70. Very tempting but not as frugal as A6 or 307. Its vehicle tax CO2 band I (£200) and the combined MPG is 43 which is quite less than 55-60 for the 307/ A6..

No problem, I did not even consider the CO2 etc

In that case I would have to say the Audi but I have a personal hate of Peugeot so not a very unbiased line of thinking really, I can just about justify it by saying the Audi should hold it value better

Best of luck

psarinuk

Yes you are right about that UnderPressure, but the Audi A6 1.9 TDi estates with 7 seats are very hard to come by, much pricier than their normal counterparts and often quite a few miles away from south-east.. I shall keep looking... Thanks once again!

10JH

How much are you looking to spend? Perhaps a second hand Ford S-Max, or even a Galaxy (a little bigger than S-Max).

psarinuk

10JH, I love the new S-Max and Galaxy... They are a bit out of budget at the moment..:(

Ranger8

What about a Toyota Verso then ?

Gloomendoom

One of these would be pretty frugal. True, it's not a car and it's not quite a seven seater, but there is a bit of room left on the handlebars.