Car for extended family...

code-a-holic

I have a '02 VW sharan TDI and LOVE it!!! I have 3 under 5's and take extras daily on school run, and often go camping, its been great. Tried a zafira when looking for a car but it was too small for transporting children and their stuff! My car seems to be cheaper to run than a petrol zafira.
I do on average 45mpg and do windy, hilly backroads mainly. Did 48.6mpg today on a 100 mile motorway trip. I spend less on fuel than when i had a 1.6 scenic.
I once locked my baby and keys in the car and had no spare - eek. It took loads of tries with a sledge hammer before the safety glass to let us in(sunday and couldnt find any other way - 3mth old baby going blue!) Parts for it are very cheap too in the salvage yards. The sharan, galaxy and alhambra can have built in infant seats which have been a amazing gadget!

Sobraon

OP might test drive an 'Old style' Kia Sedona, model has been updated recently( but the new model is smaller) making the older version a better bargain. Engine is a 2.9 turbo diesel. Our kids love the built in DVD/CD player in the back and the wireless headphones which come with it.

Rachie_B

Sobraon wrote:

OP might test drive an 'Old style' Kia Sedona, model has been updated recently( but the new model is smaller) making the older version a better bargain. Engine is a 2.9 turbo diesel. Our kids love the built in DVD/CD player in the back and the wireless headphones which come with it.

test drive the new one and get a £20 M&S voucher ! :beer: http://www.kia.co.uk/sedonahome.asp

dlb

Quote
We looked at the Vauxhall Zafira (didn't like the seats and having to remove car seats to access back seats, safety is poorer too),

Im not sure if it is the same with all zafiras, but on ours you do not have to remove the seats to access the back seats, the middle seats slide forwards and seats also fold forwards to.
When we had the gallaxy you had to tip the whole of the middle seats forwards to access rear seats.
And you can have the middle 3 seats as far forward or backwards as you like, so i have my yougest 3 in the middle and my eldest who is 5`4 in the back.

Have to say i prefered the gallaxy for cleaning out i could stand my hoover up in the back and hoover as you would your living room!!

BernadetteN

dlb wrote:

Quote
We looked at the Vauxhall Zafira (didn't like the seats and having to remove car seats to access back seats, safety is poorer too),

Im not sure if it is the same with all zafiras, but on ours you do not have to remove the seats to access the back seats, the middle seats slide forwards and seats also fold forwards to.
When we had the gallaxy you had to tip the whole of the middle seats forwards to access rear seats.
And you can have the middle 3 seats as far forward or backwards as you like, so i have my yougest 3 in the middle and my eldest who is 5`4 in the back.

Have to say i prefered the gallaxy for cleaning out i could stand my hoover up in the back and hoover as you would your living room!!

I know a Zafira owner who has to remove the CHILD care seats (not the row of seats) or remove the passengers on the middle row so that the row of seats can be pushed forward to access the back 2 seats. If you need to access the back 2 seats often, then it is a rather awkward problem. In the Touran there is no need to move any child car seats or any passengers in order to access the back 2 seats. There is no need to move the middle seats in the Renault Grand Scenic and probably in the Ford S-Max too.


And honestly, I have 4 children, sometimes 6 (I am a childminder) and we can fit ALL our stuff in our Touran - it might mean we have a full boot but we are saving money on car cost, insurance, tax, fuel and maintenance.

BernadetteN

dlb wrote:

Quote
We looked at the Vauxhall Zafira (didn't like the seats and having to remove car seats to access back seats, safety is poorer too),

Im not sure if it is the same with all zafiras, but on ours you do not have to remove the seats to access the back seats, the middle seats slide forwards and seats also fold forwards to.
When we had the gallaxy you had to tip the whole of the middle seats forwards to access rear seats.
And you can have the middle 3 seats as far forward or backwards as you like, so i have my yougest 3 in the middle and my eldest who is 5`4 in the back.

Have to say i prefered the gallaxy for cleaning out i could stand my hoover up in the back and hoover as you would your living room!!

I know a Zafira owner who has to remove the CHILD care seats (not the row of seats) or remove the passengers on the middle row so that the row of seats can be pushed forward to pull out the back 2 seats. If you need to access the back 2 seats often, then it is a rather awkward problem. In the Touran there is no need to move any child car seats or any passengers in order to pull out / put away the back 2 seats. The same is true for the Renault Grand Scenic and probably true for the Ford S-Max. Also to access the back seats once they are in position, in the Touran you only have to tip forward one middle seat, not a full row. This means I put my 2 youngest into the middle seats first, then tip forward the empty middle seat and put the eldest in the back, then I re-position the empty middle seat and the second eldest gets in.


And honestly, I have 4 children, sometimes 6 (I am a childminder) and we can fit ALL our stuff in our Touran - it might mean we have a full boot but we are saving money on car cost, insurance, tax, fuel and maintenance.

happygal_3

We have just bought a Peugeot 806. It's a seven seater (can buy a conversion to make 8 seats) and I love it!

The big thing I like is the sliding door which makes it easy for DDs to get in and out. To slove the problem of getting in the very back I took the middle seat in the middle row out.

I don't know how it compares to other cars it's size re. petrol and servicing but have had a pegeout before and found it really reliable. We bought it because it was the cleanest one in our price range.

vippymini

happygal wrote:

We have just bought a Peugeot 806. It's a seven seater (can buy a conversion to make 8 seats) and I love it!

The big thing I like is the sliding door which makes it easy for DDs to get in and out. To slove the problem of getting in the very back I took the middle seat in the middle row out.

I don't know how it compares to other cars it's size re. petrol and servicing but have had a pegeout before and found it really reliable. We bought it because it was the cleanest one in our price range.

snap we bought the fiat version the ulysse for excatly the same reasons and it seems to be great and in a resonable budget:D

seven-day-weekend

I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the Seat Alhambra, which is exactly the same as the VW Sharan but cheaper to buy (it is also very similar to the Ford Galaxy). We have one and there are only two of us! It brought us and all our flatpack furniture across Spain when we moved here and pulled the spare seats in a trailer.

It is a 1.9TDi and is very economical, reliable and comfortable.

Miss_Cinnabon

Hi we have a toyota previa and love it, so much space thats with 3 kids, shopping, buggy etc, got ours for under 3000 pounds from autotrader:j

It is fuel consuming though and pricey to fill it up, that is my only gripe really:rolleyes:

Kyle