Car for extended family...

Spendless

We have a Touran. Prior to this we borrowed a Zafira. What I didn't like about the Zafira is 2 of the middle seats are on the same frame, whereas on the Touran each seat is independant of each other.

I have sat in the very back of the Touran and I personally found it uncomfortable (I'm 5ft 4), so would only use these seats for children.

Our Touran is a company car, so high mileage (3 years old, 80,000 on clock). and in past months it has niggling things go wrong with it eg interior lights not working, air-con not working properly.

I don't find the boot very big, enough for an umbrella buggy and 1 or 2 bags. We often holiday with my gran plus us (2 adults, 2 kids) and bought a roof box to accommodate all the luggage when we go away.

DH has been told he can change his car early next year and whilst another Touran isn't ruled out, we would like something that has the advantage of seats folding, without having to be removed but with a bit bigger boot space.

Clara_Pereira

Hi, I bought a Sharan DTI about 2 ½ years ago when my youngest daughter was born, she was our third child and our normal car was getting very squashed, we had 2 baby seats in the back and I aslo had my elderly mother living with us, so we often had to take 2 car on days trips out. I wasn't too keen at first, but once you get it you will not turn back to a normal car. Our car has 2 builtin child seats and bosters, so no need for extra expense. And very easy to convert if you want and look like normal seats afterwards. The seats are all individual and comfortable so children do not slide about. I often have to use all seats as I collect 2 14year old girls from school twice a week. So I have 2 14 years old whcih are as big as me, an 8yr, 4yr and 2 year old, plus school bags, lunch boxes, double buggy and loads of other rubbish which you have in the car with children. It's a spacious car, would never go back. We have driven through Europe a few times with the children and as the seats can lie back nicely they have been comfortable and never complain. I would seriously look at the ford Galaxy and the Seat Alhambra (think that is what it is called) as they are exactly the same, we only found out afterwards so could have saved alot of money. After my initial hesitation of buying such a big car ( I had never driven anything lager than a Golf) I can not imagine us going back to a smaller car. We hired a VW PAssat estate when we went away, although good, no leg room for the children and they were cramped in their seats as the boosters took up alot of space. Good luck.

Spendless

Has anyone got the Ford S-Max? Any views

BernadetteN

Spendless wrote:

DH has been told he can change his car early next year and whilst another Touran isn't ruled out, we would like something that has the advantage of seats folding, without having to be removed but with a bit bigger boot space.

The 2006 Ford Galaxy has fold flat seats in the middle and back rows and I bet other manufacturers are going to copy the concept of fold flat seats in the near future, especially since it appears a great percentage of owners of 7+ seaters are families of 5 or less who only occasionally use the back seats.

funky-footprints

the chrysler voyager and grand voyager both have fold down seats , believe they actually introduced them before the galaxy, so as above poster said, yes i expect many others will follow.

I have a diesel voyager, have written a lot of 'happy' bumf about it on a thread on 7 seaters in another section. I have the manual, but am so going to get the automatic next time, as my clutch thigh is solid with muscle where as my accelorator leg is not !! it is realy hard work on the clutch in slow traffic. not too great on M4 jams !! however for the school run and as a stay at home mum, I love it.

we have 2 children 6 & 4 and a number 3 due . The boot on the voyager is smaller than grand, but i can get my chunky buggy and the dog in it, and the fold down seats certainly help for luggage, so it is big enough for me. dh wanted the grand but we couldnt get one with a dvd in for the price he wanted to pay !! i think he may have to extend the budget next time as automatics are far more expensive.

The electric doors are fabulous so easy on the school run, (kids think they are in a space ship) not having doors sticking out onto the pavement, and also for shopping trips when having to park a 7 seater in a smaller space is such an ease !

My neighbour has the 06 Zafira and hates it, her children are getting older now and they squabble contantly about lack of space, in the back, likewise i know someone who had a touran and they said it was fine for kids but on an adults night out a bit of a squeeze. she swapped it for the toureg.

I sat in a few 7 seaters, but found the quality of the chyrsler far exceeded other makes. but then im a girlie.

3/4 years back dh had the grand voyager, had a top of the ranger petrol model converted to lpg, he loved it, realy cheap to run, but back then i was only driving a little car and it frightened me.

happy shopping.
xx

steve_bilton

We've got a diesel Grand Voyager - it's the dogs!!!

The really good thing about it is the seating configuration - 2 in front, 2 in the middle, and 3 in the back, so always a 7 seater, no need to tip seats forward to gain access to the rear - which helps when teh 3 older kids are getting in and you;ve got to strap the baby in! You can even buy another bench (3 seater) from ebay to make it an 8 seater - one went for £46 quid on ebay this week.

The sliding doors are a bonus as you don't have to worry about the kids jumping out and banging other cars, it also helps as the car is 2m wide, sometimes I have to get out throught the sliding doors as there isn't room to open the front doors!!!

The boot is huge and get's larger if you slide the seats forward...

Rachie_B

funky-footprints wrote:

likewise i know someone who had a touran and they said it was fine for kids but on an adults night out a bit of a squeeze. she swapped it for the toureg.

I sat in a few 7 seaters, but found the quality of the chyrsler far exceeded other makes. but then im a girlie.

3/4 years back dh had the grand voyager, had a top of the ranger petrol model converted to lpg, he loved it, realy cheap to run, but back then i was only driving a little car and it frightened me.

happy shopping.
xx

isnt the Touareg a 5 seater ?

funky-footprints

RachieB ..yes it is ..didnt realy understand the change ..but i think she likes VW so just decided to change models, Her dh has a discovery, and i see her driving that most of the time ..lol !

Spendless

We went to look at the ford s-max today. I like it but there is a couple of things on the Touran I prefer, which I thought may interest Rachie if she is considering a Touran.

On the Touran when the middle seat of the 2nd row, is folded down, it is quite high so creates a sort of 'table'. Very handy for comics, colouring books etc for kids on long trips. Also the 2 seats by the windows on the 2nd row have their own pull down tray, with a cut out 'circle' in which to hold drinks.

I also found the s-max considerably wider and longer than the Touran, and think I will have difficulty parking, and getting it into our drive. So if you have prev been used to driving a hatchback or saloon, the Touran is not that big a jump up.

The Touran has lots of hidey and cubby holes, but these have been used rarely by ourselves so it doesn't really matter if we don't have them on our next.

A disadvantage of the Touran is that there is a 'tunnel' on the floor in the middle of the 2nd row, so anyone who sits there has to put their legs either side of it.

I asked DH about the voyager and galaxy but they are a lot higher on tax (company car) than either the touran or s-max, and since we already pay a fortune in tax:rolleyes: I don't really want something in a higher bracket.

I also checked his mileage and it's not 80,000 as I thought but nearly 92,000:eek: , which may explain why we are currently having things go wrong with it.

robertk

Hello, everyone.

Does anyone know if you can get three children's car seats in the second row of a Touran?

Many thanks.