Which people carrier to buy/avoid for around £4-5k

JimmyTheWig

This is a great discussion, guys. All very helpful.
I agree with most of what has been said, even though much of it is contradictory!

I agree that the folding seats in the new Galaxy from what has been posted aren't as ideal most other 7 seaters around where they are either removable or fold into the floor. It means, presumably, that you'd struggle to get a 3-seater sofa in it. Which I can easily do in our current Sharan. But it's not like that's something you do often. And so if the Galaxy represents better reliability / comfort / value / ease 0f day-to-day use then we'd cope with the seats. But all else being equal I'd go for one where the seats can be hidden.


Interesting divide of opinion on the C8. When things do go wrong with them, what are they like for cost of repair compared to others?

sarahg1969

I can't comment on repair costs on the C8. I probably shouldn't say this (you can bet I'll be heading for a big repair bill now!), but I've had mine for almost 3 years and it hasn't needed any work on it.

Only my opinion (and I prefer to drive big cars), but I found the new Galaxy very small compared with my car. I guess it depends on what you're looking for, though.

Flyboy152

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

This is a great discussion, guys. All very helpful.
I agree with most of what has been said, even though much of it is contradictory!

I agree that the folding seats in the new Galaxy from what has been posted aren't as ideal most other 7 seaters around where they are either removable or fold into the floor. It means, presumably, that you'd struggle to get a 3-seater sofa in it. Which I can easily do in our current Sharan. But it's not like that's something you do often. And so if the Galaxy represents better reliability / comfort / value / ease 0f day-to-day use then we'd cope with the seats. But all else being equal I'd go for one where the seats can be hidden.


Interesting divide of opinion on the C8. When things do go wrong with them, what are they like for cost of repair compared to others?

Oddly enough, those who I know, who have owned them, have never complained of expensive bills, so I don't know. We had a Xsara Picasso, it did over a hundred thousand miles and never needed anything more than the usual service items. It did have a problem with a very sqeaky dash and later with the lock of the offside rear door, but each item was repaired under warranty with no hassle.

JimmyTheWig

I think we've pretty much decided on a Renault Grand Scenic, 05 plate, with 3 year AA warranty for about £4500.

bigjl

How much?

That is one overpriced Grand Scenic!

You would be better getting online and searching BCA or Manhein stock as you can get a 3yr old ex motability one for that kind of money.

Seen one myself go through Chelmsford , ok i was an auto, but went for £3300 plus fees, it had some dents on the rear wheelarch, maybe a couple of hundred quid to fix properly, it would owe you an awful lot less than that 05 plate.

Also check CarGiant for ex motability stock, they bought loads of Scenic and Grand Scenic aswell as C Max etc, mostly automatic but all with history etc.

If your that bothered then pay an extra couple of hundred for a mechanical failure warranty or that AA mechanical repair cover that somebody talked about on here a while ago.

Even an expenaive used dealer in Hornchurch, Essex has a low miles Grand up for under 7grand on an 08 plate and he is well known for asking main dealer money, probably owes him no more than £4000.

bigjl

CarGiant has an 07plate diesel with 90k on it for £4500 plus £91 fees, or a lowish miles 08plate 1.6 petrol for £5299 plus £91 fees, then whatever a warranty costs.

Not saying buy from there but just showing that your 05plater is rather expensive.

Try and get yourself down BCA, you can check online the entire uk stock, free, you just have to register.

Leave the excess in the bank to pay for any work.it needs over the first year.

Or pay for that AA repair cover i nentioned above.

Flyboy152

bigjl wrote: »

How much?

That is one overpriced Grand Scenic!

You would be better getting online and searching BCA or Manhein stock as you can get a 3yr old ex motability one for that kind of money.

Seen one myself go through Chelmsford , ok i was an auto, but went for £3300 plus fees, it had some dents on the rear wheelarch, maybe a couple of hundred quid to fix properly, it would owe you an awful lot less than that 05 plate.

Also check CarGiant for ex motability stock, they bought loads of Scenic and Grand Scenic aswell as C Max etc, mostly automatic but all with history etc.

If your that bothered then pay an extra couple of hundred for a mechanical failure warranty or that AA mechanical repair cover that somebody talked about on here a while ago.

Even an expenaive used dealer in Hornchurch, Essex has a low miles Grand up for under 7grand on an 08 plate and he is well known for asking main dealer money, probably owes him no more than £4000.

What engine and variant of Grand Scenic did Jimmy say he was getting. How many miles has it done? Unless you have been blessed with that rare gift of ESP, how on Earth can you write that the car he is buying is overpriced?

pitkin2020

It would have to be a fully loaded version for that price, seems pricey. I expect the included warranty is a fair chunk though

JimmyTheWig

All the Grand Scenics in CarGiant are manuals. We're looking for an automatic ideally.
Don't fancy auctions.
The one we've seen is a 2.0 petrol, though we're not overly fussed about that. Bigger is better, obviously, but then you pay more on insurance and fuel. I've never felt the need to beat boy racers at traffic lights!
It's done 55k, which I think is pretty good.

The thing that attacted us to that one was the warranty.
The first place I spoke to about a warranty (on an 03 Kia Sedona) wanted £500 a year for an RAC warranty. This place are saying £575 for a three year AA warranty. I presume that the two warranties are comparable.

But if you can get an independent warranty, that sounds worth looking at. There's a 55 plate Grand Scenic that's done 80k for a thousand pounds less than the one we're looking at. If we can get a resonably priced warranty on that we might be sorted.

davidjwest

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I think we've pretty much decided on a Renault Grand Scenic, 05 plate, with 3 year AA warranty for about £4500.

Make sure the warranty covers as much as possible, we have a 55 plate Grand Scenic (1.6 petrol) with 50k on it and here's what's gone wrong that I can remember!

1. Hand Brake (electronic) - had to replace the whole unit at a cost of £550.

2. Main console on the dashboard went wrong, some kind of computer related problem, this was repaired free as a recall but the mileage was reset to 0 during this work which will make the car possibly harder to sell or worth less. Renault have given us a letter to confirm the mileage but it's not ideal.

3. I've had a few coil packs go, managed to replace myself at a cost of around £100 for all 4 of them, garage was going to charge ~£200.

4. Suspected cylinder head gasket leak, it's running fine and not losing much oil but it's a worry as if it does turn out to be wrong it could cost several hundred to repair.

5. The key stopped working last year, one of those silly credit card efforts, cost £200 to replace and took 2 weeks to come from France during which time we had to finance our own hire car.

6. Both front suspension strut tops needed replacing at the last MOT, ~£200.

7. There is some kind of fault with the steering, possibly the rack as it makes noises when turning, this has been examined by several garages who can't find the exact fault but it isn't an MOT failure and I've been told not dangerous. Hmmm.

MOTs have cost at least £350 each time and last year it was £1,100 to get it through.

Apart from that it's been fine, French Friday afternoon car.

:rotfl:

We've not tried to sell it or trade it in etc but I'd be surprised to get much more than £2k for it so that one you're looking at seems very pricey!