Big Family Car - What do you recommend?

BaileyB

Hi everyone,

We have 2 Children and need a big ish family car. We also looking at a big boot too.

We were looking at 7 seaters so if go out with family can take one car, if not have a very large boot. Which is also handy for DIY etc.

Budget around £2.5k not fussed really about make just as long as they are reliable. And diesel too.

Any ideas would be very helpful.

worried_jim

Big Family Car - What do you recommend?

Condoms.


No joking aside-

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201223474837946/sort/default/usedcars/fuel-type/diesel/model/grand_voyager/make/chrysler/radius/1500/page/2/postcode/le29hd?logcode=p

2001 Chrysler Grand Voyager 2.5 CRD LX 5DR £1,990

mark55man

We have had two Zafira's and they have always been fine. 4 kids from when they were 5, 3, 2 and 0 to now when they are 17 15, 14 and 12.

People will complain about them being gutless Vauxhall, but the 1.8 is fast enough, and its a family car not a sportster.

Not really sure about the pricing now, I would imagine you would be looking at 6-7 years old for that money. Plenty about on ebay and in the magazines

As a car I reecommend it - good luck with getting a good deal

Spendless

We have had a touran, an s - max and borrowed a zafira to go on holiday.

zafira- I didn't like that 2 of the seats in the middle row are on the same frame, rather than all seats independant of each other so when doing configuarations of seats those 2 have to go together. We didn't have the car long enough for me to form any other opinion of it.

touran - seats independant of each other, plenty of cubby holes. negatives there is a 'tunnel' on the floor so whoever sits in the middle seat on the 2nd row has to sit with their feet either side or it's uncomfortable. Very little boot space when all 7 seats are up.

s-max- seats independant of each other, full seats in the middle row, more boot space when 7 seats up, no 'tunnel' like in the touran, bigger boot space when 7 seats up. Negatives there is a 'triangle' (sorry I don't know what the offical name is) from the end of the front windscreen to the side window which I found obscured my vision till I got used to it (I am only 5ft 4, so that may have played a part, my taller husband didn't have an issue).

skoda38

hi, we paid 700 for a sedona last year and are very pleased with it so far. regular 250 mile trips up the m5 fully loaded and great for trips to the tip and diy store.
all i would say is 2500 is dangerous teritory because if anything goes wrong it might be expensive to fix. why not try 1200 and if your unlucky and it breaks buy another !

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201223474755639/sort/default/usedcars/price-to/2000/model/sedona/make/kia/radius/1501/postcode/pl112du/page/1?logcode=p

Gordon_Hose

worried_jim wrote: »

Big Family Car - What do you recommend?

Condoms.

You owe me a fresh cup of tea and a screen wipe!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

scaredofdebt

We've got a Renault Grand Scenic and I cannot recommend it based on our experience, it's called a "Grand" Scenic as that's about what it costs every year on the MOT, I kid you not!

We will be looking to get a Ford Galaxy when we can afford it, they are good based on my investigations and the Seat Alhambra might even be better, it's the same car basically but they can be cheaper to buy if you shop around.

The Grand Voyager mentioned above is a very nice car but I've heard they can be unreliable so do some more research.

We discounted the S-Max as not being big enough once the kids get a bit bigger, our youngest are 7.

ukjoel

scaredofdebt wrote: »

We discounted the S-Max as not being big enough once the kids get a bit bigger, our youngest are 7.

Think OP can discount the SMAX as budget is £2.5k and they want a diesel.

At that price I would be looking at something old, imported, and japanese/korean.

There are other decent options out there but budget is quite tight.

Spendless

scaredofdebt wrote: »

We've got a Renault Grand Scenic and I cannot recommend it based on our experience, it's called a "Grand" Scenic as that's about what it costs every year on the MOT, I kid you not!

We will be looking to get a Ford Galaxy when we can afford it, they are good based on my investigations and the Seat Alhambra might even be better, it's the same car basically but they can be cheaper to buy if you shop around.

The Grand Voyager mentioned above is a very nice car but I've heard they can be unreliable so do some more research.

We discounted the S-Max as not being big enough once the kids get a bit bigger, our youngest are 7.

In what way? The 3rd row of seats you have to climb into from the 2nd row or from the back. That's the same as other 7 seater cars such as the Touran and I think the Zafira from what I remember of it. I can see that is an inconvience if you regularly have more than 5 people in the car and are used to being able to walk thru to seats. The 2nd row of seats are 3 full seats though.

We are getting rid of our 7 seater shortly to go back to a 5 seater. That's because our eldest at 12 doesn't need to come on every single car journey we do anymore and the relative who used to come with us on a hol every year is now elderly and infirm and unlikely to do so. I struggled with finding a 5 seater cos I am just so used to the 3 full seats that our s-max has, but we no longer need the bigger car.

grizzly1911

ukjoel wrote: »

Think OP can discount the SMAX as budget is £2.5k and they want a diesel.

At that price I would be looking at something old, imported, and japanese/korean.

There are other decent options out there but budget is quite tight.[/QUOTE

Don't you start straying into high fuel consumption (even on diesels) and very high tax so total cost of ownership becomes prohibitive?

Certainly my brother was quick to ditch his Sedona for this reason.

funkycoldribena

Chrysler voyager-terrible crash rating
S-max and Touran-2.5k-????
Kia Sedona-passable,just.too thirsty,too high tax.
Best for 2.5k-galaxy/Alhambra.