7 seater suggestions please?

myhooose

My wife is starting child minding so we are looking for a 7 seater.
Her requirement are as follows;

Decent sized boot to fit double buggy.
Gap between rearmost seats so she can easily help with seat belts from the boot.
Must be able to disable front passenger air bag for the odd occasion a child needs to go in the front.

My requirements are;
Costs - circa £5000
Reliable
Cheap as possible to run (for a car of that size).
I'd prefer sliding door but not essential.
Cam chain engine preferred.
Would be looking to keep the car 5 years.

I don't think such a car exists, the best I could come up with is the Citroen C8/ Peugeot 807 or Renault Espace. Unfortunately they are French and not very reliable, any suggestions please?

Not sure if petrol or diesel would be best as it will be for shortish journeys. - mileage is 7-8K per year.
Normally I’d think due to mileage petrol would be best, however the mpg of the petrol cars I’ve looked at are really terrible and the money saved from a diesel mpg would go towards the increased servicing/repair costs. I could take it on the motorway once a week to work to give it good run to prevent dpf issues.

motorguy

Zafira 1.8 petrol. Runs on timing belt, but they're not expensive to replace. More space in them than you'd think and they are usefully smaller for parking and around town. £5,000 should get you a well spec'd 2007 / 2008 1.8 Sri or similar.

The C8 / 807 / Ulysee / Espace all have notorious electrical issues and can be ruinous.

If its something even bigger, then i'd consider a Galaxy / Sharan / Alhambra.

Tilt

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201301315133399/sort/default/usedcars/price-to/6000/price-from/4000/model/ulysse/make/fiat/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/quicksearch/true/radius/1500/page/1/postcode/wv11ab?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201301054803806/sort/default/usedcars/price-to/6000/price-from/4000/model/ulysse/make/fiat/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/quicksearch/true/radius/1500/page/1/postcode/wv11ab?logcode=p

teffers

My partner's a child minder too.

Needed a new 7 seater last summer after her horrendously un-reliable Renault scenic.

She bought a Mazda 5. Has 6 full size seats and 1x smaller seat in the middle of the second row. Boot space is limited as with all 7 seaters.
It's been the best trade-off when avoiding the 'french' offerings for obvious reasons of reliability.

She's very happy with it and it's been totally reliable (so far).

flea72

First question, is 7 seats a real necessity, would six not do?. I don't know any child minders who have 6 children in their care, who would be going out and about with that many kids in tow. Also a lot of parents don't agree to their kids going in other peoples cars, espec if under school age, so check that too

Also you say you wife is just starting childminding. The expense of buying and running a people carrier would not factor for most people new to a job. If she doesn't like it, or you can't fill numbers you will be paying to run an expensive vehicle

motorguy

flea72 wrote: »

First question, is 7 seats a real necessity, would six not do?. I don't know any child minders who have 6 children in their care, who would be going out and about with that many kids in tow. Also a lot of parents don't agree to their kids going in other peoples cars, espec if under school age, so check that too

Also you say you wife is just starting childminding. The expense of buying and running a people carrier would not factor for most people new to a job. If she doesn't like it, or you can't fill numbers you will be paying to run an expensive vehicle

One of the benefits with the likes of the Zafira is that the rearmost seats fold totally flat, so when you 'only' need space for six, you've got quite a large bootspace available.

Plus i'd rather have a 7 seater for the once-in-a-blue-moon functionality of the seventh seat, rather than a six seater with no 7th seat option.

Lokolo

teffers wrote: »

My partner's a child minder too.

Needed a new 7 seater last summer after her horrendously un-reliable Renault scenic.

She bought a Mazda 5. Has 6 full size seats and 1x smaller seat in the middle of the second row. Boot space is limited as with all 7 seaters.
It's been the best trade-off when avoiding the 'french' offerings for obvious reasons of reliability.

She's very happy with it and it's been totally reliable (so far).

My second (and current) car is a Mazda3, after having an oldish Ford Fiesta I know I am planning to stick with Mazda after my current car dies.

Had it 3 years, had 24k on it. Now 39k and have yet to replace anything other than consumables (although MOT is next month).

I even drove it to Ukraine and around Poland last summer.

myhooose

flea72 wrote: »

First question, is 7 seats a real necessity, would six not do?. I don't know any child minders who have 6 children in their care, who would be going out and about with that many kids in tow. Also a lot of parents don't agree to their kids going in other peoples cars, espec if under school age, so check that too

Also you say you wife is just starting childminding. The expense of buying and running a people carrier would not factor for most people new to a job. If she doesn't like it, or you can't fill numbers you will be paying to run an expensive vehicle

I think something on my list has to give. I need to ask my wife about her reasoning’s. I think all the seats could be needed for school holidays, on trips out (though I agree it does sound a little improbable). She has been a nanny all her life, but due to our two children, it is more practical for her to be child minder.

teffers

To answer anyone asking whether a 7 seater is necessary, Yes it is. It's likley to be constantly used. Non-childminders don't realise the ratios of different ages you're allowed to look after so 7 seats is a must - especially as myhoose mentions, holidays and trips out etc.

During the last school holidays I even had to help out and take some of the children in my car to seaside trips (I'm an Ofsted Registered Child Minding assistant and it was with the Parent's permission).

Cost of course is reduced as a third of running costs are offset against income tax.

tanith

I'm on my second Zafira, very reliable, fairly cheap to run and buy . Plenty of space but easy for parking etc. We've often had 7 in ours children and adults (short journeys) and its great that the 2 back seats disappear completely if I need the boot space. Great for carrying lots of stuff too as the middle 3seats slide right forwards so the boot space is enormous we can get bikes in the back with the seats right forwards lol.. can't speak highly enough.

flea72

teffers wrote: »

To answer anyone asking whether a 7 seater is necessary, Yes it is. It's likley to be constantly used. Non-childminders don't realise the ratios of different ages you're allowed to look after so 7 seats is a must - especially as myhoose mentions, holidays and trips out etc.

During the last school holidays I even had to help out and take some of the children in my car to seaside trips (I'm an Ofsted Registered Child Minding assistant and it was with the Parent's permission).

Cost of course is reduced as a third of running costs are offset against income tax.

Yes, I do understand the ratios and ages looked after by childminders, but none i know would ever contemplate going further than walking distance with 6 kids in tow. And on the rare occasion they do want to do something different, they would use public transport, and bill the parents accordingly

I would say the majority of childminders have standard 5 seater cars, live within walking distance for school runs, and based on ratios for preschool children, only need 5 seats in daytime, if taking kids with them on food shops, errands, etc.

Yes, a lot have people carriers, but that's mainly for their own personal requirements outside of working hours, rather than a real need to fulfill the requirements of their job.

Also the reason you were asked to provide transport during the holidays, was because you had a people carrier. I'm sure If you only had a 5 seater, then other arrangements would have been made.

I have never based my childcare options on the taxi service provided by a childminder.