7 seater

Guest101

I have a Grand Scenic, 2010 reg. its great, 5 seater as standard seating, but 2 in the rear with still some room for luggage etc. Can always get a roof rack for more storage.

Is very easy to drive, and has lots of nice features. USB, Cruise control, speed limiter, fully adjustable seating, keyless entry and start.

Highly recommend it. I looked at the vauxhaul equvalient (zafira i think it is) but this was so much better. £7k @ 37k miles, diesel too.

northernburt

Evening all,

I had a good look round today at different cars today. Most of what I looked at ended up being to small when I had the rear most seats up (no boot room. The Zafera was ok but was just really dull(I looked at a base model), my GF really didnt like it, so think that will be ruled out but will keep an eye open for a better spec / sporty model.

The car that really caught my (and my GFs eye) was a Volvo XC90, I was surprised that the boot as still big even with the back 2 seats up. We looked at two spec levels a Active 5dr Geartronic and a Executive 5dr Geartronic (the latter being way out of budget).

Has anyone had any experience with the XC90?

Cheers

NB

CFC

How deep are your pockets, cos maintainance on an XC90 will make you cry.

northernburt

I've looked around again today and found a Ford Galaxy which I really liked and felt good and easy to drive, and also a Renault Grand Espace. Due to a puncture I was unable to drive the Espace, but looked really good a very spacious.

Can anyone give me an idea of what they are like to own as I think I will be looking for one or the other.

Cheers

NB

sarahg1969

We had an Espace - nice and roomy, but very thirsty. And crap electrics, as to be expected.

Zafira - you'll need to think carefully if you have car seats to put in. The seats fold in an unusual way, and the back seats are flimsy and right up against the rear window. And it's only a tall Astra estate, so not very roomy either.

What about an Alhambra or Sharan? The new ones have slidy doors. But i don't know if they'd be within budget.

For five children, I'd personally go for something with a row of proper rear seats, rather than the fold-away type.

northernburt

sarahg1969 wrote: »

What about an Alhambra or Sharan? The new ones have slidy doors. But i don't know if they'd be within budget.

I've looked at Alhambras and all the ones local to me seem to have been used as mini cabs very high mileage or look like they have been in a number of bumps. The Sharan is a little smaller than the Galaxy and seems more expensive even for a base model.

oliverr

With a budget of £15 000 you can get a pretty new car, there are plenty of so called "7 seaters" around but few will really seat 7 and are more like a 5+2 as I like to think of it, either people or rear boot space.

The Sharan and Alhambra are highly rated (especially the new gen models from late 2010 onward - these also come with sliding doors). I know people who have had Galaxy's as well and haven't had any problems and minicab company Addisson Lee use thousands of them all around London so they must be pretty reliable.

fivetide

We've had a Sharan as a loan car (it was the only auto they had) managed 40mpg on a run in the diesel, not too bad for a car that weighs a lot with the sliding doors. Very bus like but will do exactly what you need it to.

JonathanA

If I had your budget, I'd definitely opt for the Galaxy. I had three of the old shape versions, all of which ran without problems and have just bought a 4 year old 2.0tdci Galaxy. On picking it up, the fuel computer is showing 48.3mpg, we'll see what it gives in reality, but I'm optimistic for mid 40s! They are true 7 seaters with some luggage space still available with all 7 seats in use.

In my view they drive well given their size and are reasonably cheap to run, I've driven a Renault Espace but only for a week. It seemed a bit more flimsy and not as well put together as the Galaxy, but that was a personal view based on limited time!

alleycat`

Galaxy is probably the car you'd be best off with.
Most of the 7 seaters on the market are 5+2 short journey seats.
They can also make certain kids very travel sick...

Outside of the usual suspects the cadi max (also mentioned) is a possibility but it is a true van and the crash rating is pretty poor (although not 10 year old grand voyager poor).

XC90 is a good call but it could become a money pit, mind you so can most cars.