Which car for 3 child car seats and economical?

Cbtje

Hi
We currently have a 2.0ltr diesel S Max which is proving very expensive to run and has also had numerous expensive repair bills DMF included. So, we are looking to replace it with a smaller car and hopefully more economical however we need to fit 3 child seats across the back. We are struggling to find anything suitable, most cars seem to have 2 main back seats and a hump/arm rest kind of 3rd seat!

We are also getting different opinions on the fuel type from the car salesmen. We drive about 9000 miles a year BUT our main journeys are school runs etc for example today my car has been switched on 12 times!! But only covered 11 miles.
Any advice much appreciated. We have a decent budget and would go for new for the right car/deal.

Thanks

westwood68

Petrol Fiat Multipla?

Better with a petrol for such short journeys/low mileage. A diesel DMF will soot up very quick with short journeys where the engine never gets hot (as you now know to your cost)

interstellaflyer

westwood68 wrote: »

A diesel DMF will soot up very quick with short journeys where the engine never gets hot (as you now know to your cost)

since when can a flywheel soot up.

Herzlos

interstellaflyer wrote: »

since when can a flywheel soot up.

They obviously mean DPF. It's not a hard mistake to make.

forgotmyname

Lots of recent cars have DMF's so avoiding them isnt going to be easy. Its costly but now its done you have at least 60,000 miles before another clutch change unless you abuse it.

Journey's like that you wont ever get decent MPG. I have a diesel Mondeo and have had less than 30mpg doing short winter journey's.
And no there is nothing broken, I recently averaged 57mpg on a 300 mile+ round trip, Some traffic in that also.

GolfBravo

Apart from the DMF what other costly repairs are we talking about? How much did that set you back?

I don't think there is anything that compares favourably to the S-Max interior space wise (well, apart from the Galaxy, which is almost the same car anyway, or maybe VW Sharan/Seat Alhambra). And the next step up would be a van (VW Caravelle, Mercedes Viano). An automatic?

With that sort of mileage petrol would be better (I think DPF issues are just around the corner due to your very short journeys = £££).

atrixblue.-MFR-.

a car salesman will want to shift anything to you he don't care about fuel type you require seats or style he wants his sale and his pay.

citroen Picasso is another to look at.

Renault scenic or espace.

seat Alhambra, vw sharran, ford galaxy all same vehicle with different badges.

kia Sedona.

interstellaflyer

Herzlos wrote: »

They obviously mean DPF. It's not a hard mistake to make.

And obviously I forgot to add smilies, it's an easy mistake to make.

Although I agree that a Diesel is not right for the op, we do not know what age of car the op is looking for, DPFs were not fitted to all diesel cars until very recently for example certain diesel Qashqais didn't get DPFs until 2012 IIRC and if that's wrong, it was certainly post 2010 facelift.

dannymccann

For journeys less than 1 mile why are you taking the car anyway?

By the by, you need a petrol, diesels with all their new tech are only suited to people doing decent mileage, or at least covering good mileage at a steady pace once or twice a week minimum.

Maintenance wont be any less really, but the cost of buying the car will be, should say you would easily cover it selling your S-Max, which when I looked last had some strong resale values at the newer end of the market.

I certainly couldnt afford to buy one so ended up with a 1.5 DCi megane!

Cbtje

Thanks for the replies, will have a look at the Picasso and scenic.

Will definitely go for petrol then, that's what we kind of concluded ourselves but at kia they were really pushing their diesels.

We've replaced the DMF for £1300. We've also had to replace the boot latch, the bonnet latch, a seatbelt, one of the windows is currently dodgy too! Tyres are also v expensive.

I agree though that the interior design is great with the 3 kids, shame about its reliability.

Thanks

forgotmyname

That doesnt sound too bad. Join the Citroen forums and a car the same age of yours will have been to the dealers many times more.