Advice on people carriers

hatsepsovet

I need some advice on people carriers.
I have just registered as a childminder and need a bigger car to accommodate all the kids I am going to look after.
I would appreciate your opinions/experiences with your cars - which make is known for which mechanical fault; the ease of putting extra seats in, etc.

I am looking for a car that:

• Is reliable
• Is economical
• Is not French make (my OH won't buy a French car - don't ask)
• Has capacity for 7 people (to maximise my earning potential)

We are looking to buy a used car but not too old. What would you recommend as an OK mileage for its age?

I look forward to all of your replies

Thanks so much

lil_me

Might be better asking on the motoring board. When we were considering a people carrier it was going to be either a Zafira or a Galaxy.

No 'OK milage for age' I would say, 12k a year they class as average milage. Cars can have problems whatever the milage (as a friend' Tacuma proved last night broken down under a year old with 3k on it) what I would be concerned about it is if it's been looked after and what is due soon. This will depend what make/model you go for as for when expensive jobs like clutches, timing belts etc can be done.

Reliability, I know of a Galaxy (TD version) with 200k on it still being used as a taxi and has only broken down once as was well looked after, Zafira with similar milage on broken down 3 times.

Seats wise the Zafira and Galaxy are easy to use, fold easily etc.

icecubequeen

I would recommend a Vauxhall Zafira.

I have one, and love my car.

It's not much bigger then a normal car, so its easy to manouver and drive, but has space and room on the inside for 7 people. Also newer models have extra storage options, so lots of room to keep things. Alot of people carriers look a bit like tanks in size! lol which to me puts me off, as I dont think I would be able to park it etc properly.

The 2 seats in the boot, are easy to put up and down. I know some people carriers you have to physically take the seats in and out of the car, to use the boot. Where as a Zafira the seats fold down into the boot floor out of the way, ready for you to use the boot.

I have a 1.6 model, and it's good on mileage in my opinon. I can fill up my tank for £40 and that will usually do about 400 miles. (I'm not that up on cars, so some might say thats good or bad, but i think its pretty good, but then again I don't know much about cars, just know my car :rotfl:)

Also mines been really reliable. I have had it for 5 years now from new, and it's never broken down on me (touch wood lol)

Hope that helps xxx

verysillyguy06

SpaceWagon...never looked back...wife was a childminder...cheap...reliable...just great

1012donna

We have a 06 plate zafira 1.9 cdti sri. Had it about 3 months now and it's fab!!!!!! Costs about £45 to fill the tank and we probably get about 550(ish) miles - depending on how you drive obviously. Wouldn't change it for the world!!

fsdss

vw touran is good on fuel economy too

Savvy_Sue

Honest John

Also go to the library and look at Which's annual 'What Car?' survey. You may be able to photocopy it.

Miss_Cinnabon

We have a toyota previa, great space in it, loads of room but it is awful on the petrol side of things! we are about 60-70 to fill up and it needs topping up all the time.

Hence us going for a better people carrier next year:D always thought zafiras were teeny and had no space, is there a lot of room in them?

Kyle

seven-day-weekend

I must recommend a Seat Alhambra (7 seats). Exactly the same as a VW Sharan/Ford Galaxy, but cheaper. Made in Spain (not France) by VW.

Get a diesel 1.9 tdi and it will be really economical. They are also reliable and comfortable.

The deisels go on for ever; ours is nine years old, done £130,000 miles and has never had anything go wrong with it - the only money we have had to fork out is for the usual services/ maintenance.

It is HUGE inside and you can have as many or as few seats in as you wish.

Hope this helps.

BernadetteN

We have a VW Touran1.9 90 BHP Diesel. We have 4 kids aged 1 to 11 and I'm also a childminder. Our Touran does an average of 55-65 mpg and it's nearly always got 6 people and luggage in it, so you'll find this fuel consumption hard to beat. It costs just over £200 a year to insure fully comp with max no claims discount. It costs £350 every 2 years to service, so £175 per year. The seats are far easier to get up and down than the Zafira's seats. The Touran is the safest in its class in NCAP ratings - both passenger and pedestrain. The best thing about the Touran was that it was cheaper than the Zafira brand new, as well as the Ford S-Max, Toyota Corolla etc

The biggest drawback of the Zafira if you are going to have young children on the middle bench and if you are going to put up and down the back seats often is that you have to remove all the car seats on the middle bench to get the back seats up or down. You don't need to do this with the Touran, Renault Grand Scenic, Citroen Grand Picasso, Ford S-Max and Toyoto Corolla.

Zafiras are however very plentiful in the 2nd hand market so they are probably your best option if you are buying 2nd hand. However, the older models only have a lap belt in the middle seat, their safety ratings are bad, and their fuel consumption is poor too, so I'd personally search out a newer 2nd hand model.

There is of course quite a pull for certain people towards the large MPVs such as the Galaxy/Sharan/Alhambra or Ulyssee/C8/? or Kia Sedona or Chrysler Voyager. The advantages are that the passengers get more legroom so ideal for 7 adults but not so important if you are transporting mainly kids. However, the boot with all 7 seats in place, is only a tiny bit bigger than the compact MPVs such as the Zafira, Touran or S-Max. Another disadvantage is that so far only the new Ford Galaxy has fully folding back seats (I believe) so if you want a bigger boot, you have to remove 2 heavy seats. Then the fuel consumption on a large MPV is on the whole going to be worse than for a compact MPV (compare 55-65 mpg with our Touran against a Sharan which is unlikely to make it over 35mpg). Then the large MPVs cost more to insure (Touran starts at group 6, Sharan starts at probably around group 9) and more to tax. A large MPV is also going to have a higher purchase price, new and used. Finally, a large MPV is harder to park than a compact MPV.

Well, it everyone's choice but I know that personally, I would opt for a compact MPV every time, unless I needed extra boot space the majority of the time and was nearly always transporting 6+ adults - and then I would go instead for a VW Transporter or something similar.

There are also some budget compact people carriers worth a look at - Fiat Doblo for example which you could get new for around 10k which has 7 seats but the back 2 seats are a complete bench so you can't leave one seat stored away and use that space for luggage. That's the reason why we opted for the Touran as we needed the unused seat space for luggage when there are only 6 of us.


PS we can fit a compact double or single buggy in the boot of our Touran, even with 7 people in it, and a further buggy on the floor of the middle row. The boot is small with all 7 seats in place, but I have never had a problem with it whilst childminding. You can only claim 45p per mile in expenses as a childminder anyway, irrelevant of the model of car you have, so my 45ps per mile stretch alot further with my compact MPV.

pusscat

Ford Galaxy diesel.....

7 "proper seats" with 3 point belts, easy to drive, good on fuel economy (ours gets better the older it gets!) easy to drive if you are not 6 foot tall, seats adjust enough for me (5'2") and Mr P (over 6ft) to both drive it easily.

You can get a full size baby seat on each seat (so we are informed...) and it is really easy to park as it is flat sided all round.

HTH

Puss
xx