Love our Galaxy. We have been known to insert people through the boot into the back two seats when can't be bothered to rearrange the middle 3 for access that way. Has good leg room in rear two seats, more space back there than almost any other 7 seater on the market. Good build quality, feels sturdy to drive but not in a stodgy way.

Agree that the Zafira has a nasty blind spot.

I have loved both our Touran and the Sharan, but I always had the problem that the middle row was still too narrow to fit 3 car seats.

Impossible for DC to buckle themselves up and I had read on MN about something called "buckle crush" or something like that were the buckles would get destroyed in an impact because they were squeezed between two car seats. I have hence put one in the back, middle seat down or out (in Touran) and two in the middle row.

We have an S-Max, and find it very spacious but without the "Help I'm driving a tank!" feeling.
It fits adults in the back comfortably, and there is still room for the weeks shopping. Also lots of footroom in the middle row, and the seats all move with ease.
Good fuel economy (for a larger car) and we have a 1.8 Turbo diesel so it has pleanty of power!

If I had to buy tomorrow it would be the Merc Viano, as it is I have a Grand Espace, as with all French cars only get one with a warranty...they are bloody expensive to fix.

I have a Volvo XC90 and really love it - it's like driving sitting in an armchair, there's load of space in the back seat, you could hide bodies in the massive boot and I feel safe.

It also has a "shopping bag compartment" in the boot that I really like

Now you see , I like that "I'm driving a tank!" Feeling! Get out of my way minions!

Have a read of this, it's the European standards safety reports very interesting.

We chose a toyota corolla verso after taking one as well as a vauxhall zafira for a test drive, the zafira was really rubbish in comparison!

We've never had any problems with our car and owned in second hand for about 5 years, easily the best car I've ever owned.

7to25 How utterly terrifying, and is maybe making me rethink getting rid of the Espace as soon as I can. One of the main reasons we bought it was for its safety record, but it just costs such a lot in maintenance as it's just not reliable enough.

We had a C8 for 3.5 years and have just traded in for a VW Caravelle - love it

Another anti-Espace vote here I am afraid. We had one from new, engine failed at 31,000 miles, no payment from Renault slush fund here despite lengthy correspondence. They offered us £1500 off a new one. I don't think so! Sold it age 6 for £3000 having paid £30k for it new and having had to pay £4.5k to get it back on the road. Still very bitter I'm afraid......

We've had a Volvo xc90 for 5 yrs and I wouldn't swap it for anything. Fab car, really good on long journeys, kids love it and I feel really safe driving it.

Only down side is our large dog cannot get into the very high boot so I have this v silly looking manouvere where I place his front paws on the tailgate then scoop up his rear end to shove him in the boot. On the plus side I always get sympathetic chaps offering to help me!

harrassed - that is outrageous. Our first engine failed on a car we'd bought two weeks before (second hand). It was three years old and very low mileage - and our garage took it back, and they did all of the negotiating with Renault, who ended up paying 90% of the cost to the garage. The garage got us a new (secondhand) one - and that failed on our summer holiday this year - something to do with the injection system - and we again got 90% of the cost from Renault. Perhaps we were just very lucky with our dealers.

However, I don't think we'll mourn it when we finally get rid of it!

What do you have instead now? do you still have a 7 seater?

I've a Peugeot 807, which I have mixed feelings about. We got it 2nd hand, so wont commit on general worthiness as not sure which mechanical problems are due to age. However, will say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the sliding doors. So much easier to get kids in and out, and can open and close at the click of a button. Combine that with the reversing noise alert thing (yup, sure that has a proper name?) and you can park anywhere. I was worried about upsizing when we bought it, and being able to park it, but I think I park in smaller spaces now than I did with our little car.
The seats are a pain to get in and out of the car, but we have really appreciated and got value from having a gigantic van (by taking 5 seats out) when needed.
I'm eyeing off the VW Sharan as our next 7-seater, when we get around to it.

Over our twenty year parenting career we have had... with marks out of ten

1. toyota previa 6 - nice but almost too big and drank gas
2. Ford Galaxy 5- ok but dull and once it started going wrong the wrongs were spectacular
3. chrysler voyager 7- nice and flash but a bit small
4. chrysler grand voyager 6 - bigger but went wrong a lot and turned into a nightmare - don't be tempted
5. VW transporter 8 - nice roomy great for holidays but a bit utilitarian CRAP in the snow. People love it - we were forever being complimented on it.
6. VW Caravelle 8.5 nice - roomy GREAT for days out and picnics - FANTASIC for getting kids and babies in and out because of rear facing seats...GREAT for kids chatting because of rear facing seats. A bit utilitarian - despite paying for loads of extra bits that you get on most cars as standard... CRAP in snow...notably crap..scarily crap. VERY ££££ for what you get....

About to change car and was sooooooo tempted by XC90 which looked fab and comfy and cheapish but just a bit small????? Is it???
REALLY really want landrover defender but dp wont ...too many down sides

Will probably end up with caravelle again - but maybe 4 x 4 one

We've had two Ford Galaxies (1996 version and 2005), and a Chrysler Grand Caravan in the last 15 years.

The most spacious was the Grand Caravan. If it weren't so darned greedy with the fuel I would have it again in a heartbeat. It has slidey doors (very handy with enthusiastic children opening doors in tight spaces ) and in the newer versions all the seats fold down into the floors, leaving giant storage spaces when the seats are up. The configuration of the seats is quite good too- you can fold down any of middle seats, leaving a nice wide space to reach the rear seats.

The older Ford Galaxy (petrol engine) was a pain if you wanted to use the space for carrying stuff as you had to remove the seats which weighed a ton and were a bugger to put back. I doubt you'd be getting a mid 90s version anyway, but I wouldn't recommend it if you were. Also its fuel economy was appalling by the time we sold it aged 13- about 25mpg.

The newer Ford Galaxy (diesel) is the one that has the most all round appeal for us. The seats fold down to allow use of the cargo space. Folding down the rear seats is pretty easy and it leaves a huge boot space. It's not as easy to fold down individual middle seats to allow space to get to rear seats as in the Grand Caravan, but the middle seats tip forwards easily enough. There's not as much space as in the GC. Its major selling point for us is its amazing fuel economy. It easily does 50mpg on standard run about mode, and on a motorway journey straight out of the petrol station we've easily got it to 60mpg, which is astonishing I think for what is a pretty large car. It's at its most fuel efficient at 50-60 mph in 6th gear, with the revs at or below 2000.

Had Grand Scenic 1.9 which could really shift, excellent engine & great to drive, with extras that made life easier and importantly a 3rd row that could be used without disturbing the 2nd row. However, ££ to repair and having so much electronic gadgetry meant there was a lot potentially to go wrong.

Have Vokswagon Touran 1.9 which is slow compared with the Scenic and a dull dull car to drive. However, it's reliable and solid. Wouldn't have another.

We have 4 children and have a '57 Galaxy (with the fold down flat seats) and have recently inherited an '07 Espace.

The Galaxy has more boot space with the back seats up (umbrella pushchair and suoermarket shopping fit easily) and is easier for 4th child to access the back row. Seat 7 is always available as it folded into the boot so handy when we visit Grandmothers! Has 2 ISOFIX seats on outsides of middle row. Bit sluggish as it is 1.8 but lovely on motorways etc. Cheap to maintain but has no spare wheel.

The Espace has less boot space and we don't keep seat 7 in the car so we are trying to find somewhere to store it (bulky and heavy). We have a 2,2,2 set up as we couldn't see an easy way to access back row seat. This was invaluable on Sunday changing muddy rugby playing children! I find it much nicer to drive (it's a 2.0l) but past ownership of a Scenic means I fear it will be more expensive to maintain! Kids currently prefer the Espace as it has built in DVD players...

At the moment, I would recommend both

Just check you can get all the car seats in that you will need. Some of the smaller ones dont have room for our three.

we replaced our 53 plate Zafira this year with a Chrevolet Orlando. The boot seats are much better and easier to put up - you just pull up the back but that doeas mean the entire boot space level is much higher than the Zafira was.
It is a good solid car which I think will become as popular as the Zafira.

We have just bought a Toyota Verso (which is mid-sized, with two seats in the back which fold flat). Perfect for the five of us, now we are past the age of carseats. I'm particularly chuffed with the 5-year warranty and the reversing camera.

I love my Touran (love bus).

I can fit a 3 car seats (2 toddlers and a bucket) in the middle row, 2 in the back (through the boot admittedly) and a roofbox on top for the puschairs.

I really really love it. Sturdy, not too bad on fuel or insurance.

VW Touran
Love, love ,love it.
Which mag said it had a Good mpg diesel and more importantly the instruments give you a realistic mpg.

Also the toucan has good head height and leg room as ds could be over six foot by the time he is 12

We have a Citroen C8 but unfortunately they have stopped making them now so you need to search for 2nd hand: Its excellent (if a bit like a van) - 3 proper seats for 3 different sized child seats and 2 proper seats in the boot (Fine for adults for long journeys) plus enough boot behind for all our stuff. We regularly make long journeys abroad inlcuding camping so have lots of stuff to transport and its been great. Slidy doors too make it great for tight parking on ferries. Also we find very economical on fuel (diesel) for size and weight of car. Only niggle is that when 3 child seats are fitted in the middle you have to climb through the boot to get to rear seats - not very elegant.

The replacement C4 Grand Picasso lacks the proper rear seats, has a smaller boot and no sliding doors - don't know what we'd do if our C8 fell apart as the C4 just isn't as useful a car. We would definitely recommend the C8, if only you can get one - good luck!