7 seater car recommendations

[kenandbarbie]

Our Citroen c4 Picasso just died. Have four kids age 0-7. So need isofix and roomy boot.

Will get second hand and up to£35k.

Volvo XC90?
Another Picasso?
Discovery?
Ford galaxy?

What car would you get?

Any hybrids?

Galaxy. Seats fold into the floor easily, spacious for adults in the back, fits 3 car seats across, etc. Turns better than you'd expect. The Sharan is practically the same with sliding doors. I think it's a tad narrower than the Picasso which is handy in cities. I love mine.

Hybrids were out of our price range but do exist now.

VW Sharan ... wouldn't be without the sliding doors. Looked at Seat Alhambra a while ago and would definitely consider it. Same as Sharan, different badge, slightly high spec for same money. Reliable, nice to drive, comfortable and not too expensive to run - Sharan.

Chevrolet Captiva is the best 7 seater I have had (had at least 6). Worth a look op.

I was looking at VW a few months ago. My (very non car car person) opinion was old technology and not forward looking compared to other brands. Dated.

Volvo was huge and massively expensive.

Toyota had something but more estate with pop up seats than people carrier.

Galaxy seemed updated version of the people carrier from 10 years ago.

Pretty rubbish all round tbo. Not many changes from 10 years ago - very different to small cars which have massively changed.

Am interested in other views on this too.

I've just sold my Audi Q7 as no longer needed a 7 seater. Expensive but very good quality car. I had mine for 5 years without problems. Not cheap to run to be honest but I did rubbish short journeys most of the time.

Have the Seat Alhambra, & regularly transport 3 young adults & luggage, pretty sure the seats are isofix for car seats. The sliding doors make getting in & out easier for DS who has additional physical issues.

I wouldn't spend that much money on a Picasso tbh. What about a Nissan qashqai +2? Or a BMW X5? Audi Q7? I think out of your list I prefer the Discovery.

Have you looked at the new Skoda Kodiaq?

Nissan qashqai +2 back seats are tiny and not isofix, very flimsy looking. We are looking at the touran as don’t want too big a car

I think the Mitsubishi Outlander is available in a hybrid.

We have a Peugeot 5008 - love it - we had a C4 Grand Picasso before that.
The problem with most 7 seaters are that there are not full size seats in the second row - i think Citroen and Peugeot are the only ones that are, this would restrict car seat usage - we could get two boosters and a isofix in our second row.
The Kodiak certainly doesn't have full size seats.

Vw caravelle. Life changing.

The Galaxy has 7 full size seats (3 full size in middle row). I love love love mine!

Transit tourneo
The new van drives just like a car and comes with all the bells and whistles. sat nav, ac, bluetooth, pas etc.
Plenty of room.
Excellent views.

At the very least, Ford, VW, Seat and maybe others, but proper people carriers have proper seats in the back row. It’s when you go to Ford S-Max or the VW 7 seater Tiguan All Space, the Peugeot which is similar to the Tiguan, the back row are small, bucket seats, not suitable for older children or teens, low to the floor and with bugger all leg room.

I live my Nissan x trail. Bloody awesome car.

I'm not particularly interested in cars, but I LOVED my Volvo XC90.

It was a safe, comfortable, spacious car and lovely to drive.

I have the sharan. 7 proper seats.

Another vote for the xc90 love ours.

XC90 here as well. Bloody love it.

I can only comment on the XC90 which I love.

Seats 6 and 7 are roomy and an adult can sit in them when needed. Second row folds and unfolds easily.

Very, very, very safe car, but also powerful and fun. Responsive and interesting to drive. Clever and useful tech but not overwhelming or annoying. Fast when needed but not flashy. Excellent visibility.

Some minor irritations: takes a few mins to get the car warm in the morning (although windscreen defrost is amazing), and the turning circle is huge. I drive from country into inner city, 3-4hrs a day and find it big but fine. It is a big car, but now I'm used to it I like the extra size. So far no issues with parking.

Get one with rear view camera....this is a mistake we made.

I love our galaxy- had the old one, then went on to the newer model 3 years ago. Full size seats in centre row with isofix/ loads of leg space/ seats fold down into floor which is handy for tip runs (& better than old style galaxy where you had to physically remove seats from car- easy to do, but hassle to store).
We have 3 adult children (1 has their own car), & 2 littlies, so the 6 of us fit lovely.
Only issue would be boot size- we've done holidays with all holdalls/ rucksacks in boot space so they do fit, but if you need to take travel cot/ pushchair/ highchair then you need to have 1 of the back seats folded into the floor to accomodate extra stuff- not a problem for us with only 6 passengers though.

Vw caddy maxi life is what we have. My main concern with most 7 seaters is the lack of boot space once all seats are in use. This has enough space for a boot and all the seats in use so we can get the dogs in or shopping. The seats are all big enough for an adult. Also sliding doors.

We looked at VW caravelle and transporter but decided we didn't need that much space but you have an additional child so probably worth you looking at.

Honestly 4 children meant vw for us. We tried a galaxy, Range Rover, massive Audi thing but the caravelle has been wonderful. You can manage with 3 children in practically anything but once we had 4 I was constantly stressed out until we got the van.

My neighbour has a Nissan Xtrail and loves it