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?

VW caravelle is fab - huge but a fantastic reliable car - we call ours the cockroach 250k on clock and she still goes - we are now adapting ours to a camper to keep using it.
We have always also had a smaller 7 seater

Sharan - great
Toyota avensus verso - superb- not exciting to drive but economical,roomy, very reliable - I was upset the day an arse wrote it off.
Now have a galaxy- it’s lovely and roomy but do not consider the diesel - it’s been a bit of a nightmare due to the DPF and entire exhaust revenue system - mechanic says it’s just a bad design but I’m getting tired of koongvat him 😱

We have a Kia Sedona
Big car with loads of room, sliding doors are amazing.
We’ve had several others over the years and this is the best by far.
Solid big seats, they do not fold down into the car, but are all on a sliding rail to adjust foot room.
Easily seats 7 adults.
We have one seat permanently removed which leaves huge room in the car for everything.

We've got 2 Ford grand c-max. Genuinely excellent for day to day, normal size, you can use it as a six seater which leaves space for a pram in the middle.

The only thing is tiny boot with all seven seats up (although still big enough to fit mothercares ultra compact folding pram behind the third row.

We learned pretty early on that with 5 (now 7) kids there is no car in existence that will take people and luggage for a holiday - so big roof boxes all round.

My next 'car' will be a toureno custom.

Kia Carens. Ours has been fab. Had it ten years. Cheap to buy and run. Good to drive.

We have an XC90 which I hate, turn circle of a jumbo jet, minimal boot room with all seats up plus ours is really awkward for car seats and getting kids in and out.

We also have a VW Caravelle which I love, not stylish to look at but OMG it's a god send with kids/car seats/dogs/bikes and it runs so well!

We have the xc90 and I LOVE it but;

We have three rear facing car seats in the second row. We are tall and it restricts leg room in the front to an uncomfortable level (in comparison to the same in an SMax where there was more leg room in the front with the same car seats behind. The overall size of a vehicle is misleading as a bigger engine means less space inside hence smax being internally bigger than XC90)

Middle seat in second row has no isofix

Kids are not supposed to sit in the third row (Volvo recommendation) and the leg room in the third row isn’t great. Plus you’d need a narrowish car seat in the centre of the second row to allow the third seat to fold down to get access to the third row seats

It’s big (wide and long) and the doors are massive so parking and being able to get kids in and out is more difficult

It’s high - harder to lift kids into seats

On the positive side it’s lovely to drive, the turning circle (mentioned above) is much smaller than the SMax, it feels super safe, all the gadgets are brilliant (parking cameras, keyless entry, remote start, safety features are particular favs) and the boot is huge (although we aren’t using the third row of seats)

Just for the discovery sport 7 seater. Love it.

What are the noise levels like inside the Caravelle on the motorway, particularly compared to the XC90. Thanks

I love my Peugeot 5008. It’s definitely worth a look at.

Get a Multimac

I have an x trail and love it BUT we have only have 3 kids so the back seats are only occasional use when transporting friends etc. I wouldn’t recommend it if you have 4 kids as the back seats are not permanent seats and take up a lot of the boot space when up, it’s a good car if you just need extra seats occasionally.

My friend has Chrysler grand voyager and that was great. Slidy doors and it had 3 seats as the back row and 2 in the middle row so you could get to all 5 seats in the back if you knelt in the middle of the car!

We've got Seat Alhambra and I'm happy with it. Spec seems fine (I have parking cameras etc) and I do appreciate the sliding doors in car parks. We only have three kids but regularly use one of the back row seats (they are independent of each other) because they like to have a bit more space. So still plenty of boot space alongside.

We did look at the XC90 but in all honesty the Alhambra was more practical and a third of the price. And XC90s/Discoveries are absolutely everywhere here - they seem a bit of a must-have country lifestyle accessory, and I kind of rebelled against them!

We love our Citroen c4 grand Picasso exclusive. Possibly going to replace it with another of the same for next car!

Volvo! Love mine, great spec, quality car. My two teens fit in the back back seats. The main back seat is 3 full seats across. The boot is huge with back back seats down and still room for buggies and bags when those seats are up. I put all the back seats down and fit a full length single divan bed in it!

Downside you'll prob end up with an older one than the other examples you gave for £35000.

Mine is 2011 and I paid £16,000 a year ago. I have full leather, climate controlled, rear heated seats, nav, blue tooth for phone, DVD player and screens (to give you an Idea of spec/cost)

Love it and definitely buying a newer one next year!

Fanks forgot to tag you in my noise levels post above. What is the difference between the XC90 and the caravelle on the motorway?

My DH always gets a 7 seater as a company car and as it gets changed every 6 -9 months we have had most of the common ones. I think the first decision is whether you want 7 full sized seats or a 5+2. We have tended to prefer full sized 7 seaters up until now, but now one of our children has already left home and the next one is not far off doing so, we only use all 7 seats occasionally so we have opted for a 5+2 next time. We've got a Peugeot 5008 on order and it looks like it will tick all the boxes for us, including reasonable fuel economy for a car of its size. Of the full sized MPVs we have had, I think the VW Sharan is probably my favourite. We have had about 6, and all have had no problems with any of them. Of course we don't keep them long but DH does very high mileages. If I was spending my own money I would get the Seat Alhambra though as its the same as the Sharan but cheaper.

MAFIL thanks that is helpful. Had we had three children we would have gone for the seat I think but we will have four in big car seats for the next few years. The oldest is only 5 now. So we need five seats regularly and 6 every time we go out as a family, weekends and holidays really. Or whenever I would need to accommodate another adult with me.

VWSharan is fab- sliding doors, loads of space and reliable.