Families of 5 - what car have you got?

[DragonLegs]

We’re looking to buy a car, probably 3 years old ish but may consider new. What do you drive?

3 kids and a spaniel here. I'm a cliche so drive a Vauxhall Zafira. Actually really fond of it. Plently of space and reliable

we had a ford smax, also had a dog

Ford grand C max. I love it. So smooth to drive, really spacious inside but not too big I can’t park it. Has the option for 7 seats which was a godsend after we went from 3 dc to 4. Ours is about 5 years old and we’ve never had a single problem with it. I’d avoid renaults like the plague following two absolute crap heaps.

Ford Grand Tourneo Connect, it's pretty much a van but we figured that the children are only going to get bigger! It's a 7 seater

Same as awkward Ford Grand CMax. Love this car - ours is 9 years old now and no problems at all. Has rear sliding doors which are honestly the best thing ever with small children.

Only issue we have is that we have the 1.6 petrol version and it is definitely a bit underpowered when we’ve got a full load. I’d get a bigger engine next time.

We had a Ford smax when DC came along but it kept cutting out so we got a Mercedes vito instead. If you didn't fancy getting a van, friends of mine have the citroen c4 and it's really good.

Vauxhall Zafira. 3 children. Have had them for years. Zafiras, that is. And children, come to think of it! Is a 7 seater if you need, so used to be really useful for ferrying friends etc. Now they're at the moving out/uni stage, it's great to have all the space for shifting their belongings here and there.

When they were younger and all in car seats- Audi Q7.
Now have a Mercedes E-Class as only the youngest needs a booster seat. The middle seat is not as big as a normal seat but my DC are all smaller than average.

We have a zafira - I wouldn't recommend it. You can't have 3 car seats across the middle row in the newest model and the rear seats have poor leg room. To get the rear seats up and down, you have to move the middle row, which is hard with childseats in. if your kids are past the child seat age, I still wouldn't recommend it as the leg room in the boot seats is to bad for regular long journeys.

Kia sorento. I am thinking about a van of some type next so we can put bikes in it.

We have an smax as needed to fit three car seats in. If you need to fit car seats it's worth checking manuals as several larger cars don't allow car seat in the middle.

I have a Toyota Prius Plus. The middle row seats are all the same size. Back row seats are full size (I checked I fitted before I bought it - 5’7” and size 22). Am looking to replace it with another exactly the same (company car)

Previous car was a Grand Picasso, I loved it, but rear row seats not full sized and older kids now 16 and 13. Sister has the current Grand Picasso and we have been swapping between them this week as staying with her.

We have fitted 2 infant car seats in side and centre seats in middle row of both cars

I have 3 kids 3 full sized seat in the back. Drive a Citroen c5 aircross its a really nice drive

Smax

Grand CMax but we feel it's now too small for us, the older ones are getting bigger and the youngest has a bulky seat. It's a squash.

We have 3 kids and a lab. First we had a Citroen C4 Grand picasso, fondly known as the tank and then a C4 picasso ( baby tank). 18 years in and oldest DC has his own car, and I now have a Tuscon, dog fits fine as does one car seat for the toddler and other teen.
The great thing about Citroen are that back seats are proper sized individual seats including the middle back seat which on our C4's also had isofix. We really noticed the difference with 5 in our C4 and 5 in the Tuscon but as that happens once in a blue moon these days we manage.

Kia Sportage love it 😊

SMax for similar reasons to a PP. we needed space for 3 car seats (kids range newborn to 8) and it was the only one that really had the space that DH liked. Our choice was limited by the car seat fitting manual ... only 3 types could take the joie 360 in the positions we needed

Zafira as well.

Love it, had no problems with it worse that a dodgy spark plug and it's now 10 years old.
Huge amounts of boot space, we have no problem as a family of 5 going to a week.

It is a little tight across the middle seats is the only thing if you have 2+ car seats, but for 3 teen children it's fine.

Qashqai+2 (7 seater). It's 10 years old now and just keeps on going and going. Best car ever. And we can fit the dog in too! We don't use it as much now that our eldest is 18 and also, we tend to cycle/walk everywhere in our neck of the woods. But for big days out and for our drives to France (which aren't happening this year, of course), as well as the years and years of birthday parties, it's been fantastic.

Ford Focus. We only ever had 1 DC using a car seat in it though. It would be right across the back with 3 car seats. Although has been done once when transporting DD & friends to a birthday party (booster seats only).

Tight not right.

We have a Citroen grand Picasso and I love it! There's bags of room and the option for the extra seats in the boot if I ever take nephews and nieces anywhere. It's the old style one which has underfloor storage so finding a car seat was a bit of a pain. Not sure about new ones? It does have isofix though across all three back seats which is handy.

Another grand Picasso here, love it. The visibility of the massive windscreen is amazing. My version is a 1.2 which seems unbelievable for a big car but the engine is brilliant - no struggles up hills for example. And it's £30 a year in tax.

BMW Gran Tourer 7 seater (2 in the middle and 1 in the back). Our next car will be a LR Discovery as it has way more room in the back!