Do you have a 7 seater? Come tell me about it!

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

We have 3 children aged 5.5 and under so all in car seats / boosters. We are managing, just, with a Corolla, but I'm not happy with the safety. We want a car that can fit them all properly plus room for a friend or gear if we go on holiday.

Top priorities are a super reliable workhorse of a car. Currently booked in to view
Tiguan Allspace
Touran
Tourneo Connect
SMax
Galaxy
Anything else we should consider??

I used to have a Grand Picasso which I loved, especially as I ha£ the model you could open just the back window rather than the entire boot. Downside was the the seats in the rear row are small. Mine complained about them when 9 and 12.

I have the Prius plus which u adore, although turns like a boat. The back seats are full-size. If you only use the centre row the leg room is amazing, I wanted to change mine for a newer one, but they have stopped making it.

I’m looking at cars with 3 separate seats in the back rather than a 60/40 split. It isn’t easy, I’m looking at a Galaxy/Sharan

had zafiras and c4 grand picassos, would go for a diesel grand picasso again as fab on fuel and more space than the zafira

I had the Nissan quashqui +2. Loved it. Was really comfy. Just purchased a kia sorrento but its currently being fixed because something happen to the clutch 20 mins after we left the garage with it. It seems massive though so I'm looking forward to having it.

Wow, lots to think about! This is all really helpful. Thanks.

Considering a Sharan, now, too. We need a decent boot as we live near beach and moorland and would be taking heaps of kit, bikes etc potentially.

I have a Vauxhall combi life XL. It’s a van with seven seats but it’s actually quite comfy, has most of the mod cons. Two decent back seats with boot space behind. The two back seats can be removed easily so one is in my loft as I only need a six seater. With all the pros though it still is a van. I had an allspace it was great until DS2 grew too big for the back row.

Peugeot 5008
2018 model
Serious car. Can comfortably transport our 3 across the back seat. 2 in maxi cosi axiss and one in brittax romer. Have buggies and scooters in the boot and will comfortably take my weekly groceries aswell

Also transported 7 adults on a long journey

We’ve had a Touran which we loved and a BMW 2 series gran tourer which looks a bit less mummy-mobile but drives less nicely.

A vote for the Citroen c4 grand Picasso here. Takes 3 child seats with isofix across the back seat and has the option of 2 more seats or a big boot.

Yes Peugeot 5008. Fabulous.

We have a Renault grand scenic we can fit 3 car seats side by side In the middle row and they all have isofix. The two boot seats are a good size and can fit an adult quite comfy as well.

Citroen C4 Gran Picasso....brilliant car..tons of room and we have the airstream which makes you feel like you're in a plane.

We've had a galaxy for the last 8.5 years, in the course of which we've gone from 2 to 4 children, including a stage of three car seats. As we need all 7 seats up all the time, we wanted a 'proper' 7-seater rather than one with 5 seats and 2 jump seats in the back. We regularly transport adults in the very back seats and they are great for DC1 & 2 who are out of car seats now.

It's a fantastic car, easy to drive and park(in contrast to 4 x 4s we tried), great for long journeys and we can fit two suitcases in behind the two back seats when we're away. Boot is enormous with back seats down and there are masses of storage compartments everywhere.

We will probably need to replace it next year (it's 11 years old with nearly 150000 on the clock) and I can see us ending up with another as we can't fault it. Not the most glamorous vehicle but does all we want. Only other one I'd consider is the Alhambra for the sliding doors - practically the same as the Sharan.

S- Max all the way. I'm on my second. Four kids. Now three teenagers and one younger and a dog with a big crate.
Three individual seats in the middle row.
Doesn't drive like a bus - drives like a sports car into the corners.
Shifts household furniture and building materials like a transit van.
Even if I didn't have kids I'd buy another.

Love our touran, but we use it as a 5 seater. The pop up seats in the boot are great for giving the kids friends a lift, taking grandparents with us and so on but I would not want to be using them as day to day seats. There's not that much legroom, which was fine when they were younger but not ideal as they've grown (I get that seat now as the shortest!). They also take up most of the boot, you have vertical space, but it's hard to pack and things do tend to escape when you open the boot.

My Peugeot 5008 is getting on a bit now but it’s still reliable, comfortable and very practical.

Discovery sport...attractive and surprisingly compact for a 7 seater! So easy putting extra row up/down and really spacious boot. A pleasure to drive. I love ours!

VW Touran - amazingly reliable, roomy, ticks all your boxes. We love ours

BMW 2 series Gran Tourer - great car, good offer from the dealership & you can surprise people by indicating (yes a BMW has indicators - who knew 😆)

Second the sliding door comment. Once you've had sliding doors I can't imagine how to go back to normal ones. The Alhambra/Sharan is cavernous too

Had a Galaxy when children very young. Had Smax for 8 years. Great car. Taken 7 people about 5 times in that whole time 😁 but versatility great. Great to have 3 seats but rest as a van for uni runs. Doesn't feel so much as a tank as the Galaxy did. I remenber crying trying to get the Galaxy out of a multistorey carpark!

*remember

Rather depends on budget, if you need all the seats to be full size, and if you want a proper boot with all seats up.

I adored my s max. The back seats were not quite big enough for adults. And the boot was small with them up. But it was lovely to drive and with the back seats down the boot was huge. And lots of space for 3 big car seats in the middle row.

We now have a Toyota verso which offers much the same but back seats are a bit smaller and middle row not quite as spacious. I don’t think they make them any more, the newest I’ve seen was 2018 plate.

I have a seat tarraco , which I think is built on the same base as the VW Tiguan .
I love it but I don't think it would be great if you had to permanently use the back 2 seats , as they are a little cramped , good for children from booster seat age and for quicker journeys if you had kids friends round after school etc.

Seat Alhambra - exact same as vw Sharon but cheaper

We have a 65 plate Peugeot 5008 that we bought last year. We absolutely love it. It’s so spacious and has 3 full size seats in the middle row so can easily fit 3 car seats without needing to use the two seats in the boot. We are really delighted with it and picked it up for a great price. Only downfall is that it doesn’t have sliding doors but I can honestly say that it hasn’t bothered me once.

Highly recommend!