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Original poster

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

105 replies

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 02/09/2020 20:19

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??

OP posts:
Underbrella · 03/09/2020 21:47

We have a 8 seat version Toyota Alphard (or the Owl fart as the kids like to call it). It was a low mileage Japanese import & we've had no problems, tho it does speak in Japanese and the text on the console is in Japanese if that bothers you. Can be changed though. Fab for camping for a couple of weeks with our family of 6.

Agwen · 03/09/2020 23:24

Short wheel base VW Caravelle here. Middle seats can be turned around to be rear facing which my 3 sons loved when tiddly as when friends were coming back to play after school it felt like a youth club Grin

4 isofix points (maybe five- can't remember if there is one in the middle at the back or not)

The seats are all on sliding rails so you can have as much or as little boot space as you like, or you can remove some seats entirely (and temporarily) if you want to.

Sliding doors which makes getting in/out really easy. Plus it fits well into a regular car parking space which is a big bonus!

It also has a sturdy folding table in the back and masses of storage nooks and crannies, eg spacious drawers under each of the rear seats. There is a big gap between the drivers/passenger seat which means I can easily get from the front into the back when parked up if one if the children need something and it's raining. Was v handy when kids were still being bfed/needing nappy changes etc.

Brilliant for camping as it all gets chucked in the boot without any fuss- even with a cage for our pooch.

I love it so much! It's 14 years old and done 160k miles but I maintain it well and it is very sound. Its a total work horse and takes everything i chuck at it (it's even 4wd, handy in the winter eg) Plus it looks really nice as I have some big rims on it Wink

I drive it every day and it always makes me happy :)

Agwen · 03/09/2020 23:24

Oops, sorry for long post- basically an ode to my van Grin

LadyofMisrule · 04/09/2020 11:27

Peugeot 807 with sliding electric doors. All the seats are full-sized so you can carry 7 adults comfortably. They have stopped making it now, but have another similar one that we are eyeing up as a replacement when ours finally dies.

TheWordWomanIsTaken · 04/09/2020 12:25

Had a brand new Zafira - hated it. Seemed very light on motorways and I never really felt safe driving it.
Traded in for a VW Touran - loved it. Much more solid than the Zafira.
Traded that in for another Touran.
And would happily buy a third but no longer have a need for that size car.

Tootletum · 04/09/2020 12:28

@Agwen I'm the same about our Caddy.
Basically want everyone to own one, as I think they're totally overlooked as the perfect vehicle for active families.

Guineapigbridge · 04/09/2020 14:58

Sliding doors are your friend.
We have a Sharan. It's pretty good. Flexible interior. Useful for all types of trip.

mumsiedarlingrevolta · 04/09/2020 15:04

Had a VW 7 seater-forget what it was called and I really liked it.

I am a vote against the Sharan-I hated mine. Always having things wrong-little things but just felt cheap for a lot of money. To be fair this was at least 10 years ago trying to figure out how long by eldest DC school run

Next I had the Volvo XC90.
Loved it-best ever.
Easy to drive, easy to park. Felt solid and safe. Great, flexible interior.
Even drove a single scull across the country on its roof!

Now DC have grown and I don't have it anymore but loved it!!

mumsiedarlingrevolta · 04/09/2020 15:07

*just realised that is wrong^^ the sharan was the VW one I liked-

Please replace Sharan in above post with Galaxy every time

Asdf12345 · 04/09/2020 15:09

We have two landrover discoveries, one of which is seven seats and love it to bits.

IHateCoronavirus · 04/09/2020 15:15

We swapped our Citroen c4 (fab for car seats and good boot space when 1 or more of the back row seats were down) for a Nissan xtrail (only space for two car seats unless you use the passenger seat) by my word we all love the xtrail and I normally couldn’t give a shit about cars.

CurlyMango · 05/09/2020 21:23

Discovery. 7 seats, plus still boot space.comfort and safety.and goes anywhere

Laundrywoman · 05/09/2020 21:45

A curve ball incoming; a Toyota Alphard, superb car, imho. Google the pics, op.
They're a Japanese import.

Gymntonic · 05/09/2020 22:06

We've had a scenic and a galaxy and now have an smax and Kia Sorento ( complete with it's silly spelling). Smax is possibly best for your car seat needs. Ours are teens now and the Sorento is a pretty good facsimile of a vc90 and was more than then grand cheaper. Will probably go for a Sportage when dd1 goes to university and we finally trade in the smax.

Shylo · 05/09/2020 22:09

I’m still driving my 2009 touran which I’ve had from new - it’s super solid and still going strong, an absolute tank of a car :) plenty of space inside although the boot becomes very small if all 7 seats are in use but we just used a roof box if needed

Original poster
JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 05/09/2020 22:17

Hiya! Wow thanks for all these responses

So actually my mum's ndn has an Alphard. It does look good. My local garage has a couple of preloved Proace Versos for about £22k each which is also interesting.

We went to look at Ford yesterday and I must admit I liked the Grand Tourneo Connect. They do it in bright red and 2yo DS would think he was in heaven pretending to be Postman Pat Grin

We also went to VW and I must admit I was unimpressed. With the service more than anything. We had made an appt but the lady was doing something else when we came so she left us to look round on our own - with a used Touran that hadn't been cleaned. When she did sit down with us, she didn't know basic stuff like the boot dimension - she didn't offer us a test drive - and when we asked, said we could one next Tues (taking annual leave) or in a fortnight Hmm they didn't have a Sharan for us to look at.

I am swinging between the Tourneo Connect and a Toyota minivan tbh.

OP posts:
Youhavetobejoking · 05/09/2020 22:21

We have an XC90, love the space/safety. BUT, it's a fuel guzzler. After Lockdown stopped all the running I did with our kids I realised just how much of my salary it eats! I don't want to go back to that. Is a Galaxy more economical?

Campervan69 · 05/09/2020 22:24

We are on our 2nd Kia Sorento. I absolutely love it. Comes with a full 7 year warranty so when that runs out we get another one

We got it because we tow a caravan and it was the tow car of the year and it's been very reliable we've not had any problems with it at all.

1plus3plus1 · 05/09/2020 22:27

I love my Grand Tourneo Connect!

They do really well in reviews, but always get overlooked.

7 big seats, loads of head room, massive boot, seats very easy to put up and down, and leave a reasonable boot space (I drove 7 people and luggage to Italy and back easily and noone was cramped), sliding doors on both sides, great sunroof, drives really well, and cheap to service. And SO much cheaper than a traditional "family 7-seater" to buy for exactly the same specs.

I have a royal blue one, it's my perfect car! (4 kids under 12).

alabama35 · 05/09/2020 23:13

I have a new discovery with 3DC. Fantastic car, nice inside but also handles whatever driving conditions are thrown at it.
DH has a Volvo, found it to be very reliable.

Flowersmakemyday · 05/09/2020 23:16

Another one here for the Toyota Alphard. We have the seven seater and it's so spacious. Includes footrests for the middle seats, drop down cd player, curtains/blackout windows and still room in the boot for shopping, etc. We converted it to LPG and get about 55 mpg. That's about the same as our previous quashquai

MrsMime · 05/09/2020 23:24

We have a Chevrolet Captiva. Suits us fine with 4 kids but we do pop a roof bag on for holidays.

Allthebubbles · 05/09/2020 23:28

We had a Mazda 5 and now have a Seat Alhambra which is a similar set up ( sliding doors/ 3rd row of seats in boot/ large boot)

I love the Alhambra, it is so spacious and comfortable and we can fit so much in it. The Mazda was a bit pokier in comparison.

SeasonallySnowyPeasant · 06/09/2020 09:39

I previously had a Toyota Verso and now have the Prius+. I loved the Verso and would have happily got another one if they had done a hybrid version (we had a diesel and got about 400 miles from the tank but then the diesel scandal broke Hmm). Both cars have 3 full-size, independently-movable seats across the middle row. The two back seats have more leg room in the Prius+ and there's more room in the boot with them up but otherwise they're of a muchness. The only downsides for me are that the Prius+ is about 5cm too long to open the boot in my garage, which I realise is a niche problem, and that it's not compatible with a boot-mounted bike rack so we have to choose now between a roof box and the bikes. It hasn't been a problem space-wise, even for camping, but I'm 5'4" and can't get the bikes on the roof without a step ladder.

Mumdiva99 · 06/09/2020 09:57

@SeasonallySnowyPeasant I have a prius plus and love it but we have just discovered the bike rack issue. We want to carry 5 bikes- 4 on the rear and one on the roof but can't get the rack.

How many do you put on the roof and do you have a picture? Are they hybrid bikes or racers? And how do you get them off when you get to your destination? - we need places like the old horse mounting blocks to drive along side to be able to reach the roof! Lol.

Apart from the bike thing I love the car.

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