AIBU to not get a 7 seater car?

[Cuckooooo]

We have 4 children (10, 13, 15, 17) and we're currently looking at new family cars, DH is getting a work van so it will be our only car.

DS17 has driving test booked and I'm sure will be driving soon and has money saved for his own car as soon as he passes.

Now that the kids are getting older they're often doing their own things with friends at the weekend, we rarely go anywhere as a family of 6, DS17 is usually with his girlfriend and DS15 is usually out with friends. It's usually only special occasions eg birthday meals but then we'd often get a taxi to a restaurant.

So it's got me wondering - is it worth us paying the extra for a 7 seater car for maybe only needing one once or twice a year? Especially as DS17 will soon have a car of his own so could drive himself wherever we're going?

Am I being unreasonable? If I am, what age do you think you need to provide a seat in your car for your children until?

Just for the record - my Dad had 4 children and never had a car big enough for us all, we went in 2 cars or he would do 2 journeys, picking us up and dropping us off.

Is it cheaaper to hire / take taxis when more space is needed?

Makes sense not to get a 7 seater unless you have UK holidays.
We have a 7 seater for our 5 person family and its only ever full when we go on UK holidays and take granny etc.

What about something like an S-Max or Verso with fold down seats in the boot?

We have 3 children and rarely go anywhere all 5 of us at once. DS1 13 often stays at home and/or it's only DH with 1-2 children.

Do you drive for holidays? That would be the only consideration for me, as I wouldn't really expect a 17yo to drive themselves on holiday. But possibly the one off cost of renting a 7 seater would be less than the higher cost of buying and running a 7 seater all the time.

I like a seven seater because it means I can do favours for other parents and vice versa. I never feel bad saying “hey I’m stuck at work can someone please pick up DS” on the WhatsApp group because I make sure I do more favours than I ask for.

They also tend to come with a bigger boot when the seats are not in use and we do lots of holiday road trips.

We also have grandparents stay regularly (who fly to see us).

So…. one of our cars will be a seven seater for the foreseeable future!

We had a 7 seater because one of my children lives locally and neither they, nor their partner can drive. They have 2 children and we use to drive them around quite a bit. When it finally went to the great rust heap in the sky we didn't replace it with another 7 seater because my child said they were taking driving lessons and intended to get their own car. We had a 7 seater where we could take out all 5 back seats, with LOADS of space in the back. We do miss it because we could use it as a van to take things to the tip, we could take large things home from IKEA etc. Just something to think about....

Makes sense to me.

Sounds sensible. We have a 7 seater but it usually has at least 3 car seats and 4 people in it - often more as my family love locally and we're always doing lifts etc. In the future we'll hopefully just have a normal car.

We sometimes go camping in the U.K. but it's impossible to get all the kids + camping gear in the car, even with a roof box.
So what we do is me and DH drive to the campsite (about an hour away), set the tent up, then I drive back for the kids.
But on our recent camping trip DS17 and DS15 didn't really enjoy it so I'm not sure we'll be going again as a family of 6.

Last year we had a cottage holiday in U.K. but that was mainly due to travel restrictions, we normally go abroad. But even on that occasion my mum came with us and DD10 wanted to travel in her car anyway so she didn't have to travel with the "smelly boys".

I'm thinking of booking Center Parcs for DH's special birthday next year but it's only about an hour from home, I'm sure DS17 will be happy to drive there.

I just think whatever the scenario I'm sure there is a solution. I don't like most 7 seater cars, I'm currently driving something that is ugly, boring, I must look like a childminder but I've usually only got 1 or 2 kids in it. It's also costing me more on fuel by driving something bigger than I really need for about 360 days of the year.

We downsized our car when the eldest was 17/18 - we just didn't use 6 seats often enough to warrant it.

You've just reminded me - one of my friends was in a family of six and they used to make her (the eldest) get the train on her own when they went on holiday! Always struck me as a bit mean that nobody went with her, but she didn't seem to mind.
Anyway, no, I don't think that sounds unreasonable at all. As you say, there are ways around the very small number of eventualities where you would all preferably be in one car.

Most 7 seaters are not spacious in the boot for older children anyway, so with your younger children being the ages they are, you're probably going to get limited use out of the 7 seats..

We have 3 kids and an xtrail, the back seats fold down into the floor of the boot when not needed (as opposed to having to be removed like
some cars which would be a faff) car isn’t huge like proper 7 seaters but gives us flexibility eg when MIL comes to stay ir kids friends come with us somewhere

I only have 2 kids and a 7 seater, I love it and won't be going back to a 5 seater!