To think a new/ex demo 7 seater would be a waste of money for us?

[Mastersstudent83]

For context, we are a family with 3 older dc still at home (1 adult who doesn't drive, 1 teen, 1 pre teen) and one just graduated from uni, not living with us but visiting every 6 weeks or so. We currently own a 2 year old hatchback (bought ex demo 2 years ago). This is the first time we have owned a nearly new car, having had years of running old bangers into the ground.

Most days this works well for us, as during the week there is only usually the driver or the driver and one passenger in the car. It's been reliable, is under warranty, has fairly good fuel efficiency (though not great for it's size), is easy to drive around town and the monthly finance is low as a percentage of our income.

However, when our dc who has left home comes to visit/when grandma comes to stay/on longer trips/ddog comes along with us all, it's not at all suitable. We either stick to walkable distances or split up the group and some of us take a bus/train instead. These situations crop up at least monthly, and although it's the minority of the time, when it happens it's just so inconvenient we have come to the conclusion that we do need to go back to a 7 seater.

The trouble is, DH loves the peace of mind of owning a newer car under warranty and would prefer this. I totally appreciate this. The younger 2dc are autistic and breaking down in an old, unreliable car would just be awful for everyone. We do rely on a car to get around as public transport overwhelming for youngest dc. But the payments on a nearly new car of this size would be £££ more than we currently pay. Although we could afford this, we don't have much left on our mortgage, and we were planning to pay this off early. This won't happen so soon if the car payments increase significantly. Plus the depreciation will be huge.

With our kids' ages, I don't think we will need a bigger car for long, so I wonder if it might be a better idea to buy a 12 plus year old Volvo XC90 in cash. The excellent safety record, luxury spec and good boot space even with the rear seats up is what attracts me to this model. I understand Volvos have a good reputation to go on for years if you buy one with FSH and maintain well. DH is sceptical, so I would love to hear people's experiences with older Volvos and thoughts about this situation generally.

Kind of reassuring to hear you came to the same conclusion. Keep thinking there must have been something obvious we didn’t come across!

Thanks so much @InveterateWineDrinker for your very helpful crash test post. Lots to look at here.

We got rid of our 09 plate Volvo xc90 about 3 years ago, as it was starting to get expensive to maintain (plus it was a diesel guzzler on short runs). However, I would say dH and I just loved it as a car, and if we won the lottery would definitely buy a new one.

Depending on what your two smaller cars are their combined road tax maybe less than an XC90 which will attract the luxury tax at first registration.

That is a very good point. I think on balance, I'm leaning more towards getting a cheaper new/ish 7 seater, as it does seem from comments here that it will be possible to find one that isn't much more expensive than our current hatchback. If we can get a new 7 seater with good warranty for a similar expense as we are currently paying, we wouldn't need to compromise on our goal to overpay the mortgage and we would have a car that works better for us.

I don't know how far you venture out but if your car payment is going to rise to £600 per month for another 3 years or so on finance, plus increased cost of insurance, increased fuel costs, possibly higher road tax, higher costs for maintenance such as larger tyres etc, could it not be more cost effective long-term to prioritise the mortgage and use a taxi if bus or train isn't feasible?

For the one or so times per month you need the larger car, would you always be travelling so far that a taxi would be over £40, £60, £100? If not, 12 months of taxi payments when the issue crops up would be considerably less cost than changing car and committing to a new finance agreement.

Is your current car paid off? You mentioned it has been 2 years and is £300 a month- does it have any negative equity you need to factor in too?

Thanks @Wizardonabroom. We are getting the car serviced soon and the dealership have agreed to value it for us too, so we will hopefully know soon if we are in negative equity. I don't think it will be much, as we put down a deposit, but we will see.

You raise a good point about the taxis. However, I would say probably every 2 or 3 months, mainly half terms and holidays, we do end up travelling a fair way for several of the days in that week. We live in an area between a few National Parks, beauty spots and the coast, within 30 minutes to an hour's radius, and we do like to make the most of this when we all get together, even in Winter.

There are also trips to visit DM who lives around 2 hours away and doesn't have a car (about 3 or 4 times a year), and we go on at least one UK holiday a year as well. Even without any extra passengers, the ability to give the dc a bit of breathing space on these longer trips would be a very nice option.

I agree with all your points about cost like extra insurance, tax, higher payments etc as these were the exact reasons I wasn't keen on buying new, but a new Jogger or similar could be a solution to this.

Is there a possibility of the non-driving adult becoming a driver? We found it really useful to have a small car for the 'motorised shopping trolley' trips and a large one for holidays/dog/the dump. We both needed a car so it wasn't a mad luxury. Then you just take two cars.

I would hire one, leave dog home.
Your 19 year old will soon have their own car.

12 years is not old for a car these days as they are so much better made. We always need a 7 seater plus dog space. The only thing about the Volvos (and I do love Volvos) is that they are so expensive and absolutely ran into the ground with mileage and towing, when you read the MOT reports (which you can access on line with the reg number) a lot end up with rusting subframes.

It is useful to have a smaller car too just for nipping to the shops etc rather as they are quicker to get in a small car park, use this petrol etc.

From my experience we have had :-

Nissan Elgrande - mostly imported, good prices, excellent cars. There is a dealer in Birmingham called Jap Imports who sells them at a much better price than one second hand off an independent forecourt. Can't fault these cars. Great fun. The Toyota Alphard is the same car with different branding (and usually more expensive).

Chevrolet Captur - not many about without high mileage but it's basically the Volvo but cheaper. Good chunky car. I have the diesel one currently.

As people aren't as familiar with these cars you can get a good deal.

My Dsis has a Volvo of about a similar age and in the last 18 months it’s been such a pain in terms of stuff going wrong. Weird electric faults that are a pain to fix seems to be its current thing to work through.
it’s a lovely car and is lovely to drive but it’s getting pretty expensive to keep on the road

1st XC90, petrol, owned from new. Got very expensive from 9 years old.
2nd, diesel, bought at 12months old. Now 12 years old.

Love them both but no way would I buy one close to 10 years old. Also bootspaxe is very limited when third row of seats are both up.

Just hire a small car for the extra passengers and use your car for the dog. It seems bonkers to buy a new car for ad hoc travel. You do realise these trips will fade out as your children get older? Just stick with what you have and hire an extra car if you need to.

Thank you, but not everyone's situation is the same as their dc get older. As mentioned earlier in the thread, my DM doesn't drive and my 2 youngest are autistic, need space as travelling can be stressful, and will require trips out as a family for a lot longer to come than most at their age, possibly indefinitely for one of them. Perhaps it wasn't intended, but your phrasing of 'you do realise' seemed insensitive.

Personally, I know many people who own more than 1 car or a larger car for various ad hoc reasons, like towing a caravan or horse box, a big boot for trips to diy stores and garden centres, extended visits from parents etc. I do think in our case it is reasonable to upsize, I just was not sure how much would be reasonable to spend.

Any 12 year old car will always be a bit of a dice roll, and with a big Volvo if anything significant needs doing it's will be costly.
If you or your husband know their way around cars it could be a good option, or maybe a disco 4?

Haven't seen an S-Max mentioned yet - absolutely superb family vehicles, but lost to the fashion of SUVs and Crossovers. You could get one of the marks 2s and it would really suit your needs without breaking the bank. Or.you could just pick up a cheap old one and chance your arm - ideally manual with the timing belt done - take some searching - but if you found one - winner

I don't think you read through all her posts that explained. This isn't a short term situation for her family, they have children with additional needs so this is a situation that will exist for years to come. And ideally they'd have a solution to have both parents in 1 car to help support their children and keep everyone safe.

OP - as you know, we went round in similar circles (though only have 2 children so slightly easier to consider other options) and ended up sticking with a 7 seater. We live in a city so parking is annoying and I'd really prefer a smaller runaround, but it's just not practical for our lives. You have a decent amount to put down and hopefully more if you trade in, so I really do recommend just putting it all together and getting a car that will last many years to come - you shouldn't need to get a brand new Dacia if you go that route, there were several in our area in the 3 year old range and we found one that was 2 years old with 3,000 miles on it so definitely new enough for us!

Even without additional needs it's more practical and economical to go with everyone in one car. I'm late 30s and it's only since our second child came along we have stopped all traveling in one car for days out my in-laws. If there's only 3 of us and my in-laws we still take 1 car. We once had a very cosy trip from the south of France with 4 adults and a child in a car seat in a ford focus!

Thanks @PurpleThistle7 . Your understanding and advice are much appreciated x

Wow, @Superscientist . You are very brave to have made that trip! Hope it all went smoothly for you.

The good thing about Dacias is they are so basic that there’s less to go wrong on them! They are certainly no frills, but this can work to your advantage if you don’t like forking out for car repairs for silly things!

It was ok, we had 3 drivers on rotation and just took plenty of stops. It was a 1300 km drive over 2 days.
We did the same trip this year but went in two cars 2 adults and a child in each, we did look at hiring a 7 seater bit decided, for this trip, actually 2 cars would be better overall. Had one of us had a 7 seater we would have used and would use it semi regularly on trips.

My parents have a bigger car for towing a caravan and you can comfortably fit an adult between the two car seats so if I go out for the day with them and both children we take both cars.

As you say, I think you mind is fully made up about wanting/needing the 7 seats it's about working how much is sensible to pay and what is the right car.

I didn’t mean to sound insensitive. My DD is AuDHD and I never thought she’d be able to stay at home or choose not to come on family days out but she has. Obviously I don’t know your circumstances so apologies to you. But my thoughts about the car still stand. I wouldn’t buy a bigger car. Both you and your husband can drive so I’d hire a small car to accommodate additional passengers as and when you need to.