What's the best seven seater around? Or should we just get a landy and have done with it?

[GloriaVanderbilt]

I would prefer something you can hose down, I mean inside, iykwim

We've four children between us at present and thinking about another. So theoretically we will need a bigger car...we have two at the moment and normally end up with one of us driving one car and most or all of the kids squashed in.

I'm clueless about what's out there for this size family so if anyone has any suggestions I'd be grateful.

We have a Fiat Doblo, it has five full seats and a huge boot and you can get a version with seven seats (economical too).

I was under impression that Land Rovers were especially expensive cars to run & maintain & do repairs/servicing on. On a purely practical basis, not a good choice unless you love the status symbol aspect of it.

We have a Kia Sedona which also has very expensive parts (I don't recommend if for that reason).

People I know with Touran, Sharan, Galaxy, Previa, or S-Max all very happy with them. I would try to get a Zafira or VW if I had to buy today. Friends who have tried & driven every 7 seater going currently have a Peugeot 508 & are iffy about it. My favourite of the cars they've had was a VW Caravelle (but pricey to buy those). Apparently Galaxy hard to do any work on yourself (?).

We just sold our discovery as it wasn't big enough for us anymore (6 of us) and was getting v expensive to keep repairinhg. They have alot of common faults. Just bought a vw transporter

the Alhambra is the same car as the Galaxy & Sharan, but better value (but rarer)

the Hyundai is comparable to the Caravelle but also better value.

\link{http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/fiat/doblo-2010.aspx\here's the Doblo} - finding a 7-seater might take a while

\link{http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/fiat/doblo/postcode/ub70bd/radius/1501/keywords/7-seater/sort/priceasc\autotrader} has only 6 7-seater Doblos nationally

\link{http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201129405240320/sort/priceasc/usedcars/model/doblo/make/fiat/radius/1501/keywords/7-seater/page/1/postcode/ub70bd?logcode=p\this one looks like good value if you don't mind red} - possibly a bit under-powered though

We have a Mitsubishi Outlander. The rear 2 seats can go down and you get a boot big enough for 2 big dogs, a buggy, bike and all bags, cases. It's really fuel efficient too.

If you've considered a caravelle, have you thought about the VW caddy maxi life? I love mine. It has 7 seats but I've removed the back row to fit dog cages. Masses of room and nice to drive.

\link{http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/volkswagen/caddy-maxi-life-2008.aspx?\Caddy looks similar to Doblo}

\link{http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/volkswagen/caddy_maxi_life/postcode/ub70bd/radius/1501/keywords/7-seater/sort/priceasc& only 3 on autotrader!}

I'm surprised no-one here has mentioned the Toyota Verso - we are now on our second (first petrol, now diesel) and it's great and doesn't feel like a tank which I know some 7 seaters do. Good mph with DH routinely getting 450 miles to a tank (around £55).

The 3 middle row seats are all individual and you can fit 3 car seats in no problem. The back 2 seats are great for kids (and smaller adults, although I admit a bit squashed for a long journey). If you have the 2 back seats folded down you have a mahoosive boot which is great for trips to Ikea etc!!

We have a Land Rover Discovery, and the 7 seats are all comfy for even tall adults. Its not expensive to maintain as there is a lot of choice of own brand parts and really good specialist nondealer garages. Loads of info on doing own maintenance out there too

What sort of fuel economy do you get, CMOT?
Our Kia Sedona (diesel) gets 38-39mpg, but we think that's very good, not sure what manuf. spec is.

Seat Alhambra has been excellent for us .Loads of power also . Intregal child seats 5 point harness on
2 seats plus intregal boosters.

some mpg stats
Brand new Ford Galaxy 47-54 mpg
2005 Galaxy Models 28-43 mpg
2005 VW Sharans 23-43 mpg
2005 Disco 3 (?is that right model) 18-30 mpg

See, when I had only 3 kids we had an ancient VW Passat Estate & routinely got in excess of 850 miles out of a single tank. Would not have a 7 seater unless I totally needed more than 5 seats. 500 miles/tank (which costs us nearly 90 quid, actually) seems pathetic.

DP bought a volvo 850 (earlier version of V70) on ebay about six years ago for £1k, by then it had well over 100k miles on the clock. Dead easy to drive and park, heated front seats and electric windows. In-car entertainment is a bit limited but that's easy to resolve with a trip to halfords.

It passed its last MOT with no hitches, starts whatever the weather and has just done 184k miles. I rarely look at the oil or water but if I'm feeling kind I pump up the tyres

We have four kids and a big dog and with a roof box we can all get in. Kids love the rear facing seats, playing sweet and sour with the cars behind!

My MiL has offered to buy us a new car, I have refused purely because I think it unlikely I will find such a reliable car for a reasonable amount of money! Worth a thought if you don't want to shell out a fortune on a newer car.

I spoke to one volvo dealer (he was delivering an XC90 to a friend) and he said he'd seen several 850s pass the 220k mark, so I think there is still some mileage in mine.

Volvos just getting going at around 50K miles.
They are built to go on for years

Another vote for the Landy. We've had ours three years now, and haven't found it expensive to run or maintain. It seems to be pretty indestructable, is comfortable on a long drive (we fairly regularly do 500 miles in one go) and as has been said is comfortable even for 6 footers in the back.

As with all 7 seaters, if you are using all seven seats, you'll have limited boot space (though still room for a couple of holdalls, or a small buggy behind the seats, but a roof box does us for holidays when the boot is full of dog.

I thought I'd hate it, but DH and I agree it is the best family car we've had (after a series of VWs, BMWs and a Merc).

Try one out at least. You can get brilliant deals second hand, or like ours was, ex dem.

We've got a Smax, love it. It was the only one of the 'smaller' mpvs that has full size seats (our 3 were all under 3 so needed the bigger car seats). The Toyota verso and a lot of the others have 7 seats, but middle 3 aren't full adult size, often 2 big then smaller one or 3 slightly smaller ones if that makes sense. SIL had a verso and liked it but was too small when the had fourth, now have chrysler (sp?) which they like but I'm not sure it has much more boot small than our Smax, just a lot more space around the seats.

This is brilliant. Thankyou so much everyone. I've got to actually get a notebook and take notes now so I can show him indoors.

I am really liking the sound of the Alhambra/Galaxy (does the galaxy have the integral seats for kids as well?) also the volvo 850. I've always wanted a volvo and he drives one already but it's smarter, newer and smaller. Not big enough basically.

If I got an older one he could keep his for work and so on. And we'd get some money back from the fiesta.

Thinking (thanks to Ragged and her stats!) that the landrover might not be fuel efficient enough for us and we live in an urban setting at the moment, who knows where we could end up one day but for now a nice old volvo sounds great to me.

I've just upgraded to a Renault Grand scenic. 7 seats, decent boot even when all 7 are up, tonnes of leg room, and drives like a dream!

I have a 1.9 diesel dci.

If you're after 7 proper seats though i'd look at the Peugeot 807 too.

I'd stay away from the Alhambra tbh, the engines are held right back, they're only 90bhp, we were looking because they're cheaper than the Galaxy but to get one with the 130 engine was a heck of a lot more than the Galaxy because they're a lot rarer. 90bhp in a car that size is bloody dangerous imo.

Yes the Galaxy does have the integral seats. They're bloody brilliant. Can be used from when they go into a forward facing sest at 9kgs right up until they are big enough to not need a booster seat. This was an option on the cars though and I don't think that many have them (there certainly weren't many around with the integral seat when we were looking).

We have a landrover disco (7 seats) and a Merc R class (6 seats in 3 rows of 2, although they now make them with 7), and love them both. I don't think that they will be the right options for you though, as fuel economy is nowhere near as good as you currently get. We get about 24mpg from the landy, and I think maybe 28 from the merc. We need the 4 wheel drive that both offer though, or we would have spent at least a month snowed in to our country abode last winter and the winter before!

I am surprised that no-one has suggested the Multipla though. We used to have one and it was a really fun car. 2 rows of 3 seats, each seat being individual and removeable if desired. If they did a luxury version then we would happily buy another one. Do take a look at one.

The vw caddy maxi life has quite a large amount of boot space even with 7 seats in. The seats are all full size too. Only trouble is that it's pricey.

The caddy does have a big boot you're right. It has isofix in the middle row of seats (if that's important to you). It has air con and tinted windows as standard as well.

I saw a maxi caddy in the street the other day and marvelled at the size of the boot.