CM Club: All those who have a PEOPLE CARRIER.............

[looneytune]

Would you mind naming your vehicle and telling us what you think of it, like a mini review? A couple of us are about to buy a people carrier and it would really help with making a choice.

Thanks

I've got a VW Touran 2.0 Turbo Diesel so not as big as some here. But it does have 7 seats. The back two are just childsize but that's okay because DD loves going back there with her friends. I love it! It drives v. well. Parks easy as it is about the same size as a saloon. I fill up about 1x a month. I get about 440 miles to each tank.

I used to have a Fiat Ulysse with 8 seats, but leg room and boot space was not too good when you have teenagers (my own) to take around with you. About 18 months ago when it was time for a change we really stretched ourselves and bought a Mercedes Viano 2.2 turbo diesel, long wheelbase. Its the best vehicle for childminding that I have had over 15 years. There are 8 seats all with full seatbelts, leg room in all 3 rows for adults and a boot which will hold an unfolded 3-wheel pushchair (I do have to fold the double). It has been used (with some seats removed) to move furniture and large garden toys, and if you remove the back row we can go on holiday with grandparents, dogs and luggage and have room to spare. It is a bit big when it comes to parking but it has excellent power steering and parking sensors all the way round (although occasionally I ignore them, oops anothe scratch!) Hope this helps

VW Touran 2.0 TDI. Fantastic car - seven seats, 0-60 a damn sight quicker than a renault espace and I really do average 45mpg. With all seven seats up I can get a single buggy in the boot, but not my double buggy - however, we took it to France in the summer with a roof box and haven't bothered taking the roof box off so stick double buggy up there. I love my car!

Mazda Bongo - 8 seats, all except the front ones fold down to make a huge van, seats fold down flat to make a bed, roof lifts to make another bed, no bigger (but much higher) than a Ford Mondeo,easy to drive, cheap to insure, diesel, and a fab name. What more could you want?

Should have added that when dh changed his company car he got a Toyota Corolla Verso which is supposed to have 7 seats. I use this when my Viano is in the garage and we call it the sardine can. No leg room, and if all the seats are in use not even enough room for an umbrella buggy in the boot!

We looked at them all and plumped for the mazda 5 because of:
(A) sliding doors (fab fab fab)
(b) you can remove the middle seat in the middle row which means that an adult can sit in the back row and still have plenty of legroom between the two middle seats. Gives you lots of options for mix of adults and kids that you don't normally get (because back row normally only has kid-size legroom but the back row seats can't take child seats, only boosters...)
(c) still a car-sized car, so not a killer on fuel economy etc.

We liked quite a few cars until we tried out the back row of seats. some of them criminally small with zero legroom. make sure you try them out otherwise you may waste money for something that has no practical use at all.

bump (to help me worth through the list)

i am going to test drive (hopefully..everyone alst weekend was sold)..a very sexy light green multipla on saturday

Bump for myself as currently looking to buy one.

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We love our Toyota Previa. An old 8 seater, loads of luggage space, completely reliable but expensive to run.

In fact, exactly what someone has already said I think.

We have a Nissan Serena....
I wouldn't bother. Its diesel and all that.. but when they go wrong they go wrong. The last time anything went wrong we were on holiday and it cost us £1000 to fix it It needed a whole new engine.

another vote for the renault grand scenic. i have a 1.5 diesel and it gets about 55mpg (a fill of diesel lasts about 600 miles). when i have all 7 seats up i have a high back booster and a normal booster in the boot seats, 2 stage 1 car seats in the middle row and a baby car seat in the front passenger. the good thing is the air bag can be turned off. i can also fit my p&teds in the boot and put the 2nd seat in the middle row. the insurance group was what swayed it for me and the 5* safety rating. insurance was only group 5 where as the other i had looked at like the vw sharan, seat alhambra and ford galaxy were all group 12+ which meant the insurance would have been too high.

hth

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I have a Zafira, it's great to drive and not too big but when all the seats are up I can't fit the double buggy in the boot

shosha what model is your graco and how do you fit it in?

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I have had 3 different ones so will give you my opinion of each. I had a 95 N reg Ford Galaxy, lovely nice high ride, 7 proper seats, not alot of boot space, and loads of plastic bits snapped off and broke which was a bit rubbish, parking a bit tricky but ok. Then got a Vauxhall Zafira, lovely size for parking and good that you get a proper boot when seats 6 & 7 are down but a fiddle if you use all 7 seats all the time with forward facing car seats. Have a Fiat Ulysse for childminding, love it, 8 seats back seat is a bench, sliding doors excellent especially for school run and car parks, diesel too, I am seriously considering getting an up to date version of the this as it has electric sliding doors which are fab and its also easy to park cos it a bit squarer!!!! HTH and good luck with the search