What is the smallest engined, 7 seater car available?

[KatyMac]

I'm a childminder

I drive 6 miles twice (or three times) a day with half a dozen children in one way plus 1 or 2 10-15 mile journeys a week with a variety of children & ages

I do not need to bomb along at 70mph ever

So why don't they make (or can't I find) a large car with a small engine so I can be fuel economical and vaguely green?

I have considered a horse & cart.....but I'm afraid of horses & am struggling with
a) fitting car seats to a cart
b) getting insurance
c) convincing OFSTED
d) convincing my DH

So back in the real world is there such a thing as a small engined people carrier?

I sometimes suggest a horse and cart to dp too! dp is a mechanic for fords and says the smallest galaxy is 1.9 diesel, but it does 30mpg, but he thinks there may be 1.7 vauxhall zafira? not that small I know!

Why?

It's silly

I don't need to go fast or far

I think about converting a milk float - but again the OFSTED/Insurance/car seats stuff comes up

My DH has a smart car - if they made a people carrier out of that it would be light enough to have a smaller engine (hell if they put a smaller engine in it would be light enough to have a smaller engine)

The most fuel efficient, cheap to buy, cheap to run car we found was the Kia Carens CRDi 7 seater. It's cheap on car tax and does around 45mpg combined.

It certainly isn't a beauty, but we paid around £10k for ours brand new as they had an offer on them, plus they have a bonus offer for parents of twins which reduced the price. They even took our old tin can car as part exchange.

ive a 1.6 renault grande scenic 7 seater as a mum of 3 its fab for us paid 6500 2 year old x

The Kia is still a 2l - I'd be killed on car tax

1.6 is better but still why so big?

You need a reasonable-sized engine for a 7-seater.

Sorry.

My friend is a childminder and has just got a lovely 1.5l diesel Grand Scenic. She states it is lower on tax and cheap to run too

If you had less than a 1.6 you wouldn't be able to pull away. 7 seaters are heavier and the weight distribution is totally different.

Why?

Replace the metal panels with plastic
Replace the engine with a smaller (therefore lighter) one

It can't be that difficult = look at a milk float

Safety I imagine.

I certainly wouldn't want to drive my children around in a plastic car.

car tax isn't based on engine size KatyMac, it's based on emmisions apparently. Our yearly car tax is the same for the Kia as my old 1.1 Fiat

Smart cars are plastic and fairly safe

Really - that's good

How do you find out your emissions I think I'm in trouble with my Fiat Uylesse (sp)

I have no idea how you know what the vehicle emissions are, but the tax on the 2 litre Carens is 'only' £145 a year.

I think that's what mine is now - but it goes up next year doesn't it?

I think a 1.6 sized engine pulling a full 7 seater may cost oyu more to run than a 2ltr engine pulling the same weight as the smaller engine is being made to work harder to pull the same weight a bigger engine would cope fine with.

Someone could come along and tell me that's complete tosh, but it makes sense in my head

Our 2ltr diesel (verso) is much more economical to run than our previous 5 seater mazda 3 which was a 1.6 and my Beetle which was also a 1.6.

HTH

Katy I know ts bigger than what you want, but I bought one of these last year, the best car ever for a CM, I can get 7 kids, in a double single buggy, 3 full car seats accross the back and 3 backed boosters in the middle, loads of storage under the seats to. Brilliant car.

The greenest 7-seater appears to be the Grand Picasso, katymac

(1.6 diesel)

Smart cars have a metal cage apparently.

Just watched this on You Tube, it's quite interesting!

I still wouldn't put my children in one (not that they'd all fit!)

there's a 1.6 zafira i think... was looking in papers recently as will need one next year

DO NOT GET A PETROL ZAFIRA!!!! They drink fuel. Diesels OK though. (1.9 smallest)