People carriers - where do I find useful reviews?

[HarriedWithChildren]

i.e. written by uders, ideally parents, not car geeks?
Or alternatively, have you got a personal recommendation?
Many thanks

Ooops freudian slip in view of impending resuming of bfing with arrival of DC3

Meant users.

what is your criteria?

I wanted something affordable and that would be reliable and inexpensive to run for many many years. Mechanic said alhambra/galaxy/Sharan diesel manual so that's what I got!

Zafira is a struggle to get 3 car seats across the middle seats.

If you can afford it a sliding rear door is wonderful

We recently bought a Toyota Previa, and I love it. We have one with 2 captains seats in the middle and 3 seats at the back. The back doors are sliding and the boot is big enough for a buggy and a weekly shop.

I never thought I could love a car this much

Sleighgirl, it's a 2004, but toyotas go on forever. It's a Japanese import, we have another toyota import, 6 seater, 1997, 130,00 km but it has NEVER broken down and starts every time even though we only use it once a week now.

Look out for a Previa/ Estima (that's the japanese version), you might find a bargain

I am very much in love with our VW Sharan. It's a step down in terms of finish from our last car which was a top of the range Renault, but it's still fab.

Great features:
All seats are individual full size seats, so you could have 5 car seats in the back if required. All rear seats can be folded or removed individually. Ours has two built in child seats (integral to the seat) for children aged 9m+. You can recline these seats (not sure about safety implications ) which is fab for sleepy children on long journeys. High up. Fab front and rear parking sensors. Has an actual spare tyre which is unusual in 7 seaters apparently.

Negatives:
Not massive amount of boot space if using all 7 seats. But lots of space under feet in middle row if required. Low finish standards - no elec windows in back. Seats look a bit utilitarian, but are actually v.comfy.

I'll keep an eye on this as we're just trying to decide whether we need an MPV or not - expecting DC2 soon but do find it useful to put a 3rd adult in from time to time.

As an observation, car seats with support legs and cars with underfloor storage are not a good combination unless:

• the foot of the car seat leg completely misses the storage cover OR
• the storage cover can be removed and the foot of the car seat leg sits squarely on the base of the compartment OR
• there is a filler available for the storage compartment (ASFAIK these are only available for the Ford SMax and the VW Touran at the moment)

Previa out of our price range I'm afraid.

We got an alhambra a mid range one we've got tinted & electric rear windows, climate control, cruise control all sorts of that sort of thing. Just a bit plasticky but the mpg is amazing after the clapped out petrol automatic espace we had!

we have a diesel Peugeot 806. We have 8 seats in ours although some of them are usually out.
I wanted something with sliding doors as they are much easier to get out of in car parks especially when you don't have to worry about the DC's flinging the doors opening on the car parked next to you.
It's been great. I wouldn't get a people carrier without sliding doors now.
The 807 is the newer model, ours is old now (2001).
If I could I'd get a VW Caravelle.
We had an Espace before the Peugeot but it was quite unreliable and only did about 21 mpg (petrol though)

Caravelle - now that is MPV lust

We weren't looking at people carriers, but found www.honestjohn.co.uk/ useful when buying our car.

Wow, thanks for your replies but all your cars sound perfect. My bro has C4 and it looks great, really compact, but too expensive for us. I saw the Toyota Verso had really good reviews in What Car? but it seems to be a recent model and therefore unaffordable. I will look at the Previa and try and test drive in next few weeks if within our price range.

I really wanted a Honda but none of their people carriers can fit 3 car seats on 2nd row which is annoying (other than FRV but not what I consider a People Carrier).

I see the WW Touran has good reviews too and they seem very popular esp among childminders which must be a good reference but Japanese cars do tend to be super reliable.

SG has it in a nutshell: reliable and cheap, not bothered about the rest but not too big as parking not my forte. The 2 back seats would be just for occasional use unless of course we go for a DC4, ha!

We have an 05 (new shape) Renault Grand Scenic.

Lovely to drive & cheaper to run than some of the others (IME). Boot is huge (if seats 6 & 7 are folded down) so plenty of room for buggies, bikes, shopping etc. And lots of handy little cupboards in the main part of the car for stashing away changing stuff, snacks, DVDs, colouring things etc.

BUT... we never use seats 6 & 7 because the legroom is limited and I'm a bit freaked out about someone driving in the back of me with little ones in those seats.

Also, it's a PITA with 3 high back boosters across the back of it (when I first got it I had 2 high back boosters and one forward facing babyseat, and that was slightly easier). I have to sit the children on the seat, pull them out to strap them in and then jam them back in again. 3 booster cushions are a lot easier.

So overall, I like it, but if I had my time again, I'd buy a Fiat Multipla.

I have a diesel Toyota Corolla Verso, which is the model before the current Verso. Love it, it's fab but I wouldn't put anyone in the back seats as I wouldn't for a Touran or a Zafira either having seen the footage where they shunted a lorry into the back of a Zafira I think it was and you could see the dummy's heads bounce off the fender.

As a 5 seater it is fab and hopefully will keep going for years as my last Toyota did.

Forgot, HonestJohn has a forum who were all very helpful when we were researching which car to buy.

Honest John looks scarily technical. I'll revert temporarily to '40s housewife mode and get DH to have a look.

So key questions for me now are:

Which have got really useful rear seats that you wouldn't worry about putting your DC and, to a lesser degree, your visiting parents in?

Which have got a decent head height as DH tall and will be doing long journeys in it?

Which can you easily fit 3 front facing child seats in 2nd row (like to keep'em close for snack distribution/chatting/etc...)?

Sharan and Previa strong contenders at present

We have a Grand Scenic, which is good because seats 6 & 7 are always there they fold flat into floor, however you need to slide middle 3 seats forward to increase leg room in seats 6 & 7. Boot huge have had 4 bags of shopping behind seats 6 & 7.

We've got a ford s-max and I love it.

Its plenty roomy enough for 3 car seats in the rear and good boot space too.

Never thought I would like an mpv.

Sharan/Galaxy & Alhambra tick all your boxes and they are all the same car just different finishes inside and different badge so the Alhambra is cheapest just because it's a seat rather than VW - they are made in the same factory!

Mine has parking sensors to make life easier.

My lovely mechanic (known him for 12 years and not been wrong yet) said you can't go wrong with a manual diesel (so do not get petrol or automatic) and get as new as you can afford and newer with slightly high mileage is preferable to low mileage but older car as the engine should do at the very least 150k but will probably go forever.

DH is 6'2" and we drove 300 miles with only one break in the summer and was fine.

3 forward facing car seats - fine, I have to help to the 3 point belts up sometimes as mine are all in back booster seats but it isn't buckle crunch it's just needing longer fingers to reach down. They can undo them fine to get out.

Does about 650 miles to a tank, mainly short journies - probably 70 litre tank?

Thanks again for all your ideas. As soon as we thaw, hopefully before DC3's arrival, I'll get test driving.