Think we need a minibus!!

[mybootsaremuddy]

We are expecting twins begining of July which will mean we have 6 dc to transport around.

Me and dh have been discussing and looking around and as we need space for 6 dc 4 in car seats (2 x babysafe, britax twe and a hbb) 2 adults and a tripple pushchair (ABC Adventure). We have come to the conclusion that a minibus is probably our only option.

So far we are thinking either:
Mercedes Vito
VW Transporter
Ford Transit
We like these as there looks to be enough room to fit everyone in and the space behind the back row looks EMORMOUS!! which is just what we want.

Does anyone have any experience with any of these?
Any more recomendations?

would go with a transporter everytime
the vito wouldnt be far behind
the ford wouldnt even get a look in
the hyundi 1800 has had great write-ups

i am desperate for a bigger car but until no5 comes along (still trying) theres really no point me runing a larger car/bus till absolutly needed
, so we are saving for a renault traffic i love them!
id go to all your local dealers and test drive them all but not 5 mins down the road test drives, ask them if you can take them for an afternoon, allot will let you so long as you leave appropriate id ect
the size thing youll get used to eventually, id go with the parking sensors everytime lol
good luck on the car hunting and safe delivery of your twins x

I want an i800 as they look less minibus like. We looked at a tourneo the other day and the boot is fab but if you have kids in the back row in proper seatbelt you need to climb into the vehicle to clip them in (we have a galaxy at the mo so can just lean in to do it) so I've said we are waiting until the 3 bigguns can clip themselves in (currently aged 4 and twins of nearly 3) then we will upsize as can't see us going on holiday for a couple of years anyway as just had another set if twins.

The hyundai i800 is amazing, but slightly inflexible as the seats don't remove easily if you want to use it to transport something big. We actually found a garage with one at the weekend and had a good look around it, we decided it wasn't for us so the hunt goes on here. The boot space was massive, the salesman (friend of my dad's so someone I trust not to be just giving us a sales pitch) was saying they took 8 adults camping, with kit and an electric fridge in one and it was great. Another little bug that we didn't like was the single split seat was behind the driver so when getting kids out of the back row they would be getting out onto the road as you would always use that one for access disturbing the least car seats.

Hope you work it out and when you do can you tell the rest of us

Good luck with the twins

My friend with 5dc + a dog and lots of gear swears by her Ford Torneo

Vito all the way here. It's a Merc dahhling. Nuff said really!

I have a 9 seater Fiat Scudo long wheel base. It's brill. Very basic fit which makes it perfect for a family. No carpets. Large boot. It's the same as a Peugeot Tepe. Much cheaper than a Merc or VW too.

Hi, thanks for all the commentsand sugestions. We went and had a look at a Transporter today. One of the parents at dc school has one and was kind enough to let us go have a play with it and a little drive.......... I love it! I was all ready to wizz off down VW and order one in!! But DH being the sensible head screwed on tight type that he is has booked us a test drive of the Vito tomorow.

Was going to go look at an I800 after hearing good things about it, but to be honest im so taken with the VW that its going to take somthing special to beat it!! Concidering it will be me and the nanny driving it most of the time i feel we should get final say Im pretty certain she will be on my side cause she realy loved the VW too.

bellylisious Size wise re parking/handling not an isue with us as being farmers and used to driving Tractors/combines/trucks I think we will manage fine!! But parking sensors may help nanny out a bit.

Will let you know after viewing the Vito what we decide to go with.

Has anyone tried a Peugeot Tepee?

We did test drive the Peugeot. In fact, we had test drives of lots of 8/9 seaters. We found that they almost all felt like vans, which was something we wanted to avoid. We'd been 99% sure we would buy a Transporter but didn't like it at all when we had the test drive.

We went for a Mercedes Viano, which is pretty luxurious, but we were lucky because DH has a car allowance, which covered the payments :) Otherwise, we wouldn't have been anywhere near as picky!

we have a caravelle which is fine! Good infact if you don't have an issue about driving a bus around- no cool points there!

But perfect for luggage, comfort, reliability etc etc.

I didnt go much on the Vito it just didnt feel right.

Good job that we went strait round to VW after and orderd the Transporter as the next day i went into labour and jsut moments after arriving at hospital gave birth to DD followed 18mins later by DS!!!!
The Transporter is on order and should be with us shortly!! We prob wont be venturing out much as a whole family for a few weeks anyway and if we do will have to use 2 cars untill the VW arrives. I cant wait.

myboots, congrats on the arrival of your lovely babes, am surprised u have the time/energy to post!!

Congratulations, what wonderful news :)

Just a quick question (although I am sure you have better things to be worrying about right now), but are either you or your DH self-employed? If so, the VW TRansporter may be classed as a 'car based van' which means it may be tax efficent for you to pay for it through the business (if you run one). You should at least be able to offset the VAT.

Just a though but anyway, huge congratulations :)

Transporters rock! We had one and now have caravelle much preferred transporter

congrats on your new arrivals of both sort

Friends with 5 have that VW transporter and love it. It's quite large and boxy, but then, it's going to be really