Family of 8/9 - what car can we get???? advice required

[Mama5isalive]

We are a big family already but are expecting another 1 or 2 - so will have to upsize our car to an 8/9 seater! any advice - cost is a big factor, but just need an idea of what to look out for! thank you.

I have an 8 seater toyota previa, it is great, slidy around seats and a big boot considering the amount of seats.

We have 10 in our family but the eldest are teenagers now aso are rarely out with us. If they do DP has a work van we can use.

We have a Previa too. The eldest are almost teenage and not really bothering to come out with us anymore like IDBIF.

We are having #8 and are undecided as to weather we should go bigger.

The Previa is fab

An offbeat alternative is the Land Rover Defender 110. Lots of seats including a few that you can put child seats in. Poor fuel economy though and not the best for long journeys so maybe don't consider if those are important. Can pick one up cheap though and virtually indestructible.

I have a Fiat Scudo 9 seater. It's fab. very basic fit, no carpets which it makes it perfect for my messy family.

citroen synergie comes as an 8 seater....

There are 9 of us and we have an import version of the Previa as the older children are teenagers and rarely come out with us. If we do all go out dh takes his motorbike and I drive the car. It is a great car and very easy to drive and has a good size boot too.
We used to have a 9 seater Caravelle which was lovely but huge ans too big for me to drive.

We have the previa too (6 of us and 2x buggies inc one double)

we've got the estima - imported auto version of the previa. Only ever 6 of us, but room for more :)

We drive a VW caravelle - you can get an 8 seat or a 9 seat option and various configurations of seats. They are very reliable and have a proper boot area - so we can camp or fit in all our holiday stuff etc

We had a ford transit minibus which seated 9 plus bikes and luggage. It was brilliant and I absolutely loved it!

We now have an estima, does 8 no trouble, but if I had the chance I would go back to the minibus any day!

Depends on your budget & if you're going for new or not really.

Previa is fabulous but they're not all 8-seaters by any means, & they stopped being made in 05/06 & are becoming harder to find. estima/lucida is the grey import version.

Hyundai have recently introduced an 8-seater \link{http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/road-tests/hyundai-i800-itrsquos-certainly-big-and-it-is-quite-clever-889173.html\the i800} which is incredibly good value compared with the Caravelle

if you decide to go for 9 seats though it'll have to be a Transit-type minibus - 8 seats is the maximum for a "car" in insurance terms, after that it's classified as a minibus, not sure what effect that has on your premiums

Yesterday I was driving our Mercedes Vito van up the M40. It has/had a 3+3 combination so had dd1&2 and ds2 in the back and ds1 in the front with me. It does come as an 8/9 seater though.

We had a 70mph collision with a 18tonne wagon. The van is utterly trashed. Me and the kids are fine. The only problem with the kids is abrasions and bruising where their seatbelts were. I came off a little worse with a couple of suspected cracked ribs and a fair amount of bruising where the steering wheel collapsed (as it is designed to) and I have the 3 pointed merc star imprinted into my arm from where the airbag blew it out. It will be a fetching scar I'm sure.

The paramedics, doctors, mechanics etc etc are all amazed at how lucky we were.

I don't know about prices but thought you might appreciate knowing all that.