Large Car suggestions on a budget? we will have 4under6

[threecurrantbuns]

Atm we have a grand scenic, its is in good condition with low miles so we are reluctant to get rid of it but the 6/7 seats are not that big and dont look that safe to me with a car seat (stage3) also we are low on boot space with the 6th seat up.

Our budget would be low, basically what ever we could sell our 05plate with 25,000 miles on it for.

If yopu've got a grand scenic short of going up to a minibus type this (VW Carvelle typr) you're not going to see much difference in boot space for the amount of outlay.

With the seats and the safety guidance check of the ncap website for reassurance /confirmation of your worries.

We have a kia sedona which has reasonable back seats but with the seats up not huge boot space (we only have three DC's so the extras are for afterschool activity drop off etc)

Sorry srach all of that got completely muddled with grand scenic and grand espace PAH!
< off to hide in corner>

threecurrantbuns when we were looking at Grand Scenics the salesman told us that you couldn't put a car seat in those back seats, we had 4 under 6 at the time, he said they were only rated for the carrying of passengers between the ages of 12-18, as in child still but not in a car seat.

Have you looked at something like a Grand Voyager or a Espace?

Sorry can't help much with 4 10 and under we are now currently driving around in 2 cars when out as a family so that we can fit all our stuff in the boot

Have no idea of prices but a second hand Toyota Landcuiser? We are currently expecting no 4 and when it arrives in December will too have 4 under 6. It can seat 8 people although leg room in the third row is limited but you can have adults in it. I have had 4 car seats in the car previously. And with the right combination you can work 3 kids in car seats in the middle row.

When Dc4 arrives I am planning to have half the 3rd row down and one kid sitting back there, probably DC2 as she loves sitting there. With only half the 3rd row down you still have a chunk of boot space free. With full third row up you can have 2 buggies lying horizontal in the boot space behind it or two suitcases standing upright or a row of shopping bags.

I didn't want to go the minibus route as they felt huge to drive and surprisingly despite the size the Landcruiser handles on the road like a normal car.

vw caddy maxi life
fantastic 7 seater can fit 7 adults in easily
can have 5 car seat/booster seat in the rear 5 seats too
boot great size can fit loads of shopping/big pushchairs in

We had this dilemma when second set of twins arrived.

Most 6/7 seaters, even massive ones like Renault Espace or Chrysler Voyager, have rubbish boot space, so hopeless for double buggy plus luggage or two double buggies (though I expect the last wouldn't be a common requirement...).

The only ones we could find which seemed possibilities were VW Maxi Caddy, Hyundai i800, Fiat Scudo or VW Caravelle/Transporter, all of which would put you pretty much in airport taxi territory.

Instead, we got one of these, which will go in the old family hatchback and in my existing 5 seater MPV (which is really a van and has a vast boot).

So we didn't need to get a new car after all!

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.

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.

buttonmoon glad your all ok

BLOODY HELL buttonmoon!

Ok - yes that's a vote of confidence in Mercedes. God bless those German car manufacturers.

How hideous for you - so please you are all safe.

Dh had a head (well sort of side as both were braking hard) crash a few years ago. He made himself get back in a car a couple of days later because otherwise he knew it would be really hard to. It helped that we borrowed my parents huge volvo - like driving a tank. You felt SAFE in it. Can I suggest you do the same as soon as you are fit enough.

Fiat Multipla. Fantastic and a HUGE boot

I've had to drive today, but only my nissan almera and only locally. I had to go to get my arm redressed.

I genuinely don't think you can beat a german marque. Not for safety anyhow. Their satnavs are well ropey though!

I'm expecting DC4 atm and we are looking into bigger cars. Buttonmoon's experience only highlights my current paranoia about safe cars. I'm considering an old Volvo XC90 but am unsure about the backseats and whether they are appropriate for regular use by kids (so many 7-seaters seem to only have smaller seats at the back, which only seem ok for irregular use). In my 20s I would have been horrified at the prospect of owning a Volvo - oh how times change! Anyone had any experience of the Volvo XC90??

imip we had an XC90 when they first came out (got a good deal whilst abroad had to sell when we came home) :( They are great we took 3 children and 4 adults to Denmark on holiday in it and there was enough space for all the luggage (with a top box) and there are great little cubby holes all over the place. We loved ours and were really sad to sell it. The back seats were ok I think at one point we even had my mother in one, they are slightly smaller than a regular seat but only in the way that a middle seat on the back row of 3 in a normal car is sometimes narrower. Can't beat them for safety either I too would have been horrified when I was young to own one but now with 4 precious darlings to transport I would love mine back again.

Buttonmoon hope you are feeling better soon, thank god for German engineering :)

Bugger. It's a total loss. I don't know what we're going to do now - the 6 seat version are really rare and when we ordered that one in April it took til July to come.

And, of course, because it's a total loss we won't get a courtesy vehicle at all.

Why is life so pants?

buttonmoon how old do you want it to be, there are some on autotrader that are the six seat versions but would imagine they will go pretty quickly.

I don't know why life is so pants but my DH was hit in his car, someone overtook him on hash lines, and we now have had to settle 50 50 with them as the guy had an independent witness (the guy in the car behind who was so independent that he knew the drivers name and was going to the same place as him) we can't prove they knew each other so he counts as an independent witness, the insurance company admitted that his statement is a load of bull but there is nothing we can do :(

When you look at your insurance for you next vehicle bear in mind that a courtesy car is only to transport the driver, we have had cars before that I couldn't fit in with the 4DCs as a courtesy car so now do not bother with it on our policy.

Thanks Whenigetto3. The Volvo was really the only one dh and i could agree on. I did think the back seats were a little narrower, but they looked very robust, so as long as they fit the stage 3 carseats, we are in business! A volvo and a seven-seater in the same go - def wasn't a consideration in my 20s or early 30s!

Sorry to hear about your experiences Buttomoon..x

Imip I would take your car seats to a volvo garage and try them in the back, if you ask volvo if they will fit they will probably say no as they want you to buy theirs but if you have yours with you then you will be able to see, also volvo used to (not sure if they still do) do extended test drives where you can take the vehicle for the weekend and see if it is what you really want, take it shopping, pretend school run, kids in and out several times and check. We had our stage 2 car seats in the back when we had it, once even put the baby in the rock a tot in (long journey and big sis gave him bottle on the go) the back and the seat belts were long enough so guess any car seat will fit really. Oh and as a responsible mother of 4 shouldn't say this but if you hit the kickdown when accelerating they do go well so not too old granddad car

I have a very old Toyota Previa. It is an old style 8 seater with good size boot space.
It is the most reliable car we have ever owned. I think you could easily get one in your budget.

Thanks, whenigetto3.

I have 4 dc 9, 6, 3 and a newborn plus a dog (collie x). We've got a ford galaxy. The boot can fit either the dog or the pushchair in. When the dog is in the boot the pushchair goes in the space where the seventh seat would be (we remove the middle seat on the second row as this only has a lap belt).

All the seats are decent sized seats. Some of the people carriers we looked at had smaller seats in the back.

The only issue is that its a bit of a faff getting to the rear seats with car seats in place on the middle row seats. Luckily my eldest are able to squeeze through and are able to buckle themselves in.

Well I've spoken to renault and you can put car seats in seats 6/7 bloody annoying.

Button sorry to hear about your accident glad your all ok. We would love a vIto or the transporter but way out of our budget.

Such a shame our car has really low miles and in good condition so would change if we didn't have to esp as its only worth about 3grand now and haven't found much for that sort of price.

Been looking at the multipla dh wouldn't entertain it then I showed him a facelift model and her said as a last resort they look good as in price and running costs not sure if I would like one of mine in the front on a long journey my dcs never stop talking :)

If you are going to get a Multipla then make sure you get it checked by a mechanic before buying, my DH is one and we still got stung by one once one thing goes wrong it starts a trail of doom. You do know FIAT stands for fix it again tomorrow Sorry I did love mine (reminded my DCs of the truck we had in the states) but once it went wrong it was a money pit and I wouldn't have another one

Mmmm maybe we will give one of those a miss then, love our grand scenic so tempted to go for an espace but not sure we will get much boot space, bit tricky when we have a low budget of £3000

happy days. The insurance co have just rung and said that as it was under 12 months old (just slightly - only 10m under!) they will organise a replacement new vehicle. Which is great - I was envisaging wrangles over value and all sorts.

However, it simply means that we will have to deal with the hassle until the New Year as it will take that long to get a new one if we ordered it tomorrow!

But I'm still as it's a huge weight off my mind.

3currant you could look at Vito/Transporter vans and then find out how much a local coachbuilders would charge to convert to a 6 seater. My dh's partner did that and got a 2 year old Vito and even counting the conversion costs it was hugely reduced. Might be worth considering? The conversion is really tidy too and made no difference to the insurance (I deal with the co insurance).

Agree with maddiemostmerry: bought our Previa second-hand when Dc4 arrived, and love it. Five years later we have spent almost no money on it, and with a roof box have no problem fitting all our holiday luggage in it. We bught the diesel model which was more expensive but intend to drive it until it dies, by which point (we hope) we may not need such a big car. In any case, they have stopped making them, unfortunately.