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Larger families

Find out all about large family cars, holidays and more right here.

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Original poster

Tell me about your 7+ seater cars

32 replies

HereForTheLineEyes · 27/10/2018 07:35

We currently have a Mitsubishi Outlander. It has 7 seats, but seat 6 and 7 aren't full seats and effectively take up the whole boot when up. This is impractical as even my 9 year old finds them small and uncomfortable, we have a dog and a buggy and so need the boot space, and to get into the boot I have to take out a car seat from the middle row first (car seats will only fit in the two outside seats on the middle row). Come the spring we will have 4 kids, 2 in bulky car seats, 1 in a less bulky booster type seat.

So ideally I'd like:

At least 7 full-size adult seats

5* NCAP rating
Big enough boot to hold large dog and buggy
Good fuel economy

We have been looking at the Ford Galaxy for a while, and recently at the Renault Grand Scenic Dynamic because it's fuel efficiency is so good.

I have looked at minivan type 8 seaters in the past but they seem to be very fuel hungry.

Budget isn't huge, about £8-12k

What have you got? What do you like about it? What would you change about it?

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Ellapaella · 27/10/2018 08:05

We have a Hyundai Santa Fe which meets all your requirements I think OP.
The two extra seats fold up out of the boot and are adult sized. If we need to use these then we make up for lack of boots space by using a roof box if needed.

Ellapaella · 27/10/2018 08:09

I wouldn't change anything about it, the boot space without the extra seats is huge (I have a Labrador that I transport about for walks).
We have this car (my car) and DH drives the camper van or rides a bike to and from work everyday weather depending - his work is only a couple of miles away.
The Hyundai is great on fuel for long journeys, it isn't so fuel efficient for shorter journeys so my work commute isn't great but I only work 3 days a week.

NoodieRoodie · 27/10/2018 08:17

We've got a Ford Grand Tourneo Connect and love it. It is more van like but the space is great and all seats are proper sized, we looked at the Galaxy and liked it but we could get more for our money with the Tourneo, it's got a smaller engine and more importantly it's only £30 tax a year! My parents have a Santa Fe and although externally they're about the same size ours is a lot bigger internally.

Panicmode1 · 27/10/2018 08:23

We have a VW Sharan for 4 children and a golden retriever. We looked at the Discovery as everyone said that was the car we needed but I felt they were like an inverse Tardis. They look huge from the outside but the legroom in the third row and the boot space were no bigger than the VW. Plus the servicing/fuel costs were huge. It may depend on your buggy size as there wouldn't be a huge amount of boot space left with a big dog and large buggy in the Sharan, but my youngest is 9 so we are out of the buggy stage.

Alwaysfrank · 27/10/2018 09:00

I would avoid the Renault. We bought one brand new for £30k when we became a family of 6. In under six years/35,000 miles we sold it for less than £4K. It broke down on holiday abroad and cost £5k to repair, due to a known engine fault. We also had constant battery problems when it was new, had problems with the suspension and had to have a new speedo fitted. It was a very expensive heap of junk. Renault customer service was woeful. There is a reason why you can buy them quite cheaply second hand. Avoid avoid avoid.

isittheholidaysyet · 27/10/2018 09:04

Vw sharan. (Or the seat alhambra, basically the same car)

Boot the size of a ford fiesta, when the back seats are up. Enough room in boot seats for an adult.

Apart from the fact it took me a while to learn to park it. It's great.

SweepTheHalls · 27/10/2018 09:06

Ford Galaxy is no good for you. As a family of 5 with occasional extras it's great, but there is no leg room in the boot seats, and when they are up, virtually no boot. What about a VW transporter?

jjemimapuddleduck · 27/10/2018 09:08

I've got a Galaxy and it's massive with 7 full size seats. However there is very little boot when the back seats are in use so I'm not sure where you would put dog & buggy! I have 5 kids and a buggy and am always juggling shopping/car seats round.

I think you might need a 9 seat van?

Panicmode1 · 27/10/2018 09:12

Oh yes, I meant to say avoid the Renault. We had an Espace, which was brilliantly practical, BUT it kept going wrong and became utterly unreliable - not what you need with small children.

unicornchaser · 27/10/2018 09:16

I don't have personal experience of them but my sister has the Scenic and pretty much hates it.
They had a VW Sharan before and loved it and are looking to go back to that or the seat Alambra. My parents also had that and loved it before changing to the ford galaxy which they said was excellent for the slightly older models (2010 ish) but the newer ones didn't really seem to compare well?

pasanda · 27/10/2018 09:18

Chrysler grand voyager.

We have 4 dc and 3 dogs! It has 7 full sized seats plus a huge boot (it fitted a double buggy, we have twins) plus there are 2 big under floor compartments behind the front seats.

We had one for 8 years during which time the twins were in bulky car seats and the older two in booster seats. The seats are in a 2,2,3 combo so they kind of walk through to the back seats iyswim.

It also has sliding doors at the press of a button - a god send in skinny parking spaces

Zampa · 27/10/2018 09:19

We have a Renault Grand Espace Initiale. It's awesome and has taken us all over the country and France and back. There's loads of room for all 6 of us plus two buggies. We can fit all of the camping stuff in and still have room to be comfortable.

Considering it cost us £2.5K, very little has give wrong other than normal maintenance. (However, if DH wasn't handy the maintenance would have cost upwards of £1.5K over two years).

lornathewizzard · 27/10/2018 09:19

We have a Mazda 5, which is 7 seater but only 6 are decent sized I think so not ideal for you but I just wanted to say the sliding doors on it are great - so I would recommend a car with sliding doors!

TheFirstOHN · 27/10/2018 09:29

We've had a Renault Grand Espace for 10 years. It is still going strong. We're very happy with it and it's going to be difficult to find a replacement when it reaches retirement.

Before that we had a Grand Scenic, but once all six people needed leg room, it wasn't big enough.

RigsbyFan · 27/10/2018 17:59

We have a Volkswagen Caddy Maxi Life 7 seater.We were between the Galaxy and the Caddy Maxi Life.
We chose the maxi life because it has:

7 full seats (Rear & Middle seats fold down)
Big boot
Good storage interior.
It is extremely practical but not very stylish.
It has sliding doors, ISOFIX and roof rails for a roof box. The basic trim is pretty good but there are higher specs available.

JellySlice · 27/10/2018 18:34

We have had a Ford Galaxy for the last 10y. It has everything RigsbyFan lists apart from sliding doors. It's been a great workhorse of a car. We do driving holidays and it has handled everything comfortably, including seven adults with seven daysacks in the boot.

Sliding doors would have been brilliant, but they've not been missed since the dc have been out of high-backed boosters (ie could do their own seatbelts up).

The only drawback has been that there's nowhere to put the boot-cover when you use the third row. It can slide across the middle row footwell, which is fine for children, even on a long journey, less so for size 9 feet.

whoami24601 · 27/10/2018 18:58

We have a Citroen grand Picasso. The boot is massive, but like others the two back seats pretty much take it all when up. That's ok for us as we only occasionally need them as there are only 5 of us. It does have a surprising amount of storage around the car though so even with the boot seats up we can still fit in luggage etc. Once the seats are up the space underneath them is empty so can be used like a hidden boot too. We looked at getting a roof box for it, but tbh we haven't needed it. I love it and would definitely recommend!

Original poster

HereForTheLineEyes · 28/10/2018 11:02

Thanks everyone. I'm now looking at the Citroen Spacetourer. I don't think DH is keen on the minivan looks, but it does seem hugely practical.

OP posts:

TryItAndDieFatLass · 28/10/2018 11:17

Another vote against Renault Grand Scenic. Its just under 3 years old and has been nothing but trouble. 2 Complete brake systems (because after the first one it wasn't sealed properly), EPB is a nightmare, something discharging 7v so the battery died but took the garage 2 weeks to find what it was and now we have a warning light saying to check fuel injection. No acceleration after 40mph which is a nightmare but can't be fitted in at the garage for another week. Avoid avoid avoid!!

RedneckStumpy · 28/10/2018 11:21

Not sure if you have it in the UK but we had a Ford Expedition EL. Seated 9 and had a boot big enough for 3 dogs.

It had a 5.4L and was reasonable on fuel (17mpg)

I loved that car

Original poster

HereForTheLineEyes · 28/10/2018 11:27

Funny we had a VW Touran which was a similar disaster to your Renault tryitanddie. I think it went through 6 fuel injectors, numerous occasions of breaking down far from home with small children onboard, it was even looked at by VW themselves who claimed to have fixed it only for it break down a few week later.

We were shocked because VW generally has such a good reputation and there were only 40k miles on it. The space inside was hugely practical, but the huge repair costs and lack of reliability was not, so we had to get rid of it.

DH and our bank balance are still traumatised so we avoid anything with a VW badge like the plague.

OP posts:

Original poster

HereForTheLineEyes · 28/10/2018 11:32

redneck that Ford looks amazing, so much space! I don't think it's available in the UK though.

OP posts:

mumof06darlings · 28/10/2018 12:02

We have a vw transporter and nearly cried the day we got it but now I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's fantastic. Good on fuel and loads of space for everyone and a fine big boot. Love love it.

SweepTheHalls · 28/10/2018 13:05

17 mpg! Thsts awful!

RedneckStumpy · 28/10/2018 13:11

SweepTheHalls

Oops that’s US gallons, converted that’s about 20.5.

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