People carriers

[Kathleen]

Our family car no longer big enough for us and thinking of moving up to a people carrier. Seat Alhambra and Toyota Picnic under consideration. Any comments appreciated.

Hi Kathleen. We have a Ford Galaxy - almost identical to the Seat. I vowed I would never drive one of these monstrosities and hated our car on site but now I LOVE it. No more back breaking with those low-down car seats, more respect on the road, tons of room for shopping. I feel like a trucker when I am driving it and my toddler loves the view he gets! Go for it.

We also have a Galaxy - and I can echo every comment that bunny2 said - love it!!

We have a Mitsubishi Spacewagon for the 7 of us. Boot room fairly small but adequate. Seats all fold down so we are often in demand to transport big items for other people. Great car.

Here's a thought....we have one child living at home with us and another on the way. But my husband has 3 others by previous relationships who come on the weekends. We originally considered a Multipla and various other 6 and 7 seater cars. In the end I decided to get a smaller car (Hyundai Amica - which I adore) and keep the small car (golf) that we already had. Most of the time we don't need anything more than one of the two small cars. And when we do need to fit everyone, we take both cars. There is the added cost of having a second car, but the reality is that my dh and I do enough things separately that we each need a car. And the majority of the time neither of us is driving around in a large car that is only partially full which would have happened with a people carrier. Just thought I'd add another dimension to the discussion.

Sorry - there are only 6 of us but it is a 7 seater.

Dh and I are thinking about just having 2 ordinary cars now because the kids are older and we rarely all travel together. Our second car is a small Rover which we use alternatively to travel to work when on different shifts. Not sure quite what to do.

We have a Renault Scenic, where all 3 back seats come out, or you can leave just 1 or 2 in. Great as a car and as a small van - this has been money well spent. Good thing is that it is smaller than the usual people carriers, very much like a car, just wider and roomier, with plenty of storage options, and easy to park as not too big!! Also great for not breaking your back with car seats!!

Friends have a Toyota Previa and love it (8 seats) and we have a Nissan Terrano (made in same factory as Ford Maverick just slightly different styling) which is a 7 seat station wagon. Its great to tow with, very big and high up, 7 good seats but not very flexible. Unfortunately there isn't a great deal of boot space with the back seats in position. We have 3 kids but suffer much less fighting and arguments with the kids more spread out.

I have a Mercedes M class, forget it as a 7 seater, unless you have children who will remain midgets all their lives!! It costs a fortune to run in petrol - 250 miles on a tank for £55 !! new one is diesel thank goodness, so a lot better!

Having said that it is my second one, but I still hanker after the old staion wagon one with the rear seat that I used to have. I could drive it like a bat out of hell and everone got out of my way!!

No one has mentioned the Vauxhall Zafira, which is a 7 seater but less van-like than other people carriers. My friend has one and loves it.

Honda Shuttle gets my vote!

This is very interesting. Shouldn't it be a mumsnet guide?

Good idea, aloha, although when it's down to personal preferences we all come from different places...

We used to have a Toyota Space Cruiser (precursor to the Previa, seats 8) and loved it, even with 4 kids we could split and fold the back-back seat and cram in a HUGE amount of stuff, we went camping in France with 3 kids + 1-yr-old and all our own kit including playpen, buggy etc. apart from huge tent, camp kitchen etc. Unfortunately it was quite old (G reg, can't remember what that is now) and we got rid early last year because it was 100K miles and costing us a fortune - we loved it and miss it unbelievably, we could carry vast numbers of children and/or stuff in the back like bikes...dd1 is moving into a flat for her second year at uni, amongst other things we would like to transport a large Billy bookcase and a Habitat armchair, we can possibly fit the former into DH's Peugeot 406 estate but I have my doubts about the latter and both would have gone easily into our old Space Cruiser...

DH got his new company car last year, I would have loved a Picnic (or Avensis Verso which is all Toyota do now) but his co. wouldn't allow him a "high" "family" car, hence the Peugeot.

Now our eldest is at uni, in theory we hardly ever all go out together, but we do occasionally, and doing it in 2 cars, as SofiaAmes suggests, is OK (in theory!) but when you are driving 100s of miles it seems awfully wasteful - but then NOT doing all the local driving in the empty people carrier is very UNwasteful - are you still with me??? mears, you obviously have this problem too. We kind of thought of hiring a people carrier when necessary but the choice isn't wide and several places only have the Nissan Serena which would not be my choice.

Kathleen, I bet this doesn't help you at all. You don't say how many kids you have. Certainly the Alhambra is meant to be the best of its bunch, cheaper than the others but then harder to find 2nd hand. If you have less than 4, how about the Renault and Citroen vanny things, the Kangoo and Berlingo? They seem to be pretty versatile. Or the Fiat Multipla?

Must print this off an save it for when dd starts school. I think its a legal requirement to have one at my local school gates - must be an entry requirement (it must make the half mile drive easier or perhaps the height avantage helps you to spot your child from a distance when your in a rush) LOL oh and please dont take offence i'm only joking if we had the money I'd have one!

absolutely love my Multipla - even if it is 'wee wee' coloured !

We had a top-of-the-range, brand new Chrysler Grand Voyager for four months - it was a very expensive mistake. It broke down for the first time after five days - on a French motorway nevertheless - we spent an exhausting day getting it fixed in a grubby garage. A week later it broke down again - this time the tow truck driver insisted that he couldn't drop me and our then 2 yr old and 5 months old off at the nearby camp site first - oh no, we all had to join in a 160 miles round trip to Rennes whilst he drove like an insane maniac and we were clutching the children. Chrysler told us that no one could even look at our car for a month at least and gave us a hire car - a normal family saloon, considering we had the enormous Voyager stuffed with camping gear there was no way we could get any where. A joyous week was spent with dh constantly on the phone to them, trying to work out a way of getting us home. Eventually the decided that it would be easiest for them to fix the Voyager after all. They refused to contribute towards the £700 phone bill we ran up ringing them. The car got us home but broke down again a couple of months later and then sat in our drive for a while before we sold it at a considerable loss. I have since heard that Chrysler is extremely unreliable, and, well, we experienced their aftersales 'don't care' first hand.

Still hankering after the Alhambra but was reminded of a remark by Jeremy Clarkson that the kids in the 'boot' area were effectively travelling in the 'crumple zone' and very vulnerable in the event of impact from behind. I have 3 children, aged 6, 5 and baby of 6 mos. I know a 5 seater would probably be enough for us seat-wise but the boot space in a Scenic or similar would not be sufficient for all the baby stuff. This is such a great way to share ideas btw.

I have read all the archive stuff about people carriers and estates and would just love a quick update as we are about to venture into the bigger car market. We have survived wiht a golf for 8 years but with a lapbelt adjuster (hell to install)for the middle back seat. Funnily enought we take less stuff with us now we have no travel cot no buggy etc to add in but we do need room for friends of our kids and camping equipment in the hols.

Our shortlist is and it would by preference be a 2nd hand diesel
1)Zafira
2)Peugeot 406
3)Audi6 (do these come wiht little flapdown seats in the back for extra kids?)
4)Renault Scenic

I'm particularly worried about the crumple zone thing where the back seats are. Has anyone heard any more about this.
I dont really have a preference (except aesthetic which as dh keeps saying is not a good reason for choosing a particular car

thanks for your help

let me tell you the drawbacks of Zafiras - how many kids have you?

we have three a boy and 2 girls ages 6 4 and 2
Please do tell me .....

right we have 3 too
The 2 year old model we have - and they may have changed.. has only a lap blet in the rear middle so you have to use the rear seat all the time
You cannot disable the passenger air bag alone - if you disable it you also disable the drivers onetoo
So Ds1 has to go in the back and the baby and the toddler in the middle soi less room for luggage
It drives well tho

Ok I'll put that in the pot - thanks

did I sound a little rant -y? It is abug bear of mine

Another vote for the Scenic - had ours since dd was a baby (she is now 6) it has never let us down and there is loads of space. There is space under the floor - each one will hold a full pack of nappies - there is also storage space under the seats - not massive nor very accessible but extra usable space none the less. We also have a Toyota Corolla Verso - lovely to drive but the boot is nowhere near as big as the Scenic.

We've got a Toyota Previa which is absolutely brilliant. The back seats "flap" up and attach to the sides as well as coming out completely, really good if you are going somewhere meeting up with lots of people cos you can flap them up to fit all your stuff in when you're going and flap down again when you get there to carry everyone around.

It is very big though, and eats a lot of petrol

I fancied the Zafira but DH refused point blank because of the AWFUL "Daddy Cool" adverts!!! Have to say I agree with him.