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.

oops - meant Scenic obviously!

Renault are about to relaunch the Scenic with the infamous "bum" shape. Apparently also on the drawing board is a Grand Scenic (to launch in Europe next Spring) which will be slightly longer but have capacity of 7 seats.

We currently have the 4*4 Scenic and have seated 3 kids across back with slight squeeze (fwd car seat, booster cushion and booster seat)but seat belt clasps are quite low in between the individual seats and hard to reach. However we do like being able to slide the rear seats around to create more boot space when needed.

still love my Multipla, looks bit odd but goes great.

I looked into a new Zafira the other day, and it has a 'proper' seatbelt in the middle seat now. We have an older Zafira, three children and are really pleased with it. When we were buying - a year ago - it was also much cheaper than the Galaxies, Sharans and Alhambras.

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I thought women were supposed to be less practical about cars "what kind of car have you got? - A black one" sort of thing, but my dh seems to have forgotten his sexist drivel on this occasion. We are considering a people carrier ( no 3 due soon)

His objection is that they look like mini buuses. He will consider one if it looks more like a vehicle for transporting fbi agents rather than the reality, - wife & 3 kids.

So, no one seems to have covered this angle specifically ( for obvious reasons) but can anyone suggest a 'cool' pc that gun-toting fbi agents would be happy to jump out of, preferably with sliding door, 7 seats, high roof, all full seat belts. our neighbours have a renault scenic/espace(?) it is his idea of hell, the vehicle he refuses to be seen dead in. (These are his semi-serious views, not mine, don't wish to offend any renault drivers!)

weve got a Land Rover Discovery(7 seater) and its good fun. dh doesnt like people carriers either.

I adore our diesel scenic, amazing how flexible and roomy it is! However I would also easily opt for a galaxy if I needed 7 seats now I know how easy it is to drive a scenic. Friends have a Honda CRV and freelander but complain about fuel usage as with most soft roaders. They also say you don't get any more room than in a scenic!
Very interesting about the scenic grande - would be very interested if the family expanded!!!!!

Citroen Picassos are quite good (5 seats) - take seats in and out, turn off airbag in front seat etc..(although am completely against it!!)

Toyota Avensis Verso?

Road test for the Avensis:

www.autotrader.co.uk/CARS/news/roadtests/road-test-template.jsp?page_no=4&no_delete=true&dbid=15260

Road test for the Previa:

www.autotrader.co.uk/CARS/news/roadtests/road-test-template.jsp?dbid=12332

The Previa has sliding doors and is much cooler looking!

I have just been given a lift by someone with a Multipla and I WANT one. It is fab inside. I suspect they're a bit pricey for poor old us but what a car!

Monkey - my husband was exactly the same as yours (are they leading a double life ??!!) and we found that the Honda Stream did nearly everything we wanted - and drives like a car not a bus (his words not mine). So we got one and I am hooked.

Anyone got a Peugeot 806?

Boe, I like picasso too. You only need to turn off airbag if you are putting a car seat in the front. That's all it's for.

My best friend has got the Peugoet 806. It's great for their 4 kids. I think it's the one down from the top model (which had fixed leather seats and therefore not suitable, or something like that). Very snazzy with electric closing doors, extra rear view mirror for checking on the kids and all sorts of other gadgets. Her dh is very into cars and went out to get some new tyres for the previous people carrier and came back with the new 806!

have not seen any mention of mazda yet - they do premacy and mpv which is bigger. We preferred it to the galaxy etc and previa. You can get good deals on them too.

I've not seen anyone mention the VW Sharan yet. I've got one of these and its great. I have all 3 kids sitting in the middle row and fold up the back seats until we need them.

The middle seat in the back does only have a lap belt, but you can get car seats that attach just using the lap belt.

Its really lovely and roomy and I couldn't manage without it now.

I like the look of the peugot 807. Dh hates them all! Might be academic as we have our present car on a 4 year lease, (will have had it exactly 3 years when baby arrives) so we'd have to see what the score is re: ending the lease a year early. if it's too expensive, we'll have to struggle on for a year with baby in middle. Only hope we can get the 3 car seats all in the back. Not looking forward to the backache this will entail!

monkey, have you seen the new Citroen? It's based on the C8 I think and it's quite smart - saw one in a car park the other day.

oops - it IS the C8! It's their version of the 806.

807 I mean - I'm not very good at numbers!

no, not seen the new citroen, dh had been comparing & seems to be coming down in favour of the Zafira (he's clearly forgotten his stance on looks, sorry to al Zafira lovers - I haven't got a problem with it, but it's not exactly fbi is it?) anyway, he still hasn't found out the score on the lease, so it might all be a pipe dream (for a year), I'm getting excited because he gets x amount each month for the lease & what he doesn't spend he doesn't get any other way. We've currently got a bmw, so the lease of a Vauxhall will be miles cheaper, so to bump it up, he's going for all the extras - satelite navigation, video & dvd, the lot. Oh please let us get it this year not next! I'll check out the C8, thanks janh

I've just seen a Zafira & peered in, and have to hay I didn't like it (sorry!) - It's shorter than our current car, so and we've regularly got a full boot - and our boot is massive. It just looked like an ordinary car with extra seats in the boot.

Just looked at the C8 - couldn't tell from the web site whether all the seats had full belts or if the centre ones just had lap belts, othrwise liked the look of it, si I'll have to keep an eye out to see one 'in the flesh'