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.

Ooh, monkey, I've just bought a Zafira, I shall go off and sulk now!

(Just kidding, have traded up from a little car so to me it's much bigger, and has enough seats and seatbelts for us - youngest is 10, eldest is at uni and hardly ever here, rarely all go out together and if we do it's only a day trip - no luggage - different set-up from you entirely.)

Now I'm going to try and get clever and do a couple of links for the C8, it looks brill, seats up to 8 and I'm sure I saw somewhere that it does have full belts throughout - also scored top marks in that European safety test....

auto trader review

what car review

The what car page is v useful as you can list up to 4 cars and switch between them.

Hope this works...I've had fun looking!

auto trader one isn't right, I'll try again:

atuo trader

The other one is good though

We have had a Toyota Avensis Verso since March and are really pleased with it. Toyota dealer left a bit to be desired! Seats 7 and all seat belts are 3 way. Drives like a car and not bus which is what we wanted. A bit dearer that Zafira, but a bit chunkier too! Looked at Zafira for a couple of months but had some doubts.

has anyone got anything good to say about the Mercedes A Class? Quite like the look of them but not sure if they're a good family car...

If you're gonna buy an MPV then my advice is get a proper one. Get a Galaxy, Alhambra, Sharan, 807, C8 or such like. Don't get the Zafira or such like. You want an MPV 'cause they are big, have plenty of proper seats and you are high above the road.
The Zafira is half way - the 3'rd row are not proper seats - just simple seats that aren't very big nor comfortable (for an adult) nor very useful.
If you want a normal car with a very very occasional use of row 3 then buy a Zafira. We looked long and hard at Zafira and a proper MPV. We went for a proper one and were damn glad we did. The room is immense and if you take row 3 out its big and take row 2 out and its like a van. Excellent for all sorts of jobs. Car boot sales - moving stuff - etc etc

The big MPVs have 7 proper seats. Useful for the odd occasion with adults in row 3.

Go the whole hog - we did - we were very happy.

Sorry Zafira owners - it wasn't for us !

oops - sorry again janh, but thanks a lot for the links, and thanks for your comments pja. I've made an appointment with 'the guy from the garage' for Wednesday morning to discuss possibly terminating our lease a year early. (DH should have listened to me in the first place - it wasn't exactly like this babe was a complete surprise|)

We definitely need SPACE. Fingers crossed for wednesday!

Good luck with the guy from the garage, monkey!

Must say I agree with PJA on the space issue - if I were in your shoes I would look seriously at the Toyota Previa because of

a) the large space at the rear with the third row in place and

b) the way the third row folds up to the sides out of the way, in 2 parts, it is incredibly flexible and you never have to remove whole heavy seats. (Though from what I read in the What Car review, you have to get a fairly basic model - the GS, I think - to get the bench seat that folds away, I think if you go upmarket you do have to take the seats out and IMHO it's not worth it.)

Hope you can change early!

mollymay, it depends on how big your family is. I have a Hyundai Amica which is almost the same size, layout as the Mercedes A class, but half the price. Anyway, I absolutely love it. It's great for a family of four, but it really wouldn't do for anything more.

Sofia, you know you liked the look of my Suzuki Wagon R but that was also only suitable for 4? They have now rejigged it, added a 3rd full belt and headrest in the back (they claim it'll seat 3 adults but I'm not sure), also remote central locking and height-adjustable driver's seat, and it's CHEAPER.

Have traded mine in for the Zafira though, I kept having to leave people behind whether I wanted to or not , so on Sunday 6 of us could go out, which made a nice change! (It has similar mpg to the Suzuki too, being diesel, so I don't feel too wasteful when it's just me in it.)

Did anyone see Top Gear on Sunday? They had some results of the EuroNCAP safety results for cars. MPV's faired quite badly. The safest cars (5 star reults) were the Toyota Avensis, ford fiesta ...can't remember any others, but check the EuroNCAP website here \linkwww.euroncap.com/results.htm{}

Did anyone see Top Gear on Sunday? They had some results of the EuroNCAP safety results for cars. MPV's faired quite badly. The safest cars (5 star reults) were the Toyota Avensis, ford fiesta ...can't remember any others, but check the EuroNCAP website here \link www.euroncap.com/results.htm{}

Unfortunatley you can't fit 7 people in a ford fiesta.

Does anyone have a Honda CRV (with 7 seats)? I've picked it out as a replacement car for my dh's Golf GTi which is too fast and doesn't hold enough people. I'm going to look for a used one.

In the Guradian today, it says that the new Renault Scenics are the safest car.There you go.

any Chrysler experts? looking at chrysler grand voyager (dh's pref. not mine) seating seems to be limiting & inflexible - 3-seater bench seat at back & 2 in middle. Is it difficult to get to the back seats eg for fastening car seats, and can they be pushed/folded adequately out of the way when nec, or do you have to just take them out?

Re car safety tests - I could do with some enlightenment please - don't the MPVs do badly on safety because they are more dangerous to pedestrians/other road users (being bigger/heavier), rather than because they are more dangerous to the occupants? And certain sections of the motoring press are always complaining about the back seats of MPVs - are they really more dangerous than the back seat of a small hatchback, for example?

Some friends have got a Chrysler Voyager and love the layout because it's easier to access the back seats. Don't know about doing up seatbelts though. Also very expensive on fuel - so much so that they always use a smaller car if they can.

If you're thinking of the voyager consider a Toyota Previa instead. A much better car of similar proportions, more flexible in seat arrangement and better fuel economy. And Japanese so more reliable

Monkey - I LOVE our Chrysler (Grand Voyager) and don't agree with Sambom, I'm afraid, except for the fuel consumption. It's brilliantly easy to drive, despite appearances, and has real accelerating power, something none of the other MPVs have IMO. The inside is so roomy I can wander around quite easily, so car seats are not a problem. We had a Renault Espace before, and the three seats in the middle made it awkward to reach the rear seats: the layout of the Chrysler is far easier to cope with, and my children love it. I have the electronic sliding doors - brilliant for when you are carrying a baby and everything else towards the car. Safety issues were dealt with a couple of years ago, so if buying second hand only look at the new-style version (has a badge that looks like a Snitch!)
I really wouldn't swop it for anything now, and I've driven most of the others. By the way, it was my DH's choice at the beginning, not mine, but I'm really glad we got it.

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i love our Scenic but have had problems with it since we bought it 2nd hand 3 and half years ago. its automatic and lurches quite a lot which is a bit disconcerting. has been to numerous garages and none of them can find anything wrong with it. i think we'll have to get rid before we're landed with a massive bill.
not sure what to get to replace it - we just want reliability. any recommendations?

Ah Gilli but the Previa is more reliable

I drove a Voyager in the states last year and it was very squashy going round corners I thought. V comfy though

Sambo, American cars have squashier suspension than their English equivalents. They don't have narrow roads and tight bends like us - just get on the freeway, set the cruise control and read the paper.

Bloss et al jsut to say we finally made a decision and bought the Zafira this week and we are ecstatic It is great and not nearly a s difficult to drive as I had thought. Having only driven little cars before I wasnt expecting it to be so zoomy na dlight. THe kids are pleased as punc wiht the back seats and so far all is harmonious but at one week who knows how that will change when the novelty wears off.We bouthg a petrol in the end but it douesnt seem to guzzle.
Thanks to everyone for your advice and helpful suggestions.

We are going to collect our new (second hand) Galaxy tomorrow. Yikes!