Ford Galaxy vs Seat Alhambra

[Catbert]

I've heard they are essentially the same vehicle. They certainly seem to have very similar specs, but the Seat coming in MUCH cheaper overall...

I know nothing about Seat - does anyone have any experience?

freind has one
its ever so roomy , Made by vw arent hey

They are in essence the same vehicle, but the Seat is much, much cheaper. My dh had one as a company car and it was wonderful - I was really sorry to see it go, and we'd have another one at the drop of a hat. It's roomy and comfortable, very reliable, and much more nippy than you would imagine something of its size would be.

I had the Ford- but wouldn't get another one as after 4 years it was done - rust, wiper motor going anda few other things. Also you get more for your money with the Seat. Know someone onto his 2nd Seat so must be OK. I didn't get the Seat 4 years ago as I thought that Ford was better - but after 4 years of poor servicing and a noise that to passers by sounded like a jet taking off - but mysteriously disappeared every time it went into the garage - I wouldn't have another one!

I thought the Seat was based on VW one too. Galaxy is a bit different. We've hired a VW Sharan and a Galaxy but didn't have that much boot space once all the seats were in use.

We bought a Seat Alhambra years ago. A much higher specification than the Ford and Volkswagen but £££ cheaper. In the 2.5 years that we owned the Seat, there were no problems whatsoever, and we were really happy with it.

They all come off the same Portuguese production line, and use the same major components. It's only the trim that's different.

As for price, we spent about £19K on the Seat in 1997; in 2003, we spent about £17k on a Citroen C8, which trumps the Seat all round.

we had a seat alhambra that we liked until the brakes kept failing

Reviews of Alhambra .

A new one now costs c £16000. Prices have changed (downwards) a lot over the last few years. Which? magazine likes the Alhambra. But I think if I was buying that type of car now I would get a Citroen C8 or a Peugeot 807.

Just wanted to pop in and say thanks to all who have given me their views...

It's the extra seats I like - I only (only?!!) have 2 children, but we go out so often with friends who have 1 or more, and esp. one friend who doesn't drive, I would really like to be able to get them all in comfortably, and do more car sharing and be able to double up on the school runs in future years.

Completely sold on the swivelly front seats too!! Ah - gadgets!

The swivelly front seats are heated too - sounds like a silly gadget but it's lovely on a cold morning!

Only thing I would add is that the people carriers with sliding rear doors - like the Citreon C8 etc. - are a really great idea if you've got kids. I think that in general the rear doors of people carriers are larger than normal and I know that I ended up having an argument with a woman in a carpark who insisted my car door had dented hers when I was getting dd out of her child seat. Another thing - if you're intending to go for the Ford or Seat, consider the ones with integral child seats (think they come as standard on some of the Seat models). That means if you don't need the child seats at least you can still use the seats!
You don't get much space in the back for luggage once all seats are fitted - and they are really heavy to remove and refit. However, the rear seats do fold up to give you a bigger boot space if required - enough for a buggy and a few bags of shopping anyway.