We are thinking of getting an MPV - what would you recommend?

[SPARKLER1]

We need a bigger car and ours is on it's last legs now. We are looking for an MPV as having seating for 6/7 people would be fantastic. Does anyone own one and what do you think of them?

TIA

a friend has just bought a VW Sharan and its fantastic - a proper bus

Toyota previa - fab car, drives like a car, size of a bus, very flexible.

I am selling one acutally (though haven't got round to advertising it yet lOL!) But is 10 years old so probably not for you

well i have a zafira cos i like the flexible seating plan, but i believe, the vw touran is very good, seat alhambra, renault espace.

Are you still trying to offload your old Previa CD
I wish I could persuade dh to go this route. The bus-ness of the Sharan is what he always cites in defence of his anti-MPV views (curses, foiled emoticon)

Funnily enough the Toyota Previa is one we were quite keen on

We've got a Caravelle! It's massive and looks like a van. It drives well and the advantage over the galaxy / sharan type is that it's so big you don't need to remove seats to get luggae in. We had a galaxy but found that since we had a large dog, we kept 2 seats in the house almost constantly. Also, it has sliding rear doors - a great advantage! (so has the Previa, the Citreon C8 and Peugeot equivalent - I've done a bit of research here!) Again, people carriers usually have fairly large rear doors and in normal carpark spaces it can be difficult to rtemove children from rear seats without bashing the car next to you. (happened with the Galaxy and the woman car owner was extremely angry)
Disadvantages are that it is huge and does not fit in all multi storey carparks. Also a bit heavy on diesel.

Excellent - thanks everyone. Some really useful tips here.

hi
we recently came across FR-V honda.its a 6 seater with 3 in the front row same concept of a fiat multipla.
i thought it looks great and the extra seat doesnt compromise the boot space which is quite big.
it came out last november.
frv

What Car rates Chrysler Grand Voyager very highly. It also looks very sharp for an MPV

I have driven a Grand Voyager, it is very squashy

Well here is the write up anyway
Winner of What car 2005 car of year award in Large MPV category

I'm planning to test drive one soon as a possible purchase

yes Marina dh refuses to countenance a buslike MPV [wistful emoticon]

didnt the Chrysler Voyager score incredibly badly on safety? or is that old news now?

I am ver lucky to have just taken delivery of the new model Chrysler Grand Voyager, (safety has improved) and I love it, tons of space, all the rear seats fold into the floor, electric sliding doors, electric boot. So far I'm pleased with it, just have to learn to park it......

I'd recommend the Citroen C8 Synergie - we had a look at it, but its too big for our small (3 person) family - we settled for the Picasso...

A tip if you want to buy a new car - join the CSMA - you can get loads off and it cost only about £35 a year to join.. (yes I know the CSMA stands for Civil Service Motoring Association, but anyone can join).

We( as in my Mam ) have a zafira, very flexible seating and good for moving furniture(we got a bed in it!)
Can get a smaller engine for cheaper insurance too.

we got a kia sedona.....FAB and cheap with regards to costs of buying an MPV, inside i love it, it's like a bus, you can move about from front to back inside and move all the seats about to suit your needs, however it costs a lot to run but that might be the same with all bus type cars.

I shall let dh have a read through these. Hopefully we are going car hunting this weekend.

Galaxy, Sharan, or Alhambra. They're all the same car, but Alhambras cost less.
I have a Renault Scenic but its too small so I test drove a Galaxy last week. It's lurvelly, but my budget would only just stretch to an old one so its on the back burner for now.

What is your budget, how many seats do you need (normal/max) and how much luggage space for holidays (normal/max)?