Good value 7-seater? Or hire costs?

[notcitrus]

Our 12 year old Vauxhall Omega is likely to snuff it soon, and also it's no longer big enough as we frequently have 3 kids and 3 adults. So need either an estate car with extra seats or a people carrier.

we only use a car for for the kids a couple times a month, and the car another couple times for transporting bulky stuff, so don't want to spend very much. were wondering if a Volvo estate might be best value as people carriers have got more trendy?

Also does anyone regularly hire large cars? The websites don't give much indication of real costs for weekends or short notice journeys.

it can be expensive to hire a car for weekends etc we have done this and people carriers are more expensive to hire.

we have a citreon c8 which is 7 seats, its great, lovely slidey doors

before that we had a vw sharan that was also good but the middle belt was only a lap belt (newer ones will have 3 point belt tho) so we sold it and got the citreon which we are very happy with.

what is your budget? :)

Budget - heh. Never spent over £800 on a car, so were thinking initially £1200 but no idea if you can get a 7-seater for that! On the other hand we're in inner London where you can't generally sell large cars for love or money so they might be dirt cheap - I have no idea!
If there's no way we can get a car for that sort of price then we'll have to use hire cars for a while while we save up - the insurance, tax, and MOT of current car is over £1000 a year before adding petrol and any repairs, despite the car being near-worthless, so avoiding that will help.

yes you can, you may even be able to trade in your current car providing it has an mot :) you will be looking at older models etc but that can actually help you as some older cars are then in the lower tax bands depending on their registration age :)

have a look on auto trader, put in your budget and what cars you are interested, you may get something with fairly high mileage but that doesnt necessarly matter nowadays cars can run perfectly well with high miles.

I have an old style zafira, it has 7 seats, does loads of MPG, it is a deisel though. I can fit so much stuff or loads of Guides, scouts, friends or family in it. They are really chaep now the newer ones are out.

Have a look.

love my zafira, and if your prepared to take a few risks you can get some good deals, ours is 2002 got it for £495 as the owner was panicing about upcoming MOT we brought it and it passed no issues, in the 8mnths we've had it we replaced the back brake discs, which dp did so only cost parts and had a new alternator today which was £190 parts and labour, great car, perfect for us.

I have a 2008 Kia Carens 7 seater which is great for us, just ideal. The back seats (boot) go up and down quickly and easily, and I have been impressed by the amount of legroom there is in the car. Would recommend it!

Thanks everyone. I've looked at cost of hire cars and it's nearly £200 for a 7 seater at the weekend so even with insurance etc buying looks cheaper. Will see if we can coax another year of life out of the Omega.

We have a Zafira and love it, the fact that the additional 2 seats fold completely is a massive bonus for boot space.

Also a seatbelted (is that a word?) child seat will go in the 6th and 7th seats and be safer than in the front seat (according to the manual) meaning the limited foot space is not an issue.

We find it economic on petrol on the long journey and not too bad around town, we have both said we would buy another in a heartbeat.

Oh, and I find that extending your search for a car to a wider radius can often bring down the price if you are buying from a dealer