Which 7 seater car to buy?

[defuse]

Hi,

I need to purchase a 7 seater car. Dont have a clue whats out there. Any ideas which 7 seaters are spacious and economical as well as not too expensive to buy? I have heard good things about skoda yeti but dont know if that comes in a 7 seater size.

Any knowledgeable mnetters out there? :)

It depends on your requirements.
Do you need to fit 3 car seats on one row?
Do you have a mix of teen and younger children?
These will have a bearing on whether you get one that is a dedicated 7 seater or a 5 seater with 2 extra seats in the boot.

The latter leaves you with no boot space, the seats are in crumple zones and are usually a bit cramped so not for older children.
The former might be a bit of a gas guzzler, however you need to balance.

There are lots of online revews comparing 7 seaters. I am sure you will be able to find one which ticks all your boxes.

We have a Nissan. It has served as a removal van as well as a family car but its been expensive on the fuel. However it being a 4 wheel drive meant in bad weather we got to pick up friends children stranded at school. It isn't one of those ones that look like a Chelsea tractor (all the kit but never going on more than grass). It looks like a minibus, just with a bit more pull.

Vauxhall Zafira.
It has 2 in front, 3 behind with full seat belts and two pull up seats in the back. When they're not in use it's a good sized hatchback.
I have carried teens in the back seats but it is a bit cramped for regular use that way and there's no space for baggage when they're all in use.
Does 45+ mpg, tows a caravan over Alps and is really nice to drive.
Heater is not good.

I too have a zafira.

Has been very reliable and nice to drive. But like the other poster says, hate hate the crumple zone seating and also the struts on either side of windscreen, I feel they obstruct my vision.

Boot space also pants.

I'm also looking for a 7 seater, but am in the 5 plus occasional 2 camp. Looked at loads, but have come down to two - the Touran and the Peugeot 5008.
Qashqai +2 was too small, Mazda 5 too tinny, Citroen too peculiar, Smax too big.

I third a Zafira

I have a Chrysler voyager- plus points are the aisle through the middle so you can walk down to the back row, nice to drive, sliding doors so you can get the kids out even when people park really close to you.

Minus points- hard to park (though it's not my strong point..), when there are three kids in the back row it's a squash & you cant fit 3 car seats along there. Boot not massive but I can still fit a week of shopping in alongside a single buggy.

When someone crashed into us we had a ford s max as the courtesy car which was lovely though if you need more than one big fixed in car seat not so good as you fold the middle seats to get to the back.

We have a Zafira however it isn't possible to use the seat on the back with 2 full size car seats. A Touran/SMax/Grand Scenic all get 3 seats comfortably in normal rear seats.
The 3rd row of seats is easy to get up / down but, as with all cars of this design, these seats are in the crumple zone so not often used. DH would also agree that the A pillars can obstruct your view when pulling out.
That said, it's been one of the better cars we have had for reliability.

We had a VW Sharan. Fitted 3 car seats in the middle & 2 seats in the back. Our 1.8l engine was a bit underpowered when doing long motorway journeys but good for everyday life, school run etc. brilliant when moving as could take all the seats out (apart from driver's!).

Have a BMW x5 with 7 seats now. Much more comfortable to drive but back seats not nearly as good. Wouldn't be able to fit 3 car seats in the same row.

Had a Yeti on demo the other week. It doesn't come with 7 seats. Plus the suspension is really hard.

My parents have an SMax and it doesn't feel big to drive IYKWIM.

We have a Sharan and a Citroen C4 grand Picasso. Love them both, can get 3 carseats on middle row in both.

Used to have Zafira, didn't like the bench style middle row, personally prefer the three full seats in the cars I have now. Plus the bloody engine blew up.

I would put my hand up and say Landrover Discovery, loads of space 7 seats, but I'm thinking unless you get 05 plate at 12K maybe a tad more expensive than a Zafira? not sure how much they are new but the landie will last forever!!

Have Citroen C8, as my brother (a mechanic) says "it does what it says on the tin". Have had it 8 yrs now, it has 7 full size seats which can all be removed (2 at front excepted), bit heavy on fuel around town but good on a long run. We had the Citroen garage phone us asking if we were looking to trade it in, I replied that we were holding on to it until it went to the great garage in the sky and she replied "you and every else!". It's a good workhorse for a large family.

We primarily chose it because we had had 2 picassos before and were pleased with them, at the time the C8 was good value as opposed to the Renault Espace and we were advised not to touch a Voyager with a barge pole as they crumpled on impact (at that time) - this from my brother and friend's DH who was a policeman who investigated fatal crashes (they had an Espace as they couldn't get a secondhand C8).

HTH

We went for a Touran as the middle seat on the second row was a much better size and all 3 seats can move independently of each other rather than just being a bench like the zafira. We used to have a Renault grand scenic that was a really good size but we traded it in for the Touran as it was costing too much in repairs.

If you need 7 seats don't get a zafira, you do not want to have children in the crumple zone as a permanant thing. Hated ours.

Love my Galaxy, but it also needs mid row seats folded to get to back row, so no good if you need carseats in middle row and want easy access to back.

We have a 3yr old Galaxy. Perfect if you need the seats on a regular basis. Loads of legroom for everyone. Not a huge amount of bootspace once the back seats are up, but we could fit our buggy and a travel cot in there and just got a roof box for when we're on holiday.
Obviously, at first it felt a bit like I was driving a bus but now it's great. No complaints here.

We used to have a Kia Sedona and I miss that car. 7 full size seats, sliding doors, sensor parking, able to shut the door and stand in front of the middle row of seats for fasten seat belts instead of getting soaked in the rain. All seats apart from drivers came out for moving day. The only thing I hated was filling up at the petrol station which is why we traded it in and now have a Volvo estate.

Ford grand c-max here. It does seat seven but not seven adults as the two back seats are in the boot with very little leg room and no boot space. Plus the three seats across the middle block the exit for those right at the back. However for us as a family of five its great. Sliding doors are excellent and it's not huge to drive - I can still just about get it in a normal parking space .

We got a VW Touran earlier this year and I love it!

Hello. We're going to move this thread to our Cars topic now.

We had a sharan which was great apart from one thing. That was that the back two seats, although v comfortable and safe, were incredibly difficult to get in and out and very heavy. So when you buy, do check that. The sharan was a breeze to drive, park etc. Have had espaces on holiday but not as nice as the sharan i m o. I would second the sliding door point made above - they are great for busy car parks (not sure if available on a sharan, I doubt it.)

We have a Honda fr v . Truly excellent. It has 6 seats, three across the front if you need it, three seats at the back and a boot.

The engine is excellent and it's not a shoddy put together car.

They come highly rated but experts and people like us.

Never regretted buying it.

We got a touran because we like VWs. For five people it's great. But for 7 tricky. If you have child seats in the middle row, you can't flick the seats forward to let the people get into the back row very easily - we let people go in through the boot! There is also no spare tyre / wheel with the Touran (we bought a space saver tyre for emergencies). The boot is also surprisingly small - narrow - our maclaren pram wouldn't lie flat across the back. We're very happy with it and take it camping in France every year (with bikes, tents etc).
Have you looked at the VW tourareg? or sharan?

We have a second hand Renault Espace. It is about the same size as the Citroen (think it's the Grand Picasso now?) and Peugeot equivalent but feels plusher and more solid. I love it.

It took quite a bit of patience finding one second hand - at first they only seemed to be coming up hundreds of miles away, then the local ones were going overnight. As someone said upthread people hold onto the good ones, plus we were told in one showroom that they are often sold to minicab drivers.

new sharan has sliding doors but we have old one. I love it apart from sliding doors isofix in all five seats but dd has to get in back seat through the back and we need a roof box to go camping.

Next car we will buy a van and keep sharan till it dies then buy a second car as a golf or similar for day-to-day driving to keep fuel costs down. haven't worked out how much insurance is against fuel etc. but dd wont need a seat and can go in the front by that time. Tried an espace when we got our sharan but it felt much bigger and wouldn't fit my double buggy with all seats up (sharan could)

would get parking sensors and sharan has the turning cirlce of a small barge.