Small 7 seaters?

[lolawoo]

For various reasons we are looking to upgrade to a 7 seater, although 2 of the seats will only be used occasionally (so perhaps fold down seats)? I've only ever driven hatchbacks so I really don't want anything huge! Does such a thing exist?!

If I’m honest I don’t rate the smaller 7 seaters. I don’t think they are safe and I realise you don’t want a big car because you’re not used to them but you adapt very very quickly. They are much easier to drive than a hatchback, better view and less vulnerable.

I’d recommend an Alhambra if you do go ahead with a larger one.

I have the qashqai +2 which has 2 small seats behind the normal backseats. They are only really suitable for children. When up the boot is very small, when down the boot size is great. Nice car, lovely to drive

Ford Grand C Max.

Vauxhall zafira. We love ours.

Renault Grand Scenic. Smaller than a Zafira. In fact people constantly ask if we have to go out in two cars because they don't realise mine is a 7 seater!

I second the Ford Grand C Max
Slidy back door and the extra 2 seats have enough of a 'drop' to be reasonably comfortable for a small adult. We had the second row of seats with a gap in the middle which worked really well for us.
Rarely used the extra seats so the boot was a decent size.
Drives like a smaller car (based on a focus chassis I think).

We changed to a 5 seater last year and I really miss my Ford!

Touran isn't that much bigger than a golf when you compare the footprint and has the fold down seats in the back.

Peugeot 5008

Our VW touran was one of the smaller 7 seaters when we bought it a few years ago. It doesn’t feel big.

Ford grand cmax. Love mine.

We have a Verso and use seats 6+7 maybe twice a year. The only difficulty is that if you have car seats in the proper back seats Toyota do recommend that they are as far back as possible before fitting the children's seat which does impact the usefulness of seats 6+7.

We have a touran, works for us.

It depends on the reasons for needing the 7 seats. If you're transporting 2+2 children, you need a very different car than if you need to get 3 car seats in the middle row for example.

The VW touran was too small for us - couldn't fit the pushchair in the back with both boot seats up - so that might be one to consider. A friend has a qashqai +2 and it works well when both of her children have a friend along for a lift.

So many options, thank you! I'll research them all. Sorry I should have said we have no car seats or pushchairs, we have a 10 and 13 year old and it's for when we need to fit parents / in laws / children's friends in.

When we were looking for a 7 seater I went to all the local showrooms and got into the very back seats myself, so that I'd have an idea how easy/difficult it was and whether there was enough legroom etc, which is why I chose the Cmax over the others. I managed to get an ex demo for a really good price in the end, too, which was nice!

We have a VW Sharan (same as the Seat Alhambra) and it's brilliant, even though we always use the rear seats as we have four children and a large dog....the Touran is, as someone else said, more or less Golf sized. I've just commented on another thread about 7 seaters - we looked at the 'big' 4x4 7 seaters - Q7, XC90, Disco, but the leg/head room in the third row was no better, and in some cases worse than the VW, even with the third row in use.

We have an smax which we love.