Talk to me about 7 seater cars....

[McDreamy]

.......with baby no3 on it's way I am going to have to trade in my lovely SAAB 93 . Anyway I want a car and not an MPV. I knwo Peugeot have brought out one which I quite like but it doesn't have good reviews. A friend has recommended the Mazda 5, I have no experience of Mazdas except for a little MX-5 I used to have. ANyone any suggestions/advice?

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We have something called a Honda stream. Never heard of it before we bought it but is a great seven seater and quite fuel efficient. The only thing with seven seaters is you lcak boot space.

how old are the big two? have vw tiguan which comfortably fits three over back. friend says her peugeot 307 is good for three kids

We have a toyota corolla verso, the 06 model, it's now called a verso, they've removed the word corolla.

I love it, it's huge inside but looks quite sporty and jazzy on the outside (well, for an MPV!) all three middle seats are big enough for car seats, the two seats in the back (basically the boot) are perfect for little ones but not great for adults, not enough leg room.

DP's take on it is that he had to get an MPV and as it's diesel it's cheaper, plus it's a 2.2 with a decent amount of torque so is quite choppy. This is the one he chose, and a compromise if you like (he had to sell his BMW 330 sport to buy it, not a happy bunny!).

We looked at the mazda 5, I hated it, it looked like a bus and the middle seat in the middle was TINY!

Nooooooooooo VS, you are mistaken the MAZDA 5 is lovely...

Well, it's brilliant for a family of four. Do have to concede for us, now 5, it's not so great but we didn't know DS3 was coming to join us!

The middle seat is good for temporary kids or very very thin people (fortunately DS1 is at the tall and skinny stage)

But it does - like the Verso - have two fold up seats in the back and it has more headroom.

And the very very best bit is the wonderful sliding rear doors. I cannot praise these highly enough because I have a terrible back and lugging in and bending over and strapping etc both a baby and toddler with these make it so much easier. And parking is a breeze cos you need so much less space to get the kids out.

I will be very very sad when the DSs are finally too big to cope with the narrow rear seat. We could use the seats in the boot, but we always have so much stuff we can't...

The doors were the bit I liked on the mazda, but if you need to use the boot, it's hard to seat more than two in the middle seat, unless, as you say, very skinny! Couldn't possibly fit a car seat there.

We hired a Volvo XC90 for a week's holiday with friends and it was fab. Had 7 seats and boot space, and not completely people carrier style to look at. Yes, it is a big car but if you need 7 seats then we were impressed with this. Did us well on our trip to France, with 4 adults and 3 children, plus luggage.

the mazda 5 doesn't have 3 full seats in the back - has 2 full seats and a half one in the middle

We too have been looking at 7 seaters and are trying to get something that is more on the estate end of the mpv market rather than the larger fuller more "American minivan" end. The verso is high on our list, we had considered the Mazda 5 and we are also considering the Peugeot 307 and and the VW Touran. The Touran seems a bit smaller than the Sharan. I know the problem with the smaller mpv is that when the 7 seats are operational there is no boot. But I figure with three very young boys-4, 2 and the last due in September-I can get away with the 5 seat mode most of time and use the 7 seat when my mother comes to visit or ferrying occasional other children. I know eventually with 3 boys we will have to move to the larger end of the market in a few years, but as we are in London I want to go with the easier parking option for a few more years yet.

Deirdre, the verso is perfectly big enough for three children and boot space.