Galaxy/Sharan or Espace, some talk to me about your experiences with 7 seaters please

[sweetkitty]

So DB4 due in May, other DC are 5, 4 and 18 months just now so need two highback boosters and one Stage 1 car seat.

So need a 7 seater, we have narrowed it down to a Galaxy or Sharan (that I understand is the same car different badge) and an Espace. We want a true 7 seater not one with fold down seats in the back, plan is we take one seat out to allow access to the other seat and for a buggy. Will only need 6 seats at the weekend when DP will drive it.

Budget is up to about 9K and would prefer a Manual Diesel.

So wise MNers any experiences with any/views/tips?

TIA

We have a Fiat Doblo 'Family'. The 7 seater version.

It is great I will get DH to post about its many qualities later on but it seems rather overlooked in the world of 7 seaters and we think it is fabulous!

We have the 1.3 Diesel btw.

dear God don't get a renault!! i finally managed to get rid of mine after 2 dealers refused to take it as a trade in! i'm nearly sure someone on here said they'd spent 10k keeping their espace on the road! i have had to downsize to a golf but when i've the money i might go for a alhambra or sharan. the alhambra is made by seat and is the same as the vw but normally higher spec for the money.

good luck with whatever you choose.

oh or if you only need 6 seats what about a honda frv? they have 6 seats and a normal sized boot.

Thanks someone else warned me off Renault's.

Will look at the Alhambra again although think we discounted it for some reason, maybe it was seat configuration or it was a lot bigger than the rest.

Don't you find your Doblo underpowered? Just that we have a CMAX 1.6 Petrol just now and live in a very hilly area and it really struggles with the hills

Alhambra is the same car as galaxy & sharan so they just have different trims, custom bits and badges.

Alhambra tends to be cheaper because it's a seat and people are snobby hence why sharan costs the most because it is VW.

Mine has air con, heated seats, electric windows, climate control something (mechanic raved that it still worked??) probably some other bits and pieces - it's a mid range one.

Just remember manual diesel go for a newer car rather than low mileage IYSWIM.

I have had both a galaxy and an alhambra and there's no difference in seat configuration or size but as nicm says you do get much better value for money as they aren't as popular. Be sure to test drive as some engine sizes aren't as powerful as I think they need to be for the weight of the car. Both have a fantastic amount of room and the individual seats mean that you can pretty much fit any combination of car seats.
I can't really think of any disadvantages except that you need to be a bit careful in car parks to make sure you have enough space to open the door fully for a baby/toddler.

Also the fantastic thing about them is that if you are using isofix you can turn the rear seats around to turn a stage 1 car seat into a rear facer!

I remember now it was a Kia Sedona I had discounted as it is 2-2-3 with the rear seats being a bench type.

Will add Seat to the list then.

I have the CMAX just now and it is very underpowered although I don't drive fast at all DP ensures me it is and where we live is v hilly and it struggles on some hills so I understand a big heavier car needs a bigger engine.

Am looking forward to the 3 individual seats as although we can fit 3 across the back just now it's a real pain trying to get the seat belts done up.

It's strange as there seems to be a lot of older cars out there 04's and below with a tonne of miles on them or newer ones with hardly any but £££s our price range there seems to be not that many IYSWIM probably as people hang onto them.

DH is back so here goes...2nd attempt because I left the room and it 'disappeared'...maybe Mumsnet can sense when Dads are getting a piece of the action!

Hello, the Doblo doesnt have a huge boot with all 7 seats in place. The third row of sseats doesnt fold flat but does come out completly. For extra space you can fold one of the middle row flat. Overall there is loads of room for all due to height and having 7 proper seats! Plus the sliding rear doors are ace in car parks!
It doesnt feel underpowered, the 1.3 diesel has lots of torque (pulling power) so hills are no problem, but there is a 1.9 diesel.
Its really good to drive and feels like a much smaller car. The big windows mean no claustrophobic or car sick children and you sit nice and high.
Theres a new Doblo due soon so you should be able to get a new one for 9k, our was 9600 with air con, metallic paint and alloys.

We have had many other parents in our car and it is becoming a joke how many are tempted by a doblo now having never considered fiat before.

I should also add that there is the Multipla if six seats are enough for you. There is probably more boot space available with all the seats locked in position although we have not had much personal experience of these.

sweetkitty that is exactly what I found I was looking to spend 7k in the summer and it was a nightmare. They were either trashed & tatty ex taxis really cheap or pristine well looked after cars with low mileage.

I did find one in the end, I got it from a small independent garage went to see it the day the ad appeared on autotrader and it was just what I wanted. It was a long and tortuous month or so trying to find one.

Thanks that's now 4 people who have told me to keep away from a Renault, shame as I liked the interior the best, but what's looking at a fancy dashboard if you have broken down.

The Citroen C8 and Peugeot 806 - I have looked at but think they were both out our price range.

We have a Galaxy - four children, babies in middle row (outer seats), older children in back row - both in booster seats. My only gripe is that now that the babies are both in Isofix seats, the only access to the rear row is via the middle seat which is folded down ... they step up onto it and walk on the rear of it. It's the design of the car. I just wish it could be lifted out but it can't!

On a positive ... it's a great car. Diesel. Good on fuel, nice to drive, comfortable seats, well appointed. Would highly recommend it.

Happy car shopping!

Millie - do you think that would work better than having the the two babies in the middle row with a 4 yo between them, then the 5yo in one of the rear seats? This would only be for weekend journeys as school run I put DD1 in the front.

Can you not take the middle seat out completely then?

What about boot space when the two rear seats are up, could you fit a double buggy in there?

Sorry for all the questions but want to get it right this time

All the seats in my alhambra come out completely its a 52 plate so not a newer one.

Thanks Sleighgirl have put Alhambra on the list which is now Galaxy/Alhambra or Sharan i.e. all the same car lol.

Now thinking 2 and 2 with middle seat gone would be a better configuration suppose we would need to do a trial and error, basically whatever is easiest to load and unload us all.

Just need to find a half decent one now, DP opposed to spending over 9K but I think we may need to go to 10K to get a good diesel with low mileage, this one we want to keep for years too. In the 2 years we have had our CMAX we have done 6000 miles in it!

Hi Sweetkitty

Sorry, have only just checked back in! Depends on your older two. The child climbing into the back row would either have to climb over a row of seats or in through the boot (which doesn't work if buggy is in the boot). For that reason, we collapsed middle seat so as the two older kids can be together in back and have direct access. The middle seat doesn't lift out. It used to in older Galaxy's but in newer models just folds flat.

Boot space ... you can slide the rear row of seats back and forward a little which helps somewhat. We keep our EasyWalker double in the boot - it's tight to get it in (and the Easywalker is one of the slimest when folded flat) but it does fit. You can fit a couple of bags either side of it. The boot isn't huge tbh with the rear row up but if you ever needed extra space you could always have 3 children in the middle, one in the back and one of the back seats folded down. For weekends away (what weekends?) or holidays, it's very much a necessity to have a roof box.

Can you go and look at them? We looked at Galaxy's, Sharan's and Peuget 806's. Galaxy won over Sharan because of safety reasons ... I can hardly remember what now but may have been to do with airbags for the back row of seats. My brain is fog today!

HTH. Ask away if you have any more questions.

Oh, and if you have baby seats attached to outer two seats in middle row, you can't use the normal mechanism to slide the seats forward to allow access to the rear because the seats tilt and slide ... hence one sandwiched baby !!

we have a galaxy manual diesel, it's about 2 yrs old I think. We looked a lot of the other 7 seaters, needed lots of boot space for a double buggy so ruled out a lot of them. Galaxy was by far the easiest and most comfortable car-like one to drive, many of the others felt like a bus. Particularly as I am main driver, dp could handle anything I guess. We have 4 dc's in the beginning we had 2 isofix baby seats on outer seats, ds2 in stage 1 seat (he was 2) in the middle and ds1 (6) would climb through the boot. Not ideal but only for 9 months or so then we put both older boys in the back and of the middle outer seats is always folded down for them to get in.

I still like it a lot, it's a good car, we've had no probs with it. Only thing I'd say is that it's v.v.dark in the back even in middle of summer apparently you can buy some with a sunroof or something and wish I had done! Feels v.claustrophobic on a long trip with all of us. Do also wish we'd been able to buy something with electronic doors, I don't know if the others you're looking at had them but if buying again I would make that more of a priority.

we have a C8 and have ds1 (6) & ds2 (2.9) in the back, dd (2.9) in the middle row behind the driver and ds3 (11mths) in middle row in the middle.

I don't have the other seat (middle row behind the passenger) in the car unless MIL down on hoilday. I therefore have very easy access to strapped the 3 little ones in and the sliding doors are fantastic.

We have a 2L manual diesel HDI SX and paid £6,500 for a 54 plate with 45,000 on the clock. We had limited budget but with db4 on the way we had to change from our Picasso.

We have had it a year now and it is great. The Peugoet (sp?) 807 is the same.