Cheap MPV?

[Mr_Sukebe]

I've been presented with an interesting "opportunity".
In short, we have some members of the family from abroad coming to visit us for 4 weeks in Dec.
Whilst here, that would mean that we'd need a car capable of seating 6 people, i.e. just too many for our existing saloon.

Our immediate thought was to consider going with a hire car. However, on checking around, looks like it'll be a good £300+/week for something with 6-7 weeks. Over 4 weeks, that means a good £1200+.
It does occur, that it might be more sensible to simply buy a cheap MPV (i.e. sub £1500, run it for a month, then flog it. Even if we make a loss, it'll still be cheaper than hiring a car.

So, I've just had a quick look, the obvious candidates seem to include the Galaxy/Sharon, Peugeot 806 and Multipla (pig ugly it may be, but we're only interested in utility for 4 weeks).
Any thoughts on the above, taking into account our needs?

 

[mjt]

Toyota Previa/Estima?
There's always the Renault Grande Espace and the Chrysler Grand Voyager, too.

 

[mrthingyx]

Previa will probably have the most space and be the most 'practical'.

Sharalaxy variants won't have a boot with all the seats up, and the Multipla is just eurgh.

 

[DM]

Huyundi 7 seater, used the old Merc diesel i think.

 

[MissChief]

Get a Multipla! I had one and they're fantastic. because of the 3 across seating you'll have boot space to play with and all the seats are full size with 3 point seatbelts and for the size of them they handle surprisingly well. make sure it's a JTD diesel though. petrol is OK generally but 6 up with anything in the boot it struggles.

 

[nanospider]

With 6 people a galaxy (or variant) works quite well, remove the middle seat and you have plenty of space for cases when coupled with the area behind the 3rd row. You also make access to the 3rd row much easier. In this configuration you can move the outer seats in the 2nd row in a bit to give people a bit more room.

We used this configuration to take 4 adults and 2 teenagers + 1 weeks luggage on long trips away without any bother.

Word of warning tho, ours started throwing up quite expensive bills needing bits of suspension replaced and such at probably the end of the market you are looking at. Wear and tear considering it was 13 years old at the time, but still, worth considering.

That said, we also didn't have any trouble selling it on.