Need a 7 seater

Chong Warrior

Chong Warrior

Chong Warrior

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
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Location
Manchester
Time has come to now sell my trusty Golf TDi and buy a 7 seater as due to the new arrival we won't be able to all travel together anymore.

I know precisely zero about this part of the market so any advice would be much appreciated :) I'm not too keen on buying something like Zafira, though I've never driven them so it's not something I'd dismiss out of hand.

The biggest thing is it has to be safe! also reliable and not cost a fortune to run and insure. Needs to be able to accomodate 2 infants in child seats plus 2 teenagers and two adults, plus some camping gear!!

Currently looking at Mitsubishi Shoguns. Price I'm totally undecided on but I do know my budget max is around the £8k mark. If I can spend a lot less and grab a bargain I certainly would.
 
Personally when going for a 7 seater, i'd be inclined to get a proper one, ie a car with 7 proper seats and boot space, my experience with Zafira's,picasso's and Verso's is that the rear seats are really only for kids and when they are up you have pretty much zero boot space.

I'd be looking at something like a Previa, the rear seats in the Shogun are really crap, not what I'd call safe tbh.
 
I've gone off the Shogun idea now. Been looking at all the above. At the moment the Honda FR-V seems to be the favourite in the 2.2 CDti flavour. Didn't even know this car existed until today.

Same size as a normal hatchback with boot space even when full. It's a 6 seater due to being able to fit 3 people in the front with a folding seat and 6 seats is actually what we need rather than 7.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/for-sale/search/honda/fr-v-2004/45-18970247.aspx - this is out of my price range but shows decent pics
 
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I was going to recommend a 7-seat V70 or an E Class, but I don't think the teenagers would be very happy in the dicky seats :p

Most S-Maxs are in budget unfortunately, I suspect there's something wrong with this one..
http://pistonheads.com/sales/1453841.htm

Is the Renault Espace really as bad as everyone makes them out to be?
The Grand Espace is massive and can be had in budget, as well as being very safe.

and the wildcard :o
http://pistonheads.com/sales/1468585.htm
 
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The Espace looks decent but from the few reports I've read they seem to be a bit hit and miss? I really can't be bothered with cars that keep playing up, just don't have the time.

Just phoned my insurance company and it's going to cost a whopping £500 extra to insure the Honda FR-V :eek:
 
For a 6 seater it may be worth looking at a Fiar Multipla. The later version isn't quite as ugly. Of the few mpv type thing I've been in a Espace was easily the best, a picasso by far the worst. I've also been in a passenger in a Voyager which was comfortable and spacious but there's very little crash safety.
 
Hmm I'm currently having a rethink. Choice is quite limited and overall the cars don't seem as good as your regular motors.

We've sat down and thought about just how many times a year we'd actually ever have all 6 of us in the car, not very many. The fact my daughter is 17 now and she's always out with friends and doesn't really do much with us anymore apart from a holiday and xmas. So 99% of the time it'll be just the 5 of us.

So another option might be to just buy a bigger saloon family car and hire something like an Espace if we need to for holidays. The more I think about it the more I'm liking this idea.
 
Multipla.

Cheap as chips (because they're as ugly as hell therefore most people don't want one).
The JTD diesel engine is very good.
Six seats plus a decent sized boot.
Two rows of three seats instead of the more typical 2+3+2 layout means the vehicle is a foot shorter than a Focus, so easier to park
£3-4k buys a very tidy low miler, leaving about £4k of your budget to spend on other things/cars.
 
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