Sanity Check Please

Armageus

Armageus

Armageus

Don
Joined
19 May 2012
Posts
19,578
Location
Spalding, Lincolnshire
Thinking about changing my car for a 7 Seater early next year, would just appreciate some thoughts.

Current situation is that we have 2 cars:
- 56 Plate Ford Fiesta 1.25 - ~51k miles
- 07 Plate Audi A3 Sportback 2.0TFSI - ~94k miles

Due to change in contact arrangements with one of wife's children from previous marriage, it would be preferable to have a car with 6 or 7 seats, so that we can all go out together at weekends / during school holidays etc when we have contact. Children are currently aged 5, 9, 10 and 13.

My current thinking is to change my A3 for a newer 7 Seater, but not particularly liking MPV style vehicles (and not having the budget for an X5/RR/XC90 etc), was thinking about a Qashqai+2.

Budget will be approximately £10k + trade in. Needs to be petrol, as large proportion of journeys are short journeys to work ~5 miles away.

Considered trading the Wife's fiesta in, and her having an MPV, but given her car is used for School run (and consequently has had curbed alloys, miscellaneous scratches etc), reluctant to give her the newer car. (The Fiesta is fine in this role at present). The Fiesta would then likely be changed in another year or two, to a Focus or similar.
 
What about an E-Class estate with the extra seat option? Many 7 seaters have the extra pair in the boot which means when you are using both of them you have little to no boot space. Six seaters aren't as bad, something like a late model Multipla or Honda HR-V would be ideal.
 
MissChief said:
What about an E-Class estate with the extra seat option?
Click to expand...

An option I hadn't looked at, although servicing costs put me off, and I suspect Wife wouldn't be happy with the Rear facing seats - would also be at very top end of budget e.g.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507024842792

MissChief said:
Many 7 seaters have the extra pair in the boot which means when you are using both of them you have little to no boot space.
Click to expand...

Qashqai+2 didn't seem too bad to be honest, boot with the seats up is basically the same size as our Fiesta's, and that manages fine for weekly shop etc.

MissChief said:
Six seaters aren't as bad, something like a late model Multipla or Honda HR-V would be ideal.
Click to expand...

Multipla is a no go due to looks, I assume you mean FRV rather than HRV, in which case given the price of them could be an option to swap Wife's Fiesta for, although Width/Turning circle might be a bit of a concern. Certainly another option though.
 
Howard said:
Depending on how much your Audi is worth, something like this may change your thinking on MPVs once you drive one:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201511038375871
Click to expand...

Cookeh said:
S-Max's are held in quite high regard actually. I was about to suggest the same.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, and out of all the MPV's available SMax would likely be the only one I'd really consider. I know it's probably the best tool for the job, but struggling to convince myself of the MPV image. Arguably the 1.6T ecoboost would be fine, as the 200bhp I have in my A3 is too much really - not too worried about having a "quick" car.
 
Definitely drive one, I absolutely do not buy the hype about them having had a few on hire but i seem to be compleyely in the minority, which is fair enough I guess

You can buy a 7 seat e class for not a lot of money, though I understand the concern about rear facing etc
 
I like the S-max as well though. As for the MPV image, I quickly forgot about it when I got my Seat Alhambra recently. In fact, I like it so much, my 5 series barely gets driven at all.

The S-max would be great as an "occasional" 7 seater. And any review I've read about them suggest they are the most "car like" of pretty much all your options in this segment. It looks like little more than a slightly larger estate, rather than a smaller van. However, you do lose some interior space on the third row, and pretty much all boot space when the third row is in use. But no more so than it's rivals, such as the Touran and whatever.

I went for an 07 Alhambra personally. And it was nearly £11k cheaper and only 3 years older than that S-Max linked above. However, I did want all that extra space. And can put up with the tech from a 2002 Passat. And I like it a LOT more than I thought I would to be honest.
 
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