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Help me choose a new car. Now there are more than just the two of us we find the two proper rear seats in the Signum a bit of a drawback. THE ONLY drawback with this awesome car. So we're looking at something bigger. I was hoping to find a full sized 4x4 MPV but there just isn't anything that fits the bill. Size wise we want to be able to fit 2 adults and 2 child seats and still be able to carry passengers or luggage. We're family orientated so go on lots of days out with the grandparents and want to be able to all go in one car.
So we're looking at actual MPVs Again we want auto and ideally diesel or LPG. Under 80k and 7 years old ideally. Budget £3000.
So these are what I've found so far. (Clickable images take you to the ads)
2002 Volkswagen Sharan 1.8 turbo auto.
Pros - Turbo Build quality.
Cons - Economy
2003 Vauxhall Zafira 1.8 auto
Pros - versatile.
Cons - economy, a bit tatty.
2000 Kia Sedona 2.9 diesel auto
Pros - cheap as chips, good spec.
Cons - its a Kia Sedona
2000 Mazda MPV 2.0 auto
Pros - erm.
Cons - erm.
2002 Renault Espace 2.0 auto
Pros - bags of espace. Not bad looking for a MPV
Cons - Massive, may not be as economical as others
Ive been in this exact same position with about the same cash at the start of the year.
The V6 petrol stuff was just pointless to me, as we would be doing school runs and doing 3mpg while it warmed up. We were looking for 7 seats, diesel and less than 2.5 (which only just ruled out the chrysler things as i think they are 2.5s?).
In the end i was looking at the two 7 seater bastardisations:
Sharan/Alhambra/Galaxy MK2 (01 - 05)
All VAG based, with Vag components and easy scanability with VAGCOM. Pretty bulletproof, not very complicated and really solid Diesels. VR6 engines in about all of them add some grunt if you want it. I physically cannot believe the room in these, and they have 6th and 7th seats as a full seat - not the same in the Grand Scenics and Zafiras. Plus you dont pay a premium for the Galaxy and Alhambra - yet even through its the same everything except for the boots and badges the VW is more expensive. Insurance group is quite high.
I bought an 02 1.9Tdi 115 Galaxy LX for £2k. Needed a bit of work but its pretty good. Downsides are its not got a lot of power due to the weight, anything less than a Ghia seems underfitted but it works well. Sooo much room in it, not a lot to go wrong, typical stuff is booster heater, heater resistor, back arches. They dont get warm very quickly (mine takes 10 miles) so they have a booster heater to warm the coolant. the glowplug goes in these and is £30 to replace, and leads to taking ages to warm up in the winter and therefore logger mpg.
807 / C8 Family
These things are masssive too, and the top of the range captains chair versions are fully kittted, but only have 6 seats as each is a fully revolving you-cant-bend-it Jean Luc Picard chair. They have a decent mpg but the smallest engined diesel is a 2.2. Insurance group again is high. Sliding side doors means the mrs doesnt have to strain to get kids in, very well kitted out, aircon, satnav, all electircs etc. Bit too complicated for me tbh.
Downsides, theyre french. Massive electrical problems, none are user fixable, all required Peugeot/Fiat/Citroen to fix, costing about £1k each. Known for snapping cambelts after 35k. If you have a battery thats slightly not enough ampage the immob kicks in and they will not start.
All the above means theyre cheap from the off but will usually cost you more in the long run.
Im happy with the Galaxy mate, ive had to do a fair amount of stuff to it (general maintenence) but its a pretty solid workhorse, and if you get the ghia then you get full leather, all mod coms, tvs etc. Parts are well cheap too. Latest i did was:
Heater Resistor £20
Back disks £14 each
Back pads £15 set
Handbrake cable £18
Door trim £12
Thats the MPVs out the way. All the Galaxy/Alhambra/Sharans are 7 seats too.. not sure where you got 6 seats from?
As a final note if i only had two kids and wanted the luggage space i would just get an estate, something like a D5 V70, 02ish 520d or something like an older A6 estate. Stacks of room and still pretty cheap. With MPVs your proper limiting yourself, if you can accept an estate and you have about £2500/£3000 ish (i dont know what your budget it, youve got a massive range to choose from)
V70
2.5 P38 Range
520 Estate
A6 Estate
Freelander
ZT-T
I looked at Zafiras, the things that put me off were it was a Vauxhall, the 6th and 7th seats arent full seats, limited legroom for both, and you pay a premium for a Zafira as mums dont know any better and hike the prices up.
Normal 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0DTi Zafira - Absolutely awful. Gutless, not especially well finished, The whole multiple seat thing is totally overrated, trying to get a load of stuff in the back we had to mess about wit the seats and ended up completely buggering up blind spot visability.
Feel like you're going to die when you reach a corner.
Seats bloody uncomfortable.
Not even economical.
Zarifa 2.0 TDi SRi 150 - WAY better than the above, more power (not excessive, but comfortable for normal driving), more comfortable seats, felt a lot more sure footed on corners. Not my choice of vehicle, but for what it was, wasn't too bad.
Oh, I got 47mpg, which for a massive great big thing wasn't too bad IMO.
VW Touran 2.0TDi (the 170/180bhp one) - TBH, it's actually really nice. Stacks of torque, get up to speed really quick and effortlessly, very easy to speed, drives much more like a car and is comfy. Plus you get over 50mpg. Different class to the Zafira, but more expensive.
Seriously though, avoid the 1.6 and 1.8 Zafira, they're just sh1t. Had to drive one to the Netherlands and back last year and I was sooooo glad to get home after. Was horrible. Basic, slow, uncomfortable and generally one of the worst vehicles I've ever got behind the wheel of tbh.
1999 Honda Accord Type R - 2157cc of VTEC 4dr fun
2011 Mazda 6 Sport 2.2 Diesel - For the days I want torque and economy
618ireland wrote:Four adults and two child seats don't fit in estates. Estate would be perfect though, Radders can follow on the bike
..two adults?
radddogg wrote:Size wise we want to be able to fit 2 adults and 2 child seats and still be able to carry passengers or luggage. We're family orientated so go on lots of days out with the grandparents and want to be able to all go in one car.
dont get the sedona. engine is worse than a 20yr old farm truck. gearbox doesnt change properly. pos.
my old man had a vw sharan, think it was a s/t reg, 1.8/1.9tdi, manual, excellent. buy one.
dont buy a petrol one, especially not the v6. soooooo thirsty.
I have an older LWB shogun which has impressed me so much i will be looking to get a newer one soon. 7 seats, or 5 and a huge boot, very solidly built and the usual itchipussi reliability. You wouldnt buy one for fuel economy, tho im sure the newer models are better than mine. 3k might be a bit optimistic for your age limit too.
Mitsubishi Grandis. Possibly out of your budget, but the last incarnation only came in two trim levels; very nice and luxury, full 7 seater, only 2.0 litre diesels available, but a VAG diesel. Only test drove one, it drove really nicely, was gonna buy one, but circumstances changed.
Toyota Previa. Completed production before Toyota hit their reliability issues, so build quality/reliability should be good. Full 7 seater, 8 seater an option.
Toyota Verso, diesels pretty decent and they did a 180 horses diesel version, the T180. Not a full 7 seater it's a 5 seater with rear most 2 fold flat in boot. 7 year old would again be before Toyota's reliability issues. Bit biased on these as we've a Mk I Corolla Verso, so only 5 seats, petrol engined, but I kid you not nothing's gone wrong on it (so I've now just cursed it), it's only needed consumables (tyres, brakes & oil), now 10 y. o.
mg-richard wrote:multipla could be well cheap?
Only a 6 seater. My old man had one as a hire car, said the build quality was pants and had the interesting experience of the gear lever coming off whilst motoring along.
99 T reg 620 Ti
13 Chev Captiva LTZ
Gone, not forgotten: 98 620 Si
94 Primera 1.6LX
96 Saab 900XS; conrod leaves block, RIP
94 218 SLDt
Tempra Est1.9dt
85 VW Golf 1.3CL
91 Ren 19 1.7TXE
86 Cavalier1.6L
84 Cit BX16TRS
PJW wrote:I looked at Zafiras, the things that put me off were it was a Vauxhall, the 6th and 7th seats arent full seats, limited legroom for both, and you pay a premium for a Zafira as mums dont know any better and hike the prices up.
Eh, Aye
My Family Car 2010 Vauxhall Zafira 1.9CDTi Elite
Great Car for the family and for moving large amounts of shopping, I have 4 kids so a seven seater was a must, used to own a Ford Galaxy 2.0L Petrol but its not a patch on the Zafira
So we're looking at something bigger. I was hoping to find a full sized 4x4 MPV but there just isn't anything that fits the bill. Size wise we want to be able to fit 2 adults and 2 child seats and still be able to carry passengers or luggage. We're family orientated so go on lots of days out with the grandparents and want to be able to all go in one car.
Again we want auto and ideally diesel or LPG. Under 80k and 7 years old ideally. Budget £3000. 
Build quality. 
VW build quality
