We wanted a 7 seater that could fit three child seats in the middle row, due to the safety concerns mentioned above. That limited our choice somewhat, but we settled on an S-Max 2.0 diesel, other than the naff handbrake design I have been really impressed with the car. Good mpg, fairly fast, handles like a car, lots of space.
Other contenders we considered were the Touran and Mazda, but neither have 3 full size centre seats.
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Other contenders we considered were the Touran and Mazda but neither have 3 full size centre seats.
Our Touran handles three child seats across the middle row easily. The middle seat is a bit narrower, but it can still handle a child seat or an adult between two children just fine. You'r right about the Mazda though, the middle seat is not up to this standard.
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Why compromise on your six cylinders? Get a 6-cyl VW Caravelle 2.5 tdi auto. The latest version based on T5 launched in 2003 has oodles of convertible space, toquey 174PS diesel auto option, lots of cubby holes, table, facing seats (even fridges/coolers etc on option list)
- and apparently quite good to drive & commanding driving position. A proper 7+ seater with proper luggage space.
They don't tick the quite cheap box though, but if you compromise & buy 2nd hand it becomes a contender - 2.5 diesel is chain-cam too.
Edited by woodbines on 18/11/2008 at 09:34
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I think BBD is looking for 2 seats at the back permanently available for 2 kids.
Well, this was the problem I had. We have a 7 seat Touran and needed extra room for 3 kids and 2 grandparents at times.
Touran is a good car, economical, but you cannot put child seats in the rear-most seats.
We looked at the Chrysler, but it is darned expensive and had awful reviews
We looked at VW Sharan, Ford Galaxy, Renault Espace, Honda FRV and finally decided upon the Citroen C8, which we purchased in January this year.
It ticked most boxes, and it actually drives very well, so much so that when I had it in repair for a bodywork ding, the hire car they gave me was a VW Sharan, and it was a complete dog to drive, confirming that we made the right choice.
OK, there is no such thing as a perfect car, but what I like about the Citroen is that the front seats both swivel so you can have a picnic in the car without everyone facing the same way, the sliding doors are excellent and allow for easy access to all seats, the gearbox is on the dashboard, so you have full access to go back to the rear seats to sort out recalcitrant kiddies.
4 of the 5 rear seats have ISOFIX, just the middle seat in the 2nd row not having it. All the seats Recline - a useful feature as we've had the kids sleeping well in the car, whilst travelling.
Has some nifty features, but storage is an issue - none of the storage compartments are that big, and in fact are all strange shapes. However, we're managing well.
We also managed to rip off one of the built in sunblinds, which will be replaced next year (when I can stomach paying £240 for the privilidge).
Also, you need a flexible oil funnel to top up the oil.
You can always go for a Peugeot 807, but having compared the 2, you get lots more car for your money with the Citroen, and invariably will get cashback and 4 years interest free credit (which is what we did). Helped that Citroen were extremely customer friendly, whilst Peugeot dealers were not interested.
I went with the 2.0 HDi (120bhp). It is a heavy car. I'm averaging 35mpg and that's mixed roads.
Cost......£18.5k, which with the 0% finance, actually means around £17k.
That was in Jan. Might be better deals now, and possibly on a 2nd hand one.
In fact since I bought mine, I think they are doing a 170 bhp 2.2 HDi, which probably has more performance and I would think the economy might be similar, if slightly reduced.
Never owned a citroen before, but I can quite honestly say that I would definitely buy another one.
Hope this helps
Charles
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Went through this not so long ago due to expansion of the family. We bought a Fiat Ulysse 2.0 petrol initially for family use only - kept my Peugeot 306 as a runaround - but found the fuel bills hard to manage. We sold it on after a few weeks (made a profit on a car sale for the first time in my life!) and bought a Renault Espace TD.
I miss the sliding doors on the Fiat, but the Espace really is much better to drive, seems to have a better performance than the Fiat, and obviously fuel costs are manageable.
Check access to the rear seats on all the cars you look at - its not as convenient on the Espace which makes lifting seats in and out and strapping the two younger children in a pain, so our older two usually sit in the back
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