im no fan of french cars especially renaults BUT the citroen berlingo multispace / Peugeot Partner Tipee from 2008 onwards is a brillant MPV van.

You might just might pick up in an auction a high mileage 1.6 petrol version on an 08 plate for 4k but I would be prepared to pay a bit more and get the 1.6 diesel.

And dont make the mistake of buying the mark 1 multispace which while being ok was still very much a van, the mark 2 of the berlingo multispace is 100 times better.

the berlingo/partner are alot more reliable and spacious when compared to the renault kangoo equivelent.

The other alternatives are the ford tourneo connect which is expensive but nice to drive or the fiat doblo which I found to be very spacious but you have to go for a diesel. The petrols where slow and very thirsty (especially the 1.4). My Doblo comments refere to the mark 1 Doblo, im sure the mark 2 is a much better mpv car/van but its not long been out so I doubt you will get one for less than £6k.

And you could always consider a vauxhall combo crew van, very cheap, ok reliability, 1.3 diesel and ok drive.

But if I had the choice ofthe MPV vans it would be for the citroen berlingo multispace from 08 onwards.

I'm guessing but think that you need space for the child seats and would like to have enough room left over for a friend or grandparent etc?

We've got 3 kids but often need 6 seats and considered all sorts (including all those mentioned previously) before finally going for a Honda FRV. We'd a £5k budget when we bought one a year ago. Not many FRVs come up in this price range but they will if you wait. Ours is a 1.7 petrol se model. Its the bottom spec (bar the alloys) but still has climate, abs, 4x electric windows and a decent cd/radio system. It doesn't have cruise, traction, leather or a built in dvd player but cruise and traction are just something else to go wrong. In common with all FRVs though it has 6 seats (3 up front and 3 in the back). Also worth knowing is that you can put 3 child seats in the rear side by side and keep a very decent sized boot available for all the clutter a family has.

So far (9,000 miles) ours has been brilliant. Great around town as it's quite a small car and recently it took 6 of us to Cornwall for a fortnight (2000 miles round trip) including 3 bodyboards, wetsuits, double buggy and a travel cot without needing a roofbox!

Have a look at one, if you like what you see then wait for the right one to turn up. We paid £4700 for ours (2004 1.7 se with 60k) almost a year ago from a small independent trader.

Private owners are generally very happy with Honda cars and the early FRVs are farily simple which should keep maintenance reasonable.

I'd second the FRV. We got one late last year when number arrived. So we drive about in it weekly with a full load. The benefit for us with a new born and a 2.5 year old who still occassionaly wants to cadge a lift in the double buggy is that you can fit an enormous amount i.e a full size Phil and Teds buggy in the boot. Funnily enough ours has just returned from a round trip to Devon with no problems.

The older petrols should be within your price range if not the diesels