7seat car survey!

[LittleLegsCM]

Afternoon all!

As the title says I'm after info on 7 seated cars! I'm desperate to get rid of my knackered Peugeot estate and have been looking at the ford galaxy & vauxhall Zafira (and just saw a VW touran which looked ok although a bit smaller) but can't decide what's best.

So for those that don't mind sharing, what 7seater do you own? Whats it like to run? Tax? Insure? Etc. Are there any big pros & cons to it? Oh and when all 7 seats are in use, what's the boot like?? (if theres one left! Lol)

Any help/advice would be fab

[BuggsieMoo]

Ive got a Citroen C8 with Ateam sliding doors (fab for small parking spaces). Its a 7 seater but can be converted to an 8 seater for about £100. The seats all come out so it becomes a van (infact it is based on a citroen van chassi). All the seats turn around so you can face out the doors, out the back and they have their own seatbelts attached to them so there is no chance of no seatbelts. No lap belts - all over the shoulder belts.
Me and hubby drive it an dpay about £500 a year for business use. However he does have 18 years no claims which helps. Its diesel so more economical on fuel.
I love the car! x

[BucksCM]

At the moment I have a Fiat Ulysse. (citroen C8 equivalent). It's spacey, I have 2 lo in big car seats, a "bucket" seat and 3 booster seats. They all fit comfortably. The boot space when all seats are in it isn't huge but bigger than my old Zafira. £100 to fill with diesel, £250 per year tax.
The seats I have in this car would not fit as well across the middle of the zafira. I did like that car though!

[blue bear]

I've got a vwsharan. 7 seats, five come out, all five point seat belts. Two of the seats convert to booster and baby seat which is fab, less storage of car seats on the weekend.£300 a year ins. Boot not massive I get my p&t sport in.
I'm on my second sharan, lovely car.

[Pipsqueak]

Kia Sedona - 7 seat (old style)
roomy and spacious I can get my P&T's in the boot space plus other stuff
3rd middle seat in the rear is lap belt though

good reliable vehicle - £420 for insurance inc business use
diesel - bit of a thirsty car but on the whole ok

[Tazmin68]

Hi
I have an 07 plate zaf. 1.6 petrol really happy with it. I can fit either two single buggies which I connect together or a cosatto twin lunar and two micro scooters in boot whith all seats up. Tax is 180 and 450 insurance which I don't think is bad. If I could manage with just one single buggy I would prefer a Hyundai Santa fe as the boot space is even less but I like the height of the Hyundai. But I am more than happy with my zaf. That's saying something as my hubby works for Hyundai.

[funemnx]

The biggest thing I would look would be sliding doors - so much easier to get small people in and out of car seats!

Kia Sedona has a nice big boot too

[nipper]

I'm getting my new car next week, it's an ex motability zafira with only 8,000 miles on the clock, three yrs old and looks brand new, owned by an elderly lady and cost me £3,000 to part exchange for my old car. Up until now I haven't driven anywhere for childminding purposes, instead using the bus or walking so I feel like I have the whole world at my feet. We used to have a vw touran, but they are quite expensive compared to the vauxhalls. Road tax is about £120 per year, not made enquiries about insurance yet...

[Twinkles]

We have a Zafira - I hate it. Awkward to get children in the very back seats. Awkward to move car seats etc. Tiny boot.

We also have a 9 seater VW Caravelle which I LOVE. Sliding door , roomy seats , massive boot.

No idea about insurance etc ( that's mens work and he's out )I do know the Caravelle uses a lot more petrol , but i think it's well worth it.

[Monkey26]

Ive got a Citroen C8 with Ateam sliding doors (fab for small parking spaces). Its a 7 seater but can be converted to an 8 seater for about £100. The seats all come out so it becomes a van (infact it is based on a citroen van chassi). All the seats turn around so you can face out the doors, out the back and they have their own seatbelts attached to them so there is no chance of no seatbelts. No lap belts - all over the shoulder belts.
Me and hubby drive it an dpay about £500 a year for business use. However he does have 18 years no claims which helps. Its diesel so more economical on fuel.
I love the car! x

I have the c8 as well, had it since beginning of April and can honestly say I love it! I have converted mine to the 8 seater (2 spare seats bagged up in my loft!)... The bench cost me approx £200 on eBay as they are gold dust these days but best thing I've done, I can do the school runs without having to totally rearrange the car!!! the sliding doors are a godsend as well xx

[hello kitty]

I drive a Chrysler Grand Voyager which is fab. Sliding doors, seats fold into floor if space needed and a huge boot which takes a double pushchair comfortably. Insurance not too bad either.

[mrs robbie williams]

Afternoon all!

As the title says I'm after info on 7 seated cars! I'm desperate to get rid of my knackered Peugeot estate and have been looking at the ford galaxy & vauxhall Zafira (and just saw a VW touran which looked ok although a bit smaller) but can't decide what's best.

So for those that don't mind sharing, what 7seater do you own? Whats it like to run? Tax? Insure? Etc. Are there any big pros & cons to it? Oh and when all 7 seats are in use, what's the boot like?? (if theres one left! Lol)

Any help/advice would be fab

ive got a zafira and hate it its such hard work getting car seats in and out and faffing around with putting the back seats down to get the double buggy in let alone the poor dog who gets squashed inbetween buggy and sometimes other back seat. I had a chrysler grand voyager before and LOVED it - i cried when we sold it it was petrol and 3.5L and cost a bomb running it but i think diesels are more econimical xx

[Chimps Childminding]

I also have a Zafira and hate the fact that once you have car seats fitted into the middle row you can't move it to get other children in or out of the boot - not too bad if you don't need all the seats, but a right pain in the backside if you do!! Also the boot is tiny with the 2 back seats up - my double buggy won't fit

We used to have a Renault Espace which I loved, just it was really old and we couldn't afford a newer one the Zafira was much cheaper!! I would love a Kia Sedona or Crysler Voyager if I had the money - but I don't

[Playmate]

Ive got a Citroen C8 with Ateam sliding doors (fab for small parking spaces). Its a 7 seater but can be converted to an 8 seater for about £100. The seats all come out so it becomes a van (infact it is based on a citroen van chassi). All the seats turn around so you can face out the doors, out the back and they have their own seatbelts attached to them so there is no chance of no seatbelts. No lap belts - all over the shoulder belts.
Me and hubby drive it an dpay about £500 a year for business use. However he does have 18 years no claims which helps. Its diesel so more economical on fuel.
I love the car! x

I'm another C8 fan will be trading mine in this year and getting my 3rd one. Mine is insured for about £400ish.

[sharonmanc]

So glad you asked this as I need a 7 seater, I am looking at the VW Sharan

[MaffAnna]

I have a 57 zafira. It's cheap to buy / insure (£250 comp inc business) / run (£68 for 425 miles) . Cheap and cheerful I suppose.

It does have a few downsides which have been mentioned but you can work around them! You can move the middle bench if you have an isofix car seat and a seat belt one in the middle.

Also the Baby Jogger City Mini fits in the boot with all seats up and its quite a nice pram.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for. If I wasn't cm ing I wouldn't buy one, ever. BUT for this job, on a small budget it's not too bad. (And I am a harsh critic, just ask DH lol)

[Carol M]

I love my Zaf
59 plate, 1.6 petrol, bought it new, had a 52 plate Zaf before.
£290 to insure standard road tax. Good on petrol for minding.
I can fit Apollo Sport double in boot with all seats up but as others have said if baby seats in middle row, tricky to get at back seats. this car suits me as I only have 3x lo's so use the back 2 seats and one seat in middle so can get lo's in/out easily.
Carol xx

[LittleLegsCM]

I have a 57 zafira. It's cheap to buy / insure (£250 comp inc business) / run (£68 for 425 miles) . Cheap and cheerful I suppose.

It does have a few downsides which have been mentioned but you can work around them! You can move the middle bench if you have an isofix car seat and a seat belt one in the middle.

Also the Baby Jogger City Mini fits in the boot with all seats up and its quite a nice pram.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for. If I wasn't cm ing I wouldn't buy one, ever. BUT for this job, on a small budget it's not too bad. (And I am a harsh critic, just ask DH lol)

Funny enough, i have a baby jogger mini double LOL x

[stargazer1]

I'm getting my new car next week, it's an ex motability zafira with only 8,000 miles on the clock, three yrs old and looks brand new, owned by an elderly lady and cost me £3,000 to part exchange for my old car. Up until now I haven't driven anywhere for childminding purposes, instead using the bus or walking so I feel like I have the whole world at my feet. We used to have a vw touran, but they are quite expensive compared to the vauxhalls. Road tax is about £120 per year, not made enquiries about insurance yet...

Thats how we got out Zafira, ex motability, 3 years old but our had 19000 miles on. I love my Zafira!! I know it can be a bit awkward to get all the seats in and out but I didnt want a bus, we wanted a family car with the option for the extra seats. Its so reasonable on tax and insurance, costs no more than our old Peugeot, and for me is perfect. If you look at the bigger cars they are without doubt easier regarding seats etc, but depends what you are after xx

[LeeMarie]

I had a zafira for almost 10 years. It was a brilliant smaller 7 seater and very economical to run/tax/insure. But as others have said getting children in and out of rear seats was awkward and the boot space with all the seats up was tiny. A couple of months ago I got a peugeot 807 (like citroen C8) which I love! I don't know how I managed for so many years without sliding doors and it much roomier inside. Only thing I'd like is an bigger boot as I'm still trying to work out which double pushchair does what I want and will fit in the boot.
As a cost comparision my insurance was/is- Zafira £280 Peugeot 807 £420,
tax - Zafira £185 Peugeot £250
fuel - have gone from a petrol to diesel and I'm not spending much more than before.