Looking for a 7 seater

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Mon 30 Oct 2017 20:33
Looking for a 7 seater - Mike199027
Hi

I’m looking for a 2002-2005 7 seater diesel (below £1000) that’s got good mpg, cheapest on tax and insurance and most reliable

I’ve been looking at Ford galaxy, VW Sharan and Seat Alhambra

Just not sure which is the Best Buy for mpg, tax, insurance and reliability and spacious
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Mon 30 Oct 2017 20:38
Looking for a 7 seater - Avant

If you need that size of car, any of these should do the job, but don't go for a diesel. Any savings in fuel can so easily be cancelled out by expensive repairs that older diesels usually need.

At this budget level, condition is more important than make or model. If you don't need anything as big as the ones you mention, the Toyota Verso and Mazda 5 are worth putting on the list.

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Mon 30 Oct 2017 20:53
Looking for a 7 seater - badbusdriver

Couldn't possibly recommend anything with those requirements. Do you like playing Russian roulette?, because that's what you will be doing. A grand for a spacious and economical 7 seat mpv.

I'm off out to look for some rocking horse poo!

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Mon 30 Oct 2017 21:09
Looking for a 7 seater - Avant

Come now, BBD - we need to be more helpful than that. Mike has presumably a big family and very little money to spare.

Looking at Cars for Sale on this site, there aren't many petrol Galaxies etc, but there are quite a few Vauxhall Zafiras which I forgot to mention. I'm not a Vauxhall fan but one of these is as good a candidate for 'bangernomics' as any other: buy it cheaply and run it until something expensive goes wrong, then scrap it.

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Mon 30 Oct 2017 21:24
Looking for a 7 seater - gordonbennet

If you can find one, Avensis Verso, though it will more than likely be petrol.

Cheap but reliable motoring means having the knowledge and the enthusiasm to maintain and repair you own vehicles, if you can do this then your costs over time will be a fraction of what the rest of the population will be paying.

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Mon 30 Oct 2017 21:39
Looking for a 7 seater - SLO76
Big ask, but we like challenges here. This comes down to what's available in your area more than anything else as cheap but reliable 7 seaters aren't an easy find. Where roughly in the country are you located?
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Tue 31 Oct 2017 00:08
Looking for a 7 seater - Mike199027
Yes I’m a fully qualified mechanic so maintainance and repair is no problem plus got my own diagnostic systems. I’m based in Manchester. Diesel would be my preferered fuel. Had a golf 1.8 turbo before, used to go through petrol so much. Then had a Citroën C3 hdi(really good on fuel) and 30 a Year tax. Then a Ford Focus 1.6 16v. Citroen been the best ecomical wise. So a 7 seater one of those would be perfect

Edited by Mike199027 on 31/10/2017 at 00:10

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Tue 31 Oct 2017 06:58
Looking for a 7 seater - gordonbennet

They're getting old now but Pug 806 Cit Synergie Fiat Useless was one of the best mpv's you could buy, and probably the best taxi conversion ever made.

On another forum i use one chap still runs an 807 whch has given years of service, lots of these were lemons which are probably now scrapped, so any still going would i imagine be the good ones.

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Tue 31 Oct 2017 07:48
Looking for a 7 seater - badbusdriver
Yes I’m a fully qualified mechanic so maintainance and repair is no problem plus got my own diagnostic systems. I’m based in Manchester. Diesel would be my preferered fuel. Had a golf 1.8 turbo before, used to go through petrol so much. Then had a Citroën C3 hdi(really good on fuel) and 30 a Year tax. Then a Ford Focus 1.6 16v. Citroen been the best ecomical wise. So a 7 seater one of those would be perfect

You should have said Mike!, that does put a whole new aspect to it, as you actually do know if you are looking at a lemon!.

If you want a diesel citroen 7 seater your options are C8, or C4 grand picasso. You mentioned needing a car which was spacious, now i don't know exactly what you mean by this, but from personal experience, unless your kids/passengers are quite small, the C4 grand picasso may be too small.

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20170831883...1

And another C8

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20171005997...1

The cheapest diesel C4 grand picasso i could see (on autotrader) was this one with 164k

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20171011020...1

But as a mechanic on a limited budget, i'd have thought an auction would be your best option?

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Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:22
Looking for a 7 seater - SLO76
As a qualified mechanic I'd be surprised if you'd consider an old Citroen, especially a high spec model. They're murder for electrical issues even if the 2.0 HDi's are fundamentally sound motors. I'd certainly take a peek but a life of chasing gremlins is almost certain.

I'd normally steer budget buyers away from diesels but since you're on the tools and should know how to keep it going cheaply enough then there's a few options I spotted that may be worthy of a look too.

Tough as old boots these but watch for owners who utterly neglect them. Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20170921951...6

Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20170905898...3

No doubt well overdue a t/belt. Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20171009012...8

Brilliant things, sliding doors a very handy and rarely goes wrong. Watch for rot though. Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20170927970...5

Ugly but often owned by older drivers and well kept. Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20170221254...7

Edited by SLO76 on 31/10/2017 at 08:28

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Tue 31 Oct 2017 14:06
Looking for a 7 seater - corax

For your budget and out of your choices, I'd say the Ford Galaxy. Great PD diesel engine (for some reason I've never seen one on a Galaxy smoking), tough VW underpinnings and widely available. They last if looked after. My mechanic has had an '02 for years. He did have to replace the clutch and DMF which wasn't his favourite job. Forget about the aircon working though - it always goes wrong.

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Tue 31 Oct 2017 20:00
Looking for a 7 seater - daveyK_UK
Vauxhall zafira would be my choice if your buying for £1 k or less
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Tue 31 Oct 2017 20:46
Looking for a 7 seater - Mike199027
Thanks for the links guys! I’ll sift through them and narrow my choices down. Avant, out of curiousity what expensive repairs do the old diesels suffer with?

And okay thank you, what goes wrong with the aircon? Also, the 1.9 galaxy. Any bug bears with them? Other than aircon?

Was looking at the sharan, because of the badge and the fact my VagCom will work with it lol

Edited by Mike199027 on 31/10/2017 at 20:55

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Tue 31 Oct 2017 22:57
Looking for a 7 seater - Avant

I'll leave it to others better qualified than I to say what specifically goes wrong with older diesels: but the VAG 1.9 PD engine is one of the better ones, and at your budget level you'll be likely to get one that doesn't have a DPF.

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Tue 31 Oct 2017 23:38
Looking for a 7 seater - SLO76
All down to the complexity of the beast, put simply there's just more to go wrong. From turbo failure, DMF's breaking up, high pressure fuel pumps, injector faults to just the added pressure on gearboxes from the extra torque. They're just prone to more problems and it doesn't help that people tend to buy them with saving cash in mind so most older diesels of the type you're eyeballing have been totally neglected.

The best option on a tight budget like yours is normally asperated and petrol, preferably of Japanese descent. A cheap diesel will almost always be a false economy, costing far more in repairs that it would ever save you on fuel, but I'm surprised a qualified mechanic wouldn't think the same. You must see these old things regularly being scrapped because of uneconomic repairs? £1000 plus for a DMF, similar for a turbo on some, high pressure fuel pump on some diesels is £1,500 and upwards! If you know your stuff and have the tools and access to trade parts then yup it's doable but if you were Joe Punter I'd tell you you were mad to look for a diesel on this money.
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Wed 1 Nov 2017 14:28
Looking for a 7 seater - Mike199027
Okay thank you for the heads up! I’ve done clutch’s, timing belts, head gaskets, even an engine rebuild on a golf so that stuff would be fine. Hopefully won’t need to do it but you never know

Thanks for the input! What’s the MPG on a galaxy 1.9? My old Citroën C3 1.6hdi(before it died - electrics failed disabling engine) was brilliant on diesel
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Wed 1 Nov 2017 11:20
Looking for a 7 seater - corax
Thanks for the links guys! I’ll sift through them and narrow my choices down. Avant, out of curiousity what expensive repairs do the old diesels suffer with? And okay thank you, what goes wrong with the aircon? Also, the 1.9 galaxy. Any bug bears with them? Other than aircon? Was looking at the sharan, because of the badge and the fact my VagCom will work with it lol

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=49347

If you look, there are lots of forums reporting aircon woes.

This might put you off.

www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/ford/galaxy-1995/?se...d

I should say that my mechanic, as he has done in the past, probably bought his off one of his customers for peanuts due to circumstances of some kind, so he knew the history of the car and was prepared to throw away if it became terminal.

So you need to find a good one or I'd take others advice and go for a petrol of some kind like the Mazda 5,Toyota Avensis Verso or Zafira.

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Wed 1 Nov 2017 14:36
Looking for a 7 seater - Mike199027
Okay thanks for that! Does the VW Sharan suffer with same issues? We posted at roughly same time just then, my other post is above yours
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Thu 2 Nov 2017 11:03
Looking for a 7 seater - Mike199027
Is there any cars like the galaxy that have the same or similiar MPG as a 2003 Citroën C3 1.6hdi?
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Thu 2 Nov 2017 11:29
Looking for a 7 seater - SLO76
Not for £1,000. You're unwise to focus solely on fuel economy. One major failure on a diesel will wipe out years of that saving instantly. At this sort of money reliability should be the no 1 consideration.

I think you need to have a sit down and a rethink. Do you really need a large 7str MPV? Do you need a complex and trouble prone diesel? How many miles are you doing in a year?

At £1,000 you should focus on basic petrol engines cars, something simple. A cheap 7str diesel MPV is likely to be a load of ongoing hassle even for a qualified mechanic.

A thread I started a while back about living within your means would be a worthy read in your case.

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=119324

Edited by SLO76 on 02/11/2017 at 11:35

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Thu 2 Nov 2017 11:51
Looking for a 7 seater - Ash@ScrapCarComparison

Someone already mentioned about the expensive diesel repairs but in addition to that there are also potential additional charges from 'pollution charges' in major cities:

www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/855691/car-tax-f...n

Depends on where you live and how often you would travel into the cities concerned (and how long before they expand to other cities) but definitely food for thought!

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Thu 2 Nov 2017 13:03
Looking for a 7 seater - movilogo

Kia Carens, Sedona

Vauxhall Zafira petrol

Edited by movilogo on 02/11/2017 at 13:03

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Thu 2 Nov 2017 14:12
Looking for a 7 seater - Dabooka

Might be a bit late to the party, but as we know the general rule is to buy on condition at that price so my leftfield choice would be a Hyundai Trajet.

Yes they do a diesel (the Trajet D!), yes they have seven seats and they were pretty much bullet proof. Older simpler tech with few toys is order fo the day here. Stepfather had two on the bounce after a succession of failed Espaces and has been a Hyundai fanboi ever since.

Just my tuppence worth

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