I think you are going to struggle here with those requirements. If you want an efficient petrol auto, that probably means a small capacity turbo, which in turn points towards VAG products. But the need for an auto means you would have to take on a DSG gearbox, not the last word in dependability. A quick look on Autotrader confirms that the only 7 seat petrol auto cars, up to 1.4 and up to £8k are VW Touran 1.4TSI DSG. Upping the budget to £9k finds two Zafira 1.4t auto's, and while i'm pretty sure these are torque converter, not sure about overall reliablity.

If you do the same search, but for hybrid's, all that comes up are grey import Toyota Estima's. These will be very reliable, but being a 2.4, are unlikely to give any higher mpg than the Mokka.

So that leaves the diesel option, which doesn't neccessarily mean you should panic, but obviously there are concerns. First thing that springs to my mind is the Kia Carens, but on Autotrader there is only one diesel auto of the current shape (2013>), the rest are the previous shape, youngest being 2010. Even with the budget upped to £9.5k there are still only 4 of them!.