Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?)

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Fri 7 Apr 2017 14:50
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - David Wylie

Hi all, first post.

I have south of £9k to spend on a used 7 seater. My optimistic wishlist includes an occasional-use 3rd row which can fit rapidly growing teenagers over the next few years (only 12 now but growth becoming measured in MPH).

Anyone have any opinions? Looking at Galaxy, S-Max, Grand Scenic, 5008, Verso, Mazda 5 and, well, anything really. Final desire is not *too* old, 2011+ if possible but that might be too much to ask :)

Thanks,

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Fri 7 Apr 2017 15:03
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - RT

Most 7-seaters sold in Europe are 5+2 - with the 3rd row significantly less spacious than the seats up front - with growing teenagers you'll need a full-size 7-seater.

Apart from the Galaxy, I doubt any of the others on your list are even close.

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Fri 7 Apr 2017 15:43
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - SLO76
I'd be aiming for the Toyota Verso or Mazda 5 both in petrol form. They're vastly more reliable and longlived than the others but sulking teenagers may not approve of the space on the final row of seats. Bribe them along to try them out and remind them that every penny spent on keeping a diesel Galaxy, S-Max, Pug or Renault on the road is one less you can lavish on them. Bear in mind also that as teenagers grow their desire to accompany you shrinks so their dangly legs may see less and less of the car anyway...
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Fri 7 Apr 2017 16:09
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - David Wylie

Thanks (both), and ...

>> their desire to accompany you shrinks

I'm counting on that :) but at the moment we still pop to Devon with 6 of us in our rapidly crumbling Zafira for weekend breaks. The rear seats will only be occasional as I say, so I'm really just weighing up the options.

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Sat 8 Apr 2017 01:03
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - daveyK_UK
You can buy a brand new 7 seater 1.4 petrol Fiat Doblo MPV for around £11k from Fiat Coventry (search on the HotUKDeals website, someone posted it on there) .

The Doblo is robust and fairly reliable plus you would get a 3 year warranty and none of the headaches of owning a diesel

While the 3rd row seats on the Doblo 7 seater MPV are smaller in size than the 2nd row, they do have ample leg room which puts them ahead of the likes of the Zafira tourer and Toyota Verso

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Sat 8 Apr 2017 18:29
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - David Wylie

I know I'm on a budget and compromises have to be made, but I don't think I could live with the looks of that Fiat no matter how much of a bargain it is :)

Thanks anyway.

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Sat 8 Apr 2017 18:55
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - Theophilus

As a Toyota Verso owner - used as a 7 seater only occasionally when on holiday with family - I am already seeing our 11yr old grand-daughter growing out of comfortably sitting in the 3rd row seat, the leg-room is really quite restricted and not really adequate for lanky teenagers, I wouldn't really recommend a Verso for your requirements.

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Sat 8 Apr 2017 23:54
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - David Wylie

As a Toyota Verso owner - used as a 7 seater only occasionally when on holiday with family - I am already seeing our 11yr old grand-daughter growing out of comfortably sitting in the 3rd row seat, the leg-room is really quite restricted and not really adequate for lanky teenagers, I wouldn't really recommend a Verso for your requirements.

Beginning to think none of them will be tbh. Gonna have to go and find examples of each with kid in tow and test them out I suppose.

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Sun 9 Apr 2017 00:15
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - Avant

Looks as if you need an S-Max. Have a look at 'cars for sale' on this site and there are lots of them around. Fromn a quick look at it, a 2010 model should be within budget.

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Sun 9 Apr 2017 11:30
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - daveyK_UK
You should consider a 14/64 plate Citroen Berlingo Multispace with 7 seat option.

They are rare as it was an expensive extra, but they use the same size seats as the 2nd row and the leg room is ok.
Plus they can be removed if not in use

Full main dealer service history is a must
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Sun 9 Apr 2017 21:49
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - Happy Blue!

Whilst Davey's suggestions are eminently sensible, they don't work for all people for a whole variety of reasons. I drove an S-Max for five years whilst the children grew up from 12, 10 and 5 years to 17, 15 and 10. Rarely heard a squeak from them when sat at the back for journeys of over three hours and my boys are now both over 5'10" (I am only 5'7").

A left field choice might be the Mitsubishi Grandis. A reliable car but very uninspiring to drive - nowhere near as good as it looks; whereas the S-Max feels like a 7 seat Ferrari. Superb handling, roadholding and steering. I have run about 20+ different cars over the last 35 years and the S-Max is up there in the top three, if not No.1. The only real competition have been two Subarus.

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Mon 10 Apr 2017 20:21
Er..hoping for advice. - Used 7 Seater for £8k-£9k (with usable 3rd row?) - David Wylie

Thanks - even more cars being suggested that I've never heard of before - educational experience, this :)

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