Would you get a 19 plate Vauxhall Combo Life 1.2 petrol 5 seater or 7 seater for your budget?
No, you'd need a couple of grand extra to get into one of these and even then, it would be the 1.5 diesel. Cheapest 1.2t petrol on Autotrader is £14.5k. But the other problem with getting one of these, even if it was in budget, is the boot space on the standard length version is not enough for all the OP's gear at a paltry 65 litres with 7 seats in place. There is a long wheel base version, but even on that, the boot space with all 7 seats in place is 320 litres, about the same as a current VW Polo.
Twins, plus two young children and two parents can be acoomodated in 6 seats.
Have a look at the Honda FR-V. That budget will buy the best example you can find, with plenty of change. The 1.8 petrol auto is the one to get. We've had our since 2011, never missed a beat. Fantastic cars. And you'll get the double buggy in it too.
The boot on an FR-V is around 450 litres if memory serves, and while that is a lot more than you'd get in a Zafira with 7 seats in place, I'm not convinced it would be enough for a family with 4 kids!.
Might be worth considering an import (JDM) Toyota Estima.?...loads of bangs for your £10k..
I've had mine (7 seater) for over 6 years...never been an ounce of trouble.
I personally love these big JDM MPV's, but in this case I'm not sure it would be a good choice. I guess it would depend on how often you are going to need more than 6 seats. At this price point, only 6 of the 7 or 8 seats would have 3 point seatbelts, the other 1 or 2 would be lap belts. Also, I'm not sure how many (if any) isofix points there would be.
I'm not sure I'd rule out the XC90 completely, but you do need to be aware of the potential for big bills. Look for a low owner car that has been well looked after, plus, if you can stomach the fuel cost, I believe the petrol engines are the most reliable. Still likely to be a problem with boot space though. The figures I can find say that with all seats in place, the XC90 has 250 litres, which really isn't that much.
The Galaxy/S Max are quite often mentioned here, but again, I'd be concerned about boot space in the OP's case. While there is certainly more than you'll find in a Zafira or similar, it still isn't that much at around 300 litres.
The Ssangyong Turismo was mentioned earlier, that has 875 litres with all 7 seats in place, much more like it!. But as well as that, I'd be looking at the often overlooked Hyundai i800. Similar in size to the Ssangyong, but perhaps a little easier on the eye, the i800 is actually an 8 seater with 850 litres of boot space when all seats are in place. There are not going to be too many of either of these two at £10k (especially with 'reasonable' miles) around, but they are out there.
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