7 Seater-Car-trackworld. Help please 🙂

I should also add that we are eligible for the Motability scheme so new cars are an option with the downsides of longer term cost, worrying about cosmetic damage with children and lack of availability of new cars...

I have an SMax and it is a great bit of kit. However, seats 6&7 are very much 3/4 size. Anyone over 5ft won't be happy in them.

It handles like a car yet the boot is huge. No lip, so getting heavier items in and out is a doddle. With seats down it'll swallow a 6'6" long bike whole.

I get 40mpg on a 2l diesel.

Galaxy has bigger seats at the back, but it is longer and taller. If I still need 6 seats when it is time to change I'll be getting one.

Thanks @Harry_the_spider The S-Max does seem to be a popular one for massive boot space and being decent to drive. I was a bit surprised about the back seats too but I guess in the life of a family with children as passengers it would rarely be a problem? I can't see us ever putting any adults we actually like in the rear seats of any of these types of car 🙂

Diesel was also one of the points I wasn't sure on- any real life issues or disadvantages beside cost at the pump?

I thought a Sharan and an Alhambra are basically the same car. I don't know about the latest Zafira but the previous model was horrible to drive and definitely not as spacious/practical as a Sharan/Galaxy etc.

The modern MPV is just a van platform with windows and seats.

Motability defintely worth considering but if you’re buying then worth looking at the Japanese import MPVs - they’re excellent. You can also get them with various disability adaptions (seats that articulate out, etc) which are incredibly well done by the Japanese, and if you qualify for Motability then you should be able to buy without VAT.

^ Basically the same but YooToob ancient reviews seem to indicate a few tweaks like the turning circle on the Alhambra. It would be interesting to know if that is correct if anyone has one?

My folks have some kind of modern large VW and they have abysmal turning circle too

I just got an older 2013 galaxy and it is a decent car. It a car person at all but it gets bikes in fine, and is a nicer,quieter thing to drive than my last two - a 2019 vauxhall combo life and a T4.

The modern MPV is just a van platform with windows and seats.

That seems fair and I was worried that impacts size and around town/ motorway practicalities as a family car which needs a bit more space but not necessarily van sized space.

Motability defintely worth considering but if you’re buying then worth looking at the Japanese import MPVs – they’re excellent. You can also get them with various disability adaptions (seats that articulate out, etc) which are incredibly well done by the Japanese, and if you qualify for Motability then you should be able to buy without VAT.

I am yet to really look in to Motability. I am familiar with the scheme but so far I have approached some adapted vehicle garages which seems to mainly be about fitting wheelchair space and a ramp which we don't necessarily need, or approaching normal dealers who do cars on the motability scheme and they all said they won't even discuss a new car with be as they have too much of a backlog of other customer already waiting too many months for a car

Would you have a quick link to an example of this type of import? Ta!

I find this site a very useful tool for comparing wagon sizes -

https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volkswagen-golf-2019-5-door-hatchback-vs-volkswagen-t-roc-2017-suv/

I’ve put a couple of randoms in to start it off.

Can be a bit of an eye opener for the reality of whos is bigger.

^ awesome, thank you!

We will hopefully be in receipt of a blue badge soon too so that may take away some of the parking and external size worries but a dedicated space isn't always available

We had a 2006 Galaxy 2.0tdci and it was a great bus. Reliable, spacious, perfect for a family of 5 plus bikes and boats.
As HtS says, the back seats are not big.

If you want proper 7 seats and a boot then you need to look at the van based offerings - Dispatch / Custom / Vito sized things.

We're just about to hand back a lease Peugeot 5008, its been a great car, loads of space and comfort and never had an issues with it over 4 years, yes it sometimes felt big in tight car parks but great for trips away camping or chucking the bikes in the boot. We're about to downsize as wife no longer a childminder so don't need the 3rd row of seats.

Maybe a van with seats, like the Berlingo Ford Connect, Caddy Maxi would be suitable. In terms of footprint they're like a biggish estate car.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/van-details/202212182607939?advertising-location=at_vans&atmobcid=soc5&include-delivery-option=on&make=Volkswagen&model=Caddy%20Maxi%20Life&sort=relevance

Peugeot 5008

That is a decent recommendation to look in to thanks. I have had a 2008 as a hire car a few times and really liked it to drive and as a nicely thought out car in general

Berlingo Ford Connect, Caddy Maxi

I started to discount them as they seem to be the more expensive options. Also possibly fine as a day to day car but not much fun for longer trips

The longer trips are important for us as our son requires too much equipment for any time away via plane or similar, so any breaks away would have to be by car unfortunately. We are at a bit of a breaking point in not being able to have any change of scenery with our current Honda Jazz and the need for a small trip away is a big motivator for the new car.

Also possibly fine as a day to day car but not much fun for longer trips

I find my van a really nice place to be on a long trip. They have a nice upright seating position and decent seats. I've done Cheshire to Belgium or Cornwall in mine a few times, no bother. I'd not discount them for that reason without trying one.

We had a 2010 Sharan and now a 2017 Alhambra. Dont really notice a poor turning circle but its maybe because ive driven basically the same car for 10 years now. I can still get it into multi story car parks which for me is a proper test as youre not likely to need to turn much tighter than that. the electric sliding doors are handy but i have heard of problems with them as they get older and dont go for a panaramic roof! the VWs started to leak and could fill up the foot well with water in a proper downpour, the solution for us was to park it slightly uphill and we never did find where it was leaking from and the repair costs were about 2k if i remember rightly. overall though both were good cars, the VW had about 140 bhp and the Alhambra is about the 180 mark and its far nicer to drive with that extra bit of go especially when loaded up with the 6 of us.

We have a 2017 Smax 2L diesel. As Harry says, seats 6&7 are a bit cramped for àdults, but ok for small people or occasional use.

I think we average 43ish mpg and servicing costs are reasonable. Can't really fault it reliability-wise (ours has about 56k miles on it), although I did have a check engine light come on recently, which apparently was due to a sticking EGR valve. The RAC guy reset it and suggested that I give the car a bit of a thrashing every now and then. It's been fine since.

Before I bought it, we did also look at the VW Touran. I would have been happy with one of those too, but the Ford was cheaper. Also the VW dealer was a bit of a dick, which didn't help.

I'm planning on keeping it until we can downsize, but other than that, I'd happily buy another.

In true STW style, recommended what you have. We did have a Zafira B but premature cam belt failure wrote that off.

We replaced it with a VW Touran 1.4 DSG which the wife absolutely loves.

It's more of a 5+2 than a real 7 seater and with all the seats in use, there's really not much boot space. All depends on what configuration you need when. Full 7 seats or more luggage space and you're looking at Sharan/Alambra territory.

We got a Kia carens as it seemed cheaper but more reliable than the others. Obviously it’s completely boring but does everything well and it’s nice and quiet on the motorway. Gets 40s mpg around town up to 60 on long trips.

When we had multiple kids in car seats we had an S-Max. Older shaped one on a 14 plate, was 2 years old when we had it, so can't comment on the newer ones. Seats 6 & 7 were definitely pop up seats for occasionall use and you had to clamber into them. Also left very little boot space.

Some silly design oversights that really annoyed me. Things fell out the glove box when it was opened and the boot is higher than the bumper, not even flat, so shopping bags would fall out when you opened the boot. Drove nicely enough but got rid as soon as we could. Everyone else seems to love them but I wasn't overly enamoured.

BIL and SIL had a Seat Alhambra. Was definitely more like a van than a car, but much more space for people and luggage. But everyone here seems to love a van so hey-ho.

Other BIL has a VW Caravell. Clearly a van but even more space and not much bigger than an Alhambra. Bit of forward planning required but they don't seem to struggle, oh and tolls cost more but even better for biking duty.

Friends with a severely disable 14 year old have a converted Vito, but that has a tail lift and all sorts to get his wheelchair in. Sounds like you don't need anything that extreme.

In your situation I'd definitely be looking at Alhambra/Sharan/Galaxy or a smaller minibus/van. Obviously cost of vans is mental ATM.

At the moment I was thinking either a Zafira

MrsBeanZ has a Zafira tourer as her daily car - rear most seats are cramped for anyone other than children. With a the seats in use the boot is pitiful. I'm ex retail motor trade and it has the worst headlights of any modern car I've ever driven. As a 5 seater its great for her with 3 dogs going in the boot . Elevated driving position is another benefit and the overall size is fine for parking.

You mention turning circle. I had an Alhambra and the turning circle was awful. Far worse than my T5 and a wider vehicle. In fact if it was not for twin sliding doors, the size of the thing makes it less practical on that front. Also the sliding doors weigh so much they are pretty dangerous with little ones. Apart from that a quality bit of kit, takes a kicking from the kids (unlike our present Grande Picasso). Rear 2 seats are a proper size, giving more leg room than the mid rear bench. With all 7 seats up, you could still had a decent boot. Mine was the 150hp diesel. Don’t think I ever saw above 50mpg even on the motorway - lucky to average 40 due to the weight of the thing.

ZAfiras, Tourans, S Max are either 5 seat with big boot OR 7 seats with little to no boot space and the extra seats are only good with children.

Had 2 Tourans, brilliant family buses for a standard family with occasionally need to ferry extra kids. Boring as he'll but comfy to drive, good fuel economy and very practical. First one though seemed to implode just out of the 3 year warranty lots of expensive things that shouldnt have failed did. Second one lasted nine years from new and apart from spare of wheel bearing issues wasn't too bad but still not the most maintenance free vehicle we've ever had. Died at nine years with a completely sooted up exhaust system which was sorted by the bloke we sold it to as a non runner. It's back out on the road now with a new owner. Interior still looked good for a nine year old car with 140,000 miles on it.

I have a 2017 Ford galaxy, diesel. It's great. Biggest problem is that we hardly use it now so getting hard to justify. About 45mpg.

Zafira b from new here, now on year 7 and still going strong (touch wood), so far only set of discs one real caliper and spark plugs

We have 4 kids, rear 2 seats are definitely only for kids, but, ease of folding seats down in any configuration mkes it great, 2 + 0 1, 2 or + 0, 1 or 2 on the boot, obviously boot space is much reduced with 2 seats in rear but still useful, with a roofbox & rear rack we've done bikes & tent camping trips, France with 6 body boards etc

Would quite like a van now kids are getting bigger, but costs seriously increase and then supermarket parking etc becomes problematic

Still got my "old"-style peugeot 5008 here (2011)

Overall it has exceeded my expectations massively.

If you really need 7 seats for your own family, including longish runs and for several years, I'm not sure it's a goer and I'd be looking at a Galaxy/Alhambra or similar - the 5008's back seats are occasional (we pretty much on;y used them for half-hour trips with 5 under-12yrs gymnasts to & from training)

Has some great features like speed limiter (as well as cruise control), head-up display that I'm sure are much more common now

Hasn't had any major failures - so far - and reckon I'll be to see it go.  My expectation was that a major electrical fault would arise but nope, nothing of the sort

I don't think it drives badly, though SMax was said to be the benchmark at the time.  It's pretty firmly sprung so you definitely feel the bumps when it's empty

I find my van a really nice place to be on a long trip. They have a nice upright seating position and decent seats. I’ve done Cheshire to Belgium or Cornwall in mine a few times, no bother. I’d not discount them for that reason without trying one.

That is interesting, thanks. Quite a few people at the additional needs school seems to have a Torneo Connect which looks a good overall footprint and interesting in being able to fold down the passenger seat or remove all seats completely if ever needed.

Alhambra/ Sharan turning circle

Interesting to see some different view points but it sounds like my understanding the Seat was a little improved is wrong. I can see a poor turning circle being a massive daily annoyance where we are. See 4:41 below

I think we would be looking something a little more compact too, at least at this point in time given children sizes and where we live

Zafira... worst headlights of any modern car I’ve ever driven

Alhambra... sliding doors weigh so much they are pretty dangerous with little ones

S-Max... Seats 6 & 7 were definitely pop up seats for occasional use and you had to clamber into them. Also left very little boot space.

Some silly design oversights that really annoyed me. Things fell out the glove box when it was opened and the boot is higher than the bumper, not even flat, so shopping bags would fall out when you opened the boot. Drove nicely enough but got rid as soon as we could.

These are all really interesting, thanks. It's this type of thing which maybe aren't initially apparent but can become real bugbears when you are stuck with the car.

Family of 6 here with an s-max. Drives more like a car than any others, plenty manouvreable. eldest goes in the boot and can get 3 car seats in the middle row with loads of room. They all slide and recline individually so easy to adjust where the legroom is needed. Towbar bike rack with 3 bikes and 2 20" inside 6 up is possible.

Probably replacing with a lwb custom.

Maybe a van with seats, like the Berlingo Ford Connect, Caddy Maxi would be suitable. In terms of footprint they’re like a biggish estate car.

Do these converted van-car things get taxed, insured or treated any differently in any way? Anything to be aware of if we were to go that route?

We have shopping fallout of the boot every now and again, but when you offset this with having a flat load bed and no sill I'll take having to catch the occasional bag every time.

@DanW I think your best bet is to have a sit in as many of them as you can and judge them against your particular needs. If you are in North Manchester you are more than welcome to come and have a poke around in ours.

I have the 7 seat Carens, only paid c15k in 2014 new. Billy basic spec but ac and Bluetooth. Never missed a beat tho, just tyres and reg servicing.

I d have another, it's the Sportage underneath but c5k cheaper.

As said, dull as dishwater but loads of space and easy 50mpg.

So bored once I logged all costs, exc depn, was 2k pa at 10k miles pa. Servicing, tyres, fuel

@DanW I think your best bet is to have a sit in as many of them as you can and judge them against your particular needs.

Indeed 🙂 This thread has been exceptionally helpful in giving us some extra things to think about and helped narrow down the selection a bit I think. Thanks!

We have an Alhambra (2019) on the motabiltiy scheme for our son. Its a great car and huge for wheelchair/buggy/clothes changing etc etc, the top spec model which had a cheap (by today's stds) advance payment of £1500. Problems we have had include leaking A pillar, one of the electric sliding doors doesn't want to close in freezing weather although will do with assistance. I wouldn't buy one second hand, so much to go wrong on them assuming you go for a well specd model with lots of lovely electric stuff We're also looking at a new motabilty car now as our lease has ran out. EBerlingo is an option or the vauxhall equivalent. Options for MPVs are very limited these days.

Do these converted van-car things get taxed, insured or treated any differently in any way?

Just the same as any other MPV.

We had a galaxy and now have a zafira (tourer). If you have more than 3 kids the zafira is likely too small, otherwise it's fine. Boot space in the zafira and the smax is pretty much the same, the galaxy is significantly bigger. Old shape galaxy isn't euro6/ulez compliant.

The zafira is astra based rather than Mondeo/insignia/Passat sized car based. This means it's a touch smaller, easier to drive/park but a load more economical. The 1.6 diesel does 70mpg at 70mph with everyone onboard.

We had 2 families (4+3), 2 dh bikes and all our holiday kit in/on our car for 2 weeks in France. Worked out alright 🙂

To add. This site is awesome to find out the actual measurements of things https://www.ridc.org.uk/features-reviews/out-and-about/choosing-car/car

My sister has just gone from a Zafira to a C4 Grand Picasso and they're very happy with it. Was a lot cheaper than the competition too, possibly because it is black and a diesel. Seems a popular option for grandparents round here so could be worth a look.

BMW 2 series Gran Tourer. We have one of these and it's great as a 6 seater, the middle seat in the middle row is only really 0.5 of a seat so if you need to seat 7 adults it's not going to work.

I think it's the smallest 7 seater thing out there

on my 2nd Zaffira. 2.0 diesel. had it 7 years noe, it was 1 year old. serviced when needed. mot has been very kind to us. nothing done since we have owned it.
fits 3 bikes int he back. sleep in it now and again. massive space with all sears down.
jusr perfect really

Zafira tourer 1.4t here. Been reasonably reliable for us but just chucked an engine error with injector issues, 36mpg average with a lot of town running on super unleaded. 3 kids.
Now the youngest is (a big) 7, the rear seats are poor. On a journey we'll put them all in the middle as there's no boot space.
We'll probably run it till it dies.
Wife bought it with the idea of taking us 5 with her folks on holiday. Actual number of times that's happened? Zero. There's not enough space.
What will we get when it does? Probably a proper 7 seater with a boot.

The van/car things get treated as commercial vehicles by Bradford’ new clean air zone, meaning you need to pay. People I know who are definitely not commercial (just T5 family vehicle types) are trying to appeal it, but it’s a PITA.

Fwiw, here’s a piece I wrote about cars for MTBers, there are a few 7 seater options there that might be worth considering.

https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/what-car-for-mountain-biking/

We have the 1.4 turbo petrol zafira tourer. Personally, I think its great, build quality and reliability have been good and the seats are the comfiest I've ever sat in. There's often 7 of us in it,  my youngest 2 (12 & 8) go in the back just fine and we just slide the middle row forward a bit and they have plenty of room.  No boot space with all 7 seats in place, but massive but when 5 up. Drives like a car, easy to park and even a reasonable turn of speed when required   I won't be getting rid any time soon 🙂

the seats are the comfiest I’ve ever sat in.

Ours is an Sri. They (front) are quite comfy, but the non-sri versions were way too wide and flat when we test drove. Apparently the Sri ones are Recaro made which might explain it.

mine is the tourer elite. have to agree with the comfort. heated leather armchairs in the front.

Only a sadist (well not quite but you get the idea) would put anyone over 10 in the rear seats of an SMax for any length of journey on a vaguely regular basis and I say that as a happy SMax owner.

They are useful for occasional use. I don't think a Galaxy or Sharan (we looked at both) would be enough better to be a proper long journey 7 seater. Also true of SUV's.

For proper 7 seats and a boot my conclusion is you want a van based thing, long wheelbase if of the Caddy/ Tourneo flavour. My dad and sister both have a Caravelle. Brilliant if you want a road trip vehicle and masses of space but I wouldn't want to be doing regular shorter/lighter loaded journeys in them or be using around town day in day out IF I could avoid it.

It's all about where your priorities sit and what compromises you are prepared to live with for what benefits. We could get by with an estate and roofbox since camping gear etc all goes in a trailer when we are away. The SMax extra boot height means dog + a week of gear is doable if not camping, which is handy and we use the third row for occasional local trips to save using two cars.

The van/car things get treated as commercial vehicles by Bradford’ new clean air zone, meaning you need to pay.

You might be correct with the van part of that statement, but if the vehicle's an M1 class on the V5c it's considered a car, not a van, even if it's van-based. So Caravelles, Rifters, Proace Versos etc don't have to pay. The van equivalent
- Transporters, Partners, Proaces - even if they're crew cabs full of kids won't be registered as cars so presumably would have to pay.

Hi- we’ve had 7 seat MPVs for c13 years now as our son has cerebral palsy so has wheelchairs, & walkers for mobility.

Started with a Renault Grand Scenic, 2x Pug 5008 (old style) and are now on an Alhambra.

One thing they had over Zafira (at least when we looked at the time we were going from Renault to Pug) is that the middle seat in row 2 is a proper seat and had moveable seats so you could fit a mixuture of kid seats and adult without being squeezed.

As others have said rear seats not that good for adults and with them up little boot. Manual wheel chairs fit in ok, but can’t remember how flat they were if you need to have an external ramp for electric wheels rather than built in.
Think if you have built in ramp rear seats go so if you need 6/7 seats it won’t work.

We were lucky (see below) when we were last due to change- the 5008 was now more SUV and there were few others - the the Galaxy was off the list. so we ended up with the Alhambra. More toys than the Sharan esp electric sliding doors. A little thing but it means our son can open & close them himself whereas before he couldn’t.

Just after getting the Alhambra my son got an electric chair for more independence. Motability wouldn’t retro fit a hoist- we would have had to give the car back early & get a replacement with a hoist specced from new. Also IIRC a hoist would mean losing a rear seat.

The lucky bit is that the rear boot is flat from the boot edge so we use a set of ramps to get the chair in.

Being a bigger car, the space is much better than Smax, 5008/C4, Scenic. Even in the back (I’m 5’8” and fit in the rear ok). With the rear seats up there is still some boot space.

Not had an issue with turning circle (rear camera helps). Been down narrow lanes in Wales ok. Mrs FB was a bit dubious of the size (having spent years driving Spitfires/ Sporty Pug 206/ mazda3) as it was a step up from the Scenic & 5008 but coped ok.

Not sure if it’s still on motability (or made) but the Hyundai i800 is a good size. Last time I looked it was quite high advance though.

If you haven’t already - check on motability as the variety has been cut drastically in the last few years for bigger cars and advance has gone up. Don’t be too worried about damage- one of the Pugs boot trim was badly scuffed from the wheelchair, they expect a bit more wear and tear from having to load several kgs of gear over and above a few bags of shopping most cars see.

There may be some more options via the adaption places, but ones we’ve seen are for the wheelchair user to be loaded and remain in situ. A friends mum rides like this in a berlingo and it’s hard to converse with the driver. It also loses a lot of storage space in the rear.

I had looked at JDM - I’ve seen some with passenger seats that come out to ground level to make transfer from wheelchair easy.

We’ve got just over a year left with the Alhambra and are struggling to think what to replace it with. I’m tempted to either buy it, (but Mrs FB struggles with the ramps when needed) or get a transit crew cab (3+3 seats) depending on rear space. We’ve had to get a trailer for camping holidays as the electric chair fills the boot of the Alhambra.

Feel free to message if you want some more info. I’m down in Kent - if you’re local you’re welcome to have a look at the car & ramps etc or I can send some photos. Think there are also motability events where you can go & see loads of vehicles/conversion specialists under one roof.

Ps regarding the clean air zones etc, may be different for “disability” vehicles- with our motability car we get free Dartford crossing and Severn crossing was free before being abolished.

Pps re diesel- the cars we had through motability were diesel as that’s the only flavour they had for the models we were looking at. They all had low mileage with no issues (apart from filling up ££)

Re ULEZ in Bradford: just checked our old Caravelle (2011 180bitdi) which was a smoky diesel guzzling heap and it comes out as zero rated in all zones apart from Bristol or Birmingham. Our latest velle (2019 199bitdi) is zero rated in all ULEZ. A velle is basically a VW t5/6 that’s had a collision with a DFS warehouse.

From a practicality point of view they make all other MPVs look seriously compromised. We’ve travelled 7-up, with full winter sports luggage across Europe several times without a single complaint about comfort or space. It’s a properly nice place to be all day long. They are stupidly expensive now though. Have you looked at a Citroen space tourer / Peugeot traveller? Almost as great inside as a velle but massively less expensive. Possibly more reliable / better made too.

I'd say a van based thing as per @tthew

Nissan nv200 they do a full seat option

We're running a Citroen C4 Grand Spacetourer. Certainly ticks the "not too big box" but consider it as a 5+2 perhaps. Huge amount of space for the footprint though, worth looking at maybe if you didn't fancy or get along with the Zafira (been in a couple of Zafiras as taxis and I'm not a fan).

Pros: Space and versatile seating (middle row seats can move individually), small-ish footprint, higher models have great spec, interior generally a nice place to be with decent materials on the dash, lower down materials are a bit cheap, good seats, great tide and a genuinely good all day motor. Great visibility for everyone. Auto box gives you extra storage between the front seats, loads of cubbies to lose stuff in. Generally a solid feeling car.

Cons. It's French so has that "will it break" thing hanging over it. We're running the 1.2 petrol as we do mainly short journeys so didn't fancy the diesel. Only getting about 35mpg but it is a small engine in a big(ish) car. Carpet is that horrid cheap stuff that holds on to every bit of debris and won't let go. Lots of gadgets on our top spec car, see the "French" bit above. Far too many controls (hvac in particular) buried in the wee 7 inch touchscreen. Silly details like small windscreen wash bottle, fusebox on l/h side so tiny glove box, receding roofline kinda pointless but not a "con" as such. Solid enough feeling but not a patch on the Volvo it replaced. Ooh yeah, and that "French" thing? The car ate a sparkplug on the motorway one day and ended up needing a new engine... and there lies another story about how sh*te Citroen dealers can be.

So not really a "recommend what you've got" as such, just my experiences of a 7 seat car that no one.had so far mentioned (with good reason perhaps). For slight balance my dad ran these since 2009 through to 2019 on Motability with no issues whatsoever, the only issue being that you can't get them anymore. Not many miles done though. Had to get a berlingo last time and neither my mum or dad are fans of that.

Depending upon your child seat requirements, look out for zafiras - many of them officially aren certified for a child seat 8n the middle of middle row. This ruled out all zafiras for us!

Have a 2016 Citroen C4 grand picasso, and previously an smax. The smax was probably better overall, but at 11 years old with 175k on the clock the electrics were beginning to fail. The Citroen is super comfy and easy to drive as an automatic though...

Between the two it's really a case of whether you want to retain the illusion of having something cat-like, or accept your role as a family taxi with your "dad bus", as I have.

Going back to a 3 series beemer as soon as the kids stop wanting to be seen with their parents though....b

Only a sadist (well not quite but you get the idea) would put anyone over 10 in the rear seats of an SMax for any length of journey on a vaguely regular basis and I say that as a happy SMax owner.

They are useful for occasional use. I don’t think a Galaxy or Sharan (we looked at both) would be enough better to be a proper long journey 7 seater. Also true of SUV’s.

+1 this. Had a sharan (basically interchangeable with Galaxy, size wise). Absolutely cavernous inside, not too big on the outside - never had an issue with parking etc - especially as you're sat so high (literally range rover height) and big mirrors you see over everything in the parking lot and they have flat sides so easy to know where your corners are

Mine was the older style which had 'proper' full seats on the back BUT - here's the thing - there was no proper deep footwell for the rear passengers - that can't be comfortable for over an hour.

Need to be looking at a van 'mpv'!

Reading this with interest. As a family of 5 (kids are 7.5, 5.5 and 2.5) I'm managing with the Octavia and actually think/hope that things will get easier for the next few years as the kids move to smaller then no car seats. However when it comes time to change, either through aging car or growing kids I'll likely go for the mpv style van. Before the youngest arrived I looked hard at 7 seaters and for many of the reasons coming out here was finding the faux X 4 SUV style unsuitable and the car MPV too. Being in London with ulez looming I'm very Leary is diesel too. Not many/any petrol options around though. ID buzz would probably be wonderful.... Although eye wateringly costly. I'm hoping a few more electric options become available and the cost comes down a bit over the next few years and will be clinging on to the Octavia in the meantime! If I had to change now I'd look hard at Vito/v-class, and at JDM imports.

+1 Kia carrens.

Dependable, not exciting, but no nasty surprises.
7 year warranty too

Touran owner here. No boot space when in 7 seater mode… but still feels like a car… anything with 7 + real boot space is a bus/van. Caravelle looks very practical, but many many times more expensive.

We've an 09 galaxy that's been great and very reliable. It'll happily sit on the motorway for hours when fully loaded with 4 kids, bikes holiday kit. Ours has now done 170k and still runs really well.

We had a fair few when the kids were young.If you are going for a 7 seater then get a big one. If you dont need 7 seats then et something smaller and better suited to what you need.

Best of them all was a Galaxy - much nicer to drive and good use of the space. We also had a couple of Espace, a Sedona, and probably something else I have forgotten. The sliding doors on the Sedona were excellent - these are big cars so when someone pars next to you, it can be a real struggle getting kids in/out of car seats, as they fill the parking space from side to side. (The rest of the Sedona was pretty poor though - put me right off Kia, as the warranty from them was rubbish in the end, and the main dealer useless too).

Never really noticed an issue with the turnign circle tbh

My uncle has a Stepwagon. Rear two seats fold away nicely.

Interesting car.

Thanks everyone for their input and thoughts. It certainly helped me to get up to speed with this new and alien (to me) world of bigger cars.

In the end we have put an order in for a Ford Grand Torneo Connect through Motability.

If you want 7 seats on Motability then you don't have too many options. There are massive cars (eg Vivaro), massive advance payments (eg Combi Electric), SUV's or for us it boiled down to a Caddy Maxi or Grand Torneo. Despite the Ford having a larger advance payment and basically being a Caddy Maxi for 2023, it seems to have better finishing touches and was offered in more engine and gearbox options than the VW which is only one diesel option in manual or automatic.

The only downside now is the lead time so it is all a bit back to square one for an unknown amount of months. I'm thinking a cheap Zafira is the way to go as a stop gap as there aren't many cheapish cars of this type in the used market at the moment. The journey continues 🙂

Thank you everyone for your help- not the end result I was envisaging at the start but one I think will work for us in the end all being well!

What’s the lead time? It’s likely that will be our choice (if it’s on the list still next year).

Are you having any adaptations? We’re likely to need a ramp for our sons powered chair.

It is a new model so there is no stock anywhere on top of the general manufacturing problems but the build status was the best level and a lead time of 7 months.

Not ideal but hopefully worth the patience for what we gain over the next 3 years.

No modifications as our son is 3 and we are not sure how his needs will change in that time.

Think our Seat is due back next May- might need to start looking soon. We initailly got by with my 307SW but as our son required more kit, that's when we went to a Grand Scenic (for a bargain £99 initial payment). Having to stow his electric chair is prompting the change to something bigger like the Torneo.

Probably not what you're after but I'll add my 2p anyway as we've just bought a 7-seater, more on the bangernomics end of things.

We narrowed it down to between a Renault Grand Scenic and a Toyota Estima (Jap import Previa).

Renault: smaller, cheaper (~2k)
Toyota: bigger, expensiver (~5k), probably more reliable

Went for the Renault in the end for a few different reasons.

It's on the small side for an MPV so the back seats are a bit squashy, especially with adults in. For legroom, think elephants in a Mini.
Can't fit 3 child seats in the middle row, not wide enough.
All back seats fold flat, middle seats can even come out, for potential massive boot space.
Suits our on-a-budget needs ok.

We had a 10 plate Grand Scenic- think the middle seats slide so you can jiggle kids seats.

you can jiggle kids seats.

Thats one way to keep them entertained

We had a 10 plate Grand Scenic- think the middle seats slide so you can jiggle kids seats.

Same with the Tourer, the middle row of seats all move independently so we moved the middle one forward slightly so a booster had more room and didn't foul the seats either side.

I know it's not out yet, but the Mazda CX-80 will be out later this year with 3 rows of seats. It's a PHEV and is VERY good - elecy for urban drive, ICE for towing/long journeys - i've had a go in the CX-60 (slightly smaller) which is incredibly well built.

I've had nearly every MPV going.

Generally, they're all * in one way or another. Some of them are * in many ways.

If I was doing it all again I'd have hunted down a decent example of a used Touran 1.9TDi and stuck with it. Boring but effective.