Car for family of 5

[mylestheslasher]

Cheers for the feedback... we currently have 2 isofix bases & when No.3 comes along we intend to move the eldest into a high-back booster.  We had thought that replacing the 2 isofix seats with slimmer childseats may have created enough room in the back of a standard family car - but obviously not!?

Looks like the 7-seaters are our only option, so I'll concentrate my search here.

Probably looking in the region of £10-12k.

The car will be doing approx. 90miles round trip on the daily commute so obviously want something that is reasonable easy on fuel.

Would you not consider a second wee economical runaround car for your 90 mile daily commute?

The 3rd row seats and losing boot space hasn't been a problem for us. We have 1 in the 3rd row now and there'll be two in the 3rd row in December. In the Pathfinder we have enough room to get a double pram in and any shopping thats done isn't done with all the kids in tow so boot space isn't a problem. Long journeys might be difficult but there's roof racks and great bars on top of the pathfinder.

How much is a path finder Iceman. How much to Tax also. I looked at one myself and it didnt add up cost wise.

[laoislad]

Avoid anything French, they are all pans of dung. Electrics are a nightmare and they can't take high miles. We even try to avoid working on them. General rule is stick to the Japs or Germans when it come to cars. I have 3 kids and have a BMW X5 which takes the 3 boosters across the back no bother. The fuel economy is the only downfall (28MPG). I know that this will not suit everyone but they are a great car to drive. If I were thinking of something more economical I would look at the Toyota Verso.

Remember there is no such thing as a car that gives no bother, the trick is to buy one of the models that gives the least.

Peugeot design and build is much improved on newer models but in general you are right about French cars. As for your X5, there are some problems. They are ridiculously priced, poor on fuel, poor on emissions, expensive tyres and general maintenance and will soon be taxed off the road . Most importantly they wont take the two ISO fixes and booster seat - not a hope.

Our other car is a Peugeot 308,we have it 4 years and have never had an ounce of trouble with it.
Would buy another Peugeot no problem.

[tbrick18]

Avoid the Renault Espace like the plague. 

Yours in harsh lessons learnt,
/Jim.

Been there.
Never again.
Worst car ever put on the road.

[GJL]

Avoid anything French, they are all pans of dung. Electrics are a nightmare and they can't take high miles. We even try to avoid working on them. General rule is stick to the Japs or Germans when it come to cars. I have 3 kids and have a BMW X5 which takes the 3 boosters across the back no bother. The fuel economy is the only downfall (28MPG). I know that this will not suit everyone but they are a great car to drive. If I were thinking of something more economical I would look at the Toyota Verso.

Remember there is no such thing as a car that gives no bother, the trick is to buy one of the models that gives the least.

Peugeot design and build is much improved on newer models but in general you are right about French cars. As for your X5, there are some problems. They are ridiculously priced, poor on fuel, poor on emissions, expensive tyres and general maintenance and will soon be taxed off the road . Most importantly they wont take the two ISO fixes and booster seat - not a hope.

Our other car is a Peugeot 308,we have it 4 years and have never had an ounce of trouble with it.
Would buy another Peugeot no problem.

There are always exceptions LL and I hope you continue to have no problems but believe me they are not a good car. Anyone who actually knows about cars and works with them will agree that French generally are bottom of the pile.

[stephenite]

I did a lot of research into this. I have three kids, one was using the ISOfix base. To get three child seats including one (or two) ISOfix bases in you are looking for a car with three full back seats (vast majority have 2.5 which isnt good enough). Now I am assuming, like me, you want don't want to use the back two seats in a 7 seater as they will take away almost all your boot space. So if this sounds like your problem then you can forget about Ford Kuga or Mitsubishi Outlanders or any crossovers & jeeps (at least any that are reasonable price.) You are left with The Ford Galaxy (or C Max), the Renault Scenic and the Peugeot 5008 (possibily the Opel/Vauxhall yoke too but I didnt look at it). I went for the Peugeot and I had concerns as I never heard much good about them in the past. However, recently they were getting good reviews in car magazines and websites. I was pleasantly suprised, its a great drive seat fold down easy, decent on fuel and low emmissions. You can pick them up quite keenly priced in England. The Fords are nice cars too but on average 3-4k more expensive (Galaxy is 2 litre and bigger, the C Max 1.6 but a bit smaller). I wouldnt touch a renault with a barge pole myself, electrically shite build. So thats what I did and motoring well ever since. You should test drive a few of them and make sure you are happy. Hope that helps.

This post reads like the one you wrote to open this thread

And Brick follows up with a similar effort.

Just wondering if ye remembered the previous efforts

[Jim_Murphy_74]

Avoid anything French, they are all pans of dung. Electrics are a nightmare and they can't take high miles. We even try to avoid working on them. General rule is stick to the Japs or Germans when it come to cars. I have 3 kids and have a BMW X5 which takes the 3 boosters across the back no bother. The fuel economy is the only downfall (28MPG). I know that this will not suit everyone but they are a great car to drive. If I were thinking of something more economical I would look at the Toyota Verso.

Remember there is no such thing as a car that gives no bother, the trick is to buy one of the models that gives the least.

I would have been happy with the Renault if it was only electrics etc.. ironically, none of that gave trouble but piston rings did.  Burning oil like fcuk, shooting smoke, just managed to offload it 3 weeks before she blew the turbo. At the end I'd say it was more oil than diesel being burnt.

Worse again couldn't even get it reconditioned as no one wanted to take on (or stand over) the work.

Only 170K on the clock, Less than 50 of that mine.

A piece of sh!te if ever there was now. I say that as someone who drove a Mark 2 Laguna with little trouble for 8 years.

Driving a new Verso now, miss the space but don't have to check the oil level every single morning.

/Jim.

[mylestheslasher]

I did a lot of research into this. I have three kids, one was using the ISOfix base. To get three child seats including one (or two) ISOfix bases in you are looking for a car with three full back seats (vast majority have 2.5 which isnt good enough). Now I am assuming, like me, you want don't want to use the back two seats in a 7 seater as they will take away almost all your boot space. So if this sounds like your problem then you can forget about Ford Kuga or Mitsubishi Outlanders or any crossovers & jeeps (at least any that are reasonable price.) You are left with The Ford Galaxy (or C Max), the Renault Scenic and the Peugeot 5008 (possibily the Opel/Vauxhall yoke too but I didnt look at it). I went for the Peugeot and I had concerns as I never heard much good about them in the past. However, recently they were getting good reviews in car magazines and websites. I was pleasantly suprised, its a great drive seat fold down easy, decent on fuel and low emmissions. You can pick them up quite keenly priced in England. The Fords are nice cars too but on average 3-4k more expensive (Galaxy is 2 litre and bigger, the C Max 1.6 but a bit smaller). I wouldnt touch a renault with a barge pole myself, electrically shite build. So thats what I did and motoring well ever since. You should test drive a few of them and make sure you are happy. Hope that helps.

This post reads like the one you wrote to open this thread

And Brick follows up with a similar effort.

Just wondering if ye remembered the previous efforts

I was asked by PM to let "cornerback" know how I got on, thats why I posted again. It would be the same as the OP as my circumstances haven't changed.

[stephenite]

I did a lot of research into this. I have three kids, one was using the ISOfix base. To get three child seats including one (or two) ISOfix bases in you are looking for a car with three full back seats (vast majority have 2.5 which isnt good enough). Now I am assuming, like me, you want don't want to use the back two seats in a 7 seater as they will take away almost all your boot space. So if this sounds like your problem then you can forget about Ford Kuga or Mitsubishi Outlanders or any crossovers & jeeps (at least any that are reasonable price.) You are left with The Ford Galaxy (or C Max), the Renault Scenic and the Peugeot 5008 (possibily the Opel/Vauxhall yoke too but I didnt look at it). I went for the Peugeot and I had concerns as I never heard much good about them in the past. However, recently they were getting good reviews in car magazines and websites. I was pleasantly suprised, its a great drive seat fold down easy, decent on fuel and low emmissions. You can pick them up quite keenly priced in England. The Fords are nice cars too but on average 3-4k more expensive (Galaxy is 2 litre and bigger, the C Max 1.6 but a bit smaller). I wouldnt touch a renault with a barge pole myself, electrically shite build. So thats what I did and motoring well ever since. You should test drive a few of them and make sure you are happy. Hope that helps.

This post reads like the one you wrote to open this thread

And Brick follows up with a similar effort.

Just wondering if ye remembered the previous efforts

I was asked by PM to let "cornerback" know how I got on, thats why I posted again. It would be the same as the OP as my circumstances haven't changed.

Fair enough, I had just read the thread from beginning to end and it just stood out

[lawnseed]

Cheers for the feedback... we currently have 2 isofix bases & when No.3 comes along we intend to move the eldest into a high-back booster.  We had thought that replacing the 2 isofix seats with slimmer childseats may have created enough room in the back of a standard family car - but obviously not!?

Looks like the 7-seaters are our only option, so I'll concentrate my search here.

Probably looking in the region of £10-12k.

The car will be doing approx. 90miles round trip on the daily commute so obviously want something that is reasonable easy on fuel.

You want what I've suggested above a Peugeot 5008 or Ford C Max in 1.6l Diesel. At that money you are probably looking at 09 or 2010.

after all that research.. the 1.6 ford diesel is the worst diesel they've made since the ist transit diesel

[Tony Baloney]

Cheers for the feedback... we currently have 2 isofix bases & when No.3 comes along we intend to move the eldest into a high-back booster.  We had thought that replacing the 2 isofix seats with slimmer childseats may have created enough room in the back of a standard family car - but obviously not!?

Looks like the 7-seaters are our only option, so I'll concentrate my search here.

Probably looking in the region of £10-12k.

The car will be doing approx. 90miles round trip on the daily commute so obviously want something that is reasonable easy on fuel.

You want what I've suggested above a Peugeot 5008 or Ford C Max in 1.6l Diesel. At that money you are probably looking at 09 or 2010.

after all that research.. the 1.6 ford diesel is the worst diesel they've made since the ist transit diesel

Did you ring Traynors looking spares?

[lawnseed]

Cheers for the feedback... we currently have 2 isofix bases & when No.3 comes along we intend to move the eldest into a high-back booster.  We had thought that replacing the 2 isofix seats with slimmer childseats may have created enough room in the back of a standard family car - but obviously not!?

Looks like the 7-seaters are our only option, so I'll concentrate my search here.

Probably looking in the region of £10-12k.

The car will be doing approx. 90miles round trip on the daily commute so obviously want something that is reasonable easy on fuel.

You want what I've suggested above a Peugeot 5008 or Ford C Max in 1.6l Diesel. At that money you are probably looking at 09 or 2010.

after all that research.. the 1.6 ford diesel is the worst diesel they've made since the ist transit diesel

Did you ring Traynors looking spares?

didn't need to I only drive Toyota. ive had my share of scrap motors  ie anything French=junk. any small diesel engine = trouble especially when you feed it its own pooh as in the ford where the fumes are piped back into it to try to meet ridiculous emissions targets.
how'd you like a pipe from your arse back up to your mouth.. junk tony junk.. Vauxhall did this with their diesels the exhaust valve kept jamming the car wouldn't go properly the valve was £500.. the cure was to bore a hole in the valve £10

French folk should stop making cars, trucks and tractors because theyre pure junk. Renault tractors were good right up to the bit where they stopped buying german engines (mwm--Mannheim motor works)
check out the resale values of any French car.. also watch what taxi men are using 

[Tony Baloney]

Cheers for the feedback... we currently have 2 isofix bases & when No.3 comes along we intend to move the eldest into a high-back booster.  We had thought that replacing the 2 isofix seats with slimmer childseats may have created enough room in the back of a standard family car - but obviously not!?

Looks like the 7-seaters are our only option, so I'll concentrate my search here.

Probably looking in the region of £10-12k.

The car will be doing approx. 90miles round trip on the daily commute so obviously want something that is reasonable easy on fuel.

You want what I've suggested above a Peugeot 5008 or Ford C Max in 1.6l Diesel. At that money you are probably looking at 09 or 2010.

after all that research.. the 1.6 ford diesel is the worst diesel they've made since the ist transit diesel

Did you ring Traynors looking spares?

didn't need to I only drive Toyota. ive had my share of scrap motors  ie anything French=junk. any small diesel engine = trouble especially when you feed it its own pooh as in the ford where the fumes are piped back into it to try to meet ridiculous emissions targets.
how'd you like a pipe from your arse back up to your mouth.. junk tony junk.. Vauxhall did this with their diesels the exhaust valve kept jamming the car wouldn't go properly the valve was £500.. the cure was to bore a hole in the valve £10

French folk should stop making cars, trucks and tractors because theyre pure junk. Renault tractors were good right up to the bit where they stopped buying german engines (mwm--Mannheim motor works)
check out the resale values of any French car.. also watch what taxi men are using

Aye we have problems with EGR valve on the wife's Zafira (luckily under warranty) and my old TDCI Focus went for scrap after much money spent and my heart broken!

[5 Sams]

Cheers for the feedback... we currently have 2 isofix bases & when No.3 comes along we intend to move the eldest into a high-back booster.  We had thought that replacing the 2 isofix seats with slimmer childseats may have created enough room in the back of a standard family car - but obviously not!?

Looks like the 7-seaters are our only option, so I'll concentrate my search here.

Probably looking in the region of £10-12k.

The car will be doing approx. 90miles round trip on the daily commute so obviously want something that is reasonable easy on fuel.

You want what I've suggested above a Peugeot 5008 or Ford C Max in 1.6l Diesel. At that money you are probably looking at 09 or 2010.

after all that research.. the 1.6 ford diesel is the worst diesel they've made since the ist transit diesel

Did you ring Traynors looking spares?

French folk should stop making cars, trucks and tractors because theyre pure junk.
check out the resale values of any French car.. also watch what taxi men are using

Got a taxi into town last night. A Peugeot with 354,000 on the clock. Christ knows what the real mileage was.

[lawnseed]

Cheers for the feedback... we currently have 2 isofix bases & when No.3 comes along we intend to move the eldest into a high-back booster.  We had thought that replacing the 2 isofix seats with slimmer childseats may have created enough room in the back of a standard family car - but obviously not!?

Looks like the 7-seaters are our only option, so I'll concentrate my search here.

Probably looking in the region of £10-12k.

The car will be doing approx. 90miles round trip on the daily commute so obviously want something that is reasonable easy on fuel.

You want what I've suggested above a Peugeot 5008 or Ford C Max in 1.6l Diesel. At that money you are probably looking at 09 or 2010.

after all that research.. the 1.6 ford diesel is the worst diesel they've made since the ist transit diesel

Did you ring Traynors looking spares?

French folk should stop making cars, trucks and tractors because theyre pure junk.
check out the resale values of any French car.. also watch what taxi men are using

Got a taxi into town last night. A Peugeot with 354,000 on the clock. Christ knows what the real mileage was.

i wont dispute that but were you drinking in the house.. it was probably engine number 3

[johnneycool]

Cheers for the feedback... we currently have 2 isofix bases & when No.3 comes along we intend to move the eldest into a high-back booster.  We had thought that replacing the 2 isofix seats with slimmer childseats may have created enough room in the back of a standard family car - but obviously not!?

Looks like the 7-seaters are our only option, so I'll concentrate my search here.

Probably looking in the region of £10-12k.

The car will be doing approx. 90miles round trip on the daily commute so obviously want something that is reasonable easy on fuel.

You want what I've suggested above a Peugeot 5008 or Ford C Max in 1.6l Diesel. At that money you are probably looking at 09 or 2010.

after all that research.. the 1.6 ford diesel is the worst diesel they've made since the ist transit diesel

Did you ring Traynors looking spares?

didn't need to I only drive Toyota. ive had my share of scrap motors  ie anything French=junk. any small diesel engine = trouble especially when you feed it its own pooh as in the ford where the fumes are piped back into it to try to meet ridiculous emissions targets.
how'd you like a pipe from your arse back up to your mouth.. junk tony junk.. Vauxhall did this with their diesels the exhaust valve kept jamming the car wouldn't go properly the valve was £500.. the cure was to bore a hole in the valve £10

French folk should stop making cars, trucks and tractors because theyre pure junk. Renault tractors were good right up to the bit where they stopped buying german engines (mwm--Mannheim motor works)
check out the resale values of any French car.. also watch what taxi men are using

Aye we have problems with EGR valve on the wife's Zafira (luckily under warranty) and my old TDCI Focus went for scrap after much money spent and my heart broken!

All cars are fitted with EGR valves to feed it its own pooh back when idling, its an EU emissions requirement, the Ford design is especially poor though and clogs up. In a 2003 Mondeo I was able to block mine up and it was fine with it, some newer models will report a fault if you block them now though, pain in the arse these computerised things.