5 kids mpv Caravelle or Montana

mflynn1971

Hi all,
Twins on the way means 5 seater no longer an option. Conventional 7 seaters seem useless as well as boot space is non existant. Even galaxy has no space behind rear seats and its a big vehicle. So heading the van route it seems and early research points to either VW caravelle/shuttle or Hyundai Montana. Choice on either seems limited secondhand. Would appreciate opinions particularily on the Montana. UK owners seem to rate the i800 highly. Is it the exact same vehicle.

Mike

btb

Have a shuttle 08 2.5l 130bhp LWB, would highly recommend. Used privately only. No major problems, just had to replace exhaust pressure sensor and roller on sliding door. Otherwise regular service parts. No timing belt on VW 2.5L but cost of replacing water pump and gates couplings at 80K mile intervals is about the same as timing belt and water pump kit on 1.9l.
Always been a VW person so probably biased.
Looked at Montana before I imported shuttle and thought it was being pushed as poor mans shuttle.
I would avoid 1.9l shuttle as feel underpowered in my opinion, mpg similar, just road tax is 1080e vs 673e.
Montana is 2.5l so would be similar running costs to 2.5l shuttle, so may be a more valid comparison.
That said thinking of selling my shuttle, as no longer need 9 seats.

rovoagho

They're also the Nissan/Opel/Renault jobby to consider, although the 1.9 vans get lambasted here. I wonder do the minivans have a bigger engine though. 1.9 seems very small for 9 people plus the seats and fixings.

Yawlboy

Looked at all the van based options a few years back and decided they were exactly that - van like.

Went with a 4X4 instead - Pajero's are going cheap if you can stomach the motor tax.

R.O.R

Drove a Caravelle and it was a lot nicer than I expected. You have the positives of driving a Van (high seating position for a good view), but without the drawback of not being able to see what's next to you.

Driven a basic model Vito 9 seat as well, and that was pretty horrible in comparison to the VW. Rattly and pretty spartan inside with the stupid foot handbrake. Easy enough to take the 3rd row of seats out by myself, if a little heavy.

Did have a 9 Seater Transit Tourneo in for a customer and that was much nicer than the other 2 on the interior, and the Transit isn't such a bad thing to drive. The others were ex. rental 9 seaters though and I'd say they are stripped out very basic models for the rental fleets.

The H1 van that the Montana is based on gets pretty good reviews. Over 170bhp so should be a decent performer. No idea what the fit & finish is like on them.

If you are looking around at options, try to stay away from anything in Flat Red, Blue or Green - they are most likely ex. rental and based on the many of them I've seen (and driven) they have not had an easy life.

mflynn1971

Thanks for the replies. 8 seater shuttle 2.5 is prob in pole position with montana second. 7 seater 4x4 s dont have much boot. The choice second hand is very limited though..

colm_mcm

I'd have the Montana. But there's no rear wiper so you need to be good at parking.

Engine No.9

My ex and I have 5 kids also. I drive a zafira as I rarely need the bootspace, but she has a trajet and I think its great. Decent amount of boot space in it and the road tax (2.0 DOHC), dunno about yearly but she pays €200 per quarter. They're off the market now since Hyundai launched the iCars but I don't know what replaced it.