Grand Voyager or Santa Fe

sept09baby

Have my eye on a Grand Voyager for about 2k. What I'm looking for is something big with loads of room for kids, buggies dogs etc, comfortable, automatic, leather seats.

The only reservation I have is that the roads around my area are awful and if I have the car for another 3-4 years it's likely we'll see another bad winter in that time. With sensible driving and winter tyres it's not too bad but with heavy snow ground clearance can be an issue. The last bad snow we had no thaw when most of the country did before the next snow hit and then the bottom of the car suffered.

The only 'jeep' like car in my price range (that ticks most of the boxes) would be the Santa Fe. I know it's not 4x4 but that's not the end of the world. Am I missing any other obvious contenders??

Wicklowandy

Buy neither. A pretend 4x4 which is small inside, or an admittedly large, but poor MPV.

What about a volvo estate?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/1999-volvo-v70-2-5tdi-auto/5866161

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/volvo-v70-2-0-t/5875140

Just the first two examples, plenty of choice, very large, practical cars:)

Mad_Mike

Wicklowandy wrote: »

Buy neither. A pretend 4x4 which is small inside, or an admittedly large, but poor MPV.

I assume the pretend 4x4 is the Santa Fe?
As an owner of one for about a year now, I can't see how anybody can class it as "small inside". Granted, it's not a 7 seater, but there is tons of room in the rear for buggies, dogs etc and the rear seats have HUGE legroom.

My own is just a 2 litre petrol and is 2wd but there are plenty of them out there in 4 wheel drive. As far as I know, but I am not 100% sure, the diesel ones are all 4 wheel drive. As for ground clearance, there is tons of room under the Santa Fe also.

bazz26

Look up the Euro NCAP ratings on that Grand Voyager, it has a terrible rating, something to consider if you are ferrying kids around in it. They are also poorly built and a dog on fuel. Santa Fe is probably not much better.

Have a look at the Honda CR-V instead.

Mad_Mike

The Santa Fe 2 litre is not good on fuel anyway
Hard to keep her on the good side of 25mpg!
It should never have been sold with a 2 litre engine as it just doesn't have the power for the bulk of the car and takes a lot of juice to keep her moving

moonship

bazz26 wrote: »

Look up the Euro NCAP ratings on that Grand Voyager, it has a terrible rating, something to consider if you are ferrying kids around in it. They are also poorly built and a dog on fuel. Santa Fe is probably not much better.

Have a look at the Honda CR-V instead.

Re safety ratings dont forget that grand voyager is a big and heavy car.
You dont believe that your family will be safer in some tiny car say fiat 500 or micra in head on collision just because it got 5 stars than in grand voyager? Weight and inertia of the car makes difference not ONLY the stupid stars...

visual

Chrysler Grand Cherokee 2.7 Litre Diesel on DoneDeal.ie http://tinyurl.com/nlk7zzp#carsforsale via @donedeal


This will meet your needs and its a real Jeep
You will easily get 30 to 35mpg and lots of space.

Its also very capable off road and eats up snow and ice.

They have all the extras including heated leather seats

sept09baby

Thanks everyone. I like the jeep but have had bad experiences with that garage and personally wouldn't go back.

There's a decent looking 2.4 Santa Fe 4x4 that I might take a look at. 7 seats would be handy every couple of months to avoid taking 2 cars but its not a deal breaker.

I do very low mileage so mpg isn't a huge concern and petrol would be best.

My bf drove the grand voyager a few years ago and loved it so that's why that was on the list. Don't think I'll find something that ticks all the boxes for the money I'm spending so will have to find the best compromise

DubCul

I suggest you Google clutch problems on Santa Fe.

Life expectancy and cost of replacement. Not impressive.:eek:

kirving

moonship wrote: »

Re safety ratings dont forget that grand voyager is a big and heavy car.
You dont believe that your family will be safer in some tiny car say fiat 500 or micra in head on collision just because it got 5 stars than in grand voyager? Weight and inertia of the car makes difference not ONLY the stupid stars...

I'd take the 500 over a Grand Voyager any day. Check out the Renault Modus vs old Volvo crash test that Fifth Gear did a few years ago. Also, I've been in a Grand Voyager a few times and it's not particularly great.

dh0011

moonship wrote: »

Re safety ratings dont forget that grand voyager is a big and heavy car.
You dont believe that your family will be safer in some tiny car say fiat 500 or micra in head on collision just because it got 5 stars than in grand voyager? Weight and inertia of the car makes difference not ONLY the stupid stars...

Obviously you were bad at physics in school. More important than size is where the kinetic energy goes when an impact occurs.

BdaraB

dh0011 wrote: »

Obviously you were bad at physics in school. More important than size is where the kinetic energy goes when an impact occurs.

Size is important but modern cars are much better designed to spread the energy around the car to make it better in a crash

Northern Monkey

My friend had a voyager from almost new and had nothing but bother with it. I think he had 2 gear boxes replaced inside the 2 years he owned it.

sept09baby

Just to update - went for the Santa Fe in the end. Picked it up earlier today. It's a 2.4 petrol 4x4. Plenty of room in it and has had timing belt, clutch etc already done and is NCT'd til next August. Happy enough with the decision - fingers crossed it doesn't give much trouble

dnme

sept09baby wrote: »

Just to update - went for the Santa Fe in the end. Picked it up earlier today. It's a 2.4 petrol 4x4. Plenty of room in it and has had timing belt, clutch etc already done and is NCT'd til next August. Happy enough with the decision - fingers crossed it doesn't give much trouble

We're gonna need a photo or two of that puppy

Esel

BdaraB wrote: »

Size is important but modern cars are much better designed to spread the energy around the car to make it better in a crash

Skip to 5:10 for the crash and aftermath, or 6:15 for slow motion crash.

JJJJNR

Just got a quote of 1800 euros for a sample quote on a santa fe flywheel and clutch for the parts only... scratched off my list of possibles..

Shame looks like a decent 4x4..