Advice on buying a 7 seater

june92

Hi all,
I'm looking for advice on upgrading to a 7 seater. I've started looking and to be honest I'm a bit bamboozled by the lot!
Any recommendations on Make/Models or what to avoid and look out for? Petrol/Diesel? This car will be the main family car so will be used everyday school runs,appointments,mainly around the city and suburbs, no real long trips in it but will definitely get a good run everyday!
So far in my looking I've seen a Citroen 2009 C4 Grand Picasso 1.6 HDI and it's the one in running for me. Is Citroen a good reliable car?
Have around 9k to play around with and my own car to trade in.
Thanks for the help

_Brian

We have a C4 GP for the last 4 years.
It's been a good reliable car and the only major repair in that time was a clutch/dual mass fly wheel which cost €1000, but most modern cars risk this repair so it's not confined to the C4.
We've done 120k km's in those years.

Some report electrical problems but we've had nothing more than a blown bulb.

Over last six months it's averaging 5.2l per 100km, about 53mpg

My only comment is with your milage you could be looking at a petrol, I don't know if you'll be doing enough milage to keep the DPF on a diesel blown through.

Redtop

Citroen C4 is comfortable with lots of features but the 1.6 is underpowered. French manufacturers not known for their reliability. Ours started to give trouble so we traded up to a Ford SMax which was great although we got caught with replacing the Clutch/Flywheel which seems to be a known issue. Try Toyota Avensis Verso.

Marcusm

Redtop wrote: »

Citroen C4 is comfortable with lots of features but the 1.6 is underpowered. French manufacturers not known for their reliability. Ours started to give trouble so we traded up to a Ford SMax which was great although we got caught with replacing the Clutch/Flywheel which seems to be a known issue. Try Toyota Avensis Verso.

What engine did you get on the SMax? You do know that PSA Peugeot acitroen and Ford share the same Diesel engines?

NIMAN

Have you considered a Honda FR-V?
Its a 6 seater, but do you actually need 7?

Redtop

Marcusm wrote: »

What engine did you get on the SMax? You do know that PSA Peugeot acitroen and Ford share the same Diesel engines?

1.8 Turbo Diesel

kwazar

+1 for 2l Ford S-max if you want to enjoy driving your car.

ewj1978

Quick advice,

Try everything. Climb in and out of every seat( even the back ones).

There's some nice looking cars but seats are awkward to move or hard to get out of.
I've a Mazda 5 cos the sliding doors are the job.

_Brian

ewj1978 wrote: »

Quick advice,

Try everything. Climb in and out of every seat( even the back ones).

There's some nice looking cars but seats are awkward to move or hard to get out of.
I've a Mazda 5 cos the sliding doors are the job.

This is good advice..
We had a Zaferia for a few years and while it was an OK car the rear seats were a total pain to raise/lower. The middle row had to be slid forward, which meant that any child seat fixed in with a seat belt had to be opened to allow seats forward, pain in the arsse.

Someone posted that the 1.6 C4 was underpowered, ours is the VTR+ version, manual box and its plenty powerful.

Greentree_uk

kwazar wrote: »

+1 for 2l Ford S-max if you want to enjoy driving your car.

Have the 2.0 TD 163 Titanium X Sport- imported form the UK. I read that 1.8 S-Max's generally have flywheel problems).

Have to say didn't like the other seven seaters we looked at, Grand C-Max (No room in boot), (Seat Alhambra - (basic spec) Nissan Quasqai - (horribly light) Renault Grand Scenic(No space in back - nice interior but renault reliability), Ford Galaxy - plastic everywhere, couldn't find a VW Sharan to test.

I did quite like the citroen Grand picasso but found the prices in the garages too high and read about reliability problems with VTR+ which is what they all seem to be selling.

Overall all pretty boring specs both for interior and engine.

Ofcourse I showed my wife all these before I showed her the S-MAX!! Which is what I really wanted.

Loving this seven seater has no problem going and cruising along the motorway is better than my old 1.9PD Superb. - hardly notice the speed going up....

It is difficult to get this spec in Ireland as it isn't generally sold. pretty good on tax and mileage in this model for size.

billy100

citron Picasso , great car 1.6 diesel, very economical, doesn't seem as big as other type 7 sweaters. Mrs swears by it