Recommend a 7 seater suv for 18k

Nissan X-Trail or Mitsubishi Outlander.

Do you care what age it is? And would you look mpv route rather than suv? As 7 seater the mpv are superior. Image wise, not so much though.

Cant comment on any of the SUV 7 Seaters. We bought a 161 Citreon C4 Grand Picasso in Jan 20 for 17K as we were having twins and needed the 3 seats in the middle row. Its the 1.6 diesel and we have put 45K kms on it since we bought it without any issues. The ride height and big windscreen gives good visibility and you do feel higher off the ground than a normal car. Neither of us would have been french cars prior to this.

The SUV types were out of the budget as my wife had a 2015 car to trade in and would not look at anything older than 2016.

You need a car with a row of 3 individual seats for that and most of them designed for that are MPVs. Most SUVs won't have that. The only SUV I can think of is the Peugeot 5008 and they are well above your budget.

2nd this suggestion.

Family member recently bought one and it's a brilliant car for young family & trappings that they take with them on trips. Well proven 1.5d engine from Renault, Nissan or newer 1.6d.

Top spec models, usually UK imports, have every gadget you need from HUD, heating & massage seats, integrated rear blinds and heating controls.

It's not just 3 seats with isofix, you need to ensure the 3 booster seats fit side by side together also. Sometimes there may not be enough space depending on the type and make of booster seat so only 2 booster seats fit on the outer seats. You could also look at the likes of the Ford Grand C-Max which has rear sliding doors which are handy or if you need something a bit bigger then the S-Max.

S-Max is a great car but its pricey

If you put a value on car infotainment systems it is a very poor choice IMO as Ford's UI/Sync system is no match to its competitors

Just my tuppence... Just recently went down the same road as you. Test drove all the main MPVs. Citreon Picasso, Renault Grand Scenic, Ford SMax, Seat Alhambra, VW Touran and a Peugeot 5008.

Settled on the Touran as we could fit all three car seats with isofix in the second row. Two extra seats in the boot for occasional use. Liked the Touran over the Grand Scenic as we couldn't fit our 3 seats in the Grand Scenic.

SMax, Alhambra and 5008 were out of our budget for the years we were looking at so that left the Touran and Picasso. Didn't like the drive of the Picasso but it had everything you'd need. Settled on a Touran.

I'd say you could get a 2015/6 for your budget.

I think a key issue for people in this segment is budget. If money is no option then by all means

go for the more expensive brands (VW etc) but in my opinion they are very poor value second hand.

In many cases you are paying big money for a 4 - 5 year old car with no warranty etc. That's where

something like the renault grand scenic come in as they lose so much value in thier first two years that you can pick up

a relatively new (2 years old) one for the price of a 4 year old Touran or similar. Of course the issue then is that they will

still depreciate a lot however from a much lower base so I think they represent good value as in many cases a fairly new one

should see you out of the baby stage and into the early teens.

FYI I bought a 5 year old Toyota Verso in 2015 and still have it going strong

but it was 15k which again was too much for a 5 year old car however

there was significantly less choice back then.

Finally the newer Renaults have proven themselves to be reliable especially their 1.5dci engine.

P