Car conundrum

GoldenEraGuitars

Nearly 2 years ago I sold off a fantastic Passat to make way for this…

https://i.imgur.com/WzuqETW.jpg

Audo A4 S Line Quattro and I absolutely love it. Comfortable to do long drives in, very smooth, handles beautifully… but we have a problem. I have 3 children (11, 9 and 6). The eldest is bloody tall already and sitting in the middle of the back seat isn’t an option for her. Our 9 and 6 year old still require boosters for height reasons so they can’t sit in the middle either as the middle seat isn’t a proper full size seat. My wife started looking at Tourans a while ago and they come up used all the time but I hate to say unless it’s through a reputable dealer I wouldn’t touch one with a barge pole. I figured foe the same used money a Transporter like this would be better -

https://i.imgur.com/B7ZDWWa.jpg

Not that exact one of course but that sort of idea. We just did a driving holiday and it was tricky with the amount of space we had to play with. I can’t afford new, so that’s out of the question. Has anyone had a similar issue? Anyone here own a Transporter?

EricTheWeary

I don’t but people do love them and apparently they drive very nicely ( for that kind of vehicle, maybe not in quite the same way as your Quattro). Although if what you want is a large vehicle for maybe three weeks a year maybe that’s a rental job or stick a small trailer behind your Audi for luggage ( towbar + trailer a few hundred quid which probably isn’t much compared to the cost of changing car although you’ve then got a trailer you have to store somewhere)? 

Dominic

The van incarnation was dismissed by people who run fleets that I know as very unreliable.
If you must ride around in a box that's like a brick to the wind the Vito is miles better .
There are numerous big body saloons that have high headroom which drive like a car not what is essentially a well fitted panel van.

Cols

As another alternative, Ford S-Max.  We got one for similar reasons - 3 kids who all needed child seats or booster seats, which didn’t fit with the width of a normal back seat.  The S-Max is wide enough, and has two folding seats in the boot to make it a seven seater.

Additionally, it feels like a car to drive rather than a van

munckee

We had a touran which is the most practical car imaginable, the boot is huge by any car standards and the third row of seats are fine for teenagers for short drives.  I've just got a Tiguan because for mid size SUVs they have the most rear leg room, my son is 14 but 6 foot already and he has plenty of leg room, also got a big boot,  We can get 4 plus tons of stuff in for holidays etc.

Always fancied a transporter to be fair though, except for parking around town.

Stevepage

This

markslade07

We've got 3 kids, all still in car seats, and although I wanted a Transporter, my wife wasn't keen due to the size of it. We ended up getting a Peugeot 5008 which is wide enough for 3 car seats, has 2 extras in the boot if required, and plenty of space in the boot with those seats down. And although I wasn't convinced to start with, I actually really like it, and when the lease is up, we'll probably look to either buy it, or get another one.

It drives just like a car, even though it's a bit longer, and has all the practicalities of a bigger vehicle.

crunchman

We have SEAT Alhambra, which is basically a rebadged VW Sharan that doesn't cost as much.  It's a bit bigger than the Touran, and the rear seats will have enough leg room as your kids grow more.

We had a Toyota Verso before that, but the rear seats weren't big enough as our kids got bigger.  The smaller 7 seaters (Verso, Zafira, Touran come to mind) are ok with young kids, but once they get bigger the rear seats aren't big enough.  You are best with something bigger like an Alhambra, Sharan, or Galaxy.

I'd steer clear of Citroens given the problems we had with the C4 Grand Picasso we had a few years ago.  My brother bought one as well and that was no end of problems.  He got shot of it after a few months. 

ICBM

Is your 9 year old really too short for the middle back seat? Possibly with one of those shoulder clips for the seat belt.

Cols

Stevepage said:

This

Does it come with a free bumper sticker saying “My other car is in the boot”?

Stevepage

Cols said:

Stevepage said:

This

Does it come with a free bumper sticker saying “My other car is in the boot”?

I think it would be more appropriate if it had “my confederate flag and chewing tobacco is in the glove box”

viz

Second hand Ford Galaxy if you avoid the diesel ones

crunchman

viz said:

Second hand Ford Galaxy if you avoid the diesel ones

It's very hard to find a non-diesel Galaxy.  They are like rocking horse doodoo.

You also pay a big premium for a second-hand petrol seven seater as there are so few around.  There are more in the last 2 or 3 years, but you will have to pay far more than it's worth for anything over 3 years old.  Normally we would buy a second hand car that's three or four years old, but there just wasn't anything available at a sensible price when we bought our Alhambra.  There was an 8 year old Sharan with over £100k miles on it advertised for around £9 grand.  It was ridiculous.  We ended up going newer and buying a car that was only 15 months old. 

ICBM

crunchman said:

It's very hard to find a non-diesel Galaxy.  They are like rocking horse doodoo.

You also pay a big premium for a second-hand petrol seven seater as there are so few around.  There are more in the last 2 or 3 years, but you will have to pay far more than it's worth for anything over 3 years old.  Normally we would buy a second hand car that's three or four years old, but there just wasn't anything available at a sensible price when we bought our Alhambra.  There was an 8 year old Sharan with over £100k miles on it advertised for around £9 grand.  It was ridiculous.  We ended up going newer and buying a car that was only 15 months old. 

I have a 10-year-old French 7-seat MPV with over 100K on the clock, and in the last year it's actually gone *up* in value by at least a grand. Astonishing if you think about that!

Because it's petrol, and I live near a city which is about to bring in a diesel ban. When I got it, there were about 300 similar models for sale in Scotland on Autotrader... of which *3* were petrol, and I bought the only one that was in nice condition.

I had been thinking of downsizing to something more efficient now my kids are growing up (eldest has her own car), but I'm going to wait until the ban actually comes in, when it will almost certainly be worth even more.

Haych

I would avoid a Transporter, personally.

They are very popular which means they hold value extremely well so you don't get much bang for your buck.

If you want a people carrier/van type thing then I would be looking at a Mercedes V-Class/Viano, they drive extremely nicely, are usually well equipped and go surprisingly well for a big vehicle.  We had one at work as an executive transport shuttle and if I had to take out a pool car I'd always try to get the Merc, it was just gorgeous, and this was a few years ago too!

I'd also be looking at something like a Volvo XC90, bags of room, very reliable, will see 300k miles and lots to choose from.  Or if you want something similar but with more poke and better fuel economy, a BMW X5 - again plenty out there to choose from and not terribly expensive.

Dominic

Agree Merc V class is great in that category 
Retro cool and surprisingly interesting and quirky .........Fiat Multipla .....3 front seats and cheap as chips ;you could still afford to keep a proper car too

DrJazzTap

Transporters have super strong residuals values. 

What puts me off of one, is that it's basically a van. So you would have to think, everytime you wanted to nip out and grab some milk , park in multi storey or go through a drive through etc you'd be driving a van.  And that's a no go for me.

I actually think the transporter is way overpriced for what it is. Like land-rovers they have a huge cult following. 

What about something like a newer passat estate or an octavia? 

Jimbro66

Be aware of the height of a transporter. Even the low roof ones are around 2m which can be an issue with car park height barriers. It can limit where you can park.

I was going to suggest an Alhambra, or a Sharan if you want to pay more for a VW badge. Most the larger SUV type cars mentioned above will also do.

I drive a SEAT Ateca which is mainly the same car as a VW Tiguan and Skoda Karoq. Not the largest of SUVs by any means but it has plenty of room in the back seats and boot. Last Oct it took four adults and a 7 year old child in booster seat on holiday with plenty of luggage and was spacious and comfortable enough for all. The next size up, the Tarraco gives even more internal space but it is always a trade-off between internal passenger space and ease of parking.

Jetsam1

While I had a LWB Tansporter for 4 years before moving it on (DMF and gearbox issues and the locks and interior falling to bits) it was very practical with 5 seats and a proper bulkhead. Easy to drive and took some abuse it must be said. However for day to day stuff pretty useless.

Gone back to normal cars for the moment but this diesal Honda Accord may want to be moved on fairly soon too.

meltedbuzzbox

We have 3 kids. We have a 7 series and an X5. 
The X5 will devour pretty much anything. The 7 will equally eat passengers, but the boot isnt as big (its still massive though). 

ronnyb

Other than the Touran there is the Golf SV (sportsvan) Slightly smaller than the Touran but well priced. Seats 5 adults and decent engines, i looked at them myself but Mrs R decided they were a bit old manish. Bought a Kia Sportage instead which is a good car but a bit of a barge for parking etc.