SWMBO is wanting a new job due to her current employers cutting her hours by over 50% since Christmas and there might be even more cuts to come.

She is thinking about child minding which will see her needing to sell her Rav4 and buying a 7 seater.

So far we are just looking at whats available and this is what we have so far

Ford

S-Max - Thinks its too big vut might change mind when we look at one

Galaxy - Too Big

VW

Sharan - Too Big

Touran - added - Likes appearance but not good enough value for money

Toyota

Verso - Very happy with

Mazda

5 - not keen on looks

Vauxhall

Zafira - Its a Vauxhall and common

Renault

Espace - Too Big

Seat

Alhambra - added - Too Big

what else is out there? Max £10,000

Seat Alhambra

Try here

I think Davey (skodaboy) had a ford s-max, and got rid because the power kept cutting out when doing important things like overtaking.. (french deisel engine) .. frightened him, I used to have for focuses when I worked for the AA, and had 4 new cars in 3 months because they all broke!

what about a vauxhall zafira VXR ? that would be me buying...

the toyotas and mazdas are both apparantly good cars, I personally dont like the look of either of them though.. (and to be fair probably couldn't bring myself to buy a vauxhall..)

so for me that would leave the renault VW or seat.. renault have a bad rep for reliability, but then so do fiat, my fiat did 107,000 faultless miles... I know people who have had a succession of renaults without problems, megans, ect, my dad had an old shape laguna, and it ran well for 10 years! (then fell apart lol...) he now has a vauxhall astra, boring as hell, but , honestly, it hasn't missed a beat in three years.. no problems AT ALL.......... I still wouldn't buy one...

personally I'd try for the espace... but my opinions will no doubt clash with everyone elses! lol...

lesson is, go for what YOU (or SWMBO) wants

edit: have you thought about a second hand mercedes 200? the mercedes a-class people carrier? thats my extra choice!

What about a VW Touran?

What about a VW Touran?

one of my collegues had one of them kitted out as a camper van, was pretty good, kitted out as a people carrier should work

I think Davey (skodaboy) had a ford s-max, and got rid because the power kept cutting out when doing important things like overtaking.. (french deisel engine) .. frightened him, I used to have for focuses when I worked for the AA, and had 4 new cars in 3 months because they all broke!

what about a vauxhall zafira VXR ? that would be me buying...

the toyotas and mazdas are both apparantly good cars, I personally dont like the look of either of them though.. (and to be fair probably couldn't bring myself to buy a vauxhall..)

so for me that would leave the renault VW or seat.. renault have a bad rep for reliability, but then so do fiat, my fiat did 107,000 faultless miles... I know people who have had a succession of renaults without problems, megans, ect, my dad had an old shape laguna, and it ran well for 10 years! (then fell apart lol...) he now has a vauxhall astra, boring as hell, but , honestly, it hasn't missed a beat in three years.. no problems AT ALL.......... I still wouldn't buy one...

personally I'd try for the espace... but my opinions will no doubt clash with everyone elses! lol...

lesson is, go for what YOU (or SWMBO) wants

edit: have you thought about a second hand mercedes 200? the mercedes a-class people carrier? thats my extra choice!

SWMBO really likes the Verso & I have to admit, I was very supprised by it, since owning the RAV nothing has gone wrong in the 2 1/2 years of ownership and it is quite cheap to run for what it is.

Again, if I'm honest the Zafira would be my choice, purely from a cosmetic point of view but at the end of the day they are MPV's and what does it matter what they look like

SWMBO has also discounted the Espace as 'Its too big'

What about a VW Touran?

Had a look at some Tourans this evening and while SWMBO likes them for the budget we have, we will be selling a newer car to purchase an older car with a lesser spec & much higher milage.

Had a look at some Tourans this evening and while SWMBO likes them for the budget we have, we will be selling a newer car to purchase an older car with a lesser spec & much higher milage.

Round here there have been quite a number of decent spec'd Touran's for your budget with (for me) acceptable mileages. A check though shows only 1 now.

Trouble is, MPV's arent usually highly spec'd as you dont need many toys for a school run, and as you say many high specs are ex-taxi's and high milers.

Have you been doing the main brand's country wide searches, or just local dealers? Most will ship cars around for you for a confirmed sale.

Round here there have been quite a number of decent spec'd Touran's for your budget with (for me) acceptable mileages.

Trouble is, MPV's arent usually highly spec'd as you dont need many toys for a school run, and as you say many high specs are ex-taxi's and high milers.

Have you been doing the main brand's country wide searches, or just local dealers? Most will ship cars around for you for a confirmed sale.

So far just looking on AutoTrader. After looking at fuel figures for both the RAV and my Octavia we have decided that a Diesel will be what we are looking for.

Due to the length of time that we will need to finance the car for it will need to outlive my Octavia by a good 2-3years before it needs replacing.

I think until SWMBO has seen/test driven all the cars on her little short list most of the above are still contenders.

There isn't any real urgency just at the minute as she is applying for School Jobs but if she is un-succesful she will leave her current employment and start child minding. She allready has some children lined up should she go down this route and will not need a car larger than her RAV until she gets more kids to look after which wont take long.

I'd have a look at the Mazda 5 as the sliding rear doors and the individual sliding rear seats make entry and exit of passengers in the rear, about the easiest of the lot.

We had a 2lt diesel Sport and it was great to drive with no kids on board as it's based on the Focus floorpan. Also pretty well screwed together, very reliable and quite cheap.

Of course the S-Max is probably a bit better, but it'll cost quite a bit more.

One of my work mates had a Mazda 5 Sport, and had nothing but problems with the DPF.

His fuel economy would go down to about 20mpg every 100 miles no matter what sort of driving he was doing. After about 10 miles it would stop and go back to normal. Another 100 miles later, it would do exactly the same thing. It was almost as if it was trying to do a regen all the time. It went back to Mazda more times than I care to remember, and in the end he chopped it in for a petrol.

Just bear in mind that anything like a touran or zafira is about the same size as a rav4 but with two more seats wedged in. That means no boot with the extra seats up and no real chance of getting more than two child seats in the middle row.

One of my work mates had a Mazda 5 Sport, and had nothing but problems with the DPF.

His fuel economy would go down to about 20mpg every 100 miles no matter what sort of driving he was doing. After about 10 miles it would stop and go back to normal. Another 100 miles later, it would do exactly the same thing. It was almost as if it was trying to do a regen all the time. It went back to Mazda more times than I care to remember, and in the end he chopped it in for a petrol.

That's interesting as we never had any dpf or economy problems with ours and it mainly did town driving. Wife also managed to mis-fuel it when it was empty and drive the 12 or so miles home with no lasting damamge (apart from the credit card that paid for the collection & repairs)! Just required a tank drain and fuel line flush and then ready to go. The Mazada garage said they rarely had any significant problems with mis-fueling with CR diesels unless they were driven for long distances.

Touran for me ticked all the boxes (7str-2Lpd-sport140) and was fun to drive. The downside was poor dealers which eventually brought me to the Skoda way of life.

The Verso does make good sense, if your happy with it then surely thats half the battle?

Alternative:-

Volvo XC90

Chrysler Grand Voyager - Quite common with the Local pre-schools around here.

Peugeot 308sw - Bit different?

Volvo XC90

Won't that be a bit ropey for £10K?

I like the Disco2 but something like a Verso probably makes more sense.

A friend of mine is a childminder, and she opted for an S-Max.

Never had one bit of bother, its big, but not overly big, and they've got a great spec on them.

They are all valid points..

We spent the weekend looking and really liked the Verso but we both agreed that there is No way either of us would want to spend £10,000 on a people carrier as neither of us really want one. As nice and practical as most of the people carriers were, none of them had 'it' if you know what I mean. They were good/easy to drive, 7 seats, more than enough room for our requirements but nothing stood out about them, they didnt have a wow factor.. I know they're poeple carriers and they're not supposed to which is why we've decided not to spend that much money on one.

Instead we are looking at buying a 2-3yr old sporty/family diesel and then sell mine when/if the need arrises for the 7 seats due to extra children through childminding. The people carrier will only be driven locally and a cheap Zafira 1.6 petrol for around £1,000 will be more than upto the job for the little use it will get.

Having said all of the above SWMBO and I are still struggling with the thought of selling/px the Rav as it truly is a brilliant car and has prooved its 4wd system works really well up here in the Peak District and has given SWMBO so much more confidence driving in the snow with the kids in as before she had to keep digging her Fabia out when it got stuck and also spent a night stuck in the Peaks in it as she couldn't dig herself out.

Matthew

good shout. We picked an 2002 Hyundai Trajet up for little over £1k, it's big, thirsty and slow but has been incredibly reliable and we don't mind when it picks up car park dings from the places mothers have to park

We went through the buying a 7 seater three years ago. The aim was to fit the 3 grandchildren (in child seats), their parents and us in one car.

We ruled out the Zafira as row 2 is a bench seat and has to move as one unit, so if you have any child seats on it they must be removed before folding the seat back. Things like the Verso, S-Max and C4 Picasso do not have this issue as the seats are individual.

Another thing we considered were external dimensions the Verso although narrower (on paper) than the Citroen C4 it replaced, takes 3 child seats in row 2. There are very few 5 seater cars that are wider than a Verso that do this.

We opted for a new diesel Verso and in the last 3 years it has done what it says on the tin, been versatile family transport, 0-60 under 10s and average 47mpg (over 25,000 miles). This car has had the least depreciation of any vehicle I have owned. No issues in any of the snow we had up in Scotland over the last few winters.

The downsides are you either have people space OR luggage space not both and the window lock stops all passengers opening windows (on some cars it is just the rear windows that are locked).

The only reason we decided to change is we have only used more than 5 seats on two occasions in 3 years and the 1.2 TSI (105bhp) in a Roomster can pretty much match the fuel economy as well as taking the 3 child seats in row 2.

If you want a budget 7 seater then go down the Berlingo or variant route as this give the most space and economy for the money (coupled with the least style and driver satisfaction). There is also the Kia Carens in the lower price bracket.

Before you buy anything I would take all the bits you need for child minding down to the dealers and see how they fit, if you just have children, no problem, if you need to consider child seats, buggies, changes of clothes, bottles, nappies etc then luggage space as well as the number of seats is a consideration.

Edited 8 June, 201115 yr by hertsnminds

I have had Zafira and Verso over the past 10 years in the family- Verso is more adaptable, more car like to drive and has more flexible seating than the older ZAfira- cant comment on new Zafira, Other ooptions for 7 seats

Land rover- discovery or classic

Kia Sedona or Carens

FIat multipla or Honda FRV ( both 3+3)

Qashqai+2

Peugot 307SW

Renault Grand Scenic

CItroen Grand Picasso

We went through the buying a 7 seater three years ago. The aim was to fit the 3 grandchildren (in child seats), their parents and us in one car.

We ruled out the Zafira as row 2 is a bench seat and has to move as one unit, so if you have any child seats on it they must be removed before folding the seat back. Things like the Verso, S-Max and C4 Picasso do not have this issue as the seats are individual.

Another thing we considered were external dimensions the Verso although narrower (on paper) than the Citroen C4 it replaced, takes 3 child seats in row 2. There are very few 5 seater cars that are wider than a Verso that do this.

We opted for a new diesel Verso and in the last 3 years it has done what it says on the tin, been versatile family transport, 0-60 under 10s and average 47mpg (over 25,000 miles). This car has had the least depreciation of any vehicle I have owned. No issues in any of the snow we had up in Scotland over the last few winters.

The downsides are you either have people space OR luggage space not both and the window lock stops all passengers opening windows (on some cars it is just the rear windows that are locked).

The only reason we decided to change is we have only used more than 5 seats on two occasions in 3 years and the 1.2 TSI (105bhp) in a Roomster can pretty much match the fuel economy as well as taking the 3 child seats in row 2.

If you want a budget 7 seater then go down the Berlingo or variant route as this give the most space and economy for the money (coupled with the least style and driver satisfaction). There is also the Kia Carens in the lower price bracket.

Before you buy anything I would take all the bits you need for child minding down to the dealers and see how they fit, if you just have children, no problem, if you need to consider child seats, buggies, changes of clothes, bottles, nappies etc then luggage space as well as the number of seats is a consideration.

The child-minding is more likely to be before/after school runs etc so hopefully the need for luggage wont be that great as the people who are already interested have kids the same age as ours and there isn't any after school activites so there are just the normal book bags/pe kits to fit in the car.

I have had Zafira and Verso over the past 10 years in the family- Verso is more adaptable, more car like to drive and has more flexible seating than the older ZAfira- cant comment on new Zafira, Other ooptions for 7 seats

Land rover- discovery or classic a bit too pricey for a decent/NCAP rated example

Kia Sedona or Carens good choices/good value for money

FIat multipla or Honda FRV ( both 3+3) Fiat we've looked at and that was a no due to looks, Honda no due to having a child in the front that close to the steering wheel and other car controls

Qashqai+2 too pricey

Peugot 307SW Hadn't thought much about these but it certainly fits the number of seats whilst retaining the car drive/feel.. Good prices too

Renault Grand Scenic SWMBO has a dislike of anything Renault.. don't know why

CItroen Grand Picasso quite nice but she doesn't like the dash layout or steering wheel

SWMBO is still wanting to buy a newer family diesel for us and then sell my Octavia to buy the 7 seater and have some money left over to spend on the house :'(

If SWMBO is thinking of becoming a childminder, she will be self employed and have the tax benefits etc this brings- if it is likely to be sustainable then leasing or contract hire may be an option (very tax efficient). Also remember any food, equipment (toys) etc used for childminding are tax deductable, as is a portion of home utility bills - accontant can advise. Downside is your house never feels your own, regular stream of parents/kids at various times of day school holidays are no different (or worse) than school days depeding on age mix of kids. Some parents have unreasonable expectations/demands. Mrs Superbfan did childmind for about seven years while our own children were young.

It did suit us at the time but I am glad SWMBO is now in regular employment ( as school assistant so 25hrs a week and term time only)- great

If SWMBO is thinking of becoming a childminder, she will be self employed and have the tax benefits etc this brings- if it is likely to be sustainable then leasing or contract hire may be an option (very tax efficient). Also remember any food, equipment (toys) etc used for childminding are tax deductable, as is a portion of home utility bills - accontant can advise. Downside is your house never feels your own, regular stream of parents/kids at various times of day school holidays are no different (or worse) than school days depeding on age mix of kids. Some parents have unreasonable expectations/demands. Mrs Superbfan did childmind for about seven years while our own children were young.

It did suit us at the time but I am glad SWMBO is now in regular employment ( as school assistant so 25hrs a week and term time only)- great

We've started looking into the extra tax benefits child minding can bring and it does look promising. SWMBO is trying to get a job in a school as her current employer (Childrens Nursery) has cut her working hours down by over 60% this year and we need another way of bringing in some extra income.

My only real issue with the child-minding thought, is, I work shifts and during the school holidays would suffer with lack of sleep due to the amount of kids in the house/garden but we need to-do what we can to lift our income into the house.

I don't think child minding is an easy option but there are certainly benefits. The paperwork and the regulation can make it difficult.

We've got a very good child minder nearby. She doesn't have a 7 seater. She won't take more than 4 kids at once (she's allowed 6) but she has more than 4 on her books. You might not need a new car depending on the kids you take in. Some won't be 5 days, some won't be all day you might be able to work around it.

If you're very lucky you'll get kids all from teachers so your summer holidays will be kid free, but you still get to charge for 'em.

Our child minder seems to love doing it. When we go round our boy is as often playing with her daughter or her husband as with her or the other kids. If you're all up for it you can make a nice family atmosphere for the kids while you have them.

You can see that some parents could be trouble. Our boy will often come back with a bruise or a scratch, that just the nature of little boys. He'll nip and scratch other kids too if he gets the chance (he's only 10 months) but I imagine some parents would hit the roof with every little thing.

Good luck anyway.

I don't think child minding is an easy option but there are certainly benefits. The paperwork and the regulation can make it difficult.

We've got a very good child minder nearby. She doesn't have a 7 seater. She won't take more than 4 kids at once (she's allowed 6) but she has more than 4 on her books. You might not need a new car depending on the kids you take in. Some won't be 5 days, some won't be all day you might be able to work around it.

If you're very lucky you'll get kids all from teachers so your summer holidays will be kid free, but you still get to charge for 'em.

Our child minder seems to love doing it. When we go round our boy is as often playing with her daughter or her husband as with her or the other kids. If you're all up for it you can make a nice family atmosphere for the kids while you have them.

You can see that some parents could be trouble. Our boy will often come back with a bruise or a scratch, that just the nature of little boys. He'll nip and scratch other kids too if he gets the chance (he's only 10 months) but I imagine some parents would hit the roof with every little thing.

Good luck anyway.

SWMBO has worked as a Nanny/Non Teaching Assistant/Nursery Nurse for the last 13-14years and I've been subjected to having other people kids in our home over the years so am quite prepared for it.

The main reason for the 7 seater is we have 2 children of our own, both of which will be at school from September meaning SWMBO would only be able to take in 2 extra children as we would also need x2 seats for our children. We are also trying to be as flexible as we can to ensure more of a reliable income.

Most of the kids that would end up coming to us, SWMBO already know's from school & Nurseries in the local area.