What seven-seater could you recommend that's economical, reliable and safe?
My wife and I have a young and growing family. Our 2009 Audi A3 Hatchback 1.9 TDI is now creaking at the seams and we're looking for a secondhand practical vehicle. It needs to be capable of carrying up to seven people to allow grandparents to travel with us and for longer family trips to Europe with canoes and bicycles. We don't care about what it looks like or brand, interior styling and unnecessary gizmos and seven fixed seats (5+2 is preferable). We do care about high mpg and low carbon emissions, reliability and maintenance costs, price and safety. We have up to about £13,000 to spend. What would you recommend? Would a Volkswagen Touran work?
A Ford Galaxy 2.0 TDCi with an EU6 engine if you can find one. The Volkswagen Sharan and SEAT Alhambra are a bit bigger, but the diesels need AdBlue and the AdBlue heater is not very reliable. Later Sharan and Alhambra can be 1.4 TSI 150 turbo engine, but vital to avoid the earlier 1.4 TSI 150 Twincharger engine. The Touran is smaller. VAG 6-speed wet clutch DSG and Ford Getrag 6-speed wet clutch Powershift about the same, except that with a Ford you don't have to press the brake pedal to shift the lever from N to D.
Answered by Honest John on
