Up to £10,000 to spend on 7 Seater

[xantiagreen]

My dear uncle now needs a 7 seater and has asked for my help, I know nothing about 7 seaters and would appreciate all help. His Mrs wants to go for the 1.6hdi Grand Picasso but I have been told they need a loan to cover for the amount of faults and best to go for the base to mid range 2.0hdi 138bhp. Is EGs on all C4 Grand P's.

He is located in Dundee so I can't even go and have a look at the vehicles for him, what 7 seaters can you recommend, as with everything reliability is key.

Thanks in advance...

[RichardW]

10 grand will buy a reaonable amount of C4GP - as it's now been replaced, you might be able to get a delivery mileage one for that sort of money. The 1.6 HDi is OK, if the turbo failure can be avoided! Really this needs the ability to DIY or a decent indy to remove the oil feed filter. Post 2011 cars are fitted with the 8V version of the engine, which MAY be less prone to turbo problems (or it may just be that they're not old enough yet to be suffering!). The 2.0 HDi is better from a turbo point of view, but the engine is a bit on thirsty side, and possibly only available in higher spec models - anything with the air suspension is to be avoided, unless you can get conversion to coil springs included in the price! EGS is by no means universal, but (in diesels anyway) the only auto option. Consideration required as to whether they actually need a diesel - given that they are all DPF equipped, they don't take kindly to short runs (the school run!) - although ours (1.6 HDi manual) has been OK on a mix of this and longer runs at least once a week - it only averages 40 on this duty though, and struggles to better 45 on a run if you wind it up to near 80. The rear seats are a bit on the small side, but OK for under 10s. The ride is a bit roly poly, but very comfortable.

[daviemck2006]

If you want a 2.0 hdi manual, think about a dispatch, or expert or scudo clones that has 7 or 8 seats. Thats if you can find one that has not been a taxi. There are literally hundreds of them as taxis in the Aberdeen area, so must be reliable.

[bxzx16v]

I'm with Davie on this, the 2.0Hdi 16v Dispatch would be a choice with plenty of room for passengers and luggage.

Mark

[KP]

Does any 7 seater car fit the bill?

They could get a very good Disco 3 HSE for that money, or an XC90 maybe? yes they will be a bit older but they wont depreciate that much more and a hell of a lot less than the C4GP.
even half that budget can get a Disco 3 HSE and the rest can go on the maint and service bills over the next few years

[Lighty]

Renault Trafic 1.9dci gets my vote, bit more van like than the GP though.

[qprdude]

VW Sharan/ Seat Alhambra.

[Tully]

My other car is a SEAT Alhambra (2001) and would highly recommend one if you need a 7 seater, (Ford Galaxy & VW Sharan are similar).
5 full size, folding, removeable seats in the back, plenty of head room and with the seats removed you have the load space of a van with a completely flat floor. It will take me from Plymouth to (near) Edinburgh (my parents house) on just over half a tank of fuel (1.9 tdi).

I don't know about the seat arrangement on later models, I believe it's designed differently, but if you can find a low mileage earlier model you would only need to spend half of your budget

[xantiagreen]

Well I think his Mrs will have the last say she's the driver, it will be used for school runs and dropping him off at work and so on. It might just see the dual carriageway once or twice a fortnight that's a big if. I have said get a £3-4k 7 seater, but his MRs is adamant of owning a C4GP, searched on aut__rader and in the area of 100 mls there's only a handful and all are trade not a private one to bee seen.

[RichardW]

There's very few private sales on Autotrader these days - most people just seem to chop them in to dealers now. Having said that, 307 I've just bought was private....

Given the duty cycle you've listed I would run a mile from a diesel. Probably only get high 20s - 30 at a push - from a petrol one, but there will be no DPF or turbo issues to worry about - and it will be cheaper to buy. There's quite a lot about, but probably fewer petrol ones. The 5008 is basically the same car underneath - my wife's friend had a C4GP 1.6 diesel that gave trouble - not sure what the cause but it kept cutting out. They got fed up and chopped it in for a 5008 - although I am pretty sure they don't know it's basically the same car.....

[bxzx16v]

Or what about a Citroen C-Crosser with the seven seats .

Mark

[daviemck2006]

If auntie is the main driver and adamant she wants a c4gp I would look for a petrol doing that type of running, and save all the hassle of DPF's choking up as it's not getting hot enough to regenerate on it's own. Get someone in the know to go to Kinross or Livingston Scottish Motor Auctions and buy a 3 year old ex motability one, which is what you're buying anyway from most dealers, only you save heaps of money, even after allowing for giving it a service and buying a warranty yourself.