Small MPV recommendations (Megane Scenic/Xsara Picasso etc)

[leestudd30]

Being as me and the wife will be trying for a family in the coming months, I'm probably going to have to invest in a new car and after having to use a Daewoo Tacuma (yes, thats right!) as a hire car, I'd like the extra space for me and passengers and the huge boot! It won't be a new one, will probably be around 10yrs old going by the budget I'm likely to have. Having googled them the above sound pretty good but the Renault has a lot of reliability issues, are there any other alternatives?

[steve_earwig]

You said one - Ksara pickarsehole. My mate here has one, about 2002, 1,6 petrol and he's had it for 2 years. Only problems were a cracked exhaust manifold (a common problem apparently) which he welded himself and the diodes went in the alternator. Oh and someone drove into the side of it (par for the course here ) but he's not bothered fixing it yet.

[lozz]

dont buy a Daewoo tacuma, there bad news Seriously Worse than Vauxhall !

picasso is Alright, Drive wise Comfy /roomy.
Not very nice to drive,
Easy and cheap to Maintain, 1.6 is a waste of space you have to Thrash them it dont pull its weight , 1.8 or diesel is best,

only good thing about the 1.6s is you can change a cambelt on them in under 20mins,

[steve_earwig]

1.6 is a waste of space you have to Thrash them it dont pull its weight

Oddly enough that's what my mate said about his the last time I talked to him about it, I just assumed he was getting bored with it. 1.8s are extremely rare here.

[lozz]

other things to watch for is:

drivers window regualator, Snapped cables, they eat cables,
Replacement is 350 quid ish, and finding one in the Breakers yard is impossibe,

Digital Displays Fail too, but easily Repairable,

oh and if you get a flat tyre on the back you have to call for recovery.
as you carnt get access to the Jack and Wheelbrace.
so if you buy one first thing you do is get the jack out from out of the spare wheel and let it live in the boot,

They where a Disabilty car tho aspose

[lozz]

1.6 is a waste of space you have to Thrash them it dont pull its weight

Oddly enough that's what my mate said about his the last time I talked to him about it, I just assumed he was getting bored with it. 1.8s are extremely rare here.

hes Most probs got used to it,
the 37-39 mpg round town sort of makes up for it,

on adecent run you can get 50mpg ish, the one ihad worked out cheaper to run than most diesels, insurance was cheap too,

[Welly]

The 1.6 sounds very economical on petrol (probable because it won't let the engine have any )

As far as I can tell the only benefit of these MPV's is the ease of getting in/out or ease of lifting a baby in/out (think we've discussed this before).

I must admit that the Ford Folkarse Cmax on holiday was rather pleasant to flop into (or fall out of) and had a slightly raised view of things (mostly other Cmax's ).

[leestudd30]

I saw some decent reviews of the Daewoo but they look awful! What about a similar age Alhambra, Galaxy or Sharan? Providing they're not much worse on fuel I could manage the extra size.

[lozz]

Alhambra, Galaxy or Sharan?

there all out of the same tin

galaxy is the better one mind,
2.0 slow and thirsty,
2.3 best option,
1.9 diesel cambelt driven. abeit agricultural on the ears

if you dont need 7 seats id look else where, but as a 7 seater the galaxy was the best one ive had, especialy when its placed upagainst Zafira /espace/ serenas and the likes.

[leestudd30]

Having looked at the bigger ones the fuel consumption isn't great though, the petrol ones are worse than my 406! I could put up with a diesel but I hate the noise they make and I'm unsure as to whether its worth it going by the price of fuel. I found a couple of others that sound ok, Mazda Premacy which sounds like a more reliable alternative to the Scenic and the Hyundai Trajet, not the greatest but it looks nice and seems well equipped.

[steve_earwig]

...trying for a family...

Does this mean you won't actually be needing this for at least 9 months? Plenty of time for research then You won't be needing the Galaxy/Sharon/Hamburger for quite a while either, unless you're planning on having quintuplets straight off the bat.

What I does know about Hyundies: cheap, well-equipped, not very durable, poor image, values drop like that Bum Gardner bloke in freefall, price of spares extortionate.

[Welly]

Is it compulsory for Kia Sedona owners to drive about with more damage than a Post Office Van? they're all battered when I see them about.

Why not go old-school and look at some Mercedes W124's 1995-ish Diesels - they make a nice noise and are built like tanks.

[lozz]

before buying a Mpv id seriously do some Research first.
Most of them are big heavy lumps, especialy 7 seats feel the weight of the seats there not light so you have to bare in mind what weight its pulling. plus fully loaded, it might say 40mpg on the tin but once its fully loaded expect poor mpg.

iused to take the rear seats out of mine when they wasnt in use it saves on fuel costs,

another thing you have to think of is theyre built for apurpose not for looks so they dont drive like acar,

Try them out 1st as once youve bought one your stuck with it,
with the price of fuel and insurance costs there hard to shift

[KozmoNaut]

Get a 406 estate. Apart from being lower to the ground, it's every bit as roomy as a Xsara Picasso and looks a lot better, to boot.

Otherwise, find an 806 (Citroën Synergie/Fiat Ulysse) diesel, if you really want to go the MPV route. You need to move into that size car (VW Sharan/Ford Galaxy/Ford S-Max/etc.) for it to have any benefit over an estate. My dad had a Citroën Synergie as a company van for a while and it drove really well for an MPV, in addition to being quite comfortable and well-equipped.

[lozz]

Ithink a member on here (waue) had the best idea on Mpvs.

Small ish but a good choice ithink,