7 seater needed - Mazda5 or Qashqai+2 or X ?

[MattyGee]

Hi SXOC family,

I come asking advice and opinions, my family is welcoming a 5th human member (also have a medium sized dog) at the end of the year and in preparation ive had to come to terms with buying a huge family transporter thing and started looking at 7 seaters, my two already borns are still young enough to be in car seats (non ISOFIX) but child seats are wiiide and I cant fit an ISOFIX baby seat and two child seats in the back seat of my current family mobile (BMW 320 Touring).

Looking at 7 seaters I dont want something too van-ish and i think ive narrowed my choices down to a Mazda5 or a Qashqai+2 - both 2011-2014 age range both 1.6d turbo engines.

I would welcome any opinions or personal experiences of either of these choices or suggestions of alternatives ?

Thanks for the help!

Matt

[green_rs13]

my brother got one of those mazda 5's for his mrs to cart their kids around in and it seems pretty sturdy. she could destroy a steel ball in a rubber room and the mazda has lasted a year so far with no problems.
from what I remember the middle seats slide back and fourth so you can adjust the leg room.

[R3K1355]

**** me are they ugly though.



My parents had a Volvo estate with us lot, we had dogs as well.
Have you checked the room in the rear of large estates like the V70/V90, 5-Series beemers and A6 Avant?

[Scottie]

Is a CX5 Mazda any good?

[DLowe]

my mate has a xc90 for his 3 kids (all in car seats) and loves the versatility, it's unbelievably comfy - safe and reliable.

If you can stomach the hideous repair bills and abysmal reliability..... A disco is a nice place to wait for the AA and will sit multi-sprogs in comfort.

To be fair the Ford s-max isn't bad at all, certainly better than the vauxhall equivalents.

What about shoguns and land cruisers? Both comfy and reliable

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[MattyGee]

Thanks for the feedback, the Volvo would be an option but the road tax is crazy on them! My sister has had a few Disco's and none of them ended well or were reliable so they are out
Id prefer not to have a 4x4 at all as its never going to go off road and paying for tyres and extra fuel use of the 4wd system doesnt appeal to me.

I like the looks of the Mazda5, I also started looking at JDM import buses (even thought they are all Auto and mostly v6) - they are certainly quirky looking and would be nice and different to the rest of the school run. Not sure the import insurance would be much fun though.

Is the Cx5 a 7 seater or a 5 seater big enough for 3 child seats across the rear ?

A workmate suggested a Kia Sorrento but ive not had chance to look at them yet.

[Scottie]

I only said cx5 because you can get it with a good diesel engine (2.2) that is nice to drive, in fwd only if you want, that version is 150bhp whereas the 4wd is 175bhp but they both remap to just over 200bhp and >300 lbft with 50mpg possible. I have that engine in my 6 sport estate is good.

[MattyGee]

It doesnt lok like the Cx-5 can fit three child seats across the rears so thats out im afraid.

[Asht_200]

What about an X-Trail?

[Vigilant teSte]

What about an X-Trail?

The new X-Trail is not as big as the Qashqai+2. I have heard they drive terribly too


Out of the options presented the one that gets the big thumbs up from me is Qashqai+2, ours worked exceedingly well for us. Really miss the big Qashcow , 3 years leased, 34k without a single issue. Could seat 7 adults and still handle well on a fast country road when one of them needed a pee

Now we have the Mk2 Kuga Ti-180, great car, fantastic drive, but nowhere near as much boot space in family use terms. There was only 4 of us when we got it though. Now there is 5 so wee man's buggy and Gwyn's wheelchair pretty much fill the Kuga's boot. Now for load lugging we have my van like mondeo estate which swallows a stupid amount of stuff and returns better MPG than the Kuga.

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[MattyGee]

I ended up buying a 2014 C4 Picasso (yes i am praying it doesnt break!)

Its got lots of toys and drives well, although compared to my 320d its a bit lacking in torque when fully loaded as its only a 1.6d. Its not a fun car to drive but it does what I need right now, it can fit three kids seats across the rear seats and has a huge boot for pram and dog
I drove it down to Devon last week for a family holiday and it did the job without issue, now I just have to convince my wife to try driving it

[Mark]

Holy Fook Matt, whats happened to you

Personally all the +2 cars based on Focus sized platforms are shit, if you want a 7 seater then get a 7 seater because otherwise as soon as you use the extra 2 seats you have no boot

Oh and buy a fooking TV or something

[MattyGee]

lol I know what you mean Mark, I wasnt considering a Citroen until I did some research on them and went to see and drive one (similar to how I wasnt considering a 135i to replace my S14a until I saw a thread on here about Docwra's and then I bought one). The reliability worries me a bit but my one hasnt had any failures in its life so far, so im hoping ive got one that was built properly and not on a Friday afternoon. For a small MPV its big inside although it doesnt drive as well as an S-max it costs less to run (£20 tax! and 60mpg on my recent trip dahn saaaff) and is the right size for me while my kids are still young

[R3K1355]

Jesus all that gear in a 1.6 Diesel
Keeping 3 kids comfortable and quiet on a long journey is more important than getting there quickly though

[jimbo]

I can get three (non-iso fix) car seats across the middle of our Toyota Pious Plus (Not exciting but tax efficient under the rules at the time). But the family car is an S-Max, can't fault it so far (8 months). Three seats go easily in and it's not horrific to drive (like the Pious).

XC90 was on the list but a decent, low mile, one was out of budget for us.

[Mark]

You did well to avoid the Volvo, they are agricultural and were proper showing their age before the new one came out. They are like driving TD5 Discos

[jimbo]

You did well to avoid the Volvo, they are agricultural and were proper showing their age before the new one came out. They are like driving TD5 Discos

To be honest I think it was the "anything but an MPV" urge driving me that....

I then wanted an Elgrand - but the misses wouldn't have it (but we now want a transit type thing to get bikes in as well).