Renault Grand Scenic: EU NCAP safety rating 5 stars (new last year)
Ford S-Max: EU NCAP safety rating 5 stars
Luggage area Q7: 330L
Luggage area Renault Grand Scenic: 208L in boot + 100L in storage boxes, pockets.
We can all be subjective when it comes to looks of MPVs compared with other cars but lets try and help the OP a bit by being objective with everything else, heh?
It might be worth remembering that not all 5* NCAP cars are equal. Volvo are publicly critical of the tests - citing their experience that the tests do not simulate enough real world accidents. A quick look at their safety centre will show just how seriously they take researching multi-car impacts.
Your list of requiements do appear to clash at certain points - size and price being the key ones.
Yes, I realize that too.
It's just a list of like-to-have's. All I wanted was some advice and info.
Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate it. It helps the selection process reading what others have to say especially all of us from countries where bigger cars are pretty much the norm and the roads and parking spaces are built to comfortably fit these cars in.
I was looking at the Mitsubishi Outlander but those 2 seats at the back seem way flimsy. Anyway, off I go to continue the search.
Thanks again.
I would suggest visiting dealers of the likely candidates and seeing how you feel in their respective models - does an XC90 feel too big? What about a Grand Espace? Cars of the same size can feel vastly different in size depending on seating position, rake of the front and rear screens, blind spots and also how well you simply "fit" in the car.
If you are worried about size make sure you spec front and rear parking sensors - and/or look for a model that has park assist.
I am quite concerned about resale value. If I'm not mistaken generally speaking all of the cars over here have a rubbish resale value. (We had a Golf a few years back, had EVERYTHING and we lost so much money on the sale it was ridiculous!) However yes, I am aware that some have slightly better resale value than others.
So considering all of this, I definitely want a low price as top priority, I just know that so much of the money spent on the thing will be chucked away after a year or so. Space, second priority. I was just having a look at the Renault Scenic and that's probably more in the line of what we are leaning towards now. Sorry SUV's .
I will definitely take some test drives in the models I'm interested in.
As far as the size is concerned, I just need to clarify that my concern is regarding the size of parking spaces and roads in EU not the actual handling of the car. However, park assist and sensors are mandatory especially considering my husband will be driving the car too. You know how men drive.. Haha just kidding! I mean come on, female drivers always get the bed rep which is so unfair . Anyway, as I was saying, Q7 is just too big for this tiny infrastructure.
Why can't they make "mom's taxi" cars look like muscle cars?!
Thanks again all.
Except for it being an Opel, it is the fastest MPV you can get.
And it is a 7 seater.
The conclusion of my research is that overall the quality of cars has gone down the drain - 2nd hand car prices simply reflect this.
The amount of extras does not count that much in a 2nd hand car, I'm afraid.
They don't add anything "extra" to the resale value. Or not much.
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey."
We have gone through a similar decisions making process for the new family car and am currently awaiting the arrival of a Seat Alhambra
http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/News/Se...full-size-MPV/
I am not into cars at all, give me bags and shoes anyday but we needed a practical car. What swung it for this car for me was:
*sliding doors, so you can park in narrow spaces and actually open the doors and get out
*7 seats when needed, important to be able to fit the 4 of us and the many visiters we get too
*large enough to fit all our camping gear(comfortable family camping not your roughing up a mountain kinda camping)
*the Seat Leon we had in the UK as our second car was fab and caused no problems.
*it isn't a 4x4 - which I don't particulary like as they seem really 'big' but you don't actually get that much practical space inside - well not always
*all the seats fold flat into the car and you don't need to store any of the seats you take like you used to have to do with the Sharan
Happy car hunting
You're a funny guy and oh, have you experienced Italian drivers. I mean they are EU and um, well, I'm not sure if I'd call them better drivers (by the way, I'm part Italian so I'm allowed to speak ill of them )
Which model exactly, if I may ask?
HTH
I'm not keen on used cars. Warranties and after sale service on new cars is much more reliable.
I'm in the process of setting up a spreadsheet with all the cars mentioned here and a few others. I think it will help to see it all in a table format to compare them all.
I would also recommend the Ford SMAX (although the name sounds a bit rude). We rented one last summer and it easily held 5 adults, 1 toddler and all our luggage. The amazing thing was how little fuel it used. It absoultely sipped diesel.
A good tip is to get yourself to the Auto Zürich Car Show, (in Orlikon from the 11th to the 14th of this month) the annual car show.
http://www.auto-zuerich.ch/?tkw=programm-zeiten
This allows you to see all the possible choices in one place, and get demo's from the salesmen. It really helped us choose our car.
Take care
Jim
I try to get cars that are 18 months - 2 years old with at least 12 months left on the manufacturer's guarantee.
We have a Disco 3, 7 seats. We use 5 seats (three child seats in back) 80% of the time. The last 2 seats are used with grandparents come to visit. Practicality-wise the back seats are comfy and roomy, but luggage space is lost, and access is only OK, with nimble kids should be fine to use regularly.
It drives like a big comfy sofa, so is great for motorways.
If you get a big car, then get a diesel. Saying you don't care which fuel you want is somewhat naive, as in the long run, it'll hurt more to have a big car with petrol.
We are thinking about upgrading to a VW Multivan. The main reason is the access. Although, as said, the seats are fine (I can sit there with no probs and am just short of 1.8 m), the 7 seat option is really only a temporary solution in the Disco based on the access alone.