What *cough* MPV?
Discussion
I've currently got a Grand Voyager 3.3 (petrol) and I'm going to be using it a lot more from next year onwards. As my main car it'd be doing around 700-1000 miles a week so 18 mpg is no longer a viable option.
My criteria is as follows;
- 7 Seats (rear seats need to be big enough for adults)
- Decent boot capacity (with all seats in situ)
- 30+ mpg
- Automatic
- As many toys as possible :thumbsup:
- Budget of around £10k
I don't want/need anything as big as a Viano or a Caravelle so I'd narrowed it down to either a Grand Voyager 2.8 CRD or a Grand Espace 3.0 DCi but having looked at a couple of owners forums all I'm finding is horror stories! Many people are saying the Voyagers eat gearboxes like theres no tomorrow and the Espaces suffer from the dreaded Injector, EGR, Fuel pump woes. Has anyone had experience of running either of the above? Is the 3.0 DCi really that bad an engine if it's maintained properly?
Other one's I've thought about are the Previa D4D & new shape Galaxy TDCi - would these eat up the miles with less problems?
My criteria is as follows;
- 7 Seats (rear seats need to be big enough for adults)
- Decent boot capacity (with all seats in situ)
- 30+ mpg
- Automatic
- As many toys as possible :thumbsup:
- Budget of around £10k
I don't want/need anything as big as a Viano or a Caravelle so I'd narrowed it down to either a Grand Voyager 2.8 CRD or a Grand Espace 3.0 DCi but having looked at a couple of owners forums all I'm finding is horror stories! Many people are saying the Voyagers eat gearboxes like theres no tomorrow and the Espaces suffer from the dreaded Injector, EGR, Fuel pump woes. Has anyone had experience of running either of the above? Is the 3.0 DCi really that bad an engine if it's maintained properly?
Other one's I've thought about are the Previa D4D & new shape Galaxy TDCi - would these eat up the miles with less problems?
I'd give the Galaxy a spin. My mother has an 06 1.9 litre diesel Galaxy which sucks up the miles at high speed quite comfortably. I also had the equivalent Alhambra diesel in Tenerife and it was very handy through the mountains. Haven't tried the new Galaxy but I'd probably take it over the Chrysler and Renault.
Edited to note your £10k should put you in the last model Galaxy. The Alhambra was a good drive for an MPV although the manual I had was better than my mother's Galaxy auto. IIRC it has a 6 speed box which I found quite slick.
Oh and a friend had an Espace auto which needed a new auto gearbox for about £2k.
Edited to note your £10k should put you in the last model Galaxy. The Alhambra was a good drive for an MPV although the manual I had was better than my mother's Galaxy auto. IIRC it has a 6 speed box which I found quite slick.
Oh and a friend had an Espace auto which needed a new auto gearbox for about £2k.
Edited by LuS1fer on Tuesday 26th October 13:04
cptsideways said:
Mazda 5 is a 6 +1 the middle middle seat is smallish (but then so is the Zafira & others in reality) proper size seats in the back too & very car like to drive.
I had a Mazda 5 - the rear seats will take adults but not very comfortably and with limited kneeroom all round. Also the middle seat is more a ledge and it's a 6 seater in practice. Good driving dynamics though as based on the C-Max.Thanks for your suggestions so far guys 
...given me something to think about.
Like the idea of an XC90 but not sure if the back seats are big enough for my needs. What boot space is left with all 7 seats up?
Mazda 5 looks nice but like the Zafira & the Touran I have to discount it as the very rear seats are more aimed towards Children.
Will be test driving a new shape Galaxy as that seems the top contentder now. Which is the spec to go for? I know with the older one it was Ghia X - does the same still apply?
No comments on the Previa D4D - anyone on here got a D4D powered Toyota that they can comment on?
...given me something to think about.Like the idea of an XC90 but not sure if the back seats are big enough for my needs. What boot space is left with all 7 seats up?
Mazda 5 looks nice but like the Zafira & the Touran I have to discount it as the very rear seats are more aimed towards Children.
Will be test driving a new shape Galaxy as that seems the top contentder now. Which is the spec to go for? I know with the older one it was Ghia X - does the same still apply?
No comments on the Previa D4D - anyone on here got a D4D powered Toyota that they can comment on?
Edited by W7NNS on Tuesday 26th October 16:45
xc90 back seats not designed for anyone over 5'6". New Galaxy is fine if it fits your criteria of "decent boot space". If it does, so will a Sharan or Alhambra since their boots are a similar size, but none have as much room as a Grand Voyager with the stow and go seats.
Have a look at one of these - http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...
not exciting, but a reasonable size and will do a job; a Galaxy or Shalambra will be a better drive, however.
Have a look at one of these - http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...
not exciting, but a reasonable size and will do a job; a Galaxy or Shalambra will be a better drive, however.
Been running a Grand Espace 3.0 V6 dCi for 6 years and 90k miles now. Actually, the good lady has whilst I swan around in the ALPINA but that's another story ...
In terms of practicality, 7 seats AND boot space, it does exactly what it says on the tin. What I particularly like about it is the ability to move all the seats around (or remove them) into a multitude of variations - depending on which combination of children are going to which party, activity, school etc.
Generally it has run well but I do find Renault service prices are a joke - but now we are out of the extended warranty, my local indie does a perfectly good job at half the price.
One big problem though - the engine decided to lunch itself at about 56k miles - but the warranty covered a replacement. Not sure exactly what happened but they diagnosed exhaust gases in the coolant system which meant there was a hole somewhere there shouldn't have been. Of course they told me they had never seen this before but searching the internet didn't show any other similar issues. The engine is a Nissan unit and it delivers ample poke to allow you to cruise with comfortable noise levels
When working - which, to be fair, is always apart from the big one - we average about 32mpg. The auto box is a lazy old unit but once used to it you can shuffle along at a perfectly reasonable pace and it is extremely comfortable over long journeys - 12 hours back from SW France over the summer wasn't a problem.
Electrical gremlins are an age old Renault problem and the tyre pressure indicators are brilliant for choosing your lottery numbers each week.
One other thing to check is the positive terminal connector on the battery. Some clever French designer decided to mount the expansion tank just above the battery and any seepage from the tank drops corrosive liquid straight onto the terminal connector. Eventually the contact fails and you suffer from intermittent starting issues.
That said, I thought long and hard about what car would allow me to transport 2 adults, 4 growing kids, a dog and serious amounts of clobber in relative style, comfort and practicality and the Grand Espace came top of the list.
HTH
In terms of practicality, 7 seats AND boot space, it does exactly what it says on the tin. What I particularly like about it is the ability to move all the seats around (or remove them) into a multitude of variations - depending on which combination of children are going to which party, activity, school etc.
Generally it has run well but I do find Renault service prices are a joke - but now we are out of the extended warranty, my local indie does a perfectly good job at half the price.
One big problem though - the engine decided to lunch itself at about 56k miles - but the warranty covered a replacement. Not sure exactly what happened but they diagnosed exhaust gases in the coolant system which meant there was a hole somewhere there shouldn't have been. Of course they told me they had never seen this before but searching the internet didn't show any other similar issues. The engine is a Nissan unit and it delivers ample poke to allow you to cruise with comfortable noise levels
When working - which, to be fair, is always apart from the big one - we average about 32mpg. The auto box is a lazy old unit but once used to it you can shuffle along at a perfectly reasonable pace and it is extremely comfortable over long journeys - 12 hours back from SW France over the summer wasn't a problem.
Electrical gremlins are an age old Renault problem and the tyre pressure indicators are brilliant for choosing your lottery numbers each week.
One other thing to check is the positive terminal connector on the battery. Some clever French designer decided to mount the expansion tank just above the battery and any seepage from the tank drops corrosive liquid straight onto the terminal connector. Eventually the contact fails and you suffer from intermittent starting issues.
That said, I thought long and hard about what car would allow me to transport 2 adults, 4 growing kids, a dog and serious amounts of clobber in relative style, comfort and practicality and the Grand Espace came top of the list.
HTH
I think the spec goes LX, Zetec, Ghia (not sure if there is a Ghia X, none come up on Atrader) on the older new shape and Zetec, Titanium and Titanium X on the newest models.
Looking on Atrader Autos seem to be very rare.
My wife has had an Alhambra TDi for the last 5 years and its been excellent. Not too bad to drive for a tall heavy car and its taken all the abuse that 3 kids can dish out pretty well. The inside is showing signs of wear but its done nearly 80k miles.
Looking on Atrader Autos seem to be very rare.
My wife has had an Alhambra TDi for the last 5 years and its been excellent. Not too bad to drive for a tall heavy car and its taken all the abuse that 3 kids can dish out pretty well. The inside is showing signs of wear but its done nearly 80k miles.
GreatGranny said:
I think the spec goes LX, Zetec, Ghia (not sure if there is a Ghia X, none come up on Atrader) on the older new shape and Zetec, Titanium and Titanium X on the newest models.
There was only a Ghia X on the Mk1 Galaxys - you can add Aspen at the bottom of the range, swap 'Zetec' for 'Si' and add GLX above LX.Ford Geek
For carrying 7 adults and stuff ignore the slightly bigger size and go for a Caravelle/Transporter or Vito/Viano. Both have plenty of room for 8 adults, both have reasonable boots, both will fit into a normal car park, and both will cover huge distances with ease and you'll get a reasonable MPG from both at motorway speeds.
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