Over the last 20 years , I’ve had many people carriers , the Peugeot. 806, Renault Espace , and the last decade two the Seat Alhambras , by far my favourite ( both sadly written off )
All of these vehicles have been great for my work as any number of seats could be taken out of the back., leaving a totally flat base . Neither the Galaxy nor the sharan on recent models allow that , unless you contradict me from your experience
With the demise of people carriers , AFAIK , no people carrier , esp the Alhambra has that facility after 2010 , so they’re 12 yrs old + and over 130k miles .
There’s a few Espaces Deluxes but similar age , etc.
So with not really wanting to get a van , are there any estates that might have almost as much room by putting the seats flat .
Upto about 9k ,
A colleague has a Skoda superb , which apparently is a bit small .
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Appreciate what you say about vans but would a Citroen Berlingo or it's Peugeot or GM cousins fit the bill?
Ours is a 5 seater and all three rear seats can be removed. So far as I'm aware the LWB versions with a third row of seats had the same facility.
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VW Caddy Maxi Life
It even comes with road sign recognition warning feature.
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>..It even comes with road sign recognition warning feature.
That could come in handy if you're approaching a Give Way sign and there's a bus coming.
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Go change your expensive drop links.
Edit doh forgot what you had,
I meant cart spring bushes
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 11 Aug 22 at 20:19
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C4 Grand Picasso / Spacetourer, in both Mk 1 and 2 guise has fold flat seats, and they're huge inside .
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Thanks for the responses , and on another site , someone replied with the Vauxhall Zafira Tourer , which looks more car like , so I think t looks an ideal choice, unless any of you wise sages have any input . I did have a very old Zafira and whilst it was tight it did work ,this Tourer looks much bigger .Any thoughts
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My dad had the same issue, always had Espaces.
He moved to a Grand Scenic which isnt much smaller than the earlier Espaces anyway
Removable seats etc.
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Guess it depends if you need load height as well as load length. I’m more interested in the latter and find any larger estate car very useful. I’ve had a Galaxy and an Espace but I find estates more pleasant to drive in the main. Although I’d have to concede that the Galaxy was really very good for such a potentially dynamically challenged shape of vehicle.
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V90 - Lovely car - more room than anyone could need with the seats down. Awesome to look at !
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I could fairly easily be persuaded into a V90 I suppose. They look great and I’d imagine they drive well. But in truth, most of the current large estates are all pretty good and useful things you’d think anyway.
I’ve just done slightly shy of 2000 miles in the past 7 days in my E Class estate. Full of gear for trade exhibitions etc. I genuinely feel about as fresh when I get out of it after a long drive as when I get in it at the start of one.
It’s a very cosseting van really. Not as unwieldy as it might seem being RWD and having a really good tight turning circle. A 5 series would be a nice thing for that feature too I guess.
I’d be a little nervous of anything from Audi/Skoda/VW due to their automatic gearbox reputation, but if I could get over that anxiety they all have some very pleasant large estates.
I do though also rather like the latest incarnation of the Peugeot 508SW.
Kind of cool looking thing in my opinion.
Then again there’s always Mondeo estates for now anyway, hard to be disappointed by one of those for real world usefulness.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sat 13 Aug 22 at 13:44
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Imported Nissan Elgrand??
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>>>A colleague has a Skoda superb , which apparently is a bit small >>>
That's probably the biggest standard estate you can get, with a huge practical boot and passenger area, so before dismissing it I would suggest that you have a look at one. Like a Tardis I think..
From memory it had a bigger boot than the E class I had last - both seats up and folded - and for sure is bigger and more practical boot-wise than the V90 I have now. The Volvo is a lovely car but the boot compromised by the styling.
Great to hear Runfer is finding the seats in the Merc comfy. I struggled with them but that's probably my shape maybe. The Volvo seats (that I believe are standard across the V90 / XC60 and above) are very good.
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The £9k budget is not much these days :-(
I had a Peugeot Traveller on lease for 3 years and was very pleased with it. Yes, its a van with windows but it's on a car platform and drove much better than the VW Transporter that it replaced and the Mercedes Viano that replaced it after it went back at the end of the lease. See also Citroen Spacetourer and later Vauxhall Vivaro Life(?). But even early/high mileage ones are way more than £9k.
It was weird when you lifted the bonnet because the engine is at car platform height - i.e. there's a massive space between the low engine and high bonnet (almost enough for an immigrant or two on those return trips from Europe - JOKE!!).
The Merc Viano was a stop-gap replacement that has lasted 2 years, but it's lack of ULEZ, agricultural diesel and increasing electrical unreliability means it's going next week - to be replaced by a pre-registered petrol auto Berlingo XL. One of the last ICE-engined Berlingos that Citroen has imported (electric Berlingo range not enough for my needs). I normally favour diesel, but you see so many problems with the complex Adblue that modern diesels have to have I've decided to go for the green pump this time.
The rear-most 2 seats fold/remove entirely and the middle 3 fold flat into the floor and the front passenger seat-back also folds. Over 4,000 litres - the biggest estates manage less than half that. Yes, it's also a van with windows but also on a car platform and drives accordingly.
Vehicles are always a compromise - the best compromise depends on one's particular needs/requirements.
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>>The £9k budget is not much these days :-(
Tell me about it!
I just caught a late 2008 episode of Top Gear and a new Fiesta cost £8,500. Today a new Fiesta is £18,000. With inflation it should be nearer £11,500.
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Small cars were underpriced for many years. Manufacturers are using current supply issues to drive up prices to a more profitable level. With the need to reinvest in EVs they are never going to be sold at such margins again.
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>> Small cars were underpriced for many years.
Way back in 1966 the price gap between a Mini and a Ford Cortina was quite small.
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>> >> Small cars were underpriced for many years.
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>> Way back in 1966 the price gap between a Mini and a Ford Cortina was
>> quite small.
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In Librae, Solidi and Denarius or percentage terms?
Last edited by: zippy on Tue 16 Aug 22 at 21:37
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>> In Librae, Solidi and Denarius or percentage terms?
Both.
Sure I read somewhere that Ford were convinced BMC were losing money on every Mini and priced the Cortina accordingly.
My Mother passed her driving test in 1966 at which point my parents started to look for a second car. While they eventually settled on an Austin Mini the looked at a Cortina as well.
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>> Way back in 1966 the price gap between a Mini and a Ford Cortina was
>> quite small.
I don't know about 1966, but in 1972 a relative bought a new Peugeot 508 pi for £1700, or thereabouts, and another bought a Mini 1000 for around £700.
The sort of price gap I would expect.
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Boxsterboy, that Petrol Berlingo is the exact model my sister is after to replace her defunct Alhambra.
But rare as hens teeth.
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>> Boxsterboy, that Petrol Berlingo is the exact model my sister is after to replace her
>> defunct Alhambra.
>> But rare as hens teeth.
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Indeed! Picking it up next week :-)
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Now here's a strange thing. When I test drove the car I think it was before the full PDI inspection. After I test drove the car it had approximately 12 miles on the clock, but when I picked it up it on Monday was showing just 1 mile? Clocked already!
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Mmm does PDI reset mileage??
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...a number of makes/models allow reset of "delivery mileage" to zero if it's below a given value (and, I think, restricted to one occurrence).
Sensible time to do that would be at PDI (or directly before customer pick-up).
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And it usually needs to be done while connected to the factory.
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Sorry , for no update , Been rather busy , but pleased ( well I hope I will be ) with a Citreon Giant Picasso a 16 plate with under 60k for around 10.5 , from Cargiant , saw it Thursday
, quick TesT drive and collect Sunday, For such a large establishment it’s well organised and easy to deal with .
Please hope I won’t hear any Bad stories about them
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Which engine/gearbox? If it’s the 1.2 Puretech, there have been some issues with cambelt degradation - I think they’re on the 3rd version now? Important to use correct specification engine oil and as with all cambelts, changing earlier than recommended does no harm. At 60,000 I would be changing it soon.
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Need to change my vehicle - Bromptonaut
