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Best car for family of 6


cartertucker

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Guest Sir Les Patterson
I really like a sliding side door & have been looking at Chrysler Voyagers

 

The Voyager is hardly an "Australian" car.......it is American. Stick to Japanese or Korean...they have the reliability.......people movers like the Toyota Tarago, Honda Odyssey or Kia Carnival or similar will be your best bet. Have a look on carsales.com.au. European vehicles have no resale value out here and are on the whole somewhat unreliable.

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Guest The Pom Queen

We looked at all the 7 seaters and the Carnival was the best layout, you could remove all the rear seats and use it as a van, you had the proper leg room space.

For us it was the largest on the market. However, not many people like the KIA and a lot of Aussies will do all they can to put you off. We paid $25k for ours but ended up selling it for a grand as it needed a fair bit of work I'm told.

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The Voyager is hardly an "Australian" car.......it is American. Stick to Japanese or Korean...they have the reliability.......people movers like the Toyota Tarago, Honda Odyssey or Kia Carnival or similar will be your best bet. Have a look on carsales.com.au. European vehicles have no resale value out here and are on the whole somewhat unreliable.

 

Thanks ~ I have re-worded my question :wink:

 

Will have a look at those you recomend

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I had a Grand voyager in the UK and it was the most expensive lemon we have ever bought. I swear we spent several thousand a year on repairs not covered by the warranty and also had suspension problems. I wouldn't buy another one. We hired a Kia Grand Carnival when we first arrived and it definitely had tons of flexibility in seating. We ended up buying a Toyota Kluger and the interior is similar seating to a people carrier. I absolutely love it and we can fit a ton in it.

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What are the ages of your family? Different things may suit depending on how many you need in car seats etc. :biggrin:

 

Popular vans with those who have several small children (requiring several car seats and room for prams etc) are the Kia Carnival, Ford Territory, VW Caravelle and the good old Toyota Tarago.

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What are the ages of your family? Different things may suit depending on how many you need in car seats etc. :biggrin:

 

Popular vans with those who have several small children (requiring several car seats and room for prams etc) are the Kia Carnival, Ford Territory, VW Caravelle and the good old Toyota Tarago.

 

3 Adults, 8 years, 1 year & new baby :cute:So yes, 3 car seats & double pushchair!

 

Will look at those that you advised ~ Thankyou :wubclub:

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We have been driving a Hyundai Santa Fe for a while in Singapore and will buy the same when we arrive in Oz. We have had no problems in 5 years whatsoever and you can get a reasonable deal. The rear seats fold away completely if you need to carry more stuff and all 3 of the middle row of seats have proper seat belts not just a lap belt. We have an 8 and 3 yr ols but have a friend with a new born that we look after occasionally. Even with car seats and boosters we can fit all 3 in the middle row leaving space for push chairs, shopping etc.

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It took us no more than 10 days. Once the finance was approved Mitsubishi lent us a car whilst we were waiting for ours to have the extra bits added ie tinted windows.

I suppose anything to seal the deal.

We did have a hire car for 3 wks beforehand. OH had a yute so we werent desperate for a car for work purposes.

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  • 1 month later...

Friend has just bought a Nissan Elgrand to accommodate her family. She has toddler twins and is expecting her second set of twins so needed to be able to accommodate 4 car seats and her ABC Adventure Quad Buggy! No idea what it's like though, from the pics it looks like she could be mistaken for the A team :biglaugh:

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Friend has just bought a Nissan Elgrand to accommodate her family. She has toddler twins and is expecting her second set of twins so needed to be able to accommodate 4 car seats and her ABC Adventure Quad Buggy! No idea what it's like though, from the pics it looks like she could be mistaken for the A team :biglaugh:

 

...

 

wow :eek:

 

...

 

best of luck to her.

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We have a kia grande carnival... brilliant car, we would buy one again definately. we actually bought a hyundai santa fe when we arrived but sold it within 4 weeks (lost a few thou :( ) as way too small , we had three kids aged 3 and under at the time so all needing car seats and a grandma with us... my friend had a kia grande carnival and i fell in love with it! we got one and i would not change it... it has 7 full sized seats and then there is a middle seat in back back row but u cldnt fit a big adult there for long journeys. we now have 4 kids so have four child seats in the kia grande carnival and still room for the grandparents when they visit ( i squeeze in back middle seat lol)

 

we had a hyundai trajet in uk and that was pants - we all leant forward when we went up hills lol! so i was a bit put off the kia grande as didnt really want a people mover due to speed etc, then i test drove it and it definately moves lol!

 

boot space is massive..only thing my husband complains of is its turning capacity

 

we also have a nissan patrol 7 seater , hubbys car and family car for beach days but its not big enough for everyday use by family of 6... only 4x4 i would conisder for everyday would be toyoto landcruiser...

 

anyway hope that helps, check the kia grande out if u can!

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We have 2 adults 7 year old 4 year old 2 year old and 8 month baby

We bought the Holden captiva - We liked the fact the back seats can go up and down individually. When both up you dont have alot of boot space but we use the 3 middle and one at the back. We get the double phil & ted in and shopping too if needed. Though dont often go out to get shopping with the pushchair to be honest. I tend to do it on an evening by myself.

 

I love the Captiva - We also looked at the Kluger and the mitsubishi outlander but it was the flexibility of the back seats that sold the captiva to us. Though newer models of the others may have that flexibility too. Most my friends love the new model of the Ford territory.

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We looked at all the 7 seaters and the Carnival was the best layout, you could remove all the rear seats and use it as a van, you had the proper leg room space.

For us it was the largest on the market. However, not many people like the KIA and a lot of Aussies will do all they can to put you off. We paid $25k for ours but ended up selling it for a grand as it needed a fair bit of work I'm told.

 

Which year was your Carnival? :unsure:

 

Im sorry to hear yours lost you $24! :shocked:

 

I found it painfull enough selling my car in the Uk for £5000 less than we paid for it :frown:

 

We have a kia grande carnival... brilliant car, we would buy one again definately. we actually bought a hyundai santa fe when we arrived but sold it within 4 weeks (lost a few thou :( ) as way too small , we had three kids aged 3 and under at the time so all needing car seats and a grandma with us... my friend had a kia grande carnival and i fell in love with it! we got one and i would not change it... it has 7 full sized seats and then there is a middle seat in back back row but u cldnt fit a big adult there for long journeys. we now have 4 kids so have four child seats in the kia grande carnival and still room for the grandparents when they visit ( i squeeze in back middle seat lol)

 

we had a hyundai trajet in uk and that was pants - we all leant forward when we went up hills lol! so i was a bit put off the kia grande as didnt really want a people mover due to speed etc, then i test drove it and it definately moves lol!

 

boot space is massive..only thing my husband complains of is its turning capacity

 

we also have a nissan patrol 7 seater , hubbys car and family car for beach days but its not big enough for everyday use by family of 6... only 4x4 i would conisder for everyday would be toyoto landcruiser...

 

anyway hope that helps, check the kia grande out if u can!

 

What year is your Kia grande carnival? :unsure:

 

I really do prefer these cars to the Toyota Tarago, although Hubby thinks the Tarago is a better investment....He does say its up to me though, as it will be my main car (he will have a ute)...

Just dont want to be the one to make a wrong decision :no:

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Hi Kelly, I have a Kia Carnival and yes seating wise it is brill....but if you need a double buggy in the boot it may be a squeeze, add the shopping and well!!!

 

When we had Jake I had to take the wheels of the pram every time I went out and the shopping (shopping for 6 is not a small job!!) had to be squeezed wherever you could get it.......its not so bad now as we have taken one of the side seats out.

 

Also the turning of the vehicle is an issue for me.......you can't turn tightly and sometimes you have to reverse back and then in just cos the lack of turning.

 

That all said I love my Carnival......I had a Ford galaxy in the UK and loved that car, then went on to buy My Renault Megane Scenic...which I absolutely loved......and of choice I would love my Ford Galaxy back...but you cannot get them here!!

 

My advice would be to take your car sea, take your prams/buggy to the car showrooms and try before you buy...don't let them tell you that no problem the buggy will go in , for sure you can get 3 kids in the back......try it out its the only way!!

 

NOt sure if all this helped.......Good Luck it is a minefield!!!

 

Sue x

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Hi Kelly, I have a Kia Carnival and yes seating wise it is brill....but if you need a double buggy in the boot it may be a squeeze, add the shopping and well!!!

 

When we had Jake I had to take the wheels of the pram every time I went out and the shopping (shopping for 6 is not a small job!!) had to be squeezed wherever you could get it.......its not so bad now as we have taken one of the side seats out.

 

Also the turning of the vehicle is an issue for me.......you can't turn tightly and sometimes you have to reverse back and then in just cos the lack of turning.

 

That all said I love my Carnival......I had a Ford galaxy in the UK and loved that car, then went on to buy My Renault Megane Scenic...which I absolutely loved......and of choice I would love my Ford Galaxy back...but you cannot get them here!!

 

My advice would be to take your car sea, take your prams/buggy to the car showrooms and try before you buy...don't let them tell you that no problem the buggy will go in , for sure you can get 3 kids in the back......try it out its the only way!!

 

NOt sure if all this helped.......Good Luck it is a minefield!!!

 

Sue x

 

 

Thankyou :cute:

 

Yes, this has helped, but your right, its a total minefield...:goofy:

I have such a headache after today & cant believe we still havent made a choice! :wacko:

 

Think I would favour the seating arragements being better in the Kia over the Toyota....But how much of a problem is the parking??? :unsure:

 

Dont think buggy & shopping will be too much of an issue, as my eldest is 18 years old & will do anything to not come shopping anyway, so more room in the back of the car :wink:

 

What year is your Kia? :unsure: (sorry I keep asking everyone this, but people have tried to put us off & I like to think we are Ok with an earlier model?)

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