hi there motoring enthusiasts..
I need a spacious do-it-all MPV with a decent boot for family camping holidays and delivering wedding cakes.. pref diesel

£7000 (ish) budget

any experiences or advice..?

Got a 2.0 tdi Touran with DSG, I wouldn’t go near the vauxhall. The Touran hasnt missed a beat in 4 years and 80k, only costs hsve been servicing and tyres.

Neither are known for reliability. I test drove a Zafira and bought a Touran as we had owned three excellent VAG cars before. Owned it 2 years and still can’t believe a VW can suffer from so many gremlins. So far it has had problems with the Dual Mass flywheel shuddering, electric window sensors opening the windows, cruise control kaput, wipers not parking, webasto heater smoking like a wet garden rubbish fire, creaky dash trim, clonky tailgate, loose window glass (winder mechanism goes down, window plummets a few seconds later). Yet to experience other known faults with the suspension / uneven tyre wear and the ABS unit failing. I’m kind of hoping the DMF will fail spectacularly and cause the hateful thing to catch fire, as has happened to others. The main dealers are unbelievably arrogant in their dismissal of well documented faults.

This is all a real pity as the ergonomics, practicality and running costs are second to none.

Got the Zafira 150bhp 1.9 cdti SRI.

Its nice when it works – loads of power and handles well enough for what it is.

Bad points – broken Air con compressor, broken wiring loom to back doors, Dual Mass Fwheel (just got car back yesterday – £850 lighter) broken EGR valve £70 quid but easy to do yourself, cracked 18″ alloy wheel, poor MPG for a diesel but thats prob my right foot, eats 18″ tyres on the front too.

Id look at the Seat Toledo thingy or a mazda 5 if i was looking again.

Touran for me. Unlike above mines is a 2ltr Tdi, 140, `57 plate with near 50k on the clock and no faults as yet 😆 Saw 60mpg toaday pottering along some country lanes and gives 37mpg towing my brick of a caravan 😆
I prefer the driving position and seats over the Safira as does my wife who has asked her works car hire people not to supply Vauhalls in general 🙄
The Touran seating arrangements are a bit more flexible than the Safira.
Safiras on the other hand are likely to be a bit cheaper for a similar age/mileage 💡

Touran 1.9tdi here / 90k on 05 and had clutch at 30k, suspension had a couple of hundred spent on it, no rear speaker wiring, fitting a towbar needs half the car rewiring, currently waiting on new stability control doofer (£800 for refurb unit fitted), new catalytic (not had the guts to ask price…). All sorts of other niggly things gone wrong like wipers not ‘parking’ and also hitting edge of screen, creaky dash, bits of trim falling off etc etc. Poor for VW and chuffing expensive when it needs fixing.

03 Zafira here; taken us on some good adventures over the last 4 years, but won’t buy vauxhall again. Same things gone awry with the zafira as went wrong with the astra it replaced – engine management light regularly popping on, heating/air woeful especially to the back, buttons on key knackered so having to resort to old style unlock with key in door. Rear wiper arm needed replaced which was a nightmare, old bit seized on. A big list of niggly things like that. Dread MOT and service time. Tax on it is 134 for 6 months and 240 or something for the year. Fair guzzles the fuel, 400 miles or so to the tank on motorway journeys down to around 250 to 280 round town, and that’s around 60 quid to fill up.

37mpg towing a van is impressive, I’m jealous and mystified cos I only get 32mpg at best from my Passat.

molgrips – Member
37mpg towing a van is impressive, I’m jealous and mystified cos I only get 32mpg at best from my Passat.

I just crawl along on the inside lane when on the motorways and let the lorries tow me along 😉
Think it may stem back to when I used to tow cars/trailers around with an old Landrover and having to watch the fuel gauge 🙄 Good use of the gears/revs makes a difference 😆

Neither. Bro in law has (in the last month) had his DPF and turbo replaced on his 09 TDI Golf. (his commute is motorway miles).

never driven a touran but i have had a hirecar zafira for the last couple of months – awful thing to drive !

gear box is awful ! throttle is really high as well – constantly think your taking off in third – wouldnt like it drive it loaded or with a caravan tbh …

we have had it since 60kms on the clock !

and this is coming from a peugeot partner and landrover 90 driver – neither of which have great gearboxes or throttle response …..but the zafira was worse ! – the scenic we had was better

Touran!

Use one at work ( paramedic)….so I’ve spent LOTS of time driving/ sitting in one!

No faults at all .. Great car!!

Got a 57 2lt diesel touran and it’s been pretty much faultless. Had it 4 years and it’s just been in for it’s major service which cost around £500. That’s all we’ve spent.

Gonna have to change it next summer as my wife’s car allowance from work specifies only vehicles under 5 years old. Will get a newer one.

Zafira here. 150bhp diesel with top spec trim so much more comfortable than the car hire spec models. We wanted a touran but at the time they were £3k more for similar age/mileage/spec.
It’s been faultless in 3 years, cheap to service, does 51mpg on a run (even when towing the utility trailer) and is pretty flexible. The only touran feature I wish it had is the individual removable seats in the middle row. The zafira ones fold up and slide forward but take up a bit of room. If they were removable it would be a brilliant bike carrier.
Your budget might get an smax these days??

I opted for a Touran in the end, 2.0tdi. 58 plate with 29k on the clock. Only had it a few months but it has been a lovely experience thus far 🙂 I know the Touran is still just a van but there was something about the zafira that just didn’t do it for me.

Does it have to be a MPV?

I’d also consider (although the 5 also has a mixed history)

Mazda 5 (for its sliding doors) 🙂
Honda FRV

How many seats do you need? Friends who have a Touran and 3 kids are seriously thinking of swapping back to a Passat Estate now that the kids are out of child seats. More comfort, bigger boot, easier to run bikes/roofbox as it’s not so high.

We looked at a Touran for carrying bikes inside but since there are seats for 7 and they’re not removable the interior space with everything folded isn’t a big as you’d hope. Caddy Maxi Life rocks for capacity but ride comfort isn’t the best due to the rear suspension being a bit on the agricultural side. Great bike wagon though.

I testdrove a Touran once and even the FRV drives better. It felt like a yacht into even mild bends.

FRV has been discontinued by Honda for some time, I’d be a touch worried about spares in the long run.
Mazda 5 would be OK if you have 2 children, else the boot space is limited (3 x 2 seating arangement, once you have 3 kids in you can just about get a pram in too).

S Max – seems to tick all the boxes and usually gets the nod from the press. Even if you have to pay a little more might be a better investment, definitely worth a poke around.

I’m fairly sure I’ve seen FRVs around with 58 plates, so that’s hardly a long time in automotive terms, given that I could still get spares for my L-Reg Passat recently and I’m sure I still can.

Agree.

Touran, we have a 53 plate which although is needing a couple of wheel bearings and rear shocks has been brilliant. 57mpg coming down to welsh Wales on holiday 45ish round town (Sheffield). Seats are more flexible than the zafira and I prefer the comfort of mine.

I’m fairly sure I’ve seen FRVs around with 58 plates, so that’s hardly a long time in automotive terms, given that I could still get spares for my L-Reg Passat recently and I’m sure I still can.

Passat is a shared platform model though, and VAG have a good history of spares availability through alternate suppliers. I had a Mitsubushi that was extremely expensive to fix and repair as the parts just weren’t that common in UK, so I think it’s something to bear in mind still.

It was killed off in 2009, no idea what reg plate that is, only know because I was looking at one myself. Boot was blooming tiny too.