… a VW Caddy Life? (not Maxi version)

Browsing options- had been looking at an estate, but am now thinking of something along the lines of a Caddy Life.
Have come across the Berlingo Multispace which actually looks alright.

Anyone got any suggestions for something similar?

Criteria- got to have rear windows/seats.p, as it will be a family car.
Preferable- not utterly depressing to look at (this is where I seem to be falling down…)

The Ford Grand C-Max?

Spent a couple of hours driving one, nice and comfy, unlike the Zafira, about the same length as my Octavia, pleasant car to drive.
There’s also the Galaxy, which isn’t much longer than my Octy either, and is really not a bad car to drive either, loads of room inside, a proper seven-seater.
My job at the moment involves picking up cars from one place and ferrying them to another, sometimes over a hundred miles away, so I’m spending two-three hours in all sorts of cars, where you quickly discover which ones have the comfy seats!
The C-Max and the Galaxy are both good for several hours at a time, the Galaxy is surprisingly nippy, too.

Follow with interest, seems we have similar criteria!

I’m looking at the c-max at the moment, went to a dealer the other day, at the moment it’s the front runner.

Good interior and options. Loads of space in the back, rear seats fold and come out easy, although in the 7 seater ‘grand’ version apparently the 2 seats in the boot don’t come out, but the normal 3 seats do come out, which seems dumb. But you do get slidy doors.

Also seems to be limited engine choice if you want a petrol, only small eco ones.

Looked at Skoda the other day too but think I’ve rule those out. The roomster is certainly spacious but depressing inside and out, and longer than I’d like as i live in the city. Yeti is cool but very expensive and not actually that big in the boot compared to others.

Was going to look at the berlingo, FR-V and maybe the c4 (still butt ugly but I had one as a hire car once and quite liked it)

Mazda 5? Toyota Verso?

Ford tourino thing looks worth a look.

S-Max? Mrs Gastro had one for a month and loved it. Loads of room but not a massive car and it didn’t feel like a “people carrier”.

Skoda Roomster too – the likes of Galaxy, S-Max whilst drive like cars aren’t that practical – seat are too heavy and S-Max isn’t tall enough to take a bike standing-up. Depends on whether your priorities are in terms of vehicle dynamics or simply practical space. Ugly cars are a bonus IMO as they don’t attract so much attention – still thrashing a 16-year-old Yaris Verso as dog/bike carrier for this reason. Had a Galaxy as a company vehicle – drank fuel and rear seats are heavy/quite bulky.

Ford Tourneo connect?

We looked at this a few months back. My thread ….

my old thread

And then in typical stw fashion I flounced and bought a normal estate (decided we’d find a different way of compromising) but the good folks of stw gave some good feedback on there despite my moon / stick objectives

Don’t bother with the “Life”
The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages over the Maxi Life.
In fact there aren’t any advantages!
Only just sold my Maxi Life after 3.5yrs without complaint.
Whilst the Life is 500mm shorter the difference in internal space is much more.
Add the ability to take 7 on occasions too shouldn’t be underestimated.
Ok – my bench sat in the garage 95% of the time giving me a boot bigger than anything else out there whilst still having 5 seats.
Swallows bikes whole, 8×4 sheets, lengths of timber without windows open, etc.
Can’t do any of that with the shorter Life.

he 2 seats in the boot don’t come out, but the normal 3 seats do come out, which seems dumb.

They fold flat, and if like my Galaxy they only require 8 bolts and a few minutes work for a big family holiday when we need extra boot space…..

Depending on how many people and kit you lug around, I would be wary of some of the new smaller engines. TO get low emissions and higher mpg, many of the van/car/mpv’s now have smaller engines. They are underpowered when loaded, and in real world you get less mpg and have the thrash them some more…

How much space? Are you family of 3, 4, 5…?

Mazda 5. Or I like the concept-car looks of the current Citroen MPVs.

Have a soft spot for weird Japanese MPVs though, worth looking at if you can live with specialist insurance and can find someone local to work on them. Elgrand, Alphard, Elysion, Stepwagon, Voxy, Noah etc.

I would be wary of some of the new smaller engines. TO get low emissions and higher mpg, many of the van/car/mpv’s now have smaller engines. They are underpowered when loaded, and in real world you get less mpg and have the thrash them some more

I’ve heard this and it makes sense but wondering if that’s just theory or based on actual usage? Seems hard to get anything above 1.6 now unless you go 4 or 5 years back

Sorry for thread hijack 🙂

My stock reply is an older Rav 4 as thise models have removable read seats making it van like. Drive well in terms of comfort. Our petrol auto was heavy on fuel and not the fastest acceleration. I’d have another. Models with removable seats are quite old now.

Other suggestion would be a larger engined Honda Jazz. Rear seats fold flat. Not the best image (a pensioners car?) and not a motorway mile eater.

@petefromearth

I drove a Toyota Verso and Ford Connect Tourneo with 5 of us and salesman on board – and while at first they were perky around town, they just didn’t pull up hills (changing down) or upto speed limit speeds.
I dread what it would be like with 5 of us, bikes and kit for a weekend or holiday, let alone our two 17′ open canoes on the roof…

The Galaxy we have just wafts along on torque, even loaded it pulls fine, and the MPG only drops if for some reason I need to ‘make progress’ rather than normal drive.

*edit* – the Ford salesman was the one who suggested bigger engined Galaxy was our best bet..

A quick resurrection of this thread, how about the VW Touran?

Drove one yesterday, turned into an epic drive due to chaos on the M5 around Bridgwater/Taunton, spent five hours in it, drove over 200 miles from Helston in Cornwall to home in Chippenham, then another fifty to Newport to drop it off, so a good test drive. Very comfy seats, pretty quick, petrol with 6-speed box, very quiet apart from some tyre noise on some surfaces. Being forced to spend five hours in a car, you quickly discover what the seats are like, and I’m damned glad I had the Touran, and not the Kia Cee’d I had the other week!