[Closed] MPV for carrying family (2 kids) and bikes ? Options

Ford Galaxy. I've had so many I've lost count, they're great.

EDIT: I think you would just about squeeze those three bikes in there. Would likely not have a huge amount of space for other luggage - roofbox might be needed.

I've had an ebike, road bike and 29er FS in the back, and luggage for a week's holiday for two.

Towbar mounted rack is what I use if I need to transport lots of bikes.

Make sure the aircon works.

Galaxy +1

Still the best MPV car we've ever had, and you won't ever regret the extra size over most other mpv's.

I'd be interested too in anyone who can first hand comment on Galaxy vs Albrahambra(sharan). Galaxy will be far better specced... But real world ownership stories as I'm also looking at one of the two!

Cruising in our awesome Galaxy at the moment. You can set it up so you have one seat in row two and one in row three, but the space is a bit less than you might hope as in row 2 you can free up 2/3 of the car width, but in row 3 you only get 1/2. Anyhow, two bikes and two kids no problem, three might be a struggle…

Canyonero!

Or a Fiat Multipla with three seats up front and two removed from the second row might satisfy you. You'd get plenty of girth but maybe a little lacking in length.

But real world ownership stories as I’m also looking at one of the two!

Bought our 56 plate 2.0tdci at 70k. Ran it to 160k in 4 years. only standard servicing and wear, a couple of broken springs.

It was getting a few electrical gremlins, all the bushes needed doing, clutch was starting to play up, timing belt and new brakes all totalled up to more than I wanted to spend on such an old car.

It drove to South of France from Scotland. 4 bikes on towbar, one in the boot with wheels off, 2x17' open canoes on the roof, plus two weeks of holiday gear for the 5 of us. Still managed 40mpg....(!)

Criticisms - the older seats weren't that comfortable, both front armrests broke, paint was pretty weak/marked easily.

Anecdotal comment on 2014 Sharan: base model was generally capable and reliable. Supplementary diesel heater died and was possibly source of sporadic coolant dribble. AC was okay. Big. Boring. Basic.

Galaxy is a great shout. Smaller alternative that might work depending on skillful packing is the VW Touran. Would be better with the 3rd row down, two kids 8n the 60% second row and bikes with the wheels off down one side with the 40% second row dropped. Room behind the 2nd row then for luggage.

Kia Sedona and Hyundai Trajet are bigger inside.
Even a 2L petrol Traject drinks like a fish, 25mpg if driven carefully. Diesels should be fine, V6 versions are rare and even thirstier
Well below budget

I'd go vw Sharan at that price.

Sliding doors are a winner, better interior finish than the seat

SMax will do that with ease assuming it's the three of you for what follows..

Option 1...
If the three of us (large 29r xc bike, 26 and 24 inch hardtails) I can do...

One adult and child in front.

Fold two middle row seats remaining child in middle row

Bikes in lengthways both wheels out if needed. You ideally want/use the space behind the middle row for removed wheels and bags really

Option 2
With middle row right forward I think you can JUST manage to get three shortish bikes sideways/diagonally into the boot with both wheels off with a bit of juggling without losing any middle row seats. Depends how LLS your bikes are.

It's been ages since I've done either as it's often as quick to stick the tow bar rack on as it is to take the bikes apart. But three bikes and three people in an SMax without recourse to the back row is easily doable.

Galaxy for more headroom. 🙂

Zafira? Loads about, the 1.7 turbo goes like the clappers, comfy seats, the one we have as a pool car at work, seems almost impossible to kill! Not sure how they compare viz interior capacity, I’ve driven loads, but with only me in them.
A VXR could be fun, if you can find one…😉

Thanks for all the suggestions

I think a Galaxy is looking favourite - looks like I can easily drop the 2 rows of seats and have driver plus one in the front, then 2 sat behind each other in rows 2 and 3 with at least 2 bikes alongside them (an XS 27.5 and a 24" wheeled bike)

Just need to find a good one now!!

Before I go and search is there anything that I've missed off my search list? If needed, I can put my bike on a rack on the roof, as long as there's enough space for the kids & stuff inside (golf clubs, trolleys, etc as well as being a bike transporter)

Cheers

I'd get the car that suits you most of the time. We only need to transport bikes + kids occasionally so went for a smaller car and a towbar rack. There didn't seem to be any point in lugging around spare metal we don't need for 90% of the time.

8 seats, bags of space, every possible option/gadget, electric everything, takes an XL 29er enduro bike with wheels on or multiple bikes with front wheels off (without removing child seats etc), dirty great V6, switchable RWD/4WD, bonkers ugly, a clock stuck on Japanese time, and a load of buttons that you'll never know the function of ...

I've had me + 4 kids + 5 bikes with wheels off in our Galaxy - carefully packed across the boot.

It's been to italy and south france without missing a beat with bikes on the top. Great for sitting on the motorway and just keeping going.

Or 59 plate has mostly been trouble free for 80-160k miles that we've had it - apart from a fuel pump which led to a recovery on the M1, about 1k to fix as it's a pain to fit a new one - drop fuel tank / exhaust etc.

Just been through an MOT first time.

@ransos which car did you go for?

Citroen Berlingo. Not too big around town and massive boot space. Some 5 seater models have 3 independent rear seats too.

@ransos which car did you go for?

C-max. Plenty of room for two adults, two kids and luggage. Three bikes on a towbar rack and one in the boot. I can fit a weekend's camping gear in the boot, for longer trips I will use a roofbox. We've done trips to France and Germany that way and it's worked really well.

I did look at bigger cars the last time we changed, but figured that ours is the right size for the vast majority of journeys we make.

In exactly the same boat as you, I was thinking Active Tourer mainly because price wise they're very similar (used, from 2017 onwards) and there is a plugin hybrid version (and I "need" leather seats). But I think both are almost the same size.

Berlingo or Rifter XL

Yes, at £5k absolutely go japanese import. I have a RG shape Honda Stepwgn which can easily be found for that, super reliable 2.0 petrol engines, way better for passengers than a van (opening windows, rear AC, etc) but boxy proportions, low floor and powered sliding doors. Rearmost seats flip up sideways to get out of the way (or two bolts to undo to remove), middle ones fold and tumble forward, all can slide forwards and back.

This is with the smaller middle seat folded but you could do the wider one and have tons of space for bikes:

Love ours, I've written some words and put more pics etc at http://stepwgn.uk/ or find "Honda Stepwagon Owners Club" on facebook.

Massive gamble on reliability I suspect, but Chrysler Grand Voyagers dwarf most of the other options...

Been Elgrand shopping recently and £5k you'd be pretty lucky to get a decent one.

I did look at bigger cars the last time we changed, but figured that ours is the right size for the vast majority of journeys we make.

I like our SMax a lot and it is really good for long trips and family days out but it's more car than we need a lot of the time.

90% of my use case would be capable of being covered by a Golf / Focus estate except when it comes to the 1-2000 miles a year I do with a decent sized trailer or heavy bike rack on the tow ball. Since a number of car manufacturers stopped making mid sized cars with sensible towing capacities and nose weights as standard and made the capability to tow more than the skin off a rich rice pudding a factory fit option of extra fans and cooling components it basically has driven us into larger and/or older cars that are more polluting or face the massive depreciation battering of a new car with a long lead time to make sure of getting one that has the right factory mods.

I get why they've gone this way - vast majority of new buyers don't need that capability and it's not an influencer of residuals but it is a pain in the backside for anyone who wants those abilities. And of course the dealer gets to upsell you to the big estate/SUV/builders truck with leather.

It's also not something that you can easily rent a vehicle to cover. While the camping gear might split into two cars or a rented van a 15 foot boat and 20+ foot mast is more challenging!

Would 3 bikes – an One medium 27.5, one XS 27.5 and one 24″ wheeled – fit in, say an S-Max or Galaxy in this sort of configuration?

Yes. As an SMax owner for the last 8 years I would recommend an SMax.

My kids are "Full Size" now and we're down on Cornwall with 2 weeks worth of stuff including body boards. Travelled down in comfort. Easy to get through the narrow lanes as it isn't as fat as the current vogue for anything bigger than a VW Lupo and I'm getting reasonable fuel economy.

The killer for jap imports is the appalling mpg of big engine petrol autos and grey area around towing.

I did just see a stepwagon towing a caravan though. But is it legal?

Debatable. The laws that require towing capacity etc on the vin plate are EU ones and it’s not an EU homologated car. But there are plenty of cars on the road that also don’t have those because they predate it - think classic Range Rovers etc. So you could go with the same rules that apply to them - “suitable” towbar and 85% of kerbweight.

MPG isn’t great but if you’re not doing big miles then a common turbo-diesel failure could wipe out any savings you make. And good luck getting a ULEZ (or other low emission zone) compliant diesel MPV for £5k. Anything petrol and 2006 onwards is fine.

Anything petrol and 2006 onwards is fine.

A number of these cars did have petrol engines just less common.

Sure the SMax used to be available with the 1.8 n/a petrol engine that was in the Mondeo and maybe the 2.0 as well. Pretty sure at least one of the ecoboost variants was also available. I guess Galaxy and others may have been similarly specced.

Super rare though, a mate bought a petrol Vignale SMax a few years ago and it was literally the only one for sale in the country at the time.

On AT with £5k to play with there are 15 petrol, ULEZ compliant Galaxy and SMax - and two of those are broken, and one has done nearly 200k miles.

Wanting petrol and auto (and living a couple of miles from the extended ULEZ) pretty much pushed me down the japanese import route by default. Cheaper MPVs now are from the heyday of diesel, and anything diesel and new enough to be ULEZ compliant is either pricey or really, really ropey.

Thanks for all the posts

Looking through some old threads I see that someone had posted some pics of an S-Max showing bikes in the boot and had also linked to this site: http://www.rica.org.uk/features-reviews/out-and-about/choosing-car/car
which gives all the interior dimensions for the MPV's that I'm looking at

Looks like an S-Max might well be an option

Eldest's Voodoo 26er is 1400mm long with front wheel off - looks like that would comfortably fit into an S-Max with the 2nd and 3rd row seats folded, with one left up behind the driver on the 2nd and 3rd row

S-Max's also appear to be more available

Thanks all

I hired once an S-Max and loved it, it's too big for London otherwise I'd get one!

check the height of the smax too - I had a galaxy for a short while and my 26er dh bike would only just go in with the front wheel off. a smax might be tall enough in the middle for the bars, but if you have to put a bike the other way round to fit it in you might not be able to thread them through..

The opening in an SMax isn't too high, but you can easily thread a bike, or 4, through.

I usually drop/remove the seat post.

Ford Galaxy. I’ve had so many I’ve lost count, they’re great.

I'd be a better recommendation if you'd only had one 🙂

The opening in an SMax isn’t too high, but you can easily thread a bike, or 4, through.

With only the front wheel off and one of each row of seats up though? All seats down its easy but once you have them up it gets tricky quicky

Easy enough to drop all seats, load them in, then put the required seats back up.