We have 3 kids all in booster seats and currently have an Alhambra people carrier which is soon going back to the lease company. Problem is, the boot space isn’t always big enough by the time you’ve added kit, body boards, scooters, bikes etc for a weekend a way. Come to think about it, would be nice to be able to just easily throw stuff in the load area to go to the beach after school. I can’t afford a T6 or Transit, and i’m not sure something like a Caddy is big enough. However the Nissan seems to be in between size wise with a relatively big cargo area and a retaining bulkhead. Any one run one? Have no problem with a van myself as a daily driver having previously had a T5 camper for 5 years.

Check out the insurance on a van first! My quotes were 3 times what my current car insurance is.

There’s a car version too with the rear properly lined that’s worth a look

I wouldn’t have one as a van, never mind a car. Never driven one, but they look very cheap and nasty and are pretty small

This might be of interest? https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-cheap-citroen-spacetourer-lease/

My dad has an nv400

It’s manages not to be cheap and nasty inside…..no more than a transit anyway.

My concerns about a crew cab van instead of a car revolve around lack of air bags and iso fix in the seats normally.

Where as the car/bus variants are usually better equipped in that sense.

My transit has isofix in it but as the op said no transit then it’s not an option. One of the sparks at work has the Nissan, we lovingly refer to it as the “fishvan” it’s a decent motor,it’s jap and will outlast anything reliability wise. My **** transit crew was begging for oil after 6k, I still love it hugely and it’s the reason our 2nd car is now a second car, not an estate and a bangernomic at that.

Oh and my transit is definitely not cheap and nasty inside but that may be down to the model.

I thought there wS one being marketed as a FA mily car. Maybe the electric or hybrid version?

We had an ex-motability NV200 as a family car for a good few years. It was great, my wife really misses it but bits had started to fall off and it was costing money. Not as much as the X-Trail that replaced it mind… particularly when a 2 ton ash tree fell on it at the start of the year 🙁

I would look for the car version myself rather than crew van – better visibility if nothing else.

Caddy maxi life or tourneo grand connect worth a look… Don’t think they are any small than the Nissan

I’ve got the NV200 van, I haven’t driven it for more than hour yet, but it seems to be comfortable with “car” speed restrictions. It’s an older design now, but worth a look; mine is the 1.5 5-speed Euro 6 (46mpg with roof rack) no Adblue needed, and they make a 6-speed as well
I’d echo what trail_rat says, there are far more features in the combi version as standard
I assume that you’ve looked at the brochure (link), the combi is towards the end (on my PC if you press “esc” you can view it as a pdf document rather than a webpage layout)
Insurance-wise the van costs no more to insure than my car, the combi might carry a greater premium??

For reference on the insurance front. The difference between car (Golf) and Van (Transit, with a higher value than the Golf) was very small. Like, £20 or something.

I’ve nv200 7seater which is used as a taxi and stock collector for our village shoo.
It’s been a great car/van so far but I’ll start with the negatives….

It’s VERY plasticy inside
It’s not as well specd as a similar priced 7seat car (touran / galaxy etc)
Seats 6 and 7 are in the way when used as a van, restricted load space.
Gear box is in the dash and the linkage feels very clunky.
Not a great deal of storage / cubby holes

But there are positives……

The fuel economy is good, I average 45mpg (real world not computer)
It’s cheap to repair
It’s cheaper to insure than a 7 seat car 350 (not taxi insurance) – we had an older touran that was 450 to insure
Seats are easy to put up and down
Loads of room compare to a car 7seat, extra headroom
Seats 7 comfortably
Isofix on 2 of the mid three seats
Speed limiter and cruise control (useful for me on taxi airport trips)
Enough room for two to sleep in The rear or one person and a bike or two.
Apparently very easy to work on, with lots of room underneath and everything accessible (or so my mechanic says), prob because there is an electric version so that’s where the battery space is.

it’s a decent motor,it’s jap and will outlast anything reliability wise.

Sort of, in that Nissan are in bed with Renault. The number of vehicles sharing the NV200 platform is astonishing, including Nissans, Renaults and Dacias. How that affects reliability I don’t know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_B_platform

Will have to check out that Space Tourer deal. It’s the base van, but has all you need.

That 1500 dci engines pretty reliable. I can only recall one issue with one when I was at Nissan

They’re a bit plastic but not that bad.

Id have one

Sort of, in that Nissan are in bed with Renault

The NV200 was designed by Nissan, the larger vans are more of a collaboration with Renault. IIRC mine was built in Spain

Yes, got the dci engine in my Wife’s 11 year old Qashqai – no issues at al

Colleague at work recently swapped from a Berlingo to a Space Tourer – very smart and he’s more than happy.

Unsure what budget you’re working to, but approx 30% off list on Transit Custom dual-cabs here (we bought ours almost 2 years ago from here – long lead time but straight forward purchase, was a good bit cheaper then than they are now though): https://www.new-car-discount.com/van/ford/transit-custom/crew-bus/diesel/manual