Which 7 seater (or similar) am I after? Cars for a not very car person…

To be honest, the ULEZ thing isn’t a deal breaker, more of a nice have, budget MAY be able to be stretched to 4500 at a push for the right car

seems there’s a lot of love for the SMAX and incidentally was the first car I tried searching for this morning. Last couple (or so) cars have been Vauxhalls, I like them but wouldn’t mind a bit of a change

If buying a petrol one is there a preferred / most economical engine size or type to look out for? I also had an 07 zafira for a while and quite liked the fact the rear bench of seats could all be slid backwards / forwards, does the SMAX have the same feature?

I have a roomster, the 1.6 petrol auto, it was bought to replace my dead Vauxhall  combo van when van prices were sky high. I really like it and with the rear seats out it has got a lot of storage space but I think it’s smaller than my MiL’s berlingo. We can get three bikes in the back with the front wheels off though. I’ll probably get rid of our decent car now and just keep the roomster. Check the electric windows work – it’s a Skoda weakness.

Middle row of SMax seats can be moved forwards/backwards. They are three separate seats so you can move them independently. When the kids were small I’d fold the centre seat down to give them a table / defensive barrier.

If we have somebody sat in the rear seats I’ll move a couple of the middle seats forwards to give them somewhere to put their feet. Similarly if the rear seats are down and the boot is rammed with stuff I’ll move all of the middle seats forwards to gain an extra few inches of load space.

Rear row are fixed and drop into the floor to give a flat load bed.

Toyota Verso for dull & reliable points? If it’s big enough.

I’d probably favour an S-Max myself though.

Regarding the S-Max, might I suggest the Grand S-Max – a bit longer, but has the advantage of having sliding rear doors, so the roofline is flatter, when the rear hatch is open and the rear doors as well, you have a greater degree of weather protection when loading plus it’s easier to get stuff in through the side, and if the front doors are open practically the whole of the side is accessible.
You also get a heated screen, and they’re nice cars to drive.