BrisWesty
21st January 2010, 01:14 PM
Bit the bullet! Our home car was getting a bit long in the tooth - it would have been a poor candidate for private sale (ABS dash lights on after having the dash removed to fix the air conditioner, dodgy transmission, roof trim sagging, burning oil - but not a diesel). Things were getting a bit tight with 3 kids, plus hangers on etc. It seemed like everytime the kids wanted to have someone over, or family was about we'd have to take 2 cars wherever we were going, so we decided to get a 7 or 8 seater. We'd been looking off and on for 12 months, but finally got to the point where it needed to happen.
Didn't want it to be too old, needed to be wide enough so the kids weren't cramped in the back and have enough space in the rear that it would fit more than a nappy bag if the 3rd row was in use. Looked at amongst others
Avensis Verso - way too narrow
Kia Rondo - 3rd row = crumple zone - heads were only a few cm from the rear glass.
Tarago, Odyssey - price. A number of the 7 seat 4WDs (in case we actually wanted to go off road) including Prado, Challenger, Discovery etc.
I was kind of keen on the Hyundai i-Max but also too many $.
Didn't look in detail at the Grandis - actually didn't see many about.
In the end it came down to a size and need thing. We barely go off road and that's unlikely to change. We settled on either the Kia Carnival (not the old 7 seat ones with the dodgy engine) and the Grand Carnival and eventually ended up with a 2006 Kia Grand Carnival. Pretty happy with the deal. We shall see how it goes.
Once we were satisfied with what vehicle we wanted we tested a number of them at a number of dealers and received a variety of levels of service. Having had some unhappy experiences with dealers in the past, it was nice to go in objectively, and after getting a poor initial trade in offer being able to say "we have another vehicle we're happy with, this is their offer, you need to match it or we'll go with them." Leverage is lovely!
With the 3rd row down - it will fit 5 adults and all their golf paraphernalia.
Didn't want it to be too old, needed to be wide enough so the kids weren't cramped in the back and have enough space in the rear that it would fit more than a nappy bag if the 3rd row was in use. Looked at amongst others
Avensis Verso - way too narrow
Kia Rondo - 3rd row = crumple zone - heads were only a few cm from the rear glass.
Tarago, Odyssey - price. A number of the 7 seat 4WDs (in case we actually wanted to go off road) including Prado, Challenger, Discovery etc.
I was kind of keen on the Hyundai i-Max but also too many $.
Didn't look in detail at the Grandis - actually didn't see many about.
In the end it came down to a size and need thing. We barely go off road and that's unlikely to change. We settled on either the Kia Carnival (not the old 7 seat ones with the dodgy engine) and the Grand Carnival and eventually ended up with a 2006 Kia Grand Carnival. Pretty happy with the deal. We shall see how it goes.
Once we were satisfied with what vehicle we wanted we tested a number of them at a number of dealers and received a variety of levels of service. Having had some unhappy experiences with dealers in the past, it was nice to go in objectively, and after getting a poor initial trade in offer being able to say "we have another vehicle we're happy with, this is their offer, you need to match it or we'll go with them." Leverage is lovely!
With the 3rd row down - it will fit 5 adults and all their golf paraphernalia.