mpv which one?

Any advise or experience would be most welcome, before I throw away my money.

Regards Richard

..............

We have a Toyota Estima -import yes but just a great car..

Chris

Any advise or experience would be most welcome, before I throw away my money.

Regards Richard

Christ, you think the Galaxy is un reliable? Don't touch an Espace!!!!

Manual Toyota Previa (not an import!) or a Sharan/ Galaxy TDI 110 /130 would be your best bet.

MAF's are only 80quid, dual mass flywheels can be a problem but not until well past 120k, and used wiper motors are no where nr 500quid- its the linkage that gives up anyhow.

Avoid the 2.0 petrol's, avoid with a vengence the VR6. Avoid ALL auto's.

Galaxy 2.3 isnt a bad choice tho.

Tim..

Had a Galaxy from new (early 2002 model). Now got 50,000 miles on it and the "drop links" are starting to rattle and the break wear indicator is stuck on - due to a wiring fault at the back end somewhere.

Otherwise it's been a great workhorse. We lived on the far side of Belgium until recently and we used it to move house....it's done numerous 5 hour long trips back and forth. Sometimes with 4 of us in and sometimes with the rear seats out and stuffed to the roof with household junk. Even had a roof box on the top.

With seven seats in there isn't much room behind the last row. You can get a few small bags in and a fold up buggy but not much more. If you plan on going on holiday with all the seats in look at the Espace. Compared to the Galaxy the Espace is a van. The grand Espace (do they still make that) is huge.

The 1.9 TDi engine is available in three power ratings.. I'd probably go for the middle one which I think is a 130ps. Any more and you would need wider tyres or traction control in the wet :-) or perhaps I exagerate a bit. It certainly pulls well.

The front face level vents don't seem to produce much/any air on the default fan speed but the aircon cools the car ok in the summer.

Ours came with the rotating front seats as a package - these are a waste of time. Too hard to rotate them. Before you can rotate the seat you have to move the seat forward, adjust the angle of the back, possibly even move the steering wheel on the drivers side. I can't remember exactly - been so long since I tried.

It doesn't handle like a Focus but hey what do you expect from an mpv.

In message , CWatters writes

Bloody hell, they're almost 1700kg! 130ps gives them similar power-to-weight to a one litre city car. Ford's website says 90ps /

I think I'd want to test drive that 150ps model before I decided it was a bit too racy :o)

I bought a Renualt Espace 2.2DCi.

Had it for two years and 52K miles. I bought it as campervan. It fits a bed, toilet and gear for 7 week trips around europe every summer. It's huge inside, front seats spin round, plastic bodywork very light with just two seats in. 45mpg or more with 2 seats and a light right foot. 48K miles since I bought it.

Faults

One fuel distributor pipe (under warranty) One hydrualic clutch @45k (£600) One EGR turbo valve (£50)

It has a high mileage btween services, 18K I think.

Apart from the clutch, needing repaired again, it has been a good car. I commute 2miles a day a drive thousands of miles a yr abroad and most weekends knocking off scottish munros.

Will keep for another 5yrs.

Nick

I read a review of the Nissan Serena (?) which said the diesel versions took about 20 or so seconds 0-60.

Previas were only available in petrol until the new shape, which may be expensive. Auto is a better drive but slightly thirstier. Imports give loads of options including diesel & 4wd - even all those together if you wish.

But whatever way you look at it, Previas are great cars - had our current one 4 years now and we wouldn't have anything else. Nothing else touches it for interior space. We've towed a 22 foot caravan with all the holiday gear, 3 kids and the boot stacked full with French wine & beer (and it holds a lot of that!;-), and it will still pull at the legal limit and accelerate up hills. It's done 130k now, has had new shocks, springs and alternator - none are fiendishly expensive as pattern parts are available, and needs the PS pump reconditioning now (about £100), but we've had no spectacularly expensive failures.