As mentioned previously somewhere the missus wants a 7 seater Volvo estate when she finally passes her test.
But which one??
Some reckon the 850 is better than an early V70 and some the other way round.
Would it be better looking at a 940/960 or 740 if in excellent nick?
Budget around £2000-2500 but could go up to £3000.
Also could you get a 5 seater converted into 7? It seems to be a case of taking out existing boot floor and putting in seat panel and attatching seat belt mounts.
I could be wrong on this but I don't think you're allowed to fit rear facing seats in estates any more, existing ones are ok but i don't think you're allowed to carry out the conversion now.
My folks have had a 740 and 940, both nice, comfy cars but they're definitely getting on a bit in looks and interiors. For your money you'd probably get something a bit nicer and more up-to-date. Plus MSN motors reckon you can get an 850 T5 for about £2500. The missus could lug the kids and the shopping about at 150mph
t5 is great unsung performance car..you will find decent ones for a grand an a half, less if your lucky. if you dont mind yhe 'clasic' looks, dont dismiss 240 series estates, torslanda, se, glt..good trim levels, give your wife a great feeling of safety, super driving position, grea\t heaters etc...solid and safe..ditto 940/960...best buty for me would be a 960 estate in wentworth trim with the 2.5 or 3 litre 24v engine..supersmooth auto, every conceivable toy and last forever..(if you can afford the juice....) lots of volvos about in your range...i havent mentioned 740/760 estates cos i think they are a bit wedgy ugly, but they are just as good cars under the skin and are ridiculously cheap...personally, id stick with 'classi' rwd volvo estate...850 is good, ditto v70 but prices are in freefall...good if your buying, not when it comes to gettin rid.....the 'classic' volvos have a huge following and prices are already rock bottom....your money will buy you a cracking example
why ahs it got to be a 7 seater??? y nto get an mpv??? cant beat the build of the 740, though i remember my dad saying it had awful body rool, and the clutch wore out.
too dear??? again i ask for 7 seats why an estate? the seats in the boot are onlu usable for 8yrs and under. i know. i spent many a summer in the back towing our caravan
..can vouch for the t5..i bought a mint 96 example with a service history too die for...for £770!!..one of my all time bargains. i sold it cos i preferred driving my wee civic coupe cos it handled so well and believe it or not, had much more character i felt!!!..the t5 was devastatingly fast thru the gears, but i felt lacked a bit of handling precision...apparently a strut brace tightens things up nicely tho....not everyone is as pernickety about handling in a fast car as i am though..great cars, future classics...an 850 t5, the rarer 850 t5r with 250 hp over the t5 220hp, or the rarest i think, is the 850r estate..a run out model...if you do buy one, dont tell anyone just how good it is cos people will start to notice and prices will go up!! ha ha
How about an 850 R Saloon then biggbn? Uncle had the t5, t5r and the 850 R, all in saloon!
Blistering pace, my AX VTS would be in front until about 90 mph, but after that it would just shoot off into the distance. The 850 R really was a Cosworth killer. The new s60 R isn't bad either with 300bhp and 4wd!
my mate got an ex SAS armed response unit car, black T5 estate, no back seats (they were removed so the SAS could fit big guns in the back!)
mega chipped, mega fast, and very well serviced and looked after in general... a grand and a half at one of them old police vehicle auction type thngy's.... thats what you want my friend!
anyone interested in these cars i highly recomend you look on the t5 forum on t'interweb thingy...the range of tuning goodies, rica etc..available and power outputs and performance are staggering. some lovely cars and a great bunch of guys. my t5 was a saloon...i reckon they handle better than the estates...but still a bit wooden for me...but, fast a road, m/ways etc...NOTHING for the money ('cept maybe turbo saab....) comes close
Originally posted by soxcars2: too dear??? again i ask for 7 seats why an estate? the seats in the boot are onlu usable for 8yrs and under. i know. i spent many a summer in the back towing our caravan
once u get to a certain age u need sumthin else.
She's a childminder so the kids stop at about this age anyway.
We've been through the MPV list, even 7 seater Disco's and she wants something safe, reliable and will last forever and has another trick up its sleeve - space in the boot. Even with the rear seats up she can get in pushchairs etc. which with every MPV we've looked at you can't have 7 seats full of kids AND boot space. We had a good look round an early V70 with 7 seats and it was huge you could have lived in it, even with the seats up in the back!!!!
Originally posted by mr-skyford: my mate got an ex SAS armed response unit car, black T5 estate, no back seats (they were removed so the SAS could fit big guns in the back!)
mega chipped, mega fast, and very well serviced and looked after in general... a grand and a half at one of them old police vehicle auction type thngy's.... thats what you want my friend!
Oh yeah, handy for fitting the shopping in the back too!!!
T5 etc may be out of price range for insurance but anything with 5/6 cylinders fine.
if you want seven seats, 'luxury seven conversions' can fit two seats in the tailgate area... http://www.luxury7.co.uk they do most estate cars as well...
Originally posted by OilBurner: Why pay extra when it's easy to find a Volvo V70 with the 7 seat option already fitted?
Not sure about mixing rear facing passengers in the boot and cargo - could be nasty in a smash? Seriously, probably not a good idea...
Yeah you're right there Oily, she's a safety first kind of person so will mention it to her.
depends if one is planning to have one's car smashed into?
Can't see the problem with rear-facing passengers.....in a frontal impact the seat back restrains them.....in a rear-end impact they are no more vulnerable than any other passengers in the rear of todays short-rumped cars....even people carriers with the rear seats occuppied, have precious little impact-absorbtion space behind...as has been discovered with the lack of boot space?
if safety is an issue, firstly may I recommend she undertakes an advanced driving course with such as RoSPA or the IAM?
That will teach her better defensive driving techniques...so reducing the risk of actually being INVOLVED in an accident...
secondly, if safety is seen to equate to mass...what about looking at an american Plymouth Suburban, or its ilk?
they can be converted to RHD if need be, can seat 7 well-fed americans, can be had with an economical V* or a diesel that a Scammell would be proud of.....but more importantly, have tones of sheet metal twixt the passengers and the vagaries of the outside world.
best bet, though, is to get a D1 licence and buy a used Transit minibus...good seating, can be fitted out for boot space, economical,..built for the job....if image is important, get a Merc Vito minibus.
Originally posted by queenjane: secondly, if safety is seen to equate to mass...what about looking at an american Plymouth Suburban, or its ilk?
they can be converted to RHD if need be, can seat 7 well-fed americans, can be had with an economical V* or a diesel that a Scammell would be proud of.....but more importantly, have tones of sheet metal twixt the passengers and the vagaries of the outside world.
suburban safe due to it's mass ?? errr NO it's this pick up based type of suv that gives all the others a bad name in those american crash safety tests you see appearing in anti 4x4 media reports in newspapers etc
-------------------------------------------- Two junior particle physicists were dismissed today after using the Large Hadron Collider to smash conkers into each other at near-light speed.
Originally posted by OilBurner: Why pay extra when it's easy to find a Volvo V70 with the 7 seat option already fitted?
Not sure about mixing rear facing passengers in the boot and cargo - could be nasty in a smash? Seriously, probably not a good idea...
Yeah you're right there Oily, she's a safety first kind of person so will mention it to her.
depends if one is planning to have one's car smashed into?
Can't see the problem with rear-facing passengers.....in a frontal impact the seat back restrains them.....in a rear-end impact they are no more vulnerable than any other passengers in the rear of todays short-rumped cars....even people carriers with the rear seats occuppied, have precious little impact-absorbtion space behind...as has been discovered with the lack of boot space?
if safety is an issue, firstly may I recommend she undertakes an advanced driving course with such as RoSPA or the IAM?
That will teach her better defensive driving techniques...so reducing the risk of actually being INVOLVED in an accident...
secondly, if safety is seen to equate to mass...what about looking at an american Plymouth Suburban, or its ilk?
they can be converted to RHD if need be, can seat 7 well-fed americans, can be had with an economical V* or a diesel that a Scammell would be proud of.....but more importantly, have tones of sheet metal twixt the passengers and the vagaries of the outside world.
best bet, though, is to get a D1 licence and buy a used Transit minibus...good seating, can be fitted out for boot space, economical,..built for the job....if image is important, get a Merc Vito minibus.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! whatever you do steer well clear of a Vito or you,ll end up in an insolvency court!
sure, it provides ammunition to support certain anti-thingy arguments...doesn't mean it isn't a valid option, though, since EVERY motor, especially meeting these criteria, can be argued as being 'unsafe'..
However, I was answering critiscm of Volvo rear seats.....and the critique seemed to centre on the LACK of vehicle BEHIND the seats....hence the requirement seemed to be sheet metal?
as it happens, the rear of a Volvo (740) estate is very strong...but will deform....which is how cars keep one alive in an accident....suggesting that those people seated close to a deforming body are more likely to get injured?
Further down my post I suggested a minibus for this type of work....experience with using child-minding services, pre-school, etc shows that the most common vehicle is the minibus, or large peeplul carrire (peugoet/citroen) and mercs.....but then, shopping isn't an issue with them...
the biggest problem centres on how Parents PERCIEVE SAFETY....many of the safest of vehicles don't actually LOOK safe....so looks are important.....the rospa thing has two (commercial) benefits...improving the drivers skills, and giving a splendid-looking certificate to hang on the wall..impressive to a parent....most of whom actually know very little about vehicle and driver safety....only what they have seen or read in the press.
in my mind, the safest-looking vehicle ever has to be the american school bus!
Toyota Previa 91-97? 8 Seats if you find the right one, take the spare one out of the boot and you have alot of space. Was in one recently - quite a ride along some twisty B roads with an enthusiastic driver
previa is bullet proof..but watch for corrosion....the safety issue qj was not wether 7 seaters were safe, it was wether its safe to have passengers in the rear with loose luggage ie assorted baby and child paraphanalia...not recommended i think?..although i do recall goin all the way to bridgewater from arbroath in scotland in the boot of a cortina estate car with my brother, both of us sitting on top of all the cases etc...with my parents and grandparents being in the actual seats when i was a nipper....times have changed eh?
QJ: I think you may have missed my point. I don't doubt using rear facing seats in an estate is any less safe than a typical MPV as far as rear impacts etc go. The difference being, in an MPV, the passengers are facing forwards and any cargo being carried (e.g. pushchairs) sits *behind* the seat.
However, with rear facing seats, in the event of a smash, the cargo is liable to impact the rear facing passengers. Regardless of deformation or cabin intrusion, I wouldn't want to be the one faced with a 5kg pushchair accelerating toward me with the mass of said baby trolley taking up the energy of the cars forward momentum? Would you?
And yes, taking an IAM or RoSPA course will decrease the chances of having a smash, but does not remove the possibility altogether. If IAM members were accident free then surely insurance premiums would be lower for these drivers? They aren't and it isn't....
Really QJ, I know you think safety issues are a bit of a joke and that driver training is far more important, but accidents will always happen and there's some risks which just aren't worth taking.
I'd happily use rear facing seats, but any cargo would *have* to go safely into a roofbox or trailer....
