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HI!
Though some of you lovely ladies might have had some experience with these cars...
Any opinions?
We're looking for a new car at the moment and that seems like it's the most practical...we need to fit in 3 car seats and a booster and of course fit a pram in the back...
So far I've heard that parts and repair can be expensive but otherwise everything seems to be really postive about them...
I guess I'm just looking for some personal opinion on them rather than hearsay...
Thanks!
My opinion....4 children....best car for you...
We have one. We bought a Honda Odyssey...gorgeous car...but when we fouund out prg with #4 the Odyssey just didnt work . We did heaps of research, and DH found the chrysler the best for us. THe older two can walk down the back of the car to their seats (we have 3 x Maxi Riders in the car, and 1 x rear facing SNS.....) , buckle themselves in. DD#3 gets put in on passenger side, DS gets put in behind driver. AND there is still one more seat in between DD#1 and DD#2.....
In my opinion....you will never, ever have enough room in a car with 4 children.....but if the space you do have works, and no one is uncomfortable, then in my opinion, it works. We have a strider and todd. seat in the boot. It can fit a nappy bag too....im guilty of dumping a lot of stuff on the front passenger seat...easy access and all. IF we ALL went on a holiday, we would have to buy a pod or something to fit on the roof....but TBH....i m not going to not buy a car coz it wont do us for our yearly holidays...im more interested in day to day stuff...and the chrysler works for us... As long as each child had easy access to their seat, mummy and daddy could do their seatbelts up without too much pain, then it worked for us.
We bought a 2004 model this time last year for $15k....air con and a few other things were not working, we spent about $5k all up on repairs.
Truly hon, you will not look back. Even yesterday whilst in the car with all the kids, DH said to me ' i would recommend this car to anyone with 4 kids'....so true.
Its an AMerican car - so yes, parts are expensive, but its sturdy, its heavy yes, but it feels firm....(if that makes sense....). But if you get a half decent one, and look after it, get regular check ups, then its all part of having a car really isnt it ???? We got ours with only 60,000kms....
ETA: Chrysler windows in the back of the car dont open either.....the very very back ones push out electronically from the front control panel, but sometimes we find it can get stuffy in the back...so we virtually always have the aircon on low....
TBH....i think its a no brainer for you......and FWIW.....theres 2 other mums at our school....one has 4 kids, the other looks after a few, and they both have chryslers.....GL.....
Thanks a lot for that mbear!!!
Just what I needed to hear - I'm convinced it's the most suitable car for us, it's just convincing dh. He's trying to find smaller cars and say we can put this seat down or put Louis in the front etc (he's only 4 so definitely not an option..) etc...I'm the one that has to get 4 kids around the place on my own most of the time so I really want something convenient.
It didn't help that two car salesman told him not to buy one this morning - that was based on the expensive car parts...I'm thinking I'll win the argument if I"m persistant enough! LOL!!!
Thanks again!
Persist hon....isnt any car expensive to fix ?? Yeah, if it needs a new motor, sure thats gonna be expensive, but if you shop right, honestly, you will find it totally works for you...
YOU can also walk down the centre of the car from driver seat. So say its raining, i usually throw (:D) al kids in the car, shut the doors, then climb in drivers seat, walk down the 'aisle' and buckle them up...without me/them getting rained on.
Look at private sellers too....lots online with families that have out-grown the family bus :D and looking to downgrade.....
GL...let us know how you get on....
i own one, boot room wonderful as the last row of seats move forward i can fit a twin techno stroller in boot no worries or a peg pegero limousine style twin pram. with no pram in boot we can fit all shoppin in too but normally put shopping on top of pram.
we have on BOTH the single seats two carseats ones in foward facing oen in reverse facing. Our car is midified unsure if your woudl be with a bar behind the middle row of seats to anchor in two car seats. We just LOVE the twin doors for the kids its awesome. We have a slim line booster on the back row seat too and my 11 year old and 8 year old sit on back row next to booster no fuss no problem.
As for matenance we have only ahd ours for about 4 months and we bought it with 126ish thou km's thining when we put it in for a FULL service thatw e woudl ahve laods to do on it. Nope i even asked them to eb fussy but we dint have nay real issues otehr than needs an air filter that they ahve to order in. i woudl say ebing a good make car that parts would eb slighly more expensive mayeb but woudl last longer.
Kids love the car i love driving it being a bit up high but not to high IYKWIM. parking it is wider than a honda odesy (better drive to as i have had one of these to use before) and even the other similar cars on market like the tarago it is also longer. It will fit in a car park bay taking up WHOLE lenght of bay. This also means more room inside the car so for large families this is great. ours is a 2001 model
i measured back seat as there is two anchor points there you could fit a second carseat on back row but would not have a large amount of room in between seats. Do to the arm rests and cup holders attached to the car inside wall we did NOT need to do this. I think if we moved the 3rd row seats to second row we would have had more room to have 3 slimline compact carseats in a row if really required. Like this car especially as i figured if ever needed i could get a second 3 seat row and replace the two captain chairs in middle row. also second row can be removed.
if ya have any other q's pm me, also has a HUGEEEEEE tank costs us 90 to fill it up.
My firend had a GV and loved it. But then she had problem after problem with hers right when DH & I were close to buying one.
First thing that went was one of the power windows. She could live with that for a little while whilst she arranged to get it fixed, all the power windows stopped working.. She got that fixed and the air con died... one again she decided she could live without that. About 12 months after the windows were fixed they stopped working again... then the transmission died. In the end it cost too much to repair it that they just sold it basically dead and took a great loss on what they bought it for. I am sooooooooooo glad DH & I didn't buy one.
I guess you have good & bad with all cars though. Hers was a 2006 model and had a previous owner who had done services etc on it... but when something stopped working it seemed that everything else decided to do also stop at the same time.
we had a sticky window on one side got some wd40 sprayed into the button fixed it removed the built up of oils and ynck mind you i was quoted a large price for a repair but car was still under warentee.
hi didnt have time to read the other repplys but i have the voyager with four kids only thing with mine is it doesnt have the anchor points in the back row and i havent figured out how to switch the seat so the 2 seats at the back and 3 seats are in the middle.....i think if you go to a local mechanic like i do you can get it fixed cheaper with non chrysler parts.. i do love my car though
I saw this earlier but didnt have time to reply.
Ok i dont have a Grand Voyager, but i do have a Chrysler Voyager 97 model, we bought second hand 3 and a bit yrs agos.
We have 5 kids in our car, and so far no issues, our voyager doesnt have the gap between the second row, it has two seats together, then the 3 in the back, both rows of chairs fold down and also can be removed from the car altogether.
My hubby loves it, we have been a lil slack on having it serviced due to finances, but in 3 yrs havnt had anything really go wrong with it, the week we got it the radiater went, but they replaced it under warranty.
We usually have two baby seats in the middle row, and a booster seat on the back row, but we only have 1 baby seat now on the middle row so the kids fight ova who is going to sit there, lol
Hubby said its an easy drive and he much prefers to drive the voyager ova his other car that we had at the time.
btw my previous car was a commodore with an extra row of seating.
I am sure (as half of a auto parts supply business and as a Chrysler Jeep driver :redface:) that the reason the parts are so dear for the Chryslers is because they require mostly genuine parts. Most of the parts that you can get for your commodore/falcon/and even kia have after market reproductions ("non-genuine") available (the cheap and cheerful option provided by your mechanic). To the best of my knowledge, there aren't many non-genuine parts available for Chryslers because there's not a huge call for them. If you have a local mechanic, you could ask them about the parts. The Man (the other half of the business and mechanical guru is not here to ask atm.
(As for the embarrassment of my jeep, amongst all the Patrols and Landcruisers of our friends, I am the butt of their jokes for not driving a 'real' 4wd, but I rather like it as it goes like a cut cat!)
We have a Kia Carnival and love it.. So i am sure the Chrysler will be just fantastic.
We love it.. We didnt want to spend 20,000 on a car so this had 60,000KM and we paid 12,000 privatly.
we have 2.5 kiddies and it has a DVD player, and we just love it.
With milk, food snacks etc flying everywhere.. we wanted something cheap that we can sell when kids are old enough and not worry what shape it will be in!
Just bumping this thread because we are in the process of *maybe* upgrading our car to something bigger. We aren't a 'large' family as such, but with 3 kids and extended family the commodore is proving to be a bit squishier than we'd like. Especially with 2x maxi riders and a SNS reversible seat across the back. We have no room for extra passengers and this has been an issue a few times recently.
Mbear - I hadn't even considered a voyager because my bestie has one (she has 4 kids too, 2 sets of twins) and I know she paid about $70k for hers :o Obviously that was brand new. I had no idea they could be so cheap used/brought privately.
Will add that to my list. Will also check out the Odyssey because a bongo bus isn't a must for us with only 3 kids.
Would be interested to hear from anyone with 3+ kids (especially those with 3 in car seats) about what car they have and any pros/cons. I'm finding with the bigger cars that 'boot' space seems to be an issue?
Willow - we have a Mazda MPV (2005 model I think?) We paid about 29K for ours, secondhand of course!
We love it!!! Its a 7 seater with sliding doors on BOTH sides of the car.
We had all three car seats across the back seat (the baby seat, a maxi rider and another baby seat forward facing) and there was heaps of room for them all, plus we had 2 extra seats in the back back part.
Then my IL's came to stay with us, and it was evident that they couldn't sit in the seats in the back back, because they are both around 6 foot 2 and pretty wide, so I took the maxi rider out and put it in the back back part - which is has now stayed cos DS loves to ride back there by himself (the nigel haha)
So at the moment we have a rear facing baby seat behind the passenger seat, we have folded down the middle seat, car seat behind the driver and then Aricyn on his lonesome in the back.. hehe
So at the moment, it kinda looks like a bus :D Its awesome. Have I said I love my car? I freakin love my car. lol
Yeah...they're the new ones....one day i hope that will be us .....:o
They odysseys are more up around the $25k range...we paid $27k for our one. MOre of a luxurious car.....
Like i said before...i dont think you will ever have enough room in the boot of a car....there's never going to be spare room..i dunno, thats my opinion. For us it was bums on seats - we needed enough room for 4 kids in car seats, not being crammed in. I also didnt understand the point in having a Odyssey, or Territory etc with 7 seats, when essentially you couldnt use the middle end seat, coz you would always need that vacant for passengers to get in and out of the very very back...KWIM ??? To me, that was a waste of a seat - esp when the kids are young and your dealing with car seats...
We also found....with the Odyssey...we bought that car outright...so it wasnt a loan or anything. We saved up for that money. So splashing it out on a car was fantastic...but after a while, we noticed the interior was getting 'trashed'. Kids with dirty feet, dirty hands etc etc. No matter how much you say your going to look after it, kids will be kids. ANyway, my point is, we felt like at this time in our lives, spending $27k on a car wasnt justified...we were dealing with 4 kids under 5, of course they were going to trash it. Thats another reason why we downgraded...sounds weird, but spending $20k on a car, we ddint feel so precious about it every time the kids left a mark....i dunno if im making sense...BTW, dont get a car with light/beige interior......you will tear your hair out if your a mess freak like me.....
ETA: I have a friend, 3 kids under 4, and has a new Ford Explorer....very noice......
I just got my Chrysler Grand Voyager last Thursday! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!
It has the 2 remote button sliding doors and rear boot, I've got 4 car seats in and room in the boot for the pram!!
What more could I want???
Oh, it has a dvd player for the kiddies as well - although we will save that for any super big trips we do...
I'm really happy with it - we spent more than we were going to but got a great deal - $24k for a 2005 limited model - so leather seats and all the extras you could ever want! It has stow and go as well which means all of the seats fold flat into the floor and the car can be used as a van!! While the seats are up it means tonnes of extra storage!
The kids are loving it...I'm not sure how I'll go getting the baby in the convertible car seat yet - because of the sliding doors it may be easier to put him in from the opposite side if that makes sense?? But it will be fine - just need to suss it out after his arrival!
Ok enough of my rambling - I've got new car excitement! hehe.
Mel - Sooooo weird that you just posted about your car cause I've been looking at those today too. A school mum friend of mine has one and I was checking it out this morning. What's the seat config like though? Do the very back seats fold down? They were also a bit scarce when I did a search on carsales. She said they stopped making them in about 2006 so maybe that's why.
Mbear - I know EXACTLY what you mean about the interior on the Odyssey. I was just looking at a luxury model for about $20k and was drooling....then I thought about exactly the way the back of my car looks today and cringed. I don't think I could do it!!
The thing with the seat config is though I wouldn't need to use the 7 seats much. But the 60/40 config in the front row won't work I think. What I would have done is the same as Mel - put the two boys in the front row with the middle seat down, then have DD in the back row in her maxi rider.
It's the damn car seats that are the massive problem here...GRRRR! So frustrating.
I think you're right Mbear, I don't think I'm going to find a car that's has enough room for bums on seats AND storage room AND the right seat config. I do need it to fit my double stroller for probably another 6 months though. My friend has a Kluger (which I love) but her double pram doesn't fit in the back?! :dunno: That's a bit of a deal breaker for me.
Now that I've seen how much you guys have paid for used Voyagers, I'm off to have a look at those....
Explorers are out - my DH would never let me buy a Ford :rolleyes:
PS Mbear - Dude, that's impressive saving up $27k to buy a car!! I don't know anyone that's ever done that.
Willow - the seating in a voyager is 3 across the very back and 2 singles in the middle row - you can walk from front to back if you like! I have the babies seat in the midde row passenger side, another behind the drivers door, then 2 in the back at each side...so much space and anchor points for them all!
If you do look at grand voyagers look for a lx or limited one though - they are a bit longer I believe with a bit more boot space...
Yeah they make the 9 seater or whatever it is now, so they are scarce - but well worth the find. The very back seats either fold down or come out completely. Actually, we read that its the only 7 seater on the market that ALL car seats can be removed from the car. so when we aren't using the very back ones, we just take them out. It was handy when we moved too cos we took out the very back ones, and the 3 in the back seat - wah-lah - its a van! lol:
I have one and I love it, All 5 children fit really well. I have the 3 older ones at the back and the twins in the two captain seats. There is a walk way in the middle and the boot fits the double pram and I love the electric sliding doors that open with a push of a button.
I posted on the do-you-have-toyota-troop-carrier-11-seater car thread a bit more info on bigger than 8 seaters, suitable seating for car seats.... Landrover Defender 110 County (1981-1991 models only) 10 seats (6 forward facing), Ford Transit BUS - seat 12, Merc-Benz Sprinter seat up to 14. The last 2 also have plenty of room behind rear seats for shopping, prams etc. Only down side is the last 2 are bigger, so don't fit in standard car parks (takes up 1.5 car park lengths). We have an ex-tourist 14 seater troopy that is still 4wd, so we get the best of all worlds, Oka's can be found too that still have all seats... up to 16. These are good for the Super-Sized families!