LOOKING FOR A people carrier with lots of space and lots of seats? Well, we’ve got two van-based options that we think fit the bill.
This 2016 Renault Trafic Passenger MPV for €43,375 seats nine people and comes in top-of-the-range Sport trim.
There is a front passenger bench seat with under-seat storage, a second row of three seats and a removable third row with three seats.
The driving position in the Trafic Passenger is commanding with decent all-round visibility and useful large wing mirrors. Access is great as there are large sliding doors on each side of the vehicle and the nearside seat of the second row folds forward to make getting at the third row a cinch. All of the seats have head restraints and there are two ISOFIX points for the outer seats of the second row.
The steering on the Trafic Passenger feels light and the ride is decent. This particular version has rear parking sensors, cruise control, a speed limiter and ESC (Electronic Stability Control) with Hill Start Assist and Grip Xtend.
The cabin is very well laid out and features a leather steering wheel, electric front windows, smartphone cradle, a Renault MediaNav Evolution 7-inch touch screen multimedia and navigation system and a radio with DAB, Bluetooth and USB socket and AUX input.
The Passenger is based on the Trafic commercial vehicle chassis and it is powered by a 1.6-litre 145hp diesel engine with 340Nm of torque at 1,750rpm. It is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. It has a top speed of 177km/h and can go from 0 to 100km/h in 11.1 seconds. It has CO2 emissions of 167g/km placing it in Tax Band D, which is €570 a year. It has a claimed combined fuel economy figure of 6.4 litres/100km (44.1mpg).
Citroen SpaceTourer
If you need transport for eight then check out this 2017 Citroen SpaceTourer MPV for €41,600. It is one of the better van-based cars that you can buy right now.
Unlike the Trafic Passenger MPV the Citroen SpaceTourer only seats two people up front but it still has two rows of three seats in the back and both rows can be removed. All the seats can move forwards and backwards, the seatbacks can tilt and there are six ISOFIX anchor points, so you can get three child seats across both rear rows.
The rear window can lift up separately to the tailgate, which makes for easy access to the luggage area – although with all eight seats in place there isn’t much boot space.
Features of this particular model include air con, Bluetooth, cruise control, electric mirrors and front windows, multi-function steering wheel, onboard computer, sat nav, rear parking sensors and a rear view camera.
The SpaceTourer is based on the Dispatch commercial vehicle chassis and it is powered by a 1.6-litre diesel engine mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.
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