We're considering buying a 7 seater car but would love to have some feedback if anyone can help. Our budget is around $100K. Have looked at R350, Prado & Q7 so far.

Hi Judy, a good friend of mine has just bought a new Landrover Discovery - she loves it.
All of the cars you are looking at are really good vehicles so it probably means just going for a drive in each and picking your favourite.

Judy, I was just going to post that I also know someone that's looking for a 7 seater at the moment - then realised it's you!!

HaHaHa, love a gut chuckle to start my day, Irene. I've just found a landrover Discovery on Trade Me to consider, thanks Helen.

We bought a Challenger Exceed and are very happy with it. It got very good reviews by the Auto magazines and and we would buy another. We spend HOURS sitting in Bangkok traffic and it is very comfortable. Trent lounges in the back watching DVDs on his own TV monitor and we can watch in the front, although Ian usually has the GPS on.

We are currently sitting in traffic so I mentioned it to Ian and he said to tell you that on average we get 600 km from a 70 litre tank and thats in the city running aircon. It's even more economical on the freeway.

I recently bought a 7-seater car, but my budget was around $10k. I was looking for something that has 7 seats (to seat extra children, not adults) but is still a smallish car as my spacial sense isn't great and I don't like parking my husband's van-like Mitzi Chariot.

The options for that sort of car were a Premacy, Wish, or Stream. There was also a Peugeot (308?) that was much sexier and had a shoulder belt (rather than just a lap belt) in the middle, middle seat - I hate lap belts and think they are unsafe, unfortunately none of my friends or family agree and think I'm just a fuss pot. Anyway, the problem with the Peugeot was that the online reviews said that they are unreliable and as we live rurally, I need a car that is reliable.

I ended up getting a Stream because a low mileage, more recent Premacy was beyond my budget. What I did like about the Premacy is that both the very rear seats and the middle seats fold flat so you can use it to transport large objects if necessary.

If you're looking at a larger car like a Prado, what I've said is irrelevant, but might be of interest to someone looking for a smaller 7-seater.

Thanks everyone for your input. We're picking up the R350 on Wednesday, yahoo!!

How exciting Judy, congratulations! And the most important question... what colour?