For most people and especially families, the price is often the deciding factor when purchasing a new car. After all, it is said to be the second-biggest purchase after your family home!
To help make your life easier here are all the seven-seaters we have tested that cost less than $60,000!!
New 2021 Kia Sorento
The 2021 Kia Sorento ranges from $48,000 to $63,000. It is a fantastic family SUV with pretty good third-row access and it has four ISOFix and five top tether anchorages and can hold FIVE child seats!! WOOP WOOP!!! BUT it does not have third-row airbags. Which should be a consideration if you are transporting passengers around back there. It's got air vents in all three rows of seats and you can control it from the front row. Watch my top ten family-friendly BabyDrive features video here.
Skoda Kodiaq
The Skoda Kodiaq ranges from $43,000 to $49,000. It is not the most practical seven-seater because accessing the third row is tricky and you have to remove a child seat to get through, then once you are in you realise it lacks legroom and I'm only 162cm. However, it does have all the Skoda specials like umbrellas in the doors, and lots of other clever features. See the full review here.
Nissan Pathfinder
The Nissan Pathfinder ranges from $42,000 to $70,000. It is a great family car, full of cup holders and has good internal storage. I could fit four child seats, three in the second row and one in the third row and it has a fab mechanism to access the third-row without uninstalling a child seat! Read the full review here.
Kia Sorento
The Kia Sorento ranges from $45,000 to $59,000. There is a lot to love about this very spacious car and we could fit a 182cm passenger in front of and behind a rear-facing child seat in the second row! It is a great looking car and the interior is really nice too. There are top tethers in all three second-row seat backs and ISOFix in the outer two. I could fit three child seats in that second row but there are no top tethers in the third-row seats. The side curtain airbags do not extend to the third-row seats which is very disappointing as we often put our kids back there once they are out of child seats. Read the full review here.
Mitsubishi Pajero Sport
The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport ranges from $45,000 to $53,000. The Pajero Sport was an enjoyable car to drive however not very practical or user-friendly for a family car and could have been much better executed! There is only one top tether and that's in the ceiling above the third-row seats and you have to install your own top tethers for other seating positions, which are also in the ceiling so the third-row passengers get straps in their faces. Read the full review here.
Nissan X-Trail
The Nissan X-Trail ranges from $29,000 to $48,000. It is the fourth most popular medium-sized SUV in Australia, there is good interior storage and some nice features like cooled cup holders. The legroom is not good in the seven-seater, with a rear facing child seat installed I found there was no legroom in the third row for a passenger to really sit there. Read the full review here.
Honda Odyssey
The Honda Odyssey ranges from $38,000 to $48,000. It's classed as a people mover rather than an SUV, it fits four child seats, will hold all sizes of stroller in the boot space along with shopping (that's with all three rows of seats in use) and has some great family-friendly features. My favourite thing about the Odyssey is its walkthrough gangway from the front to the rear seats, making it easy to move around inside the vehicle to get children into their seats and fasten child restraints. See the full Honda Odyssey review here.
Hyundai Santa Fe
The Hyundai Santa Fe ranges from $41,000 to $58,000. This seven-seater has no top tethers or ISOFix in the third-row seats so I could only fit three child seats across the second row. The boot is great when only using five seats, but with all three rows in use, I could only fit a compact stroller. The Santa Fe has some great BabyDrive features, my favourite being the in-built window shades in the second row! There are some downsides, such as having to uninstall a child seat in the second row when accessing the third-row seats. See the full Hyundai Santa Fe review here.
Isuzu MU-X
The Isuzu MU-X ranges from $43,000 to $57,000. This big seven-seater SUV feels basic inside and lacks a lot of the luxuries and technologies we have come to expect in modern cars but feels like it would be sturdy enough for your family to take off-road anywhere. There are ISOFix points in all three second-row seats which is rare to find, and all three have top tethers too. It seems no further planning went into the installation of child seats because the second-row seats are not wide enough to have all three child seats installed using the ISOFix connectors. Also, when the third-row seats are folded flat you can not access the top tethers and there are no top tethers in the third row either. The boot storage is great when only using the first two rows of seating but minimal when using all seven seats and I could only fit a compact stroller in. See the full Isuzu MU-X review here.
Kia Carnival
The Kia Carnival ranges from $43,000 to $63,000. It is an eight-seater people mover rather than an SUV and has that different shape and feel. There are three seats in both rear rows, ISOFix and top tether in the two outer second-row seats and in the right-hand third-row seat. The rear central seat also has a top tether and I managed to fit four child seats in the Carnival. There are some wonderful features for families in the Carnival, like the rear sliding rear doors that prevent you hitting cars with your doors when getting in and out in a car park and the big boot space (even with all seats in use) is a great family feature too. See the full Kia Carnival review here.
Mazda CX-9
The Mazda CX-9 ranges from $45,000 to $66,500. This great seven-seater SUV is a FANTASTIC BabyDrive! There are top tethers in all five rear seats and ISOFix in the two outer second-row seats which is a rare combination! The seats are very generous in the CX-9 and I could fit five big child seats in the back! The boot storage is great when only using five seats, although I could still get a single stroller in the boot with a little shopping when using all seven seats. The interior is very nice and the built-in rear window shades and great storage are fantastic family-friendly features. See the full Mazda CX-9 review here.
The Mazda CX-8 ranges from $42,500 to $61,500. It is another great seven-seater SUV, it is a bit more basic than the CX-9 and feels less luxurious but still has top tethers in all five rear seats and ISOFix in the two outer second-row seats. Like the CX-9 I could fit five big child seats in the CX-9. Also similarly, the boot storage is great when only using five seats but I could only get a single stroller in the boot with a little shopping when using all three rows of seats. The interior feels practical and rather than luxurious and it lacks some of the family-friendly features like rear window shades that the CX-9 has! See the full Mazda CX-8 review here.
The Mitsubishi Outlander ranges from $31,000 to $46,000. This seven-seater SUV felt too small inside to have seven seats! It only has top tethers in the three middle row seats and ISOFix in the two outer second-row seats. I could only fit two child seats in the second row because the Outlander has a seatbelt buckle that sticks up so high in the central seat base that means no person or child seat could be positioned there, which was really disappointing! Read the full Mitsubishi Outlander review here.
Peugeot 5008
The Peugeot 5008 ranges from $46,000 to $55,000. It is a FANTASTIC BabyDrive! It's full of excellent family-friendly features, my favourite being the second-row seats that all slide independently, making child seat instalment easy and distribution of legroom great too. Here is a little video of some of the others:https://youtu.be/MS8nL2L34CA
It's a real shame the third-row seats don't have any top tethers or ISOFix, making it a strictly three child seat car! The interior is fantastic and really stylishly designed for a car of this price range, it drives really well too. Boot space was good when only using five seats but it lacked boot space when using all seven seats. Read the full Peugeot 5008 review here.
Toyota Kluger
The Toyota Kluger ranges from $45,000 to $70,000. This seven-seater SUV has so many cup holders and a great shelf that runs most of the width of the dashboard (see my favourite features here). It is spacious in the back and legroom can be distributed across the three rows of seats. It is a big car and the reversing camera image is milky and the screen small which was disappointing. See the full Toyota Kluger review here.
Toyota LandCruiser Prado
The Toyota LandCruiser Prado ranges from $54,000 to $85,000. It has some useful family features like the conversation mirror and central console Esky (see my favourite features here). I found it an enormous car, and I struggled with reaching the third-row seats and being strong enough to use their folding/tilting mechanism. There are three top tethers in the second row and none in the third-row so I could only put three child seats in. The boot space is great when using two rows of seats but with the third row in use the boot space is minimal. See the full Toyota LandCruiser Prado review here.
Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace
The Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace ranges from $41,000 to $55,000. I'm a big fan of the five-seater Tiguan but I didn't love the seven-seater Tiguan Allspace as much. The third-row seats didn't seem very practical with very limited legroom and no top tethers! As a result, it's less practical than other seven-seaters (see my comparison of the CX-8 and Allspace here). The interior is nice but did not feel as if the build quality was as good as the five-seater Tiguan, but with the third-row seats folded flat the boot space is great and the interior storage is FANTASTIC! See the full VW Tiguan Allspace review here.
Holden Acadia
The Holden Acadia ranges from $43,000 to $64,000. It is a great family car with so many family-friendly BabyDrive features. Some of my favourites are the great storage throughout the car and especially the doors in the second row that are full of nooks for little trinkets to be popped!! There are USB's in all three rows of seats and there are five top tethers so. could install five big child seats. Watch my top three family-friendly BabyDrive features here.
Hyundai imax should be listed as it’s a great car and I would recommend this to anyone with a big family
Thank you Jake, I haven’t tested one of those yet but look forward to it 🙂
So, who is the winner? If I was to buy a near new car right now for 0 + 2 + 4 year olds, what would be the best car to get?
For the best flexibility, my shortlist would be the ones with more top tether anchorages in both the third and second row seats. So the Acadia, the Mazda CX-8 and CX-9, Nissan Pathfinder and Ford Everest. CX-9 and Pathfinder are the two that make it easiest to access the third row when child seats are installed in the second row.