Currently reading: Top 10 best seven-seat cars: driven and ranked

Family haulers aren't restricted to MPVs any more. These are the 10 best seven-seaters you can buy today

Do you have people, things and people with things to move? A seven-seat car is the simplest and best solution to your problem.

A decade ago, this market looked slightly frumpy, due to the MPV. But today, most of the best seven-seaters are fashionable SUVs, meaning you won’t feel silly in the school car park.

Some cars on the list have a third row best suited for occasional use and massive boots. Others can comfortably carry a group of adults but sacrifice some luggage capacity. A few manage to do both. 

Despite its age, we think the Volvo XC90 is still the best seven-seater on sale in the UK today. This is thanks to its blend of practicality, technology and material quality, but it's also great to drive. 

Our list features several other great seven-seat options, so read on to find out which cars can challenge the Swedish stalwart.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/Volvo%20XC90%20best%207-seat%20cars

    Best for: daily driving

    We think the Volvo XC90 is the best seven-seater car you can buy today.

    The fact it has been on sale for almost 10 years is a testament to its compelling blend of space, practicality, comfort and class.

    Some rivals are sharper to drive or offer more up-to-date tech, but the XC90 offers a great balance of performance, efficiency and low running costs, particularly for business users - especially in its plug-in hybrid form.

    The XC90’s greatest strength is its roomy, well-equipped interior, which is high quality and smartly finished. It has enough space for seven adults to travel in comfort, with the third-row seats serving up good head and leg room. 

    The range opens with the B5 mild-hybrid petrol with 247bhp, but there's also the refined, bik-busting T8 plug-in hybrid model, with 443bhp and 44 miles of all-electric range. 

    Whichever powertrain you choose, this Volvo is composed and capable on the road. Its emphasis is on comfort and refinement, rather than an uplifting driving experience, but that's perfectly in keeping with its remit.

    Finance this car with Drivenfi

    Back to top
    https://www.autocar.co.uk/Dacia%20Jogger%20best%207-seat%20cars

      Best for: value

      It's perhaps no surprise that the biggest breath of fresh air the seven-seater has seen for a while comes from Dacia.

      The Dacia Jogger is a fully equipped people mover, but more importantly, it will cost you less than the price of a mainstream supermini - and is the cheapest car on this list. 

      Straddling the lines between estate, MPV and SUV, the Jogger contains enough space for seven adults, although the third row is best left to children on longer journeys.

      With the rear seats lowered or removed completely, there's up to 2094 litres of carrying capacity available, plus several nearly packaged storage compartments tucked away around the cabin. 

      Driving the Jogger is a mixed bag, but it's not bad. There's a supple, languid gait to its ride, while its turbocharged 1.0-litre petrol triple is a smooth and willing accomplice.

      Light and accurate steering combines with a subtly raised seating position to make the Jogger easy to place on the road, and while it can roll like a drunk when cornering hard, the grip is strong and the handling always remains faithful.

      It's far from a scalpel-sharp street fighter, but there's enough character in the way the Jogger goes about its business that it really should be considered if you're in the market for seven seats. 

      Finance this car with Drivenfi

      https://www.autocar.co.uk/

        Best for: interior ambience

        The Hyundai Santa Fe has always been one of our favourites in the seven-seat car market, and its 2024 renewal cemented its position as a go-to option. 

        Along with a complete retro-inspired redesign, the Santa Fe is bigger and more spacious than ever, filled with technology and a comfortable way to travel with up to six passengers. 

        The Santa Fe comes with either a full hybrid or a plug-in hybrid powertrain, with maximum power standing at 249bhp. In PHEV guise, it offers up to 33 miles of electric-only range, which is slightly disappointing, but the rest of the car makes up for it. 

        Boot size varies depending on specification and powertrain, but the seven-seat PHEV features 985 litres with its rearmost seats folded down (compared with 992 litres for the regular hybrid) or 621 litres with them in place. 

        Partner its extensive practicality with its excellent material quality and the Santa Fe justifies its high position in our top 10. 

         

        Finance this car with Drivenfi

        Back to top
        https://www.autocar.co.uk/VW%20Multivan%20best%207-seat%20cars

          Best for: versatility 

          The Volkswagen Multivan is a traditional MPV: a thoroughly sensible and spacious box on wheels that offers unrivalled space and versatility.

          A brilliantly rational form of family transport, it mixes one of the most flexible interiors in the business with grown-up driving dynamics and a dash of premium appeal.

          Thanks to sitting on the MQB platform that underpins everything from the Volkswagen Golf to the Skoda Kodiaq, the Multivan also handles like a car, with surprising precision and brilliant ride refinement.

          It also gets access to petrol, diesel and PHEV options. The latter uses a 1.4-litre petrol engine and an electric motor for 215bhp and a claimed 31 miles of EV running. 

          The Multivan's trump card, though, is its modular interior, which can be organised just how you want it with more than enough space for seven passengers. Plus, it has a sliding door on each side. 

          Finance this car with Drivenfi

          https://www.autocar.co.uk/Land%20Rover%20Defender%20130%20best%207-seat%20cars

            Best for: desirability

            This biggest Land Rover Defender ought to have been a candidate for the top of this chart, because while it's expensive, its cleverly configurable interior presents the option of as many as eight seats.

            Buy a long-wheelbase, five-door Defender 110 and JLR will offer you a choice of five, six or seven passenger seats, while the elongated Defender 130 can seat eight in a 2/3/3 formation.

            Sadly, for legislative reasons, you can't order the latter with the jump seat in between the driver and front seat passenger, which would have made it a nine-seater (and, in the UK at least, in need of registration as a minibus).

            Even without this as an official option, though, this car has impressive versatility. The seven-seat Defender has third-row seats that are a little smaller than those of the related Land Rover Discovery's but still perfectly usable by children, teenagers and smaller adults.

            In the 130, you can take all eight on board and still have a very usable 400-litre boot, although the trade-off is the car's vast 5358mm length that makes it something of a squash and a squeeze in most parking spaces.

            This is also an expensive car, with even the very cheapest models starting from more than £70,000. But unlike the old Defender, it drives nearly as well as almost any luxury SUV of its size and type, has a broad range of modern electrified powertrains and has off-road capability to spare.

            Finance this car with Drivenfi

            Back to top
            https://www.autocar.co.uk/Kia%20EV9%20best%207-seat%20cars

              Best for: electric motoring

              Electric cars are beginning to muscle in on the seven-seat act, and the Kia EV9 is one of the first of the bunch.

              You certainly won’t struggle to find it in a packed car park. It's roughly the same size as the Range Rover Sport and has a really bold design, so it possesses genuine presence. 

              The sheer size of it and its clever packaging means it can offer six- and seven-seat cabin layouts. The former swaps the second row’s three-seat sliding bench for a pair of swivelling ‘captain’s chairs', a bit like you would find in the Mercedes-Benz V-Class.

              Those third-row seats are big enough for small adults and kids with booster seats, which is useful as four of the five rear seats get Isofix points. The rearmost seats stow and deploy electrically.

              With all seats up, the boot is big enough for a reasonable amount of shopping cargo, while five-seat mode makes it very generous.

              The EV9 comes with a 99.8kWh battery. In the 200hp single-motor, rear-wheel-drive model, official range is 349 miles. Kia quotes efficiency of 3.0mpkWh and our testing achieved 2.8mpkW - impressive for a car with such a large, block-like frontal area. The official range of the dual-motor, four-wheel-drive model is 313 miles.

              In cooler conditions, the top-of-the-line EV9 achieved 259 miles on our 70mph touring efficiency test and gave us reason to expect it would cover a little over 300 miles in exclusively urban and gentler out-of-town motoring.

              Finance this car with Drivenfi

              https://www.autocar.co.uk/

                Best for: style

                The Peugeot 5008 was always a dignified option for those after seven seats, but the recently-arrived third-generation model provides even more versatility than ever. 

                It's the first seven-seat Peugeot to be available hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric powertrains, and its new design is eye-catching, to say the least. 

                Space-wise, the 5008 offers 916 litres of boot space with the third row of seats folded flat - more than the Hyundai Santa Fe, Dacia Jogger and Skoda Kodiaq - dropping to 348 litres with all seats in place.

                Despite its size, the 5008 is also reasonably good to drive. Of course, it's no hatchback, but it's easy to manoeuvre at low speeds, and Peugeot's experience with hybrids means its powertrain line-up is fairly refined. 

                Overall, the 5008 is a good option for those after a seven-seater car with a pleasant interior, frugal hybrid powertrains and a stylish exterior design. 

                Finance this car with Drivenfi

                Back to top
                https://www.autocar.co.uk/Land%20Rover%20Discovery%20best%207-seat%20cars

                  Best for: third-row space

                  The third-generation Land Rover Discovery remains a fine, full-sized seven-seater option, thanks to likeable charm and genuinely luxurious characteristics. 

                  Launched in 2017 and updated in 2021, it comes with seven seats as standard. It's seriously spacious, with excellent head and leg room for all passengers, and vitally it tops the list for third-row space.

                  Boot space stands at a cavernous 1137 litres when you're using only five seats, but it drops down to 258 litres when using all seven.

                  Currently, the Discovery is only available with a mild-hybrid diesel engine, offering 348bhp and a 0-62mph sprint of 5.9sec. Apart from the Defender, then, the Discovery is probably your best bet on this list for performance. 

                  It's pleasant inside too - not far from Range Rover quality. And it's even better off-road – not that the vast majority of owners will ever find out.

                  Finance this car with Drivenfi

                  https://www.autocar.co.uk/

                    Best for: refinement

                    Skoda branched out into the seven-seat SUV market in 2016, launching a car that split the difference between full-sized and mid-sized options quite cleverly.

                    The Kodiaq, now in its second generation, has a big cabin and a generous boot for a car of its price and size, and all versions of it bar the bottom-rung variant get seven seats as standard.

                    The one dimension in which the car is lacking a bit of space is cabin width, and because the middle second-row seat can't be slid into an offset position relative to both outer ones, it's tricky to get three child seats installed side by side.

                    The Kodiaq's engine range consists of a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol with mild-hybrid assistance and a 2.0-litre diesel.

                    Both are admirable units, but it's a shame the PHEV powertrain is available only in the five-seater, especially with its impressive 70-mile EV-only range. 

                    All Kodiaqs are pleasant and easy to drive, if a little bit firm-riding in some editions.

                    Finance this car with Drivenfi

                    Back to top
                    https://www.autocar.co.uk/Mercedes%20GLB%20best%207-seat%20cars

                      Best for: Comfort

                      Mercedes has adopted an interesting design strategy with its new smallest SUV: to miniaturise much of the visual DNA of its largest (the GLS) and also to squeeze in seven seats as standard into a vehicle small enough that you probably wouldn't expect to find them.

                      Both factors might just help to sell the car in an increasingly crowded market. The GLB is available as a 200 petrol, 200d diesel, 220d diesel or AMG 35 petrol that borrows its 302bhp turbocharged 2.0-litre four from the AMG A35 hot hatch.

                      Even the base petrol engine serves up ample performance for what's a fairly laid-back-feeling car on the road, with ride quality being impressive on adaptive dampers and body control a little soft and permissive but still good.

                      The four-wheel-drive 4Matic models are also impressive off-road, rivalling the Land Rover Discovery Sport for go-anywhere ability.

                      Finally, Mercedes has broadened the GLB's appeal with an electric EQB version, which retains the option of seven seats.

                      That's available in 225bhp EQB 300 and 288bhp EQB 350 guises, both with a dual-motor, four-wheel-drive set-up. It's comfortable and easy to drive, but with prices starting at just over £55,000, it's not cheap, while a range of up to 257 miles falls well behind cheaper, albeit five-seat, rivals.

                      Finance this car with Drivenfi

                      FAQs

                      What is a seven-seat car?

                      It might sound obvious, but a seven-seat car is a car with... seven seats. It's shocking, we know. The important thing is that seven-seat cars come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from the more compact yet still-capacious Dacia Jogger to the vastly more sizable Kia EV9. Generally, seven-seat cars feature a 2/3/2 seating layout with varying degrees of modification. You can often fold down the third-most row to form a huge rear cargo space or get rid the second and third row of seats completely to create a van-like load area. In short, seven-seat SUVs are highly practical options for transporting both people, pets and goods in great comfort. 

                      Are seven-seat cars expensive?

                      Seven-seater cars are generally more expensive than their five-seater compatriots, but this isn't always true. The Dacia Jogger, for example, is a seriously high-value proposition - it's the cheapest seven-seater car on sale in the UK by some considerable distance, with prices starting from under £20,000. Prices can rise pretty quickly, though. Many of the more premium options can start from over £70,000, but these often include a serious level of technology to put them a level above models like the Jogger. 

                      What's the best seven-seat car on sale today?

                      There's a decent and rising number of seven-seat cars on sale in the UK, but our undisputed top pick is the Volvo XC90. It might be getting older now, but it's still great to drive compared to many of its rivals, comfortable, extremely practical and tech-filled. Read our top ten list for a deeper dive on the XC90. 

                      What are the benefits of owning a seven-seat car?

                      There are several benefits to owning a seven-seat car, the most obvious being the high level of practicality on offer. They're incredibly flexible, with multiple seating arrangements possible and space for the whole family, a trip to the shops or to the tip. They're often premium models so come fully equipped as standard, with easily removable seats. 

                      Are there any cons to owning a seven-seater car?

                      Aside from costing slightly more than a regular five-seater, seven-seat cars do have some other downsides. Firstly, they're often seriously big machines that are more difficult to drive around town and park in tight spaces. While many seven-seat cars come with significant third-row space, some models aren't suitable for adults to sit in the back due to poor legroom.  Because they're larger and naturally heavier, seven-seat cars can also offer worse fuel economy and are worse in the handling department than regular SUVs. That said, it's often dependent on the powertrain. 

                      Join the debate

                      Comments
                      2
                      Add a comment…
                      SensibleCars 25 October 2024
                      Article ignores the electric Peugeot Rifter/ Citroen Berlingo. Which are way more practical efficient and cheaper than most of these.
                      Twickers 9 October 2023
                      Don't VW still do the Touran ?