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What is the best 7 seater to buy on a tight budget?

I am a single mother of three small children and I need to buy a 7-seater car. I have a budget of $5000. I am aware that I will be buying a bomb, I just need advice on the make and model of it. All I want is to minimise the risk of having to buy another one in 1-2 years, as much as possible. I also want a car with heaps of spare secondhand parts available, as I will probably be spending quite some time and money at the mechanic in the years after buying the car. So my main needs are: 7 seats, reliability, and cheap parts. I have looked at Toyota Taragos, but they seem to be a lot older or have done a lot more kilometres compared to other 7-seaters. I only hear bad things about KIAs of that age, but do see a lot of them on the road. Should I buy an SUV instead of a peoplemover? I don't mind about the extra space, I just care about the 7-seats.

Your budget of $5000 is a problem. Whatever you buy will be old and have a lot of kilometres on the clock. I wouldn’t recommend an early Kia Carnival, they had engine troubles, the Tarago would seem your best, even though the car you buy will have a done a lot of kilometres. Toyotas are generally reliable over the long term, parts are readily available for them, and they’re easy to work on for the average mechanic.

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