Ford People mover Range

It all depends on how you define long and bulky. But no seven-seater is going to be exactly small, is it? That’s because, to accommodate the third row of seats necessary to seat seven a vehicle physically has to be a certain length and there’s just no getting around that.

But I take your point; a lot of the seven-seat SUVs out there do seem pretty big. Again, however, that’s not a bad thing if you plan to fill all three rows of seats and still have some room left for luggage. The smaller seven-seaters aren’t all that good at this as the third row gobbles up the luggage space, making these cars best for those who only need seven seats on an occasional basis. If that’s your situation there are lots of mid-sized seven seaters around, but they’re pretty much all SUVs.

And while it goes against your preference for a smaller vehicle, the very best seven-seaters aren’t SUVs. They’re usually people-mover vans such as the Ford Tourneo, Kia Carnival and VW ID. Buzz. In fact, some of these even seat eight. They’re also a lot better for accessing the rearmost row of seats and they’ll still have lots of luggage space even with all seats occupied. And, yes, they look big, but that’s physics for you.

In the meantime, you could look at slightly less bulky options including the Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-80 and Toyota Kluger. There’s also been speculation recently that Subaru’s seven-seat Tribeca might make a return to the Australian market.

You’ve gone down the right path by having the vehicle scanned first, and even though no fault codes were revealed, that doesn’t mean it was a waste of time. In some cases, a mechanic experienced in a particular make and model will know that a fault with no code is caused by a specific part or piece of software. LS1 Holden V8s, for instance can experience a misfire with no code showing up. In that case, an experienced LS1 mechanic will go straight to the spark plugs as the cause.

So the best advice is to find a Ford Transit specialist as this problem has almost certainly occurred before to somebody else. Be aware, too, that Transits built between September 2014 and January 2015 were subject to a recall to replace a batch of faulty fuel injectors which were causing the precise symptoms you’ve noted. Ford believed the problem was solved for vehicles built after January 2015 (including yours) but it’s worth checking since it was a big enough problem for Ford Australia to issue a fleet-wide recall.

If there are any common problems and complaints about Ford's reliability or faults, they'll likely show up on our Ford problems page. You can also calculate a car's projected resale value via our price and specs page.