Kia 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.

The four-cylinder engine in your car is fitted with a timing chain which should be good for the life of the engine. Other Kia engines including the V6 used a rubber timing belt which requires periodical replacement. However, it’s not that simple and some owners have found that even engines with timing chains need these replaced long before the engine has worn out.

It’s sometimes a case of flawed design or poor quality parts that causes this, but in the majority of cases, timing chain failure is caused by a lack of proper maintenance on the part of the car’s owner.

Oil manufacturers recommend a 5W20 or 5W30 fully synthetic oil for this vehicle. For the record, you’ll need 4,5 litres to perform an oil change, and don’t forget to replace the oil filter at the same time. Putting clean oil through an old, dirty filter makes no sense.