What Car Q&A October 2009 - Do any cars have eight seats?

Do any cars have eight seats?
Q) Do any new cars have eight seats? I can find plenty with seven, but that extra chair would come in very handy when lugging around my kids and their mates. A friend suggested a Toyota Previa, but it seems these are no longer made. Should I start looking at minibuses?
Sarah Welling

A) There's no need to buy a full-on minibus, but there aren't a great deal of eight-seaters to choose from.

Cheapest of them is the Hyundai i800, which starts at £19,830. It isn't much to look and has two airbags only, but there are bags of interior space and it comes with a five-year warranty as standard.

Or you could try the Citroen C8. It's more comfortable and refined, and certainly less van-like than the Hyundai. Not all models can be specced with eight seats, though – the cheapest is the 2.2 Hid SX Auto (priced at £27,295).

The Mercedes-Benz Viano is another option. The cheapest eight-seater version costs £24,881, however the big Merc is noisy and not very versatile.

Remember all these prices are the manufacturer RRPs and not necessarily the amount you should pay. Check out the buyer's guide to find the Target Price for nearly every new car sold in the UK.