Best 7 seater cars 2024

If carrying as many people as possible is a priority, a 7 seater car fits the bill. The very latest come with fewer compromises than ever before. Here are the best

By Craig Cheetham Jan 17, 2024

There’s now an ever-growing selection of appealing 7 seater cars on the market to cater for all tastes. Even better, there’s a model to suit every budget, with prices starting from under £20,000 and stretching well into six figures for those who want to blend carrying capacity with a little luxury.

So if you need to carry more than five people at a time, you no longer have to succumb to an ungainly minibus-like people carrier just to keep your friends and family mobile.

 

From trendy SUVs with chunky good looks, to all-electric and hybrid options, and even 4x4s that will venture off road, 7 seater cars are increasingly covering all bases, while providing unparalleled convenience and flexibility.

If you're a family who needs the space for children and car seats, a seven seater is a guaranteed way of making sure you have the room required - especially if you want three child seats across the back row. Here are our favourite 7 seater cars that you can buy now.

 

Kia Sorento

Best 7 seater car for a long warranty
Our pick: Kia Sorento 2.2 CRDi KX-3
Read our full Kia Sorento review

With the benefit of a seven-year warranty and a good reliability record, it’s no surprise that the Kia Sorento SUV is one of the most popular 7 seater cars in the UK. 

The Sorento offers a spacious cabin and good-sized back-row seats, which are comfortable enough for children on the longest of journeys and adults on shorter trips. They’d be better still if the middle seats tumbled forwar. As it is, they just tilt and slide out of the way.

The quality of the interior is impressive. And if you can’t stretch to a new one, the Kia Sorento is great value as a used 7 seater car.

    

Land Rover Discovery Sport

Best 7 seater car for SUV for 4x4 ability
Our pick: Land Rover Discovery Sport 2.0 TD4/D180 SE
Read our full Land Rover Discovery Sport review

If you want a 7 seater car with style and prestige, then the Land Rover Discovery Sport is the perfect option. It’s almost as extravagant as a Range Rover, but more practical and far less expensive. It’s also pretty impressive off-road if you do fancy venturing off the beaten track.

The Land Rover Discovery Sport fits a lot into a relatively compact SUV, with a quality feel to the cabin and a reasonable amount of space across all three rows of seats. 

With a diesel engine and nine-speed automatic gearbox driving all four wheels permanently, the Discovery Sport goes well and has impressive road manners, offering strong comfort levels and surprisingly good agility.

    

SEAT Tarraco

Best 7 seater car for modern SUV looks
Our pick: SEAT Tarraco 245PS 2.0 TSI 4Drive
Read our full SEAT Tarraco review

If you’re looking for a 7 seater car that has sporty style and kerbside appeal, then SEAT Tarraco may well have just what you’re looking for. 

The SEAT Tarraco shares its underpinnings with the Skoda Kodiaq and Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace, but with its own styling and a more driver-focused cabin. 

It’s SEAT’s first 7 seater SUV and it’s a strong effort, with a choice of 2.0-litre diesel or TFSI petrol engines and manual or DSG auto transmissions. In practicality terms the SEAT Tarraco is a more spacious and functional than most of its rivals. It’s a good all-rounder that's cheaper than both the Skoda and Volkswagen.

     

Skoda Kodiaq

Best 7 seater car for SUV for value and practicality
Our pick: Skoda Kodiaq 1.5 TSI SE L
Read our full Skoda Kodiaq review

Delivering a great combination of value for money, style and quality, the Skoda Kodiaq is more than practical enough to render larger SUVs redundant if you want a spacious 7 seater car that is easy enough to drive around town and less expensive to buy than most.

The sliding middle seats mean you can get seven adults in the car with comfort. In our view it offers the best mix of passenger space, luggage capacity and ease of driving among the medium-sized 7 seater SUVs on the market right now. 

The cabin feels upmarket and can be specified with a large touchscreen multimedia system. It’s a crystal clear, easy-to-operate display that has some of the most intuitive menus of any car.

   

Dacia Jogger

Best 7 seater car for sheer value
Our pick: Dacia Jogger 1.0 TCe Comfort
Read our Dacia reviews

With a starting price of just over £18,000, the Dacia Jogger is exceedingly good value and only the MG ZS can match it in terms of the space on offer for the price.

But the Dacia Jogger has a trump card all of its own in the form of being a 7 seater car. Indeed, it’s the least expensive 7 seater SUV on sale in the UK right now, and the only one under £20,000.

Admittedly, the entry-level Essential model isn’t going to wow you in the specification department but the higher-spec models are better equipped, while the lively three-cylinder 1.0 TCe models offer a lot of character and from ‘Comfort’ specification upwards they have all of the features you’re likely to need. The Dacia Jogger is also surprisingly stylish thanks to its new front-end styling.

     

Audi Q7

Best 7 seater car for refinement and luxury
Our pick: Audi Q7 3.0 TDI S line
Read our full Audi Q7 review

The latest Audi Q7 is lighter and more agile than its predecessor, but remains one of the more imposing 7 seater cars on sale today, with a distinctive grille and a hard-to-ignore presence. 

It’s one of the most spacious 7 seater SUVs money can buy and among the smoothest to drive, especially when fitted with optional air-suspension. The diesel engines are quiet and the more powerful version gives the car impressive performance.

Despite its size, the Audi Q7 is a comfortable, relaxed car to drive, making it a great all-weather, all-purpose machine. It also offers serious feelgood factor, looking stylish but not brash and having a plush feel to the cabin.

    

Land Rover Discovery

Best 7 seater car for rear seat space
Our pick: Land Rover Discovery 3.0 TD6/D250 HSE
Read our full Land Rover Discovery review

The current generation Land Rover Discovery took a bit of getting used to with its unusual looks, but it remains one of the most luxurious and competent SUVs on the market and is especially appealing as a used buy.

The cabin is particularly wide and the third row of seats is more than bearable for adults to use on a long trip – which isn’t always the case, even with large 7 seater cars. It makes a superb workhorse, particularly when towing. Capable of hauling a substantial 3500kg and with one of the best all-terrain capabilities of any 4x4, the Land Rover Discovery can do a lot more than just ferry the kids around.

If you never plan to make the most of the impressive off-road ability, however, the upmarket Audi Q7 and BMW X7 are appealing alternatives.

    

BMW X7

Best 7 seater car for an engaging drive
Our pick: BMW X7 xDrive40i
Read our BMW X7 review

BMW’s boldest-ever venture into the 7 seater car market answers an unflinching upturn in demand for large SUVs from markets such as China, where the BMW and X7 are both seen as huge status symbols.

In part, that explains the huge grille – in markets where brand is everything, you can’t mistake what make the BMW X7 is. 

It’s not a car for shrinking violets, but from a driver’s perspective, in xDrive40i form with a 380PS straight-six under the bonnet, the BMW X7 is one of the most engaging 7 seater SUVs that money can buy. The interior is a work of art, too.

   

Tesla Model X

Best 7 seater car for for zero-emission journeys
Our pick: Tesla Model X Dual Motor
Read our full Tesla Model X review

One of the most recognisable cars around, the Tesla Model X has back doors that open like a pelican flapping. The interior more closely resembles an Apple Store than a car while the driving experience is an event in itself for most owners, with seamless electric power and a surprising amount of speed on tap. 

Before rushing to place that order, however, it’s important to determine whether an electric 7 seater car is for you. Some diesel-powered SUVs can travel for more than 500 miles between visits to a fuel station, and even then, filling up with fuel is a five-minute job. However, that’s not the case with the electric Tesla Model X.

In Dual Motor guise it can drive for a claimed maximum of 358 miles between charges – which is likely to be less in day-to-day driving. But it only takes about 90 minutes to fully charge it again, using a public Tesla Supercharger. 

   

Volvo XC90

Best 7 seater car for sophistication and plug-in practicality
Our pick: Volvo XC90 T8 Recharge R-Dynamic
Read our full Volvo XC90 review

Not sure about going for an electric SUV, but don’t want a conventional petrol or diesel model? The Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid provides a good compromise, offering the prospect of up to around 30 miles of electric range – provided you remember to top up the batteries before you leave home – with the back-up of a conventional petrol engine.

It has a petrol engine and a large battery that can be charged from the mains. Fuel economy is spectacular on short journeys with a fully-charged battery, but drops significantly once the electricity runs out and the car relies on petrol power, since you still have all the weight of the battery and electric motor to cart around, but with little electric boost.

Where it really scores, though, is in its comfort and feel-good factor. The Volvo XC90 is a quality car, with masses of luxury features. One thing it isn’t, though, is cheap, with prices starting at over £60,000.