Seven seats are pretty normal now.

Back when I was younger, not so much.

If you needed seven seats, the list wasn’t exactly endless. You had the Renault Espace, Nissan Serena, Ford Galaxy, Volkswagen Sharan and SEAT Alhambra. There were others, obviously, but those were the ones everybody knew.

And the Ford, Volkswagen and SEAT were basically cousins wearing different shirts.

My dad bought the Sharan.

I still remember seeing it for the first time. Silver outside, light grey and cream inside, pale headlining and, most importantly, it actually looked and felt like a car.

That sounds obvious now, but back then quite a few seven-seaters looked like somebody had taken a van, cut some windows into it and called it family transport.

I remember asking my dad why he picked the Volkswagen instead of the Ford or SEAT.

His answer was simple.

“The badge.”

To him Volkswagen meant build quality. Fair enough.

Then I asked why he didn’t buy the Renault Espace.

Again, simple answer.

“It looks like a van. I wanted a car.”

Also fair enough.

Fast forward to now and you’re spoiled for choice. Seven seats can come in SUVs, estates, MPVs, crossovers and plenty of cars that don’t scream “school minibus”.

But there’s still a catch.

Some seven-seaters are really five-seaters with two emergency chairs hidden in the boot.

Great if the people sitting back there are eight years old. Slightly less great if Uncle Dave is six foot two.

Some give you seven seats but absolutely nowhere to put seven people’s luggage. Others are brilliant inside but so big you start planning supermarket parking like a military operation.

So when someone says they need seven seats, that’s only the start of the conversation.

Do you need seven seats every day or twice a year? Adults or kids in the third row? Do you still need a proper boot when all the seats are up? Do you want SUV height or something that actually drives like a normal car?

That’s the bit we like getting into at National Car Finder.

Not just “here’s a seven-seater”.

More like “here’s the seven-seater that actually works for you”.

Because yes, you can carry seven people.

But ideally you’d like all seven of them still speaking to you when you arrive.