Pregnant Wife, need a new car!

Murphy_The_Cat

Here's a wild card suggestion for you - A PT Cruiser.

My wife has a diesel PT and absolutely loves it. It has nearly all the practicality of a MPV, but has the driving charecteristics of a hatchback.

& with the rear seats being higher Murphy The Kitten has a great view out as well.

MTC

nej

I had a Freelander once, never had a problem with it and was the only car I was ever sad to get rid of.

Anyway, if you want a 4x4 how about a Honda CRV? It will never go wrong and is a bit bigger than a Freelander.

Personally I'm getting a Mitsubishi Grandis - have a look at it, great car for the money and the only people carrier that actually has some style!

michaels

I rented a diesel pt cruiser - fine drive but I found you had to have the front seats forward a bit to fit a rear-facing child seat behind them so not so good for the comfort of those in the front and a real issue if it is the drivers seat that need to be moved. Also the wide 'a' pillar made visitibility difficult on bends/junctions (though this may have been partly the difference of driving on the right).

Murphy_The_Cat

michaels wrote:

I rented a diesel pt cruiser - fine drive but I found you had to have the front seats forward a bit to fit a rear-facing child seat behind them so not so good for the comfort of those in the front and a real issue if it is the drivers seat that need to be moved. Also the wide 'a' pillar made visitibility difficult on bends/junctions (though this may have been partly the difference of driving on the right).

Hi Michaels

I wonder if the travel system / baby seat makes a difference ?

I'm 6 ft 3" tall and have the seat quite a long way back and we used the Mamas & Papas freestler travel system which attatched to a base in the back of the car (rear facing) - the odd thing is that we always thought that The Tot had lots of room back there ! ceratinly more than in my Rover 75.

I#m not disagreeing about your comment regarding the A pillar, & rear visibility could be better, but all in all, Mrs Cat loves her Cruiser and has got used to the "visibility" issues.

MTC

golddustmedia

I've just done the parenthood thing myself and we had to sell our Alfa Romeo to make way for a family car.

We went for a Vauxhall meriva because of the flexible seating arrangements. (very useful to shift rear seats forward to help secure child seat in place or make way for pushchair in boot).

The focus C-max looks similar, but my advice is get something flexible that you can easily strap baby seat in and out of. Also you'll be amazed how much space gets taken up with pushchair, change bag, etc etc etc.

TBC

Depends on what you need/want from a car but if you don't want to lose the sporty side of your current car heres another wildcard.... Subaru Legacy

If you get the UK version then I can fully recommend the estate version, best in 2.2 form but they come with all the toys and start at 1.8, no lip on the boot to lift things over, the back is huge.... We have two children and quite often have either of the double prams, tandam or sidebyside AND a single pram AND a months shopping AND still have room left.

If you go for a Jap import like I have then forget the Scenic with it's sun shades, they come from the factory with limo privacy glass in all the glass behind the front doors, they come with climate control, autobox or manual format for the older ones and even offer a paddle type tiptronic box on the post 2001's, they are lower than uk cars making loading super easy....

Basically it's a family car that you can even take to a track session and compete with the big boys (as standard).

If you want anymore info, I can give you the link to the UK owners club where you will find many proud owners.
Quite a few mine included have been magazine featured due to the strange combination of all out performance and practicality.