Baby on the way - need a different car!

manic

All being well, our first child is due in July.

Due to the fact that our only car is a 2 seater sports car, I will have to replace it.

I am looking for any advice on any models that people use daily, that can cope with a small family & all the "stuff" that goes with them.

I know that a lot of views are personal preference, but any view is useful.

Also, if you can point me in the direction of useful websites etc. it will aid my search.

Thanks.

plumpmouse

Hi congratulations

When I first had my son we had a ford Ka. It was too small really. We couldn't even fit his small buggy in the boot never mind his big pram.

So when he was 10 months old we bought a second hand Citroen Xsara Picasso. it is fab and as we plan to extend our family asap it is perfect all round.

It is worth having a look round and finding one that you like and feel comfortable with because as you said it is purely personal preference

Good luck with the new arrival

Davesmum_2

Congrats!

My advice is to get yourself one of those Eddie Stobbart Lorries.....you still wont have room for all the wee ones stuff!!!

LOL

Lots of luck with your new addition,

Spendless

I'd agree with make sure you have a big enough boot for all baby stuff.

I also had a 4 door car rather than a 2 to save stretching over to put baby in car seat in back.

Good Luck with the new arrival

nearlyrich

I would suggest taking your pram to test size of boot, my daughter had to learn to walk fast when I changed my car. :-[ I second the suggestion of 4 doors, also look for airbags that you can turn off so you can put forward facing car seat in passenger seat whilst baby is small. Congratulations on your new family.

trafalgar_2

Congrats!

My advice is to get yourself one of those Eddie Stobbart Lorries.....you still wont have room for all the wee ones stuff!!!

LOL

Lots of luck with your new addition,

That is so true and it seems the bigger the car you get the more stuff you NEED to take;D

Mumoffour

well after having four children I would say get a car with a very reasonable boot because if you succumb to temptation and get a big pushchair - a three wheeler or any of the mamas and papas range- they tend to fill the boot up so theres no space for your shopping.

kissmekate_2

Grrr just lost my post

Anyhows it said buy a new Xara Picasso cos they are FAB we have the new diesel and have 2 young kids plus go camping so have ooddles of kit to take.

check out the citroen owners forum, v useful. Will have a look in a min to try to find a link.

crankup

We changed from a Citroen ZX when our 1st was born. The boot was taken up by the pram and any shopping was piled in any space available.

We replaced with an old Renault Scenic. Loads of space now, its a skip on wheels!! Ideal for runs to the tip too!!

If I had the choice (ie: money) I would've got an MPV that had sliding rear doors. Much more useful in carparks when wrestling a child in and out with a car parked close next to you. Berlingos are a good price - not quite the looks that a sports car offers though!

don9999

I won't say it's the best (as I have little experience of owning other MPVs) but I have a Renault Grand Scenic which I can highly recommend.

Notice the 'grand' which means that it is about a foot longer than a standard scenic - this enables it to have an additional two seats in the back. These are usually laid flat in the boot, but can be lifted up when needed - this proves extremely useful when taking the grandparents out for a day-trip etc. (the rear seats are smaller though so we put the kids in those, which they love, and the grandparents can then go in the normal rear seats).

OK, so a 7-seater is rarely needed, but.....with the seats slid into the floor, it means that the boot space is HUGE! Indeed, we always have a dual buggy AND a single buddy in the boot at all times! (Having three young kids, although two are just walking, we need the option of being able to push one, two or all three!)

But even with the two buggies in the boot, there's still plenty of room for a shopping trip. Or a day-trip with all the usual kiddy stuff. As a decent example, we went to Eurodisney for a 5-day trip in December. Taking all three kids, we also took the aingle AND dual buggy, two suitcases, and a number of other sundry bags - including bottle sterliliser (for baby) etc...

As I said....the boot is huge.

And the Grand Scenic has the usual advantages of four doors, easy access, numerous cubby holes, excellent ride and handling etc. Also, (I think) it is the only MPV with the maximum 5* NCAP rating, which makes it the safest MPV on the road - a very important point when transporting your young family. It has driver and passenger airbags, together with side airbags etc.

We have the 1.9 diesel which is quite economical (about 40 odd miles to the gallon) and surprisingly powerful.

The Grand Scenic only came out in April of this year, but it only cost about £1,000 more than the standard Scenic. I suspect second-hand vehicles will start to come onto the market shortly, so I suspect these will present excellent value for money!

Cheers,
Don

toadhall

when our third child was born, we bought a fiat multipla. i know it doesn't look normal, but inside is a dream. you can fit loads in the boot including a double pushchair and you still have a spare seat to put granny.
also if you remove the seats, which is dead easy, you can get two billy bookcases from ikea in! ::)