Help Small car and Two in One advice required!

bazza1603

Hi,

I need to buy a new Five door car which is as small as possible, but yet still has room in the boot for a two in one pram. I have a Budget of £8000.

Has anyone got one of these cars, and has also had experience of sticking a pram in the boot?

First choice

Honda Jazz
Ford Focus ( Old shape )
Nissan Almera

Would also consider depending on Boot space

Ford Fiesta 5 Door
Ford Fusion
Vauxhall Corsa 5 Door

Can anyone suggest a pram that closes up quickly and is small as well? Baby must be able to lie down flat hence we dont want a 3 in one.

Been to Mothercare etc and come back more confused.

Thanks in advance

Barry

Savvy_Sue

To be honest, baby's going to outgrow a small pram in a few months so I personally wouldn't base my choice of car just on that!

I'm not entirely sure what you've looked by way of prams, my recollection is that many buggies have a 'carrycot' option which you attach to the frame instead of the seat, which you use later. The carrycot can be unclipped and used indoors, but they're often not a lot bigger than a moses basket. However they can be folded flat whereas a moses basket can't!

You can get bigger carrycot prams, where the top lifts off and they are a bit bigger, but then so is the base.

I'm probably not being a lot of use, but it's just that babies do grow out of carrycots and prams so quickly! And once they can roll and rock themselves around they have to be strapped in and they don't all like that!

jo_b_2

I've got a Citroen C3 and the boot is surprisingly roomy considering it's quite a small car.

We had a large bulky Britax travel system and that fitted in the boot ok. No room for anything else though.

Jay-Jay_4

Hi,

I agree that although it's important to buy a car to fit your pram, they grow out of carrycot type prams before you can blink.

Is there a particular reason why baby must lie flat?

With such a budget you've got a good choice, have you had a look at any and got a feel for them?

My sister has a Ford Focus (X plate) and I was amazed at how much room, both inside and in the boot, she has.

divadee

I would think about getting one of those travel systems, where the baby sits in teh car set and then you lift that off the wheels and put it in the car.

They didnthave this when little miss divadee was young and i had a big lay flat pram, it was heavy and big to fit in my car (ford fiesta at the time) i used it for the first 4 months then went for an umbrella buggy much lighter and smaller.

If you will be doing loads of walking i would say get a proper pram if you will be going by car most of the time get one of those travel systems.

John_M_Business

First of all, all three of the cars you mentioned should be fine... don't go for anything smaller (i.e. Fiesta-sized or smaller).

Secondly, I'm firmly of the belief that you should get 'horses for courses'. Although the two-in-one and three-in-one travel systems SEEM to be a good idea what it means is that you actually sacrifice future mobility with an immediate need.

What I mean is this, although they allow you to push a newborn around, in the long term, when they become pushchairs, they're heavy, unwieldy and your child might STILL outgrow them. Remember that a baby is in a pram for about three months, probably less (my son was in his for a mere 6 weeks). This is less than 10% of his total 'being pushed around' lifetime.

I suggest that what you do is this: see if you can borrow a pram from someone, or buy a reasonable one second hand - just don't splash the cash on a multi-purpose-not-particularly-good-at-anything solution. At the same time, get a decent 'from three months' pushchair (Maclaren do some good ones, but I got a Babydan Stockholm).

From three months onwards, you'll then have a much more mobile, collapsible and versatile solution.

Get car seats separately, which you do in most cases anyway.

Lillibet_2

Don't know how it would work with a baby as our first is still on it's way, but I used to have an Almera & it was a dream if you don't mind being seen in one! Tons of boot space (springer spaniel & camping equipment & all the "stuff" which comes with a ornatholigist husband!) Huge roomy split back seats (I could kip on them for several hours comfortable), didn't break down once in 4 years, cheap to service & very ecnomical on the petrol.

Am seriously regretting getting rid of it now that a baby's on the way & we are left with a 2 door Rover but we can't afford to change it again.

carpool72

My friend had a Focus and it was great with her 2-in 1 and some shopping. On the pram front, I know why you want a lie flat option for a teeny but you'll only use a small pram for a couple of months before it's too small & you have to use the pushchair - not vg value in my book. I've got a Chicco pushchair with 3 seat angles, including flat and I got a 2nd hand Silver Cross pram for £40 which I use for walking places from home - still using both with a tall 19 month old! I definitely think this is a better option if you've got room for a pram in the house. My friends had 2-in-1s and they all replaced them with buggies within the first year...