Parking in mother and child space

mildred1978

bigbulldog wrote: »

We live in such a rural area we don't have any street lighting,but have never needed to use a 4x4 to get around.

Well, I live on a very steep gradient and without it would struggle to get out when there's snow or ice.

Lum

mildred1978 wrote: »

Well, I live on a very steep gradient and without it would struggle to get out when there's snow or ice.

As has been done to death in the motoring forum, a 4x4 is not the answer to snow and ice problems, winter tyres are.

A 4x4 may make it slightly easier to start moving in the snow, but all cars, 4x4 or otherwise, have 2 wheel steering and 4 wheel braking, and 4x4s are heavier than normal cars, so tend to fare worse in the snow and ice once they're moving. Being able to stop and steer is the most important if you're to avoid an accident.

We managed just fine in the welsh valleys with a rear wheel drive car that is famous for going sideways, it's one of the most popular cars for drifting events, slap a set of Nokian WR-G2s on there, which cost about half the price of the car's regular tyres, and it's absolutely fine in the snow. It's my partner's car and she is disabled, so it was important that this car work. Didn't let her down, got her to work even on days when her co-workers with much shorter commutes gave in.

Cost £360 for the tyres and £25 for a set of ebay wheels to put them on, and don't forget that while you are using the winter tyres you are keeping the wear off your summer tyres, meaning they last longer and it evens out. In fact every day she was driving around on the winter tyres we were actually making a profit as summer tyres for that car cost £500 for a set, so as well as being safer we were wearing out a cheaper set of tyres.

Only real problem we've had with the winter tyres is the need to avoid people in posh 4x4s running on low profile tyres who decide to try and keep up with one of our Nissans and then lose control as soon as we need to brake. It's kinda scary having to make an emergency lane change into the unploughed lane of a dual carriageway to allow a pillock in an X5 to slide past you on the inside

A normal FWD car like a Focus or something, with a set of winter tyres will do just fine, save you a fortune in fuel and be a lot easier to park.

You can also get normal sized cars with 4x4 systems if you really want one. I have one, it was still hard work in the snow until I put the right tyres on it, at which point it was able to drive around in this just fine:

mildred1978

Lum wrote: »

As has been done to death in the motoring forum, a 4x4 is not the answer to snow and ice problems, winter tyres are.

A 4x4 may make it slightly easier to start moving in the snow, but all cars, 4x4 or otherwise, have 2 wheel steering and 4 wheel braking, and 4x4s are heavier than normal cars, so tend to fare worse in the snow and ice once they're moving. Being able to stop and steer is the most important if you're to avoid an accident.

We managed just fine in the welsh valleys with a rear wheel drive car that is famous for going sideways, it's one of the most popular cars for drifting events, slap a set of Nokian WR-G2s on there, which cost about half the price of the car's regular tyres, and it's absolutely fine in the snow.

Only real problem we've had with the winter tyres is the need to avoid people in posh 4x4s running on low profile tyres who decide to try and keep up with the Nissan and then lose control as soon as we need to brake. It's kinda scary having to make an emergency lane change into the unploughed lane of a dual carriageway to allow a pillock in an X5 to slide past you on the inside

A normal FWD car like a Focus or something, with a set of winter tyres will do just fine, save you a fortune in fuel and be a lot easier to park.

You can also get normal sized cars with 4x4 systems if you really want one. I have one, it was still crap in the snow until I put the right tyres on it, at which point it was able to drive around in this just fine:

Thanks. I may be female but I'm pretty knowledgeable about cars and physics, hence having a 4 door AWD saloon car as well as the 4x4 and another little sporty number. . Each car was bought for a purpose (and I refuse to drive anything that does more than 35mpg - where's the fun in that?!)

The 4x4 is diesel and so pulls nicely at slow speed up the welsh hills and on country roads without stalling. My AWD car is extremely powerful and prime to stalling unless the revs are pretty high. I don't want spare sets of wheels with winter and summer tyres on so all weather tyres and a choice of cars work for us.

I have no problems parking any of them anywhere (I got a round if applause for parallel parking the 4x4 into a space less than a foot longer than it on Friday) and have previously parked perfectly in reverse in a car park space blindfold . If there is only me in the car, or it's a parallel parking situation there is never an issue. I'm sick of leaving my car and coming back to find some cretin has parked inches from the side where there's obviously a child seat.

While heavily pregnant (and pre-4x4) someone parked on hatchings so close to the drivers door of my car that I couldn't get in. I couldn't climb over from the passenger side due to my huge bump. I was at the antenatal clinic, so why the other driver thought that a good idea mystifies me!

I just hate the lack of consideration shown by other drivers full stop.

Lum

mildred1978 wrote: »

Thanks. I may be female but I'm pretty knowledgeable about cars and physics, hence having a 4 door AWD saloon car as well as the 4x4 and another little sporty number. . Each car was bought for a purpose (and I refuse to drive anything that does more than 35mpg - where's the fun in that?!)

I wasn't having a dig at your gender, to be honest I barely paid your username much attention. It's just a really common topic in the motoring forum "Which gigantic 4x4 should I buy to deal with the 1/2 inch of snow that I'm likely to get this year BTW I live in Gloucester which is completely flat and close to sea level but there's this one molehill at the end of my drive and OMG! a snowflake! I'm going out for milk and bread now bye!"

Apologies for misjudging you, but hopefully you can see why I did based on that post.

Out of interest which car is that. Mine is an oddball one, a Nissan Cefiro SE-4 which is an obscure JDM one based on the R32 Skyline GTS-4.

I have no problems parking any of them anywhere (I got a round if applause for parallel parking the 4x4 into a space less than a foot longer than it on Friday) and have previously parked perfectly in reverse in a car park space blindfold . If there is only me in the car, or it's a parallel parking situation there is never an issue. I'm sick of leaving my car and coming back to find some cretin has parked inches from the side where there's obviously a child seat.

And this is where there is a difference. Worst case you could put the baby down on any available seat while you roll the car forward a few feet to make room to open the door and gain access to the child seat. Might have to wind down a window to pass the baby through, but it can be done. I realise it's not pleasant, but it's possible.

If you're a wheelchair user and you're on your own, as is often the case with my partner, you are completely and utterly screwed when someone does that! She needs to be able to open the door fully, and it's quite a wide door on a 200SX, as the chair needs to come in at about a 45 degree angle in order to do a transfer into the driver's seat.

I just hate the lack of consideration shown by other drivers full stop.

No argument about that here.

Edit: Personally I find a child seat in a car is an indication to not park next to it at all. I realise that the door needs to be open wide, but there's far too many parents out there who don't see a car as anything other than a tool and think it's perfectly fine to open the door until it hits someone's paintwork. Instead I'll go and find a shiny Porsche to park next to, and probably give the owner a heart attack when they come back to find someone has parked next to them in a 19 year old L reg Nissan.

Ellejmorgan

anguk wrote: »

I don't understand why parents seem to need prams and buggies and changing bags when they go to the supermarket? When my kids were babies I'd lift them out of the car, carry them to the store then put them in a baby trolley, when they were a bit older I'd get them out the car, hold their hand while we walked to the store then put them in a child trolley.

I also never had the need for a changing bag, going to the supermarket isn't my idea of a great day out, I think the longest I've ever spent in one is about an hour, so I'd change baby at home before going to the supermarket. On the odd occasion they filled their nappy while shopping they were fine until we got back home, even if they did stink the car out.

Sometimes I think we make our lives more difficult than they have to be.

I can't push a trolley unless my elder kids are with me, they have to push it, but I can just about push the baby in her pram, so if I need a few bits i'll take that..
Also another reason is our ASDA is in town and I may need to go somewhere else too so I'll take the pram...baby is only 5 months I very rarely go out without my eldest as she helps with the car seat etc, due to my spinal problems..

I think people find their first child more of a challenge also when I had my eldest I took the kitchen sink shopping, now it's a bottle, bib and nappy, back then it was spare blankets clothes, spare botttles, milk and got knows what else..
I think it gets easier the more you have, I have 3 and I find shopping easier now than I did when my eldest was a baby, didn't even have back problems then...