Cars

monkeysnapper

I was wondering if this would be better in motoring , mods feel free to move if want.

We have 2 children , 3 years and 7 months, we hope to go one more time before we retire the old feller.

We have 2 cars, a Audi a4 avant 2003 90k miles and a Peugeot partner car, 165k miles 2004 the later is about had it but the audi is still good, the mrs wants rid of both cars and get a citroen grand picasso . I still reakon we don't really need another car other than the Audi .

Can I just ask a few people to tell me how many kids they have and what car they use .

slarkin123

I bought a 7 seater for 3 kids. The previous one only had 2 seats in the back so a family day out with the Hubby was impossible if his car was off the road. My 2 eldest do more arguing about who's sitting where it was really getting on my nerves. I took the middle seat out to make access to the very back easier. Now the baby has his regular seat and the other 2 can sit where they like. Blissful journeys with no arguments.

Sleepy

2 kids, Ford Mondeo which has more than enough room.

I really don't get, and in fact rather despise, the "oh we have kids now, must buy a jeep/MPV" mentality. It's making the roads more dangerous as the high driving position and size of their vehicle gives some drivers the impression that they're far safer than they are when hurtling along a back-road with a higher centre of gravity than is necessary and the heightened sense of their own safety makes many of these drivers careless of others' safety, especially pedestrians and cyclists.

The time to buy something that can handle three seats is when the o/h is expecting a third child. Having driven both the A4 and the Picasso, you'll be miserable in the latter: while not a bad car for an MPV, it's still awful to drive when compared to the A4 or anything of it's ilk. At that time, I'd be looking to see which saloons can take 3 car seats. IIRC the 5 series can, along with some of the bigger Volvo's. There was a thread on the motors forum about saloons that can take 3 baby seats recently actually. A search should turn it up pretty quickly.

bbam

We have a c4 GP 7 seater and love it.
We only have two kids but for school runs we have a system with a few other parents where we take turns picking each others kids up after school. This works great for all involved.
Do we need the 7 seater, strictly no. But this our second and the flexibility it affords is worth it for us.

January

3 kids and we have a Citroen xsara Picasso, 2003 model. We had an opel zafira for about a month but it died on us.

Lisha

2kids aged 5 and nearly3. I drive a skoda octavia
It won't fit a third seat in the back which is a pity for sharing school run etc but as we do not intend having any more kids we won't be buying a bigger car
When I bought this car I was also looking at Kia ceed estate am sorry I did not look at this more as I think it would have taken 3 seats in back

Moonbeam

We have a Nissan Primer a but we can only fit 2 kids in it so I bought a 07 Ford Galaxy.
It makes life so much easier is nicer to drive,more comfortable and there is so much space .

RubyGirl

Skoda Octavia here aswell, two kids aged 5 & 7. Works for us. Have a neighbour and she was going to go for her 3 child and the first thing she bought is a 7 seater, makes me laugh really. Two years later and no baby and a car they really dont need. She ended up getting a job promotion which came with a company car.

Op, if your going looking at changing one of your cars then maybe look at a 7 seater, but if your deciding on having a 3 child then hold off for a while.

I do school runs and have no problem with seats, I bought an seat belt extension for the back middle seat. My 7 year old can sit in the front with a booster.

Lagoona Blue

RubyGirl wrote: »

Skoda Octavia here aswell, two kids aged 5 & 7. Works for us. Have a neighbour and she was going to go for her 3 child and the first thing she bought is a 7 seater, makes me laugh really. Two years later and no baby and a car they really dont need. She ended up getting a job promotion which came with a company car.

Op, if your going looking at changing one of your cars then maybe look at a 7 seater, but if your deciding on having a 3 child then hold off for a while.

I do school runs and have no problem with seats, I bought an seat belt extension for the back middle seat. My 7 year old can sit in the front with a booster.

HI RubyGirl sorry to hijack the thread but where did you buy your seatbelt extension , I'm looking for one also and are they any good ? thanks.

Byzantium4

Bear in mind a lot of people have trouble fitting three car seats across the back of most normal cars, say even you end up with one in a booster, one in a group 1 seat and an infant carrier then you might end up having the booster in the front and then an adult in the back! I would say swing by a baby shop and try and see would you fit 3 car seats across- just so you know! Then if you do end up having a third child look into changing the car.

RubyGirl

Lagoona Blue wrote: »

HI RubyGirl sorry to hijack the thread but where did you buy your seatbelt extension , I'm looking for one also and are they any good ? thanks.

http://www.bestautobits.com/ works great for me.

hairyslug

We have 3, 1yo, 2 1/2 and 4, all in car seats all fit comfortably in the kia sorento, mpg works out at about 37 and the boot is big enough for a double pram and a full load of shopping, cant fault the car at all

monkeysnapper

hairyslug wrote: »

We have 3, 1yo, 2 1/2 and 4, all in car seats all fit comfortably in the kia sorento, mpg works out at about 37 and the boot is big enough for a double pram and a full load of shopping, cant fault the car at all

What year is that and how much road tax, engine size ect, thanks:)

Moonbeam

hairyslug wrote: »

We have 3, 1yo, 2 1/2 and 4, all in car seats all fit comfortably in the kia sorento, mpg works out at about 37 and the boot is big enough for a double pram and a full load of shopping, cant fault the car at all

What car seats do you use ?
The car seats are going to be a huge factor in what fits .

hairyslug

Moonbeam wrote: »

What car seats do you use ?
The car seats are going to be a huge factor in what fits .

Britax first class plus, dimples storm and graco maxi, theres enough leg room for my eldest to walk through to her middle seat

hairyslug

monkeysnapper wrote: »

What year is that and how much road tax, engine size ect, thanks:)

This is where its no so good, tax is about 1200, its a 2.4ltr diesel, not fast in anyway will tick along at 120kph but i find sticking to 100 is much better for mpg, its a 04, bought it for 5k with 65000 on the clock

monkeysnapper

hairyslug wrote: »

This is where its no so good, tax is about 1200,

OUCH!!!!!

I'm sorry I just couldn't justify paying that much tax , I'd imagine loads of them are getting scraped every year around that age based on if their all that much to tax.

RosieJoe

3 kids aged 8, 6 and 4. Bought a Zafira in 08 for the imminent arrival of the last baby. Just upgraded to a Qashqai. Bit smaller but not as concerned with trying to fit 3 baby seats in as all are now in boosters.