A little new Car Advice: Family sized vehicle.

[schmunk]

If you do any sort of travelling (to family, holidays in the UK etc.) you'll find a Fiesta a bit small for two adults and a baby - especially when you consider e.g. pushchair, cot, high seat, toys etc. etc.

[Koolpc]

I suppose you are right. Then the next one for me would be the Focus. I have tried one of those and it was lovely. Drove to the South of France in it!

[Fox]

Your 206 is a practical hatchback with a reasonable boot and seats which fold down. Just becuase you've got a newborn doesn't mean you suddenly need to go out and buy an enormous great car - a 206 is more than spacious enough for one child.

It's when you get a second that a bigger car makes sense.

[Howard]

Your 206 is a practical hatchback with a reasonable boot and seats which fold down. Just becuase you've got a newborn doesn't mean you suddenly need to go out and buy an enormous great car - a 206 is more than spacious enough for one child.

It's when you get a second that a bigger car makes sense.

You'd be surprised.. I certainly agree that you don't need a whopping great people carrier or *shudder* a 4x4, but a car with five doors and a bigger boot certainly wouldn't hurt, and would make it easier to fit push chairs and associated clobber without fuss

[nichomach]

Agreed - I drive an Astra, and going anywhere with our daughter for any sort of extended stay (like a week or so) really pushed the limits of that, especially when she was tiny (oddly, now she's 3, she's bigger, but her luggage is smaller. Go figure ). Do-able, but not fun. Forget the Fiesta; it'll simply be too cramped. I'm considering an Octavia or even a Superb for my next car.

[bigblue]

Mazda 6 is right around your budget in your preferred spec.

Although you said Mondeo was too big and the 6 is pretty identical so maybe another suggestion for a 3 ?

[Rave]

TBH

[directhex]

TBH

chinese? does it get more than 0 in ncap?

[Gordy]

Your 206 is a practical hatchback with a reasonable boot and seats which fold down. Just becuase you've got a newborn doesn't mean you suddenly need to go out and buy an enormous great car - a 206 is more than spacious enough for one child.

It's when you get a second that a bigger car makes sense.

Have you tried getting a weeks shopping and a pram in the boot of a 206? You can't..

Heck the pram only fits one way, and its one of the smaller ones we could find! Its not one of those silly 3 wheeled offroad ones.

It is too small, along with only having 2 doors making it a nightmare to put the baby in the car.

So while I love my 206 its simply not practical now.

http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/S/ssangyong/rodius/03-large/05-f3q-a.jpg

TBH

Erm how ugly is that thing..

Agreed - I drive an Astra, and going anywhere with our daughter for any sort of extended stay (like a week or so) really pushed the limits of that, especially when she was tiny (oddly, now she's 3, she's bigger, but her luggage is smaller. Go figure ). Do-able, but not fun. Forget the Fiesta; it'll simply be too cramped. I'm considering an Octavia or even a Superb for my next car.

Yeah new borns seem to have so much more crap hehe. Xmas was a nightmare, we couldn't take the pram as otherwise we'd have had no presents or clothes for 3 days.

I really like the skoda's on paper, but as I said above they look like something from the 80's. They need to find a new designer.

[Howard]

Passats have MASSIVE boots, while not being TOO big a car. But I guess, like the Mondeo, it's too big for your requirements?

Mazda 3 <3

[Gordy]

Yeah bit too big really

[Rave]

chinese? does it get more than 0 in ncap?

Actually although the company is now owned by SAIC, it's made in Korea, and uses a lot of Mercedes components, including the engine. I doubt it's a death trap.

And yes, I posted it as a joke, which probably says plenty about my sense of humour. I've seen one round Croydon several times in the last few days, not sure if it's the same cab driver or whether (god forbid) there are several of them around- and although the front aspect is quite absurdly ugly, I quite liked the back end.

Edit: anyway Gordy, is an extra 50cm on the back of your motor going to make parking that much more difficult? The latest shape Mondeos are excellent cars and quite absurdly good value for money secondhand (as are most of the cars in its class- Vectra, Primera etc). I'm trying to talk my father in law into buying one after his Honda Accord was written off- but he'd rather pay more for a smaller car, apparently.

[herulach]

So what youre saying basically is you want a 306/focus size car, which are nearly as big as a mondeo/passat/whatever which you reckon are too big? A mondeo is 4cm longer than a focus, with a passat being 50cm longer than a golf, and the boot is substantially larger than the smaller one. Until you start getting into s class/a8/7 territory 'big' cars arent that much bigger than superminis.

Im gonna pretend im fox for a minute and say buy a mondeo, but also, any of accord, passat, superb will do. If youre determined to go with something small, you might fit it into an astra hatch, my brother in aw has just got a new one and seems to do ok with their one year old.

[schmunk]

A mondeo is 4cm longer than a focus,

40cm, surely...

[Howard]

Sportage!


Just 'cos the name is awesome




I am gonna go with the flow and say that a Mondy/Passat won't be that much more cumbersome than a Focus or Golf or Astra, but I'm not gonna try and change his mind

[Gordy]

Edit: anyway Gordy, is an extra 50cm on the back of your motor going to make parking that much more difficult? The latest shape Mondeos are excellent cars and quite absurdly good value for money secondhand (as are most of the cars in its class- Vectra, Primera etc). I'm trying to talk my father in law into buying one after his Honda Accord was written off- but he'd rather pay more for a smaller car, apparently.

The mondeo is 473cm long with a 460 litre boot, the focus c-max is 433cm long with a 550 litre boot. It would be silly to choose the mondeo really.

So what youre saying basically is you want a 306/focus size car, which are nearly as big as a mondeo/passat/whatever which you reckon are too big? A mondeo is 4cm longer than a focus, with a passat being 50cm longer than a golf, and the boot is substantially larger than the smaller one. Until you start getting into s class/a8/7 territory 'big' cars arent that much bigger than superminis.

See above the c-max actually has a bigger boot

The extra cm is wasted space really, gives no advantage for me, plus they are more expensive.

Even the mondeo estate has a smaller boot at 480litres