Question for parents?
Question for parents?
Author
Discussion

BUG4LIFE

Original Poster:

2,337 posts

234 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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Sorry if this has been asked before but, in your opinion, what's better/easier for carrying a new born and all their stuff...a 4 door saloon (lets say a previous generation Lexus IS250) or a 5 door hatchback (a Kia cee'd GT for instance).

Thanks in advance smile

stedale

1,125 posts

281 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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Saloon boots can be a bit tight.

Matttrakker

630 posts

163 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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Hatchback all the way for me,
I've tried a golf an a4 and a Bmw e90 saloon and estate.
The hatchback wasn't much smaller than the estate but the estate was the easiest by far, pushchairs outt the way and sticking car seats in when you have to carry other grown ups!

Simes205

4,833 posts

244 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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Whatever is easiest to stick a buggy in whilst holding a wriggly child in the rain at the end of your tether!


Deerfoot

5,057 posts

200 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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5 door hatch for me.

Somebody will be along shortly to tell you they coped with 6 kids in a Lotus Elise and getting anything bigger is unnecessary...

Honestly, anything that makes life a little easier is worth it.

alock

4,399 posts

227 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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A long boot is better. Items can be removed and replaced without emptying the entire boot. A hatchback might have a large volume boot but the pram will either be on top or underneath everything else.

Additionally, without a dog guard, you won't want to remove the parcel shelf and pack a hatchback boot to the roof because you'll worry about items falling onto the rear facing child seat. There's therefore little benefit over a saloon.

V8LM

5,408 posts

225 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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Whatever their grandparents have.

Congratulations by the way.

mac96

5,160 posts

159 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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Deerfoot said:
5 door hatch for me.

Somebody will be along shortly to tell you they coped with 6 kids in a Lotus Elise and getting anything bigger is unnecessary...

Honestly, anything that makes life a little easier is worth it.
OK, I'll rise to it. Not 6 kids in a Lotus Elise, but we did have (as only car) an MGBGT and manage two adults and a baby with buggy etc, including holidays. No roof rack or trailer- everything inside!

I have noticed however that it seems compulsory to cart a lot more stuff around nowadays...

Searider

980 posts

271 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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If your pushchair can fit in lengthways rather than having to go in crossways it allows you to put other stuff beside it - thus allowing it to be ready for use.
If it has to go in sideways it will always be under other stuff.

Small medium estate or hatchback with a long enough boot for me.
However, having said that we soon got a big Volvo!

DoubleD

22,154 posts

124 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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mac96 said:
Deerfoot said:
5 door hatch for me.

Somebody will be along shortly to tell you they coped with 6 kids in a Lotus Elise and getting anything bigger is unnecessary...

Honestly, anything that makes life a little easier is worth it.
OK, I'll rise to it. Not 6 kids in a Lotus Elise, but we did have (as only car) an MGBGT and manage two adults and a baby with buggy etc, including holidays. No roof rack or trailer- everything inside!

I have noticed however that it seems compulsory to cart a lot more stuff around nowadays...
And what cars do you have in your household these days?

caelite

4,282 posts

128 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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Mx5

numtumfutunch

4,977 posts

154 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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BMW E46 Touring was the toddler sweet spot for us back in the day

When junior F'tunch was born we had a C class saloon (dont ask) which was OK but a wagon gives a lot more flexibility if/when you double the brood
Tricky to get a pram and buggy plus associated gear in a saloon

Whilst the E46 was adequate we then got a dog so moved up to an SUV

Symmetrically speaking now they're all about to leave home - bar the sodding dog - we've gone back to an F31 Touring which will need a roof box for family holidays with dog but is nigh on perfect the rest of the time

And congratulations smile


mac96

5,160 posts

159 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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DoubleD said:
mac96 said:
Deerfoot said:
5 door hatch for me.

Somebody will be along shortly to tell you they coped with 6 kids in a Lotus Elise and getting anything bigger is unnecessary...

Honestly, anything that makes life a little easier is worth it.
OK, I'll rise to it. Not 6 kids in a Lotus Elise, but we did have (as only car) an MGBGT and manage two adults and a baby with buggy etc, including holidays. No roof rack or trailer- everything inside!

I have noticed however that it seems compulsory to cart a lot more stuff around nowadays...
And what cars do you have in your household these days?
Guilty as charged. Mazda CX5 and now a 2 person household. Although I do have something less 'practical' as well Or have I missed your point?

Q Car

140 posts

206 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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We had a rear facing seat for our last one till they were 3 years to avoid the risks of spinal cord trauma/severance in case of impact. Main issue was space in the rear footwell to enable fitting of the car seat, while ensuring that the front passanger had enough space so they didn't have their knees in the dash board. If you go rear facing, then the leg room needs to be assessed before you buy saloon or hatch.

Saloon boots tend to be a bit deeper and I was amazed how many of our mates, when we had a VW Bora 13 years ago when the first of ours arrived, struggled to get a push chair in the boot of their hatchbacks when ours went in easily.

DoubleD

22,154 posts

124 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
quotequote all
mac96 said:
DoubleD said:
mac96 said:
Deerfoot said:
5 door hatch for me.

Somebody will be along shortly to tell you they coped with 6 kids in a Lotus Elise and getting anything bigger is unnecessary...

Honestly, anything that makes life a little easier is worth it.
OK, I'll rise to it. Not 6 kids in a Lotus Elise, but we did have (as only car) an MGBGT and manage two adults and a baby with buggy etc, including holidays. No roof rack or trailer- everything inside!

I have noticed however that it seems compulsory to cart a lot more stuff around nowadays...
And what cars do you have in your household these days?
Guilty as charged. Mazda CX5 and now a 2 person household. Although I do have something less 'practical' as well Or have I missed your point?
Just wondered if you still had small cars thats all.

mac96

5,160 posts

159 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
quotequote all
DoubleD said:
Just wondered if you still had small cars thats all.
I see! I should be less paranoid...

Wacky Racer

39,816 posts

263 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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Hatchback all the way.

Boots are so 1970's......

ChevronB19

7,957 posts

179 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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Hatchback (larger size) or estate - coming from someone who swapped from an MX5 to a Panda 100HP - clue - the boot ain't big enough!

Moonhawk

10,730 posts

235 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
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white_goodman

4,291 posts

207 months

Wednesday 1st March 2017
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My two are nearly five and three now, so from my experience, estate>hatchback>saloon and in that time we have owned all three.

When our eldest was born, I had an Impreza WRX Wagon, which was great. Not the biggest wagon around but you had a bit more length than a hatch and decent height, so you could get the pram in and the crib if going away for the night and fit other stuff on top and around it. My wife had a Fiat 500 at the time and we actually picked a pram that would fir in the boot if you took off the quick release wheels and that was fine but it still filled the whole boot and my wife found trying to get a car seat with a baby in it between the back of the front seat and the door frame was a PITA. We sold the 500, she got the WRX and I bought a sheddy C-Class Estate which had a huge boot (seriously, the pram looked tiny in there) and I even managed to fit a double mattress in the back with the seats folded down!

At this point, we went to live in Canada for a few years, where our youngest was born. Unfortunately, estates and hatches aren't so popular there, so for our budget we were basically looking at small sedans. Had an old Chrysler Sebring for a bit, which had a big boot ie long but very shallow, so not as useful as it should have been and then a Toyota Corolla saloon and a Honda Civic saloon. Both had deeper boots (the Toyota especially) and quite long too, which means you could get the pram in the back of the boot and then fit a fair bit of stuff in front of it too. The only hatch that we looked at was a Focus but a surprisingly small boot, the pram pretty much filled most of the space. The disadvantage of this of course is that you have to unload everything to get the pram out and haul it out right from the back of the boot, which is pretty awkward. They both had quite small apertures into the cabin as well, which meant that you were a bit limited on the size of longer loads you could put in there. I had to borrow a friend's pickup truck several times to transport stuff home that really should have fitted in there comfortably ie - it would fit in a Fiesta with the seats folded down.

Now we don't need that big pram though (just a small Mclaren style pushchair) and on our last holiday had a Focus hatch as our hire car, which was just great. All our stuff fitted in no problem and you have more options ie - with a saloon you get to a point where if you put anything more in it simply won't shut and stuff often gets in the way of the hinges, which is a pain. With a hatchback, you always seem to be able to fit in a little bit more and to be fair something like a Golf has a bigger boot than a Focus.

So, an estate would definitely be my first choice with young kids when you need stuff like a big pram and a crib. If you really can't abide an estate, a big hatch would be ideal, although I guess these are quite rare these days (Mondeo, Insignia?) and I guess if you do go for a saloon, go for something with a deep and longish boot, for instance a VW Jetta or Passat, which I have tended to find are better than a 3-Series in this respect. Not sure how an A4/C-Class/IS saloon stacks up, as I haven't looked at one recently but once you don't have all that big stuff, a saloon should work.

One more thing to check out. When we bought the Corolla, my wife actually wanted the Civic (I bought the Civic later) but I chose the Corolla because it had a bigger, deeper trunk and more rear legroom and I reasoned that if we were buying a smallish car we needed all the space that we could get. This turned out to be a good idea. In the Corolla with the rear-facing child seat installed, I could sit in front of it in the passenger seat without the seat touching the back of my seat and be comfortable. In the Civic, it was impossible, so I would always have to drive and my wife sit in the passenger seat, as I simply couldn't get in.

So, if you have your car seat and pram already try them out in the cars that you are looking at. Is the pram easy to get in and out of the boot and do you still have plenty of space left over? Is there ample space for those in the front with the child seat installed rear-facing and not touching the back of the front seat? If you're going to use the Isofix mountings, how easy is the seat to install. The Civic was alright but the Isofix tethers in the Toyota were further down the back of the seat and a complete pain to install. We have an MPV now, which is pretty tragic but you just recline the seats, attach the tethers and then let the seat come back up and it tightens up perfectly every time, which is great! Rest assured when the kids are out of their child seats, we'll go back to a normal car though! Congratulations and good luck with the car shopping. smile

Edited by white_goodman on Wednesday 1st March 07:10