Baby on the way car crisis

[anonymous-user]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

St John Smythe said:

Behemoth said:

St John Smythe said:

In hindsight all the prams are the same tbh

Umm no, definitely not. We have two. As different as a Caterham and a Range Rover.

lol

Slight over exaggeration!

Any pram will do the job just fine. It just comes down to pram badge snobbery.

I see youve caught the classic PH bug of reverse pram snobbery. A strange affliction.

Nice try but not biting!

[Behemoth]

St John Smythe said:

lol

Slight over exaggeration!

Any pram will do the job just fine. It just comes down to pram badge snobbery.

Maybe a slight exaggeration but this is about very different design and engineering approaches & solutions.

If you're not at all interested in engineering or design then yes, they all push babies around. Just as all cars can carry you to your local Lidl

It's not about badges at all, not even close!

[dazwalsh]

You will always lose the fight against the mrs when she sets eyes on the £1000 travel system, so just buy a big enough boot to cart all the baby shyte around in.

I went and got a volvo xc60. Fantastic car, perfect for family use when you have 2 under the age of 3.

And to those who say they can fit a flock of kids and all their junk in the back of a <insert small car>, technically yes, but its nice to have that bit of extra space by jingo you will need it.

Wait until your whole house gets devoured by fecking toys!

[gt69]

Audi RS2

[anonymous-user]

dazwalsh said:

You will always lose the fight against the mrs when she sets eyes on the £1000 travel system,

Totally agree and happens to all of us! Probably what has made kaptein so angry with his posts.

[gt69]

OK, a bit more meat on the RS2 bone:

I've used one for exactly the same purpose as the OP outlines - it seems to have more room in the back seats than the latest RS6 I tested recently.

Exactly on budget and very reliable - and if you do need anything big (e.g. brakes), it is more than covered by the lack of depreciation - people leave notes on mine asking to buy it. It drives like an Audi 80 round town - but when the mood takes you...

It's an icon, but it isn't in anyone's face. It's completely practical, but it's also very special. You won't sell it for less than you paid for it - if you ever want to part with it (had mine 6 years, and did think about replacing it (hence RS6 test), but I just don't want to let it go).

None at the moment on the PH site but you have time - there are usually 3 or 4 for sale. I took 2 months to find a good one after my Damascene moment.

Here's a taster
http://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2013-11...

[nonsense]

9 pages and no-one has suggested the lexspace yet? To be fair you've got a few months so could even give building one yourself a go!

[Vapour]

austinsmirk said:

any mum's car generally looks like a skip inside, battered by the children, food crushed into the seats, bodily fluids on every surface, bits of glitter, paint, broken pens, crayons, torn paper and so on.

the boot will be a spiders web of prams, shopping bags, clothes, toys, potty.

when they get bigger, muddy feet will climb all over the door jambs, seats, backs of seats.

you are in cloud cuckoo land thinking you can have a fancy car, with beautiful interior AND young children.

you actually just need a wipe clean, skip with wheels, until they get a bit bigger.

THIS!

you need a second car no question about it - get yourself a C5 HDI, cheap to buy - durable as fk, cheap to run, massive as fk boot.

[Vapour]

dazwalsh said:

You will always lose the fight against the mrs when she sets eyes on the £1000 travel system, so just buy a big enough boot to cart all the baby shyte around in.

I went and got a volvo xc60. Fantastic car, perfect for family use when you have 2 under the age of 3.

And to those who say they can fit a flock of kids and all their junk in the back of a <insert small car>, technically yes, but its nice to have that bit of extra space by jingo you will need it.

Wait until your whole house gets devoured by fecking toys!

fking figures everywhere, you cant even get a bath without a wrestler wedging its way up your ahole!

[swisstoni]

Uber car makers often have ridiculously expensive carbon bicycles they try to shift (has anyone ever bought one?).
It sounds like they'd be better off making exotic baby travel systems etc.

[PomBstard]

Chiefbadger said:

I thought i'd need two cars (I definitely still WANT two cars) but the reality is that I just don't have the time to actually enjoy a drive for it's own sake anymore. Therefore I put everything I could towards the one car that would tick as many boxes as possible. As the kids get older, I will almost certainly get a second car, but for the first few years, realistically you're going to be getting shouted at by your other half to be more useful and suggesting a 'quick blast in the weekend car' is never going to win you any brownie points!

Just buy a quick estate and spend the next few years dreaming about 2 seaters!

This, and as someone else pointed out earlier, you'll be spending more time in the kidmobile, so make it a fun one. For 90% of the driving, you'll be schlepping around, but when you suddenly get a chance to enjoy a bit of driving, you don't want to be wishing you had a different car. No, a fast wagon is not going to be as much fun as a sports car, but chances are you'll get to enjoy that wagon's abilities more often.

From my own experience having gone from a Gen 4 Liberty GT to a V70T6, I have begun to loathe the Volvo. It offers no enjoyment - schlepping is fine. but its capabilities are too limited, and I constantly wish for something more entertaining to drive. Which might not be too far away now!

As for prams, the boot on any decent family car will accommodate whatever you buy - we've used a Mountain Buggy for all three of ours, and have a small McLaren thingy for when we need it. Just like the car, the bigger pram allows you to carry more stuff easier - like shopping, or clothes or food for the child, or toys or whatever - without having more bags.

[lee_fr200]

kmpowell said:

Here she is... http://www.redandco.co.uk/audi-s4-42-avant-estate-...

That's the car sounds gorgeous and looks well, I'm just about managing with a seat Ibiza mk4 and 2 kids although it's a bloody struggle! If I had the spare funds I'd bite their hands off for this s4 avant

[minimatan]

gt69 said:

OK, a bit more meat on the RS2 bone:

I've used one for exactly the same purpose as the OP outlines - it seems to have more room in the back seats than the latest RS6 I tested recently.

Exactly on budget and very reliable - and if you do need anything big (e.g. brakes), it is more than covered by the lack of depreciation - people leave notes on mine asking to buy it. It drives like an Audi 80 round town - but when the mood takes you...

It's an icon, but it isn't in anyone's face. It's completely practical, but it's also very special. You won't sell it for less than you paid for it - if you ever want to part with it (had mine 6 years, and did think about replacing it (hence RS6 test), but I just don't want to let it go).

None at the moment on the PH site but you have time - there are usually 3 or 4 for sale. I took 2 months to find a good one after my Damascene moment.

Here's a taster
http://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2013-11...

You're the man

[DonkeyApple]

currybum said:

Once you have kids you realise that a car than can get you and your family from A-B in comfort with minimal fuss can be just as rewarding as a 2 seater sports car.

I took an S-Max on a tour through France with a 1 year old kid with a stop off with the in-laws…it was faultless, absolutely munched up the motorway miles, managed to absorb all of the kiddy luggage and 100 bottles of wine on the way back.

When a car can get you and your family to different places so easily and quickly, you realise that can be more rewarding than a b-road blast in a hot hatch.

I’m going to be keeping an eye on the new S-Max Vignale 4wd…could potentially be the ideal family transport, all the practicality of the S-Max with plush leather interior and the ability to take you through the Alps without slipping off of the road…looks pretty good too.

Or you could shoot yourself?

[sparkyhx]

St John Smythe said:

dazwalsh said:

You will always lose the fight against the mrs when she sets eyes on the £1000 travel system,

Totally agree and happens to all of us! Probably what has made kaptein so angry with his posts.

yup, common sense says don't go overboard, spend on things that really matter. But The little loved ones and common sense are strange bed fellows.

Two years down the line you will look at all the stuff you bought and question why the feck you bought and never used half of it.

I also agree with the nice car and kids. Shudder at the thought of milky sick smell lingering for weeks/months, although leather is probably a better choice for wipedownability.

oh the joys, you have yet to know.

[DonkeyApple]

Don't forget, with regards to the vomiting, 99% of babies are no different to a Yate's Wine Lodge regular. The vomit just goes over them and their seat. Projectile sproggs are a rarity.

Dirty cars are only really a product of dirty people and they clearly don't mind driving round in a box of their own filth.

If you are not a slovenly runt and your children are normal then they won't be damaging the car or putting sticky muck everywhere.

[kmpowell]

St John Smythe said:

Any pram will do the job just fine. It just comes down to pram badge snobbery.

That's bks, and if you're a father, you know it is. Stop fishing.

[DonkeyApple]

kmpowell said:

St John Smythe said:

Any pram will do the job just fine. It just comes down to pram badge snobbery.

That's bks, and if you're a father, you know it is. Stop fishing.

To be honest, I don't think it is. We used the standard baby bucket thing, a Bjorn carry thingy, a Phil and ted peanut and a small, cheap buggy. By the time they could walk properly (2ish) we dumped them all on Ebay except the cheap buggy which is used when we fly as the weird times make it useful to have something one of them can sleep in.

As you can raise a child in the UK just as easily with or without one of these buggy systems it does make them a luxury and there is absolutely no doubt that many people are obsessed with particular brands.

[Adrian E]

kmpowell said:

St John Smythe said:

Any pram will do the job just fine. It just comes down to pram badge snobbery.

That's bks, and if you're a father, you know it is. Stop fishing.

There are definitely over-priced products out there, which are as much about the brand as the product (think Apple analogy, and yes I have an iphone), but as was pointed out above if the any pram will do analogy held true with cars we'd all drive Kia/Hyundai/Hondas

My in-laws have tested the theory - their 1st came along when ours was about 1 yr old. They bought a 'cheap' £200 buggy. It broke and they got a refund. They bought it different £200 buggy - that broke but they wouldn't refund and would only keep supplying a new front wheel assembly, even though the chassis design was the problem (it allowed too much flex and weakened over time). They bought another which was heavy, awkward to manoeuvre, but at least didn't break.

When her 2nd came along we'd finished with our Bugaboo, so she bought it off us for about the same money she'd paid for each of the new ones she'd had. Total spend during her 1stsprog's buggy time was about the same as what ours cost, but ours was (and still is another year on) working perfectly.

I made my wife push the options around the shops and wheel between obstacles to see how she managed with it. Her favourite was a trike option with a gas cylinder that put the thing up for you, but it was hard work in use and weighed a ton.

I'm a manufacturing engineer by training and I can see the difference in how well these things are bolted together. I'd put Bugaboo up there with Meile for kitchen appliances - a genuine quality difference, not just badge engineering. I used to put Siemens in that category too, but not since they stopped making their products in Germany a few years ago.

[anonymous-user]

kmpowell said:

St John Smythe said:

Any pram will do the job just fine. It just comes down to pram badge snobbery.

That's bks, and if you're a father, you know it is. Stop fishing.

We've got an expensive iCandy sitting in the garage now not being used. Even my wife (who was adamant we HAD to have it) admits now we could of done perfectly fine with something a lot cheaper.

Ironically your post comes across as the one 'fishing'. Chill.