What's the ultimate "family" car?
Discussion
New M6 Cabrio has been a great choice for us, had mine for 8 months or so.
Full family can fit in no problem (2+2), cruise in luxury/comfort wherever you are going and then have fun on sunny days with the roof down. Plus great engine, 560bhp and very torquey - still gets around 32mpg-34mpg carrying on down the motorway. Can always fit our luggage in no problems too.
Very good looking car with a premium image, gets enough attention without pi**ing people off!
Full family can fit in no problem (2+2), cruise in luxury/comfort wherever you are going and then have fun on sunny days with the roof down. Plus great engine, 560bhp and very torquey - still gets around 32mpg-34mpg carrying on down the motorway. Can always fit our luggage in no problems too.
Very good looking car with a premium image, gets enough attention without pi**ing people off!
Edited by sealtt on Saturday 12th July 03:42
The F11 was a great car, and I regretted selling it, when I picked up the E350 I knew I had made a mistake straight away.
I would have another one tomorrow and I would manage with its slight negatives as the positives far outweigh them, but, it is not the 'ultimate' family car, the things that make something a 'family car' are a bit too compromised to get the 'ultimate' accolade.
I would have another one tomorrow and I would manage with its slight negatives as the positives far outweigh them, but, it is not the 'ultimate' family car, the things that make something a 'family car' are a bit too compromised to get the 'ultimate' accolade.
Always an E class estate. As said above, MB don't get the core models wrong. Even an old, battered one like mine just deals with kids and their mayhem. Mine cost less than my cheapest guitar and it's been great. Never once have I had to think about packing it. Everything just fits in. I'd buy a new one if money was no object.
W124 said:
Always an E class estate. As said above, MB don't get the core models wrong. Even an old, battered one like mine just deals with kids and their mayhem. Mine cost less than my cheapest guitar and it's been great. Never once have I had to think about packing it. Everything just fits in. I'd buy a new one if money was no object.
Don't bother, it's crap. 
Any Mercedes estate. The older the better.
Money no object? W123 300 TD in perfect order, of the kind on sale here for ridiculous money: www.mercedesmotoring.com.
Money no object? W123 300 TD in perfect order, of the kind on sale here for ridiculous money: www.mercedesmotoring.com.
mr_tony said:
rob.e said:
mr_tony said:
rob.e said:
I don't think you could go on a family skiing/ camping holiday with an FF.
For me money no object it'd be Audi RS6 as above.
http://youtu.be/T2NCbj71GMEFor me money no object it'd be Audi RS6 as above.
Harry does it better than I can....
he goes 4 up to the alps with all the luggage.I'm off for a week in France in mine with mrs t plus toddler t and baby t. Buggy luggage and all. We won't be camping though...
happy to retract my comment about the FF, very impressed. I'd still have the RS6 though 'cos its less showy (in a dark colour de-badged id' not be worried parking/leaving it anywhere) plus the estate means you can throw bikes in the back. FF is lovely though and that engine .... 
gizlaroc said:
Nice square boot, not sloping so it looks good but is useless in use.....
I swapped for the later model, which was nicer in some ways but no where near as useful...
And then swapped for the later one again, which was crap in comparison...
What did you find about the later models that didn't do it as well? The shape/size of the load area of other stuff as well?I swapped for the later model, which was nicer in some ways but no where near as useful...
And then swapped for the later one again, which was crap in comparison...
Just curious. I was reminded in no uncertain terms last night that the OH hates estates so am unlikely to be in the market for one.
braddo said:
What did you find about the later models that didn't do it as well? The shape/size of the load area of other stuff as well?
Just curious. I was reminded in no uncertain terms last night that the OH hates estates so am unlikely to be in the market for one.
I am in the market for one, and would very much appreciate the views of someone who has lived with one.Just curious. I was reminded in no uncertain terms last night that the OH hates estates so am unlikely to be in the market for one.
I'll try and be as quick as I can with this.
I had previously always gone for estates over saloons as I just don't like saloons, if I want to compromise I go coupe and get the nicer lines, to me a saloon just looks like a company car or that you are old and don't have any skis, boards, bikes etc. you need to carry round.
I just find the estate tends to offend people a lot less too, turn up in a BMW estate and it gives a very different impression compared with the saloon. That may be with work related appointments or to social events.
I had had lots of BMW tourings, E30 325i, E46 320d, 330d, 330i, E39 528i, 530i, 530d, and then tried a couple of Audis, the 2.5tdi A4 avant and the 1.9 and 3.0i A6 avant, but they didn't do much so I went back to BMW with the then new 535d sport touring, which was a great car.
I also had my M3 CSL at the same time, and decided after the CSL cost me £7k one months that I needed to go back to one car, so bought an S4 Avant. f
kin hated it, absolute piece of crap on every level apart from looks, which is what I fell for.
Tried to sort things out with better suspension and anti roll bars but realised after a few weeks after years of BMWs I just hated the thing, so sold it and bought the 335i sport touring. Absolutely fabulous piece of kit, I loved it for what it was. But being a turbo I did miss working a nice NA petrol engine.
At this time we had our second child, and we had just recused a new Weimaraner as well, and the 335i touring was not big enough, I didn't want to sell it so I bought the green E320 estate above, purely for the load space. However, in a very short space of time I suddenly got the Merc thing, this was complete and utter comfort, plenty of go, really good stereo, loads of space and I had fallen for it big time.
I sold the 335i and bought another M3, that was the fun car box ticked.
I had the E320 for a year and loved it, and would have kept it longer but was offered a 3 years old A6 3.2 Quattro with 21k miles on it for £12500, Peterborough Audi needed it gone and I did the deal, sold the E320.
To be fair the Audi was very good, just not as good at he E320 I had replaced or the BMW tourings before.
So I started looking for another E Class, and ended up with a facelift S211 E320cdi with the Brabus box fitted, this was a big move for me as I had loved my BMWs, but I saw this E320 and decided to have a go with it instead of another BMW Touring.
Hand on heart the best all round car, it was like a more modern E39 in many ways, handled as well but still supple and comfy, was plenty quick enough with 270bhp and would average 35mpg and see 48mpg on a steady run, the load space was good enough not to worry if not quite as good as the S210 I had before it, hence why that got 'ultimate family car' in my book.
The interior layout was almost perfect, the nav was good enough and everyone always commented on how nice it was to be in.
The quality of the trim was also in another league to the 535d and the A6, it was such nice materials everywhere.
I had it 2 years, the longest I have kept a family bus.
So why sell it?
Because my old man had swapped his 730d sport for an F11 touring, 520d, and after 12 weeks realised it didn't excite him at all, did everything well, but nothing got his blood racing.
So as my E320cdi was now 5 years old with 110k miles and I was offered a 520d F11 touring at 3 months old for £25k I thought why not.
12 weeks later I was a bit annoyed with the F11, it was smooth, comfy, got 40+ average and 50+ on a run, the tech stuff was as good as always with BMW the interior was great in Oyster leather, and the 8 speed auto was divine. But like him it didn't excite and the tiny boot was pathetic.
It also felt very soft for a BMW, the steering was numb and generally didn't feel, well......very.....BMW.
I decided if I wanted comfort I might as well go Mercedes again, so I swapped it for a year old E350cdi, the one above.
I knew straight away I had made a mistake.
The cabin materials were crap, felt like the cheap stuff in Fiona's X1 we had at the time, and the steering was nasty nasty. Their stupid parametric steering, what stupid thought of designing non linear steering!!!!!?????
Round town it was hard work as you had to make massive inputs to do anything and on fast European roads it was dangerous, as the turn got tight the steering tightened, bizarre!!
The instrument cluster is too high, so you cant set you steering wheel up to be comfy and see the instruments, you know you are doing something between 10 and 160mph but that is about it.
Indicators still on? No idea.
The seats were awful, don't go low enough, got serious back ache after a couple of hours.
Door sills too high and arm rest too far away from the steering wheel when it is adjusted so you can see your speed. So you end up with your arms on your lap holding the bottom of the wheel, gets tiring.
The ride was trying to be too sporty, Merc can't get that right, it felt like Audis from old, over damped and wallowy at the same time, just pathetic.
Also, because it was over damped the cabin noise was terrible, the saloon is quite loud but the estate was horrid. Because of all the cheap hard plastics used in the cabin the tyre roar was amplified 10x. I swapped from Contis to Dunlop Sport max with a 68db rating and it helped a bit, but not enough, I put a king size duvet in the back one day when going to London as I was hung over, and that sorted it, but who wants an estate with a boot you can't use.
I sold it after 6 months and 15,000 miles, I just wasn't enjoying it at all. And I was really annoyed with myself for selling the F11 touring, I should have just kept that, it felt more Mercedes than the Mercedes did. However, it was not as good as the S211 Merc estate.
After owning them all and lots of other cars, for me the best all round car I have owned was that 2006 facelift E Class Estate, I keep an eye out for a nice E350 or E500 all the time, and will buy one when one that meets my spec turns up.
I am quite pleased that this generation of cars are not as good imho, as it has saved me a fortune. They are better in some ways, but as an overall packaged I do think some of the older generations are better. More a case of if you care what the neighbours think, luckily have have gone passed all that now.
I had previously always gone for estates over saloons as I just don't like saloons, if I want to compromise I go coupe and get the nicer lines, to me a saloon just looks like a company car or that you are old and don't have any skis, boards, bikes etc. you need to carry round.
I just find the estate tends to offend people a lot less too, turn up in a BMW estate and it gives a very different impression compared with the saloon. That may be with work related appointments or to social events.
I had had lots of BMW tourings, E30 325i, E46 320d, 330d, 330i, E39 528i, 530i, 530d, and then tried a couple of Audis, the 2.5tdi A4 avant and the 1.9 and 3.0i A6 avant, but they didn't do much so I went back to BMW with the then new 535d sport touring, which was a great car.
I also had my M3 CSL at the same time, and decided after the CSL cost me £7k one months that I needed to go back to one car, so bought an S4 Avant. f
kin hated it, absolute piece of crap on every level apart from looks, which is what I fell for. Tried to sort things out with better suspension and anti roll bars but realised after a few weeks after years of BMWs I just hated the thing, so sold it and bought the 335i sport touring. Absolutely fabulous piece of kit, I loved it for what it was. But being a turbo I did miss working a nice NA petrol engine.
At this time we had our second child, and we had just recused a new Weimaraner as well, and the 335i touring was not big enough, I didn't want to sell it so I bought the green E320 estate above, purely for the load space. However, in a very short space of time I suddenly got the Merc thing, this was complete and utter comfort, plenty of go, really good stereo, loads of space and I had fallen for it big time.
I sold the 335i and bought another M3, that was the fun car box ticked.
I had the E320 for a year and loved it, and would have kept it longer but was offered a 3 years old A6 3.2 Quattro with 21k miles on it for £12500, Peterborough Audi needed it gone and I did the deal, sold the E320.
To be fair the Audi was very good, just not as good at he E320 I had replaced or the BMW tourings before.
So I started looking for another E Class, and ended up with a facelift S211 E320cdi with the Brabus box fitted, this was a big move for me as I had loved my BMWs, but I saw this E320 and decided to have a go with it instead of another BMW Touring.
Hand on heart the best all round car, it was like a more modern E39 in many ways, handled as well but still supple and comfy, was plenty quick enough with 270bhp and would average 35mpg and see 48mpg on a steady run, the load space was good enough not to worry if not quite as good as the S210 I had before it, hence why that got 'ultimate family car' in my book.
The interior layout was almost perfect, the nav was good enough and everyone always commented on how nice it was to be in.
The quality of the trim was also in another league to the 535d and the A6, it was such nice materials everywhere.
I had it 2 years, the longest I have kept a family bus.
So why sell it?
Because my old man had swapped his 730d sport for an F11 touring, 520d, and after 12 weeks realised it didn't excite him at all, did everything well, but nothing got his blood racing.
So as my E320cdi was now 5 years old with 110k miles and I was offered a 520d F11 touring at 3 months old for £25k I thought why not.
12 weeks later I was a bit annoyed with the F11, it was smooth, comfy, got 40+ average and 50+ on a run, the tech stuff was as good as always with BMW the interior was great in Oyster leather, and the 8 speed auto was divine. But like him it didn't excite and the tiny boot was pathetic.
It also felt very soft for a BMW, the steering was numb and generally didn't feel, well......very.....BMW.
I decided if I wanted comfort I might as well go Mercedes again, so I swapped it for a year old E350cdi, the one above.
I knew straight away I had made a mistake.
The cabin materials were crap, felt like the cheap stuff in Fiona's X1 we had at the time, and the steering was nasty nasty. Their stupid parametric steering, what stupid
thought of designing non linear steering!!!!!????? Round town it was hard work as you had to make massive inputs to do anything and on fast European roads it was dangerous, as the turn got tight the steering tightened, bizarre!!
The instrument cluster is too high, so you cant set you steering wheel up to be comfy and see the instruments, you know you are doing something between 10 and 160mph but that is about it.
Indicators still on? No idea.
The seats were awful, don't go low enough, got serious back ache after a couple of hours.
Door sills too high and arm rest too far away from the steering wheel when it is adjusted so you can see your speed. So you end up with your arms on your lap holding the bottom of the wheel, gets tiring.
The ride was trying to be too sporty, Merc can't get that right, it felt like Audis from old, over damped and wallowy at the same time, just pathetic.
Also, because it was over damped the cabin noise was terrible, the saloon is quite loud but the estate was horrid. Because of all the cheap hard plastics used in the cabin the tyre roar was amplified 10x. I swapped from Contis to Dunlop Sport max with a 68db rating and it helped a bit, but not enough, I put a king size duvet in the back one day when going to London as I was hung over, and that sorted it, but who wants an estate with a boot you can't use.
I sold it after 6 months and 15,000 miles, I just wasn't enjoying it at all. And I was really annoyed with myself for selling the F11 touring, I should have just kept that, it felt more Mercedes than the Mercedes did. However, it was not as good as the S211 Merc estate.
After owning them all and lots of other cars, for me the best all round car I have owned was that 2006 facelift E Class Estate, I keep an eye out for a nice E350 or E500 all the time, and will buy one when one that meets my spec turns up.
I am quite pleased that this generation of cars are not as good imho, as it has saved me a fortune. They are better in some ways, but as an overall packaged I do think some of the older generations are better. More a case of if you care what the neighbours think, luckily have have gone passed all that now.
My next car will be a Disco 4. Currently have a D3 and it's awesome as a family car, tow vehicle, van & rubbish transporter (with a boot liner of course). You can even use it as a mini bus when the rear-most seats are in place. Great in all weather, relaxing and very comfortable. D4 does 0-60 in 9 sec and 30 mpg (not at the same time) so not too hideous to run. Servicing costs are expensive though but I would never be without a Landie in my life.
..now that's a boot!
..now that's a boot!
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 14th July 20:53
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/audi/q7/first-...
Money no object as purely family transport, I think I'd have one of these.
Money no object as purely family transport, I think I'd have one of these.
delboy735 said:
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/audi/q7/first-...
Money no object as purely family transport, I think I'd have one of these.
Money no object you would buy an Audi Diesel?? Money no object as purely family transport, I think I'd have one of these.
Hmmmm??
What are the rear seats in a Discovery 3/4 like for comfort?
A thing I find striking about modern cars is how claustrophobic they appear to be, especially for their size. It seems to me that most rear seat passengers these days get a pretty sore deal with very high window lines and huge pillars. For kids, I suspect they much prefer being in something like a Discovery with its airy interior and very low window line so they get a great view and a feeling of space.
The current 5 series seems quite small on the inside but the worse culprits I have noticed are the new Macan, the Quattroporte, current Fiesta, A-Class Merc, Megane, Giulietta etc.
A thing I find striking about modern cars is how claustrophobic they appear to be, especially for their size. It seems to me that most rear seat passengers these days get a pretty sore deal with very high window lines and huge pillars. For kids, I suspect they much prefer being in something like a Discovery with its airy interior and very low window line so they get a great view and a feeling of space.
The current 5 series seems quite small on the inside but the worse culprits I have noticed are the new Macan, the Quattroporte, current Fiesta, A-Class Merc, Megane, Giulietta etc.
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