What's the ultimate "family" car?

[IroningMan]

As soon as you have a family of five with kids over the age of 10 'conventional' cars turn out not to be 5-seaters at all.

High performance editions - XFR, M5, RS6 etc also seems to be a PITA for towbars, if they can be fitted at all.

[gizlaroc]

Thinking about this a bit more, I guess it would be this...

[Dave Hedgehog]

crispyshark said:

For the purity of the driving experience and the addictive twin turbo, would have to be a B5 RS4 for me.....decision made by the heart and not the head

im sorry, you what? I had number 11 B5 RS4, they are pretty devoid of any driver involvement, lovely engine and a great noise thou

[gizlaroc]

marctwo said:

A6 S-Line 2.0tdi Quattro S-Tronic Black Edition?

or

RS6?

I never can tell?

[marctwo]

gizlaroc said:

marctwo said:

A6 S-Line 2.0tdi Quattro S-Tronic Black Edition?

or

RS6?

I never can tell?

That's the point.

[Dave Hedgehog]

marctwo said:

I doubt any family road car can use as much of its power as often as this will, instant monumental grunt (unlike the 4), air suspension gives it a very good ride, loads of space, addictive noise and looks fabulous

13mpg is not so good lol

[vtecyo]

Audi RS6 estate would be my bus.

Money no object, the garage would be full of other stuff that would endager my own life rather than my kids.

[braddo]

gizlaroc said:

I just think either you lot have not actually got a family, or you never get out at all with them, just sit on here all day, all night and all weekend?

Or simply, people are different

Why assume that everyone needs/wants to cart around bikes and just throw them in the boot like you do?

Why should others assume people automatically go camping when you have kids or suddenly need ground clearance in your car?

Some people don't care if their cars are a pig sty, while others manage to keep theirs tidy even with kids.

For me the family car still has to be a decent drive and not too large so I can't for the life of me understand why you would want a SUV. The wife wants one though.... :facepalm:

Maserati Quattroporte is on my radar as the ultimate, or a M5/E63/RS6 estate if you want the occasional big load lugging ability.

[Stenn]

Heart says RS6 but head says I'd not require that much power as I drive very differently with a car full of loved ones so something like a 535d Touring would, in reality, be perfect.

[crispyshark]

Dave Hedgehog said:

crispyshark said:

For the purity of the driving experience and the addictive twin turbo, would have to be a B5 RS4 for me.....decision made by the heart and not the head

im sorry, you what? I had number 11 B5 RS4, they are pretty devoid of any driver involvement, lovely engine and a great noise thou

apologies, I should have clarified....when compared to the later RS4's

[Dave Hedgehog]

Stenn said:

Heart says RS6 but head says I'd not require that much power as I drive very differently with a car full of loved ones so something like a 535d Touring would, in reality, be perfect.

they are very easy to drive at normal speeds when you want, its not like a rabid race horse chomping at the bit to get away all the time, one of the advantages of turbots, if you keep them asleep the car stays very docile.

however when you are on your own and barry the chav is behind you in his chipped 530D

[rhinochopig]

BAC Mono and a family season ticket.

[braddo]

Dave Hedgehog said:

they are very easy to drive at normal speeds when you want, its not like a rabid race horse chomping at the bit to get away all the time, one of the advantages of turbots, if you keep them asleep the car stays very docile.

however when you are on your own and barry the chav is behind you in his chipped 530D

Or you have driven to a family holiday somewhere like north Wales, Yorkshire dales, highlands, Eifel mountains, Alps etc etc and you need to pop out to get milk early in the morning....

[Frixturbo]

So surprised it taken 4 pages...

[RobM77]

I've not driven one, but I think my vote would go for the Maserati Quattroporte. For some reason, amongst its peers the concept to me looks the least like a stretched sports/GT car. I'd like to say a 2+2 Lotus Evora, but I'd struggle to call it a family car because of the small boot and the fact that you can't take a pushchair, so it's not suitable for very young kids, and the rear seats are too small for anyone over the age of 10, so it puts it in a bit of a niche in my opinion for kids sort of 3 to 10 years of age (and if you've got two kids two years apart, you could only own it for 5 years!).

The best family car I've owned gets me into pages or arguments if I mention it, so I won't. Instead I'll list the second best, which was my E36 328i Sport Coupé - lovely engine, sweet handling and pretty comfortable.

[HannsG]

E46 M3 or a Twin Turbo SAAB estate.

I own both and they are excellent for family/baby duties!

[flatso]

cologne2792 said:

We went through a few of these. Still probably the best ride of any car ever, big enough to carry a 12 foot ladder inside with the tailgate closed, room for three kids and a months worth of stuff, DIRAVI steering which is just incredible, ride and braking compensates for load so behaves the same empty as it does fully loaded and the headlights are always at the proper height. Add in quiet, quick, extremely comfortable and 800+ miles range in the DTR versions coupled with an easily washed down vinyl interior in the MK1 - which a reviewer of the day claimed was excellent for messy families.

Hard to top the old CX ; i wish Citroen would still make properly large estates.

The Merc R-Klasse comes to mind as well.

[Mr E]

Frixturbo said:

So surprised it taken 4 pages...

It didn't take 4 posts

[anonymous-user]

gizlaroc said:

I just think either you lot have not actually got a family, or you never get out at all with them, just sit on here all day, all night and all weekend?

To be honest, I don't get the 'must have a big family car thing'.

I'm not as old as many on here, I was born in 1980 and grew up during the 80's and 90's, and my parents changed the car every 3 or 4 years for a new one, and during that time the 'family cars' were an XR3i (one of the first in the country), another XR3i, BMW E30 318i 2 door, BMW E30 320i 4 door, and by the time I was 17, a BMW 320i Touring.

We never owned a bike rack, a roof rack, roof box, or a tow bar or any other kind of load carrying accessory and even when they bought the Touring, they really aren't the most cavernous of carriers, and if you compare the size of 80's and 90's cars with more modern vehicles, they are noticeably smaller.

We went all over the place and toured France etc with no problems.

I just think people travel with utterly heaps and heaps of stuff these days.

Maybe it depends what activities your family is 'in to' I suppose.

[RobM77]

NinjaPower said:

gizlaroc said:

I just think either you lot have not actually got a family, or you never get out at all with them, just sit on here all day, all night and all weekend?

To be honest, I don't get the 'must have a big family car thing'.

I'm not as old as many on here, I was born in 1980 and grew up during the 80's and 90's, and my parents changed the car every 3 or 4 years for a new one, and during that time the 'family cars' were an XR3i (one of the first in the country), another XR3i, BMW E30 318i 2 door, BMW E30 320i 4 door, and by the time I was 17, a BMW 320i Touring.

We never owned a bike rack, a roof rack, roof box, or a tow bar or any other kind of load carrying accessory and even when they bought the Touring, they really aren't the most cavernous of carriers, and if you compare the size of 80's and 90's cars with more modern vehicles, they are noticeably smaller.

We went all over the place and toured France etc with no problems.

I just think people travel with utterly heaps and heaps of stuff these days.

Maybe it depends what activities your family is 'in to' I suppose.

Same here. When I was growing up we had a Cortina, two Vauxhall Cavaliers, an Audi A4, Toyota Avensis and then a string of BMW 3 series. Like you though, we didn't take our bikes on holiday, or indeed anything sporty that we owned like surfboards etc - holidays were all about doing things that were different to what you did back home and having a change for a week or two. Everyone's different I guess - I certainly hope if we have kids that I'll be able to get away with a 3 series. My sister and BIL had a 1 series for the first few years of their kid's life - no problem at all