Becoming a Dad + next car quandary

[Fidd]

iwantagta said:

VXR8?

When our little one came along I was disappointed with there being no Isofix provision on the VXR8, an issue made worse by the fact that I then discovered that the rear seat belts were not long enough to use with the rear facing baby seat that we already had !

In reality our other car, a Focus, made a great 'do it all' car with one child - although in my opinion it wouldn't have been big enough for newborn twins and all the gear that goes with them !

If I had twins coming along and a bit of money to spend I'd go for something like a late'ish Discovery or similar. May not be the most PH choice but would surely be a brilliant family car ?

[DSLiverpool]

When it snows how do you V8 warriors get your kids to nursery or school (assuming school is not within walking distance) - I naturally assumed a 4*4 for one family member was essential

[rob.e]

r129sl said:

.. given your circumstances, the 100HP seems ideal in combination with the forthcoming Skoda estate. Really, though, you need three cars: two family cars and a sports car.

^^ this.

If your wife is getting a skoda estate, use this for all the mucky/family duties and have something that's a contrast for yourself - panda and elise would be pefect, you should keep them IMO.

Also, if you sell a sports car at this stage it'll be very hard to justify buying one at a later date.. hold on to it if you can, even if it has a few years of low miles.



btw - i'm on my second vrs estate, can't find anything else that does the space/ performance/ price combo like this car.

[AvonRise]

DSLiverpool said:

When it snows how do you V8 warriors get your kids to nursery or school (assuming school is not within walking distance) - I naturally assumed a 4*4 for one family member was essential

Same way our fathers used to do it in Hillman Avengers and Morris Marinas.

[Bluebarge]

DSLiverpool said:

When it snows how do you V8 warriors get your kids to nursery or school (assuming school is not within walking distance) - I naturally assumed a 4*4 for one family member was essential

1. winter tyres
2. when it snows, most primary schools close.

[Bluebarge]

Hoddo said:

I would like to assure you I too will not be purchasing a MPV/People Carrier - I understand the logic but dear god, they're a demonstration that you've given up on life.

Edited by Hoddo on Sunday 19th October 00:01

You have much to learn young Jedi - if another sprog turns up, I know exactly what sort of cars you will be looking at

For now, you want an estate with leather upholstery (which will wipe clean better than cloth) but not the perforated sort as that soaks up sprog puke, as some of our friends found to their cost. Something sporty is fine, and in your shoes I would probably go for a Subaru, but you do not want something with rock-hard suspension or a farty exhaust, as this will make your little darlings cry.

When your kids are in the car, you will drive like an old lady so as to (a) not wake them up or (b) not make them do this

Don't worry - you'll earn your Dad Badge eventually.

[jamiem555]

We had twin boys in April this year. Congratulations, you're in for some fun.
Car wise, we kept what we already had. My car, a Mk3 Focus St hatch and my wife, a Fiesta Mk7 titanium.
Guess what, we all fit in, pram included. What we did do though, was the purchase of a roof box.
We just returned from a weeks holiday to Ireland. We took my Focus.
It was a tight squeeze, but with some carefull planning, it all worked out.
Oh, and buy a good pram. We bought the iCandy Peach blossom twin. It folds away to nothing and is a great piece of kit. It fits in the Fiesta boot with a weeks worth of shopping and can also take the maxi cosi car seats.

Edited by jamiem555 on Monday 20th October 17:00

[deltashad]

Congratulations and excellent choice, I refused to give in to a large car when my daughter was born. I too bought a roof rack and put it on the Integrale.
Just got into Romania from Scotland, a week's traveling 2 up and everything fitted in the Elise, still had some clean clothes left over but my shoes stink and will never recover. Carrier bags saved the day.

[AC43]

DSLiverpool said:

When it snows how do you V8 warriors get your kids to nursery or school (assuming school is not within walking distance) - I naturally assumed a 4*4 for one family member was essential

I've only had one time when snow stopped V8 play between June 2003 and now. It was in 2012 and we took the wife's Clio instead.

[shoestring7]

captainzep said:

They will puke in it. They will place raisins, crisps, banana, juice and mucus in upholstery crevices. Constellations of stickers will appear. Crayoned cave paintings will be evident. Little piles of plastic crap known as "McDonalds Happy Meal toys" will accumulate whether you attend the hateful drive-throughs or not. Long journeys will become a sonic triumvirate of Disney film soundtracks, crying that drills the soul and "I need a wee, I'm DESPERATE" SOS calls.

Take it from me. Buy the most comfortable, relaxing, spacious car you can which you simultaneously cannot give two fks about. Then tolerate it for a few years. My V70 fitted the bill perfectly.

Edited by captainzep on Sunday 19th October 08:36

Add mummy brain and sleep-deprived-dad brain to that so expect a few minor dents and dings. My wife's car looked like a banger racer on the outside and a cross between a skip, a dressing table and a nursery on the inside. Don't buy anything you care too much about.

SS7

[braddo]

shoestring7 said:

Add mummy brain and sleep-deprived-dad brain to that so expect a few minor dents and dings. My wife's car looked like a banger racer on the outside and a cross between a skip, a dressing table and a nursery on the inside. Don't buy anything you care too much about.

SS7

This isn't inevitable. It depends on the individuals involved (and how much time is spent in the car).

Given the OP's wife if eyeing up a Skoda estate in May, perhaps a good idea is to buy a cheap large estate in November for when the babies arrive and see how the first 6 months go before switching to the wife's car as the main family car.

Then, ditch the cheap estate for whatever it is that, by May 2015, fits with the OP and his family.

[Mr E]

DSLiverpool said:

When it snows how do you V8 warriors get your kids to nursery or school (assuming school is not within walking distance) - I naturally assumed a 4*4 for one family member was essential

The merc is sitting on conti winters. If that doesn't get you in, the staff at the nursery/school certainly won't get in anyway.

[rejn]

There's some similarity in your car history to mine OP.

We had an Elise for years, and when number 1 child came along we had a Panda 100HP. We kept the Panda for a while (and even drove to Tuscany and back in it when our daughter was around 7 months old). After that point, we found that we were outgrowing the Panda (especially when our daughter went into a forward-facing car seat - there just wasn't enough room for her legs), so we changed to a Golf. the Golf gave us a bit of growing space, but just after the birth of our 2nd, we realised that we'd out-grown that, so we bit the bullet and bought a FFRR.

Having said that, I'm sure we could have survived if we'd needed to with the Golf (maybe as suggested above, with a roof box, too) - but we decided a comfy car with lots of space was what we'd prefer to do.

I'm sure the challenge with twins will be different - good luck with it all, and I'm sure you'll soon realise that choice of car is further down your list of priorities that you would have expected...!

Oh yeah - and welcome to a world of your pride and joy becoming full of raisins, biscuits, sand, vomit and other assorted children's detritis.

[mr_tony]

It's possible to manage in a sensible sized hatch with 2 kids, but requires planning and the right sort of buggies. Of you just want to lob everything in and go then an estate or 4x4 makes it easy.

I run a 70s 911 as a daily and quite happily get my son to nursery and back in it and the 3 of us would use it for days out. Now with 2 kids it's not really viable for all 4 until they get out of car seats and into boosters.

There are plenty of fun 2+2 gt options out there that are fun for a trip out or even a holiday, but with 2, having a big old truck is very handy. Horses for courses...

[aberdeeneuan]

mr_tony said:

It's possible to manage in a sensible sized hatch with 2 kids, but requires planning and the right sort of buggies. Of you just want to lob everything in and go then an estate or 4x4 makes it easy.

I run a 70s 911 as a daily and quite happily get my son to nursery and back in it and the 3 of us would use it for days out. Now with 2 kids it's not really viable for all 4 until they get out of car seats and into boosters.

There are plenty of fun 2+2 gt options out there that are fun for a trip out or even a holiday, but with 2, having a big old truck is very handy. Horses for courses...

This exactly.

I had a 3 series coupe when my first was born. Quickly got fed up trying to reach in with the car seat to put him in the back. So while space wasn't an issue, for me it didn't work. Others might manage fine though.

Different people manage in different ways. Me - I'm happy to get a big old bus and shift them around in that for a few years until they get out of the "big" car seats. Others may say they can manage fine in a small coupe.

You don't need a big car, but it just makes life a big easier when your lugging stuff about. Once out of buggies it becomes bikes for example.

[mr_tony]

Edited to remove random double post.

P.s. It is possible to still have fun cars and have kids. A good compromise if you and your other half have cars is a family wagon and a 2+2.

I sold my 2 seat sports car this year after realising that my son wouldn't be able to go in it for another 10 years as it wasn't possible to sit him in a car seat or booster in it (rather a specific to the model admittedly). I found the right 2+2 for me and have since managed a week touring France in it with toddler and baby.

There are good 2+2 gt cars at all price points that will work if that floats your boat. Just do you research on child seats - plenty of info on here if you google..

Edited by mr_tony on Tuesday 21st October 10:47

[jamieduff1981]

I've got 2 children and have found that intelligent purchase of items such as child seats, pushchairs etc can make the difference between a normal Mondeo sized car being completely fit for purpose, or needing a massive estate. Go to a shop and choose a buggy that folds up small rather than one which folds up to the size of an Audi A3. You need to consider transporting baby accessories when choosing the accessories - not buy up all the bulky crap for sale in Mammas & Pappas then try to find which soul-devouring hate-mobile can fit it all in. The baby crap will expand to fit the available space. Choose a sensible sized family car and learn to work with it. We do regular long-distance trips with luggage. It's absolutely fine if you engage brain before buying the wrong stuff.

None of my interiors are ruined. None are damaged at all actually. As parents you have rather a lot of control over what foods children are given to smear over the interior. Parenting styles themselves have a large influence on how messy children are. We did baby-led weaning which meant our children could use their fingers early rather than crushing foods in their fists. You don't have to give them foods which stain if/when spilled.

We found that the optimum rear leg room gave them enough space, but enabled the front passenger to reach round to said children without having to stop the car and get out.

I have successfully driven children around without destroying the cars I wanted, and have found family-capable compromises that have not meant the complete abandonment of any driving pleasure. You're having twins - I get that. You still have massive scope to influence your life now and even though it includes children you can combine being a good father with an interest in cars.

Lexus ISF, Jag XFR or Alfa 159 3.2V6 for me.

[DSLiverpool]

Admittedly when we had twins we had one 4*4 and one of these (V8 E500 of course)


It was too much of a pain and I got a 4*4 for an easy life (still a V8 5.0 though)

[5678]

Big, 4 doors and with power IMO.

When we had our first, we had a 650i coupe, it was fine for a while as it had a massive boot. But rear access became tiresome.

We then went for a new A6 Avant, whilst it was good space wise (not the biggest boot in class though) the 2.0tdi engine was tedious and it was very unreliable. Neither Mrs5678 or I liked it.

Just replaced it with an old Cayenne Turbo. Plenty big enough for the 4 of us and enough power to be entertaining. I was always cynical to the 4x4 thing but it's much more civilised putting kids in without having to lean down and in to do up belts etc.

[Hoddo]

Playing devils advocate for a moment, there is a chance Mrs. Hoddo may not return to work so we can't bank on the Octavia in the long run. With this in mind I will be looking for an estate.

Following today's 'spotted' article I have been drawn to the S6. This one looks rather splendid.