Becoming a Dad + next car quandary

[Joe M]

Welshbeef said:

Do you happen to know the same size for a Honda Accord 05 flavour and a F10 5 series thanks would be good to see how I measure up.

Don't know about shoulder space, but having looked at the 5 and tried the seats in it, there's no more space in the centre than a seat leon or audi a4. Beemers seem to have large bolsters that push child seats towards the centre of the car.

[Welshbeef]

Joe M said:

Welshbeef said:

Do you happen to know the same size for a Honda Accord 05 flavour and a F10 5 series thanks would be good to see how I measure up.

Don't know about shoulder space, but having looked at the 5 and tried the seats in it, there's no more space in the centre than a seat leon or audi a4. Beemers seem to have large bolsters that push child seats towards the centre of the car.

That's an interesting point and if so would make what others have said about the long wheel base valid. (Though LWB v SWb same model has the same width)

[Joe M]

You think the lwb versions won't have the large bolsters due to the positioning of the wheels?
I can say that the 3 series GT back seat is as useful as the normal 5 series, any other 3 series is a 4 seater with child seats involved.

[dvs_dave]

Usually the seats are the same regardless of SWB or LWB. Unless of course you have the 2 individual seat option in the rear in which case none of this discussion applies! The LWB versions have the stretch (5-6in) in the middle just behind the B pillar. There is no difference in the rear wheel position to rear seat position.

Seat bolster designs from manufacturer to manufacturer you'd just need to go and take a look to see what works. From my experience with an Audi A8L it's not an issue.

[Welshbeef]

dvs_dave said:

Usually the seats are the same regardless of SWB or LWB. Unless of course you have the 2 individual seat option in the rear in which case none of this discussion applies! The LWB versions have the stretch (5-6in) in the middle just behind the B pillar. There is no difference in the rear wheel position to rear seat position.

Seat bolster designs from manufacturer to manufacturer you'd just need to go and take a look to see what works. From my experience with an Audi A8L it's not an issue.

I guess the latest S8 would also be suitable

[dvs_dave]

S8 Plus would be a peach although no LWB option is a mark against it. Plenty of AMG metal for high performance LWB thrills and practicality though.

[Welshbeef]

dvs_dave said:

S8 Plus would be a peach although no LWB option is a mark against it. Plenty of AMG metal for high performance LWB thrills and practicality though.

Ah yes the S65 AMG LWB a beast. V12 bi turbo insane.

[Hell27]

Geesus said:

Welshbeef said:

Nope not even the F10 5 series can do that and it's wider.

That's no fun.
I guess that rules out all Euro estates then...
SUVs only, Discovery or XC90 then I think. Or a G Wagen but they are so very over priced....

Geesus, I have an e60 5 series saloon and 3 kids. They all fit in the back fine ( grown above 1.4m each so no child seats to worry about). However 2 and 3 are a year apart so we had 2 big car seats in the back with the eldest in the middle on a booster. There is plenty of room in the back of a 5, e class, even Octavia vrs has room in the back for 3. Also the boot of the 5 fitted a full Phil and teds buggy in the space between the wheel arches leaving the rear portion full width boot free for other stuff. My advice is take the family plus car seat to a dealer and try out some sizes. I did that with the 5 and stopped worrying about 7 years of zafiras and galaxies etc!
Edited : we never used Isofix by the way, just threaded the seat belts through the seats the old fashioned way. I think if you use Isofix it cuts down on the positioning options.

Edited by Hell27 on Friday 28th August 14:47

[HannsG]

I have an E46 M3. A 2 year old lad and another lad on the way with the missus.

So 2 kids, me and the wife...

I'm thinking whether I should keep the M or sell it for a 4 door V8 M3.

The thing is the E46 ticks so many boxes, and practicality is something it does fairly well with even 2 doors.

Decisions Decisions

[Welshbeef]

dvs_dave said:

You're getting into the weeds and blinding yourself with theory.

This evening I took another baby carrier we have and installed it in the other rear seat of my A8. I didn't install the base as that would make it difficult to actually get into and out of the middle seat. Rather I slid into the middle seat whilst carrying the other baby carrier and buckled it in beside me. I then buckled myself inbetween the two baby carriers without any difficulty at all. Elbow room was a bit tight but it wasn't particularly cramped or uncomfortable. And for a sense of scale, I am a huge man....6'8" and 20 stone so a more normal sized person would find it even easier.

So, back to the OP. There are better, more practical, but also crap to drive family buses. But for 2 kids and to retain some PH cred, a large saloon car is more than up to the job, yet is perhaps not an obvious option .

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1538078&i=999999&nmt=Bangernomics%20verses%20New%20Cars


Page 10.

Hi DVS Dave

Picking up on this I was surprised to see on a totally different thread and without prompting another A8 owner smaller than yourself claims the opposite is true for width space in the back of an A8.

Confused.com

[TartanPaint]

You're going to need bootspace. Lots of bootspace.

With a £10k budget I'd look at a 5 series estate, or for something a bit different, a Passat R36.

[Welshbeef]

TartanPaint said:

You're going to need bootspace. Lots of bootspace.

With a £10k budget I'd look at a 5 series estate, or for something a bit different, a Passat R36.

C5 RS5?


Apparently the LWB A8 has an enormous boot more than you'd ever need

[Bill]

It was my brother, but no matter.

My whippet thin 7 year old grumbles about travelling between two high back boosters in swmbo's Mazda 6 estate because it's tight, but is happy in my Disco2, although it's tight getting the belts done up particularly with three boosters there. For comparison the D2 is 55" internally at shoulder height and the high back boosters have about 1/2" clearance to the C-pillar on each side.

The centre seat base is 14" between belt buckles. I've been to look at a Legacy Outback today that I really wanted and the centre seat is 10" between buckles, similar to the E-class I also measured as I was there. A Zafira is 14". I haven't measured the Mazda 6.

I can just fit between the HBBs in the disco, but my shoulders touch the outside of the head rests and my hips are tight to the bases.

IME most rear seats have a 40:20:40 split and the seat base is reduced due to the wheel arches which pushes the solid booster bases inwards.

[willmagrath]

Audi RS4 estate, the b7

[Welshbeef]

willmagrath said:

Audi RS4 estate, the b7

B5 RS4 uber cool and delivers the quoted power plus more economical.

[anonymous-user]

The E90 M3 is a good option. The boot is pretty decent and there's enough room in the back for two kids. My advice is tailor the assorted crap you carry to suit the car otherwise you can end up hauling tons of stuff you really don't need Things like baby buggies vary in size and how compact they fold down. It's worth paying attention to, not that you will completely racked after zero sleep

Oh, and congrats, it's amazing.

[Welshbeef]

yonex said:

The E90 M3 is a good option. The boot is pretty decent and there's enough room in the back for two kids. My advice is tailor the assorted crap you carry to suit the car otherwise you can end up hauling tons of stuff you really don't need Things like baby buggies vary in size and how compact they fold down. It's worth paying attention to, not that you will completely racked after zero sleep

Oh, and congrats, it's amazing.

How do you tailor a travel cot pram toys change of clothes nappies baby food and luggage for you to your needs?
I had an E90 didn't work.

My F10 the pram fits in then leaves a little room for a touch of shopping.

[anonymous-user]

Welshbeef said:

How do you tailor a travel cot pram toys change of clothes nappies baby food and luggage for you to your needs?
I had an E90 didn't work.

My F10 the pram fits in then leaves a little room for a touch of shopping.

You obviously packed a fair bit more than we did I guess? What I meant is that the hand me down buggies and prams are gratefully received but there are better options out there. Toys, 2-3, how many do you need?, nappies a complete pack will pack into the side of the boot well. Food into airtight containers, milk ready to make or one in the pot ready. We managed with an A3 to Ireland the first time around. An estate is a batter option but they made the daft decision not to make an M3 estate sadly.

[Joe M]

Getting really annoyed trying to find a decent family car. Need the useable middle seat, low mileage and short journeys so not a lot of options, 15k to spend.
Smax would be perfect, 1.6t or 2.0t minimum of titanium spec but try finding one!
Peugeot 5008 can apparently also be had in a 1.6t but even rarer than a petrol smax.
Only other thing that seems to fit the bill is a citroën c4 picasso, 5 seater would do as it's 3 proper seats across the back, but can I really bring myself to buy a citroën?
First time in my life I've not enjoyed looking for a car to buy.

[Welshbeef]

Joe M said:

Getting really annoyed trying to find a decent family car. Need the useable middle seat, low mileage and short journeys so not a lot of options, 15k to spend.
Smax would be perfect, 1.6t or 2.0t minimum of titanium spec but try finding one!
Peugeot 5008 can apparently also be had in a 1.6t but even rarer than a petrol smax.
Only other thing that seems to fit the bill is a citroën c4 picasso, 5 seater would do as it's 3 proper seats across the back, but can I really bring myself to buy a citroën?
First time in my life I've not enjoyed looking for a car to buy.

The problem is generally people buy these as long term propositions so you either face old cars or very new cars or actually generally very over priced cars.

Also hardly any petrol a were sold over the diesels so looking now and finding one in the spec you want within a realisic distance might be a long wait.

Have you priced up a brand new one on Broadspeed it could work out tempting over 5/8 year old used and not the spec you want for not that much more.