car for new mum

[Rafale]

hello everyone. new to posting here but need some advice and couldn't get a good answer from the search or other forums.

i am expecting my first child (well, the wife is!) and we have a three door (focus) at the moment. our friends tell us that five doors is better and i was wondering what sort of car you guys would recommend for mum / baby paraphernalia / decent reliability. the focus is pretty good as a load carrier / bike hauler / tip runs so ideally something that can do this sort of job well would be good.

i like the look of Seat Altea's as they seem to be quite nice. we have about £3k to spend, maybe a little more, so any suggestions would be great.

cheers.

[mnkiboy]

So you like the 3 door Focus, it has decent space so you'd like something similar, but with 5 doors.
I'm stumped.

By the way, friends of mine manage perfectly fine with a Ford Ka. I don't believe you need to change car when you have a baby. I quite like the security of having no doors in the back.

[BoRED S2upid]

4 door Focus?

Can't go wrong with Seat.

[George7]

If the Focus does the job well, why not just go for the 5 door version of that? 3 grand could pick you up a very tidy late Mk1 (2003-2004).

[Rafale]

thanks for the replies. she has been put off keeping the focus because it has three doors. i don't like it anyway, and would rather something more modern (the focus looks pretty dated inside i think).

i'm sure we could get by with a three door car but if we can get something better suited then i think we should.

[woody2846]

Focus is a good choice if you really need to rplace with 2 more doors
Jap cars for reliabilty - Civic, Corolla or maybe Almera

[Rafale]

forgot to say - she really wants parking sensors. the focus has them and we live on a really busy street so parking is tight. i can see paint shop bills and angry neighbours without them...

[DBSV8]

BoRED S2upid said:

4 door Focus?

Can't go wrong with Seat.

thats interesting as i was looking along the lines of an Ibiza for the wife but was put off by the poor reviews / reliability issues Seat have ?

last survey

[woody2846]

I wouldn't get to hung up on finding a car with Park Assist as you can always fit these as an aftermarket option.

[Rafale]

DBSV8 said:

thats interesting as i was looking along the lines of an Ibiza for the wife but was put off by the poor reviews / reliability issues Seat have ?

last survey

worse than the old shape focus?

[Podie]

Bizzarely, I was chatting to another PHer recently about his car choice.

He and his wife have a Scirocco and find that the coupe doors being longer actually make it easier to buckle the children into their seats becuase you're in front of them, rather than leaning across, as you do in a 5 door.

[Rafale]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

please don't make me keep it. it is really boring!

[ewenm]

We switched to a bigger car (V50) when our daughter was due, some friends of ours kept their smaller 3-door car (C30). Yes, they can fit all the baby clobber in but it all has to fit just right, pram choice was restricted etc. I like the fact I can just chuck stuff in the boot of the estate without having to complete an efficient-use-of-space puzzle.

[aizvara]

Podie said:

He and his wife have a Scirocco and find that the coupe doors being longer actually make it easier to buckle the children into their seats becuase you're in front of them, rather than leaning across, as you do in a 5 door.

Is this with kids in rear facing baby/child seats? I can't imagine a two door being very easy with one of those, unless you have a removable seat thing. Even then, lifting the weight of a child in a seat at arms length is not easy.

We looked at a couple of two doors when I was searching for a car, decided that a four door would be required, and it will probably remain that way until the little one is out of his rear facing seat (unless we get a new car which has easy to disable front passenger-side airbags).

[George7]

If you think the Focus interior is dated then you'll probably not have much luck with VAG cars.

[GreigM]

ewenm said:

We switched to a bigger car (V50) when our daughter was due, some friends of ours kept their smaller 3-door car (C30). Yes, they can fit all the baby clobber in but it all has to fit just right, pram choice was restricted etc. I like the fact I can just chuck stuff in the boot of the estate without having to complete an efficient-use-of-space puzzle.

I'd go with this. Ours is 1 year old now and you wouldn't believe the amount of crap you end up carting about - you definitely want a roomy estate. You also want something with decent sized rear seats, especially if you're tall or like to sit with your seat far back as rear-facing baby seats take up an extraordinary amount of space and you might find you have to drive with one of the seats forward to make it fit properly. My sister in law has a focus and is always bemoaning the lack of space for her little un's stuff.

We had the same dilemma, same budget and ended up with a Mazda 6 estate and its been perfect - you should get a 54ish plate no problem for your budget. Alternatively a Mondeo estate?

[telecat]

Rafale said:

please don't make me keep it. it is really boring!

If you find a Focus boring you'll be catatonic in a Altea. My Other half survived quite nicely in a Nova three door for some time. Only with the arrival of my daughter did we move up to a five door and even that was only a 106XL. You will need a bigger car as they get older or you have more kids. However I'd keep with the Focus and Look to get a better Mondeo or C-MAx later.

[Bunnybopper]

Rafale said:

please don't make me keep it. it is really boring!

You're doing it wrong. Every Focus I've driven has been a hoot...

(I haven't driven one newer than a 52 plate though)

[Podie]

aizvara said:

Podie said:

He and his wife have a Scirocco and find that the coupe doors being longer actually make it easier to buckle the children into their seats becuase you're in front of them, rather than leaning across, as you do in a 5 door.

Is this with kids in rear facing baby/child seats? I can't imagine a two door being very easy with one of those, unless you have a removable seat thing. Even then, lifting the weight of a child in a seat at arms length is not easy.

We looked at a couple of two doors when I was searching for a car, decided that a four door would be required, and it will probably remain that way until the little one is out of his rear facing seat (unless we get a new car which has easy to disable front passenger-side airbags).

Forward facing.

For clarity, it's a recounted story - I do not have any children, nor experience on them.

[aizvara]

GreigM said:

I'd go with this. Ours is 1 year old now and you wouldn't believe the amount of crap you end up carting about - you definitely want a roomy estate.

You don't need an estate. I bought my smallish saloon with the kid in mind, and we've never had any trouble fitting everything in. He's just over one, and we've been on some long journeys with him.

I'd agree about the decent-sized rear seats, however, which is why I'd be reluctant to have a two door hatchback as a family car (particularly with a baby).