"New baby forces sale"

[JDFR]

stormy22 said:

Thanks for the free advertising. WOW, you must seriously lack an education if you think writing poetry is strange!
That’s like saying the multi-millions who use facebook or twitter or any other forum is strange for also writing there thoughts.

I'm not usually a grammar Nazi but this time I couldn't resist.

Nothing wrong with poetry,. just your website looked a little bizarre.

[muon]

Unless I was totally broke, only a motorcycle would be possibly sold if I had a kid, because my responsibility as a father would be paramount.

That's not to undermime my future girlfriend/fiance/wife etc. They would be fine without me, but I couldn't possibly imagine having a kid and not being there to raise him/her.

[stormy22]

JDFR said:

stormy22 said:

Thanks for the free advertising. WOW, you must seriously lack an education if you think writing poetry is strange!
That’s like saying the multi-millions who use facebook or twitter or any other forum is strange for also writing there thoughts.

I'm not usually a grammar Nazi but this time I couldn't resist.

Nothing wrong with poetry,. just your website looked a little bizarre.

You really are a tt and not worth arguing with. Good luck in your quest for idiocy, although it appears you have reached it already.

[darkcat]

will you both STFU and go outside...

[anonymous-user]

stormy22 said:

JDFR said:

stormy22 said:

Thanks for the free advertising. WOW, you must seriously lack an education if you think writing poetry is strange!
That’s like saying the multi-millions who use facebook or twitter or any other forum is strange for also writing there thoughts.

I'm not usually a grammar Nazi but this time I couldn't resist.

Nothing wrong with poetry,. just your website looked a little bizarre.

You really are a tt and not worth arguing with. Good luck in your quest for idiocy, although it appears you have reached it already.

You two are funny.

[Alfanatic]

Ari said:

BFG TERRANO said:

I have a 3 year old and 1 of our cars is a 3 door hatch. Trust me, its not easy!

Why?

Had a Mk2 Golf GTI 3 door when my son was 3, then a Honda Prelude. Open door, tell him to get in, he scrambles into seat, then with the seat pushed pushed forward you've got room to get in front of him and do up the belts.

The only issue I had was legroom in the Prelude. Hateful car anyway so swapped it for a 3 door Audi A3.

I had a 3 door Mk3 GTI until my firstborn was about three. It was no problem at all, and indeed had the advantage that with the young alfanatic in her seat, I could climb in and sit on the back of the folded front seat and be quite comfortable while strapping her in, because I wasn't bending in under the roof and trying to work at an angle, which in itself is not particularly difficult either.

I didn't usually have much trouble getting the door open far enough either, and I can't honestly say that would have been any better or worse with a 5 door Golf.

The golf was replaced because it became unreliable, and it was this that made it impractical, not the lack of back doors.

[JDFR]

St John Smythe said:

You two are funny.

Sorry, trying to find my feet here and found the website little bizarre! What is it they say about arguing with people on the Internet?

[Liquid Tuna]

I have another baby on the way and do genuinely need to sell my saloon car and buy the estate version for that reason alone. I've looked at roof boxes etc but they just won't cut it. Gives me a good excuse to upgrade from the 2.5l to the 3.0l though. But my ad could say "baby forces sale"!!

[deltashad]

I dont understand whats wrong with people. If you cant fit in the car theres always the bus.

When I had my daughter I refused to give up the lancia. We had a 2 year old bmw sport compact at the time (we shared the payments). I really liked it. She got rid of it and bought a new meriva.
I didnt contribute anything towards that car. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. 13 grand for a overweight corsa. I must have sat in it twice.
My daughter always loved and always will love driving in lancias.

Same with lots of things though. Dont play music loud in the house she'll never sleep etc. Women lose all rationality when they have children.

[JDFR]

deltashad said:

I dont understand whats wrong with people. If you cant fit in the car theres always the bus.

When I had my daughter I refused to give up the lancia. We had a 2 year old bmw sport compact at the time (we shared the payments). I really liked it. She got rid of it and bought a new meriva.
I didnt contribute anything towards that car. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. 13 grand for a overweight corsa. I must have sat in it twice.
My daughter always loved and always will love driving in lancias.

Same with lots of things though. Dont play music loud in the house she'll never sleep etc. Women lose all rationality when they have children.

Whilst I could never condone the purchase of a Meriva, children or not, I find it fascinating that you and your wife/girlfriend had such separate financial arrangements. Was this just for cars or for everything?

And your Lancia is bloody gorgeous.

[Alfanatic]

deltashad said:

I dont understand whats wrong with people. If you cant fit in the car theres always the bus.

This makes far less rational sense to me than "if you can't fit in the car there's always a bigger car." If the bus was fine most people wouldn't have a car to replace in the first place.

You had two cars, which makes things a lot easier, but I'm sure a Delta (I'm assuming from your username, without looking at your garage, that your Lancia is a Delta) would have coped fine anyway. Anyone in a one car family needs a car that can cope with most of the transport demands, which generally means more than two seats and a half decent boot, but I expect the average supermini would do fine.

[darkcat]

JDFR said:

Whilst I could never condone the purchase of a Meriva, children or not, I find it fascinating that you and your wife/girlfriend had such separate financial arrangements. Was this just for cars or for everything?

And your Lancia is bloody gorgeous.

I fully condone keeping finances reasonably separate - and pre-nuptial agreements - because so many marriages fail. Lets say (hypothetically) that my GF moves in to the house that i bought, myself, outright, and 3 years later it goes tits up, there's no way she's having half of it!!

Edited by darkcat on Wednesday 2nd January 12:40

[JDFR]

darkcat said:

I fully condone keeping finances reasonably separate - and pre-nuptial agreements - because so many marriages fail. Lets say that my GF moves in to the house that i bought, myself, outright, and 3 years later it goes tits up, there's no way she's having half of it!!

Guess I'm not too fussed as a) I trust my wife implicitly and b) if things were split 50/50 then I'd be no worse off. But can understand your viewpoint.

[DonkeyApple]

I have to say that once you have a kid or two it becomes very difficult to find the time to use a 2 seater car, unless it is for the commute. If it's a fun car then they do have a very nasty habit of just getting stuck in the garage.

But the size of car needed is very subjective, there is no right or wrong. You certainly do not need a large car but it makes certain aspects easier. The same with 3 or 5 door.

Is sold the TVR T350 as I reckoned with a baby on the way at the time it just wouldn't be used. I also cancelled the MP4. Instead I bought a TVR Typhon and had two Recarros fitted bespokely in the rear. A cheapo buggy fits in the boot, as does a buggy board and a small bag for each sprogg fits in their footwell. A modest sized holdall fits between the two seats and you can fit 3 more in the boot. An umbrella rests on the roof and door window when it is pissing down so the extra time to feed a sprog into the rear seats doesn't see you getting soaked. We have used this car to travel with the family to Italy.

For general driving (I don't commute by car but the boss needs a runabout) I bought a 5 door BMW 130. 5 door made sense as it does make life easier, especially on my back. The same baggage fits in this car as the Tiv. It is small and nimble to be a good car for moving around central London, parking, turning etc but large enough to be very good on the open road for long distances. I have fitted a set of whisper bars to the roof so if needed a box can be added if we need to transport more kit.

Both cars have enough space for the weekly shop, especially as all branded bulky items are bought online so the weekly shop is only for fresh goods etc. But most shopping is done on foot rather than digging the car out anyway.

Both cars are enough fun to allow some relaxing hooning then the rare opportunities appear.

The only real drawback of either car is the occasion when you need to transport an extra adult along with the kids. But there are solutions to that as single addults have a vast aray of transport options available to them in reality.

We do also have a Rangey. Now, in reality, this is a car that allows for everything and all indulgences. We can carry the extra adult, the turning circle is good for London, parking is OK as it's a Classic so smaller than most modern cars. Everything can go in the boot and you can go anywhere at any time. It's fun to drive and eats miles.

So, I completely understand why people opt for the big car as it very clearly makes life so much simpler and less stressful at a time when these two things become valuable and rare commodities.

If I could only have one car then at this moment in my life with a 1 and a 2 yr old then it would be a no brainer to opt for the Rangey, or a big estate like an M5 Touring or RS4/6 etc.

But, I couldn't see myself buying an MPV, I really couldn't. I genuinely believe that that is a step too far. Far too far.

[Clivey]

MysteryLemon said:

These threads do make me laugh.

Usually started by singles who have no child and have no intention of having them, then replied to by the same.

Unless you are a total tt who does not give a toss about their own child, when you finally have one, you will realise why people sell their pride and joy to help fund or cater for a littlun. Priorities change. Spending your hard earned on the unreliable lump of metal on the drive doesn't come first anymore. Comfortably getting your family around with as minimal fuss as possible does.

Alright, alright. Put the handbag down and untangle your knickers.

Priorities might change but that doesn't mean that every car enthusiast father to be needs to sell their interesting car and buy an econobox. As long as they have something they can reasonably manage with (which may or may not be a second car), there is no need. It's down to the individual though. - Christ, I wish my Dad had had interesting cars rather than company repmobiles when I was growing up. I'd have gladly squeezed into the back seat of a sporty coupé rather than being bored on long journeys in the back of a Cavalier or Mondeo but that's just me.

Part of the problem though is the amount of needless crap some people carry around with them. Some of these 'travel systems' and other associated junk are so bulky and awkward they stay in the boot because of all the pratting around you need to do to use them. - I see this with some of my friends. If you've only got one kid but enough crap to fill a Jaguar XF, as one of them did, it's surely a sign you're taking things to extremes.

[LincolnLovin]

This is a question I've been musing about over the last couple of months as we're expecting our first in June (EEEP), the 9-5 aero has isofix in the back and a pretty large boot (for a saloon).

However, I have been looking at estate cars such as 9-5 aero estate, MG ZT 260 Estate etc

[darkcat]

My dad always had interesting cars - Thats where I go the bug from... (911, GT40, e-types etc)

[matchmaker]

stormy22 said:

JDFR said:

stormy22 said:

Thanks for the free advertising. WOW, you must seriously lack an education if you think writing poetry is strange!
That’s like saying the multi-millions who use facebook or twitter or any other forum is strange for also writing there thoughts.

I'm not usually a grammar Nazi but this time I couldn't resist.

Nothing wrong with poetry,. just your website looked a little bizarre.

You really are a tt and not worth arguing with. Good luck in your quest for idiocy, although it appears you have reached it already.

Back in your box, fella. He was making an observation, not insulting you! By the way, the "d" is missing from "Landscape" on your home page...

[fushion julz]

We used to have my BMW 328i 4dr, my E30 M3 and my partners Skoda Felicia estate...

3rd child arrives (other 2 were 7 and 9 at the time) and, whilst it is possible to get all 3 kids in the back of the BMW, the one in the middle is not exactly comfortable on a long journey due to the transmission tunnel. Also there is a lap belt only for the middle seat, meaning the baby seat had to go in one of the outside positions...Furthermore, even with the fairly large E36 boot, going away for a weekend (say) with sleeping stuff, clothes, buggy, etc would take up the boot, all spare inside space and a large-ish roofbox!

The M3 is strictly 4 seats only so rarely gets used...also fitting the child seat (for the now 2+ yr old) in the back means he is very close to the head-lining...

The Skoda was better having a flat floor in the back, but the bootspace wasn't much bigger than the BMWs and the small width madkes it cramped in the back with all 3 kids aboard...
So we sold it and now have a Nissan Almera Tino for my partner...It is big enough for almost everything, has 3 proper, individual seats in the back and the roofbox will fit on if we need extra capacity.

So the Skoda really was sold because of a child as my partner still says she preferred driving that to the Tino (and she hates driving my BMW).

[Herbs]

Our first one is due in 5 weeks and the Q7 is going to get something more sporty