4 seater convertible - with space for rear facing car seat..

[anonymous-user]

So the biennial saga of what car to buy the wife rears its ugly head again. She wants a convertible, I want something that's going to be reliable and not throw up any horrendous bills.

However we have a 2 year old who needs to stay in a rear-facing car seat and a 7 year old who has a full height booster seat, so front and back legroom is a must and ability to switch off the passenger airbag is an absolute necessity. Budget is £8-10k.

Shortlist is:

Golf
A4
A5
E-Class (207 series)

Searches on here have also suggested:
Volvo C70
Lexus IS250

Mileage means that diesel is preferable (I know!!) but its more a case for me of which engine/gearbox combination to pick for longevity.

Over to you all....

[GreatGranny]

A5 with that budget.

Mate has the 2 litre petrol version and it's a nice place to be with lots of room in the back for his 13 & 9 year old.
Auto and he's had no issues in the year he's owned it.

We have an A4 TDi 07 reg. so well below your budget.
Seats are ok in the back and you can turn off airbag but there's a lot of wind turbulence in the back seats with the roof down.

Don't know what the A5 is like in this respect.

[anonymous-user]

Thank you. I've yet to look at an A5 in the flesh, thought they would be out of budget to be honest, but Autotrader is turning up some very nice looking cars at that sort of money. There is a decent amount more room in the A5 then?

[Big_Dan]

I'd be surprised if any of those would be realistically usable with a rear facing seat. Aside from wrestling your toddler in to the thing, being able to spin it round and then have the front seat far enough back to fit an adult in is going to be a challenge

Even in my Discovery and Peugeot Traveller (kid wagon) and Skoda Octavia, I have to have the seat forward from its rearmost position

I suppose you could put the roof down and drop the toddler in directly

[anonymous-user]

Toddler will be in the front. If 2 adults and 2 kids need to be transported my car will be used. That said, I will be looking for volunteers to let me trial fit the child seats to check

[Herbs]

Any reason for staying in a rear facing at over 2 years old?

Especially as it's also been proven to be safer in the rear seat as opposed to passenger seat.

BMW 6 series works well with kids and is a lovely drive.

[Scottchester]

I was gonna ask the same question as above, my 18 month old is forward facing and so was his older brother at the same age.
No obvious safety benefits and opens up the seating options.

A 3 series would be a good shout

[ZX10R NIN]

If you're going for a diesel convertible then go for a 3.0d as four pot diesels spoil the (especially with the roof down) appeal of convertibles IMO with this in mind my picks would be these:

Mercedes E350 Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Audi A5 S Line

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

635d

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

330d M Sport Highline

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

330d M Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...