3 & 5 series size
Discussion
Hi guys just quick question, me & the wife have 3 kids aged between 10 & 14. We wanted a 3 series but people seem to say that it is a bit cramped for 5 of us, so are thinking of getting a 5. Are they a much bigger car to drive as wife worries. Anyone got both & notice much diffrence or is the 3 ok for 3 in the back!
Dont want to start looking at cars & messing people about!
cheers
Dont want to start looking at cars & messing people about!
cheers
Evo are running a 335i Touring in their fast fleet, a quote this month will be of interest to you:
"Firstly, the size is just right. A few years ago we'd have needed a 5-series to accommodate all five of us plus various combinations of hounds and/or luggage. One benefit of successive generations of cars getting bigger is that we can all comfortably fit in the latest 3-series."
"Firstly, the size is just right. A few years ago we'd have needed a 5-series to accommodate all five of us plus various combinations of hounds and/or luggage. One benefit of successive generations of cars getting bigger is that we can all comfortably fit in the latest 3-series."
Edited by NickXX on Sunday 13th January 19:22
NickXX said:
Evo are running a 335i Touring in their fast fleet, a quote this month will be of interest to you:
"Firstly, the size is just right. A few years ago we'd have needed a 5-series to accommodate all five of us plus various combinations of hounds and/or luggage. One benefit of successive generations of cars getting bigger is that we can all comfortably fit in the latest 3-series."
Nick"Firstly, the size is just right. A few years ago we'd have needed a 5-series to accommodate all five of us plus various combinations of hounds and/or luggage. One benefit of successive generations of cars getting bigger is that we can all comfortably fit in the latest 3-series."
Edited by NickXX on Sunday 13th January 19:22
I am thinking of a 2006 car, but does that mean that the saloon would seat 5 or just the touring (estate!)
cheers ian
We have three kids of very similar ages.
Clearly the people who wrote that article for "EVO" don't!
We wouldn't entertain anything less than a 5-Series for anything but the shortest of journeys for all five of us.
On a long journey even a 5-Series can become "fraut"!
To the extent that for a planned trip to Le Mans this year the options boiled down to (and bear in mind I do actually already have a 'normal' 7-er in the garage):
1) Buy an E38 Long Wheel-base just for the trip.
2)Borrow my friend's E38 750iL
3)Take our TWO 5-ers!
And the winner is.................Option 3) !!!
Put quite simply...a 3-Series is a waste of time for your requirements.
People who don't have three kids at these ages won't understand.
Top Tip: Invest a small amount of money in one of those portable twin DVD thingies that you can strap on to the rear headrests. Ranks up there as one of my best investments ever! We did...and have taken it twice to Italy and strapped them on the back of Lancia and Alfa hire cars and been rewarded with a modicum of 'decent behaviour'!
I emphasise "modicum"...As you will know: "Two divided by three is a difficult sum!"
5-Series...at the very least!
Clearly the people who wrote that article for "EVO" don't!
We wouldn't entertain anything less than a 5-Series for anything but the shortest of journeys for all five of us.
On a long journey even a 5-Series can become "fraut"!
To the extent that for a planned trip to Le Mans this year the options boiled down to (and bear in mind I do actually already have a 'normal' 7-er in the garage):
1) Buy an E38 Long Wheel-base just for the trip.
2)Borrow my friend's E38 750iL
3)Take our TWO 5-ers!
And the winner is.................Option 3) !!!
Put quite simply...a 3-Series is a waste of time for your requirements.
People who don't have three kids at these ages won't understand.
Top Tip: Invest a small amount of money in one of those portable twin DVD thingies that you can strap on to the rear headrests. Ranks up there as one of my best investments ever! We did...and have taken it twice to Italy and strapped them on the back of Lancia and Alfa hire cars and been rewarded with a modicum of 'decent behaviour'!
I emphasise "modicum"...As you will know: "Two divided by three is a difficult sum!"
5-Series...at the very least!
iaiin said:
Dont want to start looking at cars & messing people about!
cheers
Personally i WOULD start looking at cars - your local dealer should be more than happy to give you an extended test drive in both if you're serious about buying and explain the situation.cheers
I loved my e60 five series, but a friend drove one and found it massive - definitely a very personal thing.
We have a 335d and 3 kids age 4-11, we also had a 535d last year, We did a 6 hour journey in the 3 series and although the kids didnt complain it isnt so roomy for them ( I got rear entertainment fitted from new which helps! ), 5 series is much bigger but there comes the problem , swmbo uses the car daily for the school run and wont drive a 5 series she reckons they are numb to drive and park . Personally I reckon the 5 series is the better car, better size, better built etc but I prefer the 3 series to drive, but the 5 series to be driven in.
Edited by JeffC on Sunday 13th January 21:27
JeffC said:
We have a 335d and 3 kids age 4-11, we also had a 535d last year, We did a 6 hour journey in the 3 series and although the kids didnt complain it isnt so roomy for them ( I got rear entertainment fitted from new which helps! ), 5 series is much bigger but there comes the problem ,
Do all the kids have to sit on booster seats/cushions? Does the seat that has to go in the middle of the rear bench fit in OK in a 5-series? I've got 2 kids (both under 6 and necessitating a 'full' seat and doubt if I could fit another one in the middle. On the occasions 5 of us have gone out in the car, my wife has sat in the middle of them and it's been a squeeze ( luckily she's not as wide as the kids' seats ).We tried them in a friend's 530d ( new shape ) but it still looked pretty tight so personally going up to a 5 wouldn't solve the issue if we had 3 small kids needing full size seats
derin100 said:
Top Tip: Invest a small amount of money in one of those portable twin DVD thingies that you can strap on to the rear headrests. Ranks up there as one of my best investments ever! We did...and have taken it twice to Italy and strapped them on the back of Lancia and Alfa hire cars and been rewarded with a modicum of 'decent behaviour'!
So true!!! 
Wife bought one of the Argos jobbies ( twin screen DVDs ) just before we drove across Europe last year. Money very well spent.....kids have never been so quiet.....plus we took some DVDs with us for us so we could watch stuff in the evening after the kids had gone to bed.
derin100 said:
We have three kids of very similar ages.
Clearly the people who wrote that article for "EVO" don't!
We wouldn't entertain anything less than a 5-Series for anything but the shortest of journeys for all five of us.
On a long journey even a 5-Series can become "fraut"!
To the extent that for a planned trip to Le Mans this year the options boiled down to (and bear in mind I do actually already have a 'normal' 7-er in the garage):
1) Buy an E38 Long Wheel-base just for the trip.
2)Borrow my friend's E38 750iL
3)Take our TWO 5-ers!
And the winner is.................Option 3) !!!
Put quite simply...a 3-Series is a waste of time for your requirements.
People who don't have three kids at these ages won't understand.
Top Tip: Invest a small amount of money in one of those portable twin DVD thingies that you can strap on to the rear headrests. Ranks up there as one of my best investments ever! We did...and have taken it twice to Italy and strapped them on the back of Lancia and Alfa hire cars and been rewarded with a modicum of 'decent behaviour'!
I emphasise "modicum"...As you will know: "Two divided by three is a difficult sum!"
5-Series...at the very least!
ThanksClearly the people who wrote that article for "EVO" don't!
We wouldn't entertain anything less than a 5-Series for anything but the shortest of journeys for all five of us.
On a long journey even a 5-Series can become "fraut"!
To the extent that for a planned trip to Le Mans this year the options boiled down to (and bear in mind I do actually already have a 'normal' 7-er in the garage):
1) Buy an E38 Long Wheel-base just for the trip.
2)Borrow my friend's E38 750iL
3)Take our TWO 5-ers!
And the winner is.................Option 3) !!!
Put quite simply...a 3-Series is a waste of time for your requirements.
People who don't have three kids at these ages won't understand.
Top Tip: Invest a small amount of money in one of those portable twin DVD thingies that you can strap on to the rear headrests. Ranks up there as one of my best investments ever! We did...and have taken it twice to Italy and strapped them on the back of Lancia and Alfa hire cars and been rewarded with a modicum of 'decent behaviour'!
I emphasise "modicum"...As you will know: "Two divided by three is a difficult sum!"
5-Series...at the very least!
I know what you mean. I was hoping the 3 would be ok as the wife would not have to drive a big 5 about on her own shopping & such
Shropshiremike said:
I've got 2 kids (both under 6 and necessitating a 'full' seat and doubt if I could fit another one in the middle.
Disagree. Have you tried it ?I've got an E39 and I regularly fit one three year old, one
five year old and an adult lady on the rear seat.
One of the youngsters takes the middle seat. I can't see out
the back if the lady sits in the middle.
I think three child seats will go into the rear of an E39
no problem.
I am guessing that the new shape 5 series has even more room
in the back.
dcb said:
Shropshiremike said:
I've got 2 kids (both under 6 and necessitating a 'full' seat and doubt if I could fit another one in the middle.
Disagree. Have you tried it ?I've got an E39 and I regularly fit one three year old, one
five year old and an adult lady on the rear seat.
A guy I know couldn't do the same in his E39 530d ....ergo, it went when child no 3 arrived - replaced by an MPV
Certainly when we had all three still in child seats (we had twins born when the eldest was still only 2.5 yrs) we physically couldn't get the three child seats to fit at all in the back of our then E28 5-Series. We didn't have a lot of money in those days and ended up having to an old SAAB 9000 as about the only decent thing that we could afford that would accommodate three child seats.
I know E34 and E39's are a 'bit' bigger...but not really substantially. If you can convince your wife to drive one I'd have to say that I agree with Caboosemoose. If you have all 5 of you in the car regularly, for extended periods, everyone will be grateful for the 7-er! The 5-er will do it...but the 7-er will do it much better!
Why not go and see both together?...Or even ALL five of you go together! Sure the 7-er is a big car but on the rare occasions that my old E32 comes out my wife really likes driving it! The E38 is a superb car and a bargain to buy now. The chap who bought one from me about three years ago recently sold it for buttons...It was still a superb car and if I had the space I would have bought it back! I've never been in an E65.
I know E34 and E39's are a 'bit' bigger...but not really substantially. If you can convince your wife to drive one I'd have to say that I agree with Caboosemoose. If you have all 5 of you in the car regularly, for extended periods, everyone will be grateful for the 7-er! The 5-er will do it...but the 7-er will do it much better!
Why not go and see both together?...Or even ALL five of you go together! Sure the 7-er is a big car but on the rare occasions that my old E32 comes out my wife really likes driving it! The E38 is a superb car and a bargain to buy now. The chap who bought one from me about three years ago recently sold it for buttons...It was still a superb car and if I had the space I would have bought it back! I've never been in an E65.
I've been through the same consideration as I've thought of changing my E39 5 series for an E46 series.
Having looked at some three series, I decided that a three would only be good for me to use with occasional passengers, they're just not that big inside - smaller than your average 'family cars' like Mondeos etc....
My E39 5 will take the baby seat and 2 other passengers in the back if required, if you have a three you've no chance of this. The E60 5 is bigger again.
Having looked at some three series, I decided that a three would only be good for me to use with occasional passengers, they're just not that big inside - smaller than your average 'family cars' like Mondeos etc....
My E39 5 will take the baby seat and 2 other passengers in the back if required, if you have a three you've no chance of this. The E60 5 is bigger again.
NickXX said:
Evo are running a 335i Touring in their fast fleet, a quote this month will be of interest to you:
"Firstly, the size is just right. A few years ago we'd have needed a 5-series to accommodate all five of us plus various combinations of hounds and/or luggage. One benefit of successive generations of cars getting bigger is that we can all comfortably fit in the latest 3-series."
Its crazy, even the new 1 series is bigger that the old 3 series (E30) "Firstly, the size is just right. A few years ago we'd have needed a 5-series to accommodate all five of us plus various combinations of hounds and/or luggage. One benefit of successive generations of cars getting bigger is that we can all comfortably fit in the latest 3-series."
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Trouble is she does not want a big car as she will use it for shopping & bits as well, We want a bit more room than our fabia vrs (I think it is the sane shell as volkswagon polo) we fit our 3 in back but a bit cramped now, but if we have a long journey we have A merc ML 7 seater, but we dont really like it so use the fabia much more.
I think she wants a bit more room for the short journeys as well (spoilt women!)
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