What car to get to replace Corsa with a newborn?

[EskarinaWeatherwax]

We currently have a Corsa. We'll be TTC soon so want to look at getting a bigger car as we've discovered it's a nightmare getting a buggy in the boot and unsure how much space we'll have with a car seat. Does anyone have any recommendations? We have a max budget of 9/9.5k and ideally wouldn't want anything too high mileage. I've looked at the Ford Fiesta but DP isn't convinced that's big enough. I haven't got a clue when it comes to cars.

I had a 12 plate fiesta when I had DS in 2014 and the pram fit fine, we had the Silver cross wayfarer. In 2017 when DS2 came along I had a BMW 1 series and no issues then. My DH had a 10 plate 5 door corsa when DS1 was born and again no issues with the pram or car seat. I've got a Toyota CHR now and love it, although I've just ordered a new Hyundai Kona as I'm going full electric and that has a good boot. I think it's more to do with the pram and how it folds really. I'd be tempted to wait until you're pregnant and then go to a specialist shop and try the prams in the boot first. If the one you really want isn't fitting, then change your car.

What kind of pushchair/travel system are you trying to fit in?

I would say any car above the really smallest in each range is fine for most purposes, so Fiesta (I would have said Corsa but I am not sure of boot size) would work.
I'd leave it til you are pregnant - you might have twins, which is a whole other ball game!

It depends what pram you're having and what you use your car for I suppose. I don't like massive cars and have a hyundai i20, which I think might be slightly smaller than a fiesta. I have a 20 month old and he's now in a fairly compact stroller , but prior to that, I had a cosatto giggle. It did fill the whole boot but was never a huge problem. When we went on holiday, we just used the sling and didn't bother taking the pram.

I have another on the way and not sure how it will go but going to figure it out as i go along! As pp said, I wouldn't worry until you're actually pregnant.

In fact I still had a tiny i10 when baby was born!

Many newer fords inc the fiesta, use a wet timing belt, the ecoboost name is now known as ecoboom, such is the failure rate, also very expensive to replace, even if there are no problems.

I like the VW built cars, so Skoda, Seat, and obv VW, a Skoda Fabia Estate is a decent and reliable car, within your budget & not too big either, loads of independent VW garages around, so mtce costs are reasonable.

Others will recommend Toyotas and Hondas and they are not wrong either.

Sorry probably should have said we'd wait until I'm actually pregnant to upgrade the car. Tbh I'm not sure what buggy it was, it was my nephew's but I can't remember what he's got.

We had a 5 door Corsa for years with kids and only switched when we had our 3rd. They are great little cars.

Oh that's good to hear! Maybe nephew just has a large pram and we're worrying unnecessarily. Did you find you had enough space in the front with a baby car seat?

Yep. No problem at all for everyday use. It was a bit of a squeeze for holidays with two young kids but we managed. However, it was before the rear facing seats were mandatory for older kids so that might cause an issue when you little one is slightly older. The second adult could always go in the back though. I loved that corsa. It was amazing. We fitted a double bed and mattress inside it once and a washing machine at the same time.

A Skoda fabia would fit the bill op - they are a great car

Why not just upgrade to an Astra, or we had the Meriva when mine were small, the way the doors open the opposite way was really handy and has a decent sized boot

We actually upgraded to a Corsa when we had two kids. Had a Toyota Yaris when we had the first.

The only time we struggled with the Corsa was when we went camping. Got a roof box then though.

Just check when you go pram shopping. We had a large range to choose from. Sometimes having a slightly smaller boot made us focus on what we needed.

When DD1 was born I had a Nissan Micra, great car, reliable, easily fitted the pram in (I'd also moved a dining table, four chairs and several boxes of clutter in it a few years before). Between DD1 and DD2 I changed to a Corsa and again, the pram fitted and later, so did 2 small bikes. Don't underestimate the size of a hatchback boot!

We had a mica with our first child which was fine until number 2. Save your money with a slightly smaller buggy.

I had a 5 door corsa and 2 kids. Car seats weren’t an issue but I’m not very tall. If my dh who is 6ft 2 was driving there wasn’t a lot of room behind the drivers car seat for the car seat.

a pram fit in the boot but nothing else did.

I have a focus now and although i don’t have a pram anymore the boot space is fantastic and would easily fit a pram along with shopping etc

I went from a Corsa to an Astra and it was great. Could easily fit a buggy in the boot.