to think you don't *need* a big car, just because you have a baby?

[dreamingbohemian]

I know this might come off as somewhat bitchy, but it's a genuine question as I don't drive and am not a car person, so I'm wondering if I'm missing some logic here. I'm feeling judgy toward my ILs and would rather not be!

Basically, SIL and BIL have had money problems for quite a while, and now one of their cars has died. Instead of replacing it with something small and cheap, they are borrowing 10-12,000 from the bank to buy a large car (like the one that died). Their rationale is that they need a larger car because they have a child and he has so much gear (they do visit friends a lot so need space for buggy, travel cot, their bags, etc.)

I don't really get it as we used to get by with no car at all, and now that DH needs a car for work we just have a tiny one and it's fine.

I know I shouldn't judge but they are not really shy about borrowing money from all of us and so it's hard to ignore their money issues.

I just wonder if maybe there are other reasons to have a larger car, that are really obvious and they're not bothering to mention, because on the face of it I don't see how one baby means you need a big car. But again, I really don't know anything about cars Their parents seem to think this is a good rationale so perhaps IABU.

YANBU.

We have a Ford Focus and three DC! And were keen campers! We manage because we have to.

Big cars are a luxury IMO.

YANBU. Up until DS turned 2, we had a 3 door Mitsubishi Colt.

We managed fine. I was able to fit a week's shopping in the boot, and the pram on the back seat. Family cars are overrated, and not a necessary expense. As long as there is an actual seat for the baby, then that's fine IMHO.

At the risk of turning this thread into Monty Python's Four Yorkshiremen sketch, when I was a child (admittedly, in the dark ages), we didn't have a car at all. My mum, dad, me and my brother and sister went everywhere in my dad's motorbike and sidecar. Mum rode pillion and we kids went in the sidecar. And no, it wasn't fun, it was cold and extremely uncomfortable. I was so pleased when he learned to drive (age 40). I didn't know you could travel and be warm at the same time.

YANBU, we had a Ford Ka (3 door) until DD1 was 2.5yo and DD2 came along. Only problem was squeezing more than two passengers in if we had visitors. Boot was pretty tiny but big enough, we even drove abroad to visit ILs when DD1 was a few months old, somehow managed to pack in all our luggage plus baby stuff.

We've now bought a bigger 5-door car, only a year old and was less than £10k. So no, there's no need to buy a big or expensive car just because you have a child, or even multiple children.

We had a corsa when dd was born. Was fine as we bought quite a small buggy and could fit travel cot in back with her car seat. However when DS born 2.5 years later we wanted a bigger car. Although it was second hand with huge boot and cost £4k and bought without debt. We would have kept corsa if we didn't have money for bigger car.

3k is enough to buy a trustworthy second hand car

Our car is so small it's invisible :)

someoftheabove, on similar lines , when I was a child in the early 80s my mum ferried me and my brother around in an incredibly ancient Mini. It often used to stall at traffic lights and she would have to get out and hit some vital bit of the underneath with a hammer to get it going again. She always says she was just grateful to have a car because none of her friends did.

When she finally got rid of it the car went for scrap, but the number plate was so old it was worth a bit of money (probably something like A2 )

Sidecar does sound pretty cool though, even if it was actually freezing!

Tell me about it, I live in chelsea tractor land

Love the 4 yorkshiremen

When I was little my mum had a Ford Pinto, she was so excited because she got a great deal on it (used), turned out later it was because the pinto tended to, er, explode sometimes. We drove around in it for years!

We had an older-style Corsa when DD was born. It was a real nightmare finding a rear-facing car seat that would safely fit. We went to our local authority's independent car seat advice service who said that you needed at least two finger's widths between the baby's car seat and the back of the front seat. In order to have the rear car seat properly fitted would have meant the passenger seat being so far forward my shins resting against the glove box and my knees up to my chin.

We upgraded to an Astra, but we got it second-hand and only paid about £1k for it.

We've got one small (Yaris) and one bigger (Nissan Almera Tino) which is an MPV but about the smallest MPV you can get. We only really need the space in the bigger one for holidays, especially camping, even with a roofbox it isn't really big enough for the camping gear, we can't really use the footwells so much now because the DCs legs are long (they're 9 and 7) and need the space and we've got a big tent.

If we didn't camp I reckon we could do everything else with the Yaris and a roofbox and could have done since the DCs were born.

Bigger cars are very useful if you want to give lifts to DCs friends after school and to activities etc, but we live walking distance of nearly all our weekday stuff and all the friends houses so that's not an issue for us.