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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

not to want a volvo estate...

61 replies

moulesfrites · 22/12/2009 16:37

To give you the background, dh and I have no dcs, but are planning to TTC in about a year. I am 26 and have a small car to get to work. DH has a pick up he uses for work(self employed). However, if we go on long journeys - holidays to France, Ireland etc, we generally go in the pick up as there is no room in my car for all our stuff, but this costs a bomb in diesel. We are also looking after my PILs dog on an increasingly regular basis, and it can't go in my car either. DH think we should trade my car in for a bigger "family" car and want a Volvo V50. I am a little bit reticent about the idea of going from a little run around to something so big, especially as we don't have a family yet, but dh sees it as planning for the future, whilst I think of it as tempting fate, and I can just imagine the suspicious looks i will get if I turn up to work in a volvo estate.

I'm not sure what the problem is really - if it's that the volvo/or estates in general have "old" / "soccer mum" connotations - (sorry to volvo drivers!!). I think we should get something "in -between" and then get a family car when we actually have a family!?

I know you will be thinking it's just a car, but i fel like part of my identity is sort of bound up in this decision!!

OP posts:
BellasSparklyBaubles · 22/12/2009 18:54

...and the seat belt pre-tensioners didn't work. Found out later this is a common fault (see ncap).

Didn't realise how bad the seatbelts were till we changed cars and my dc complained that they 'couldn't lean all the way forward like we could in the volvo'. Oh - plus the time I had to stop suddenly (at 20mph or so) and ds almost ended up in the front with me

My volvo was only a year old too.

dodgynoodles · 22/12/2009 18:56

Like serinBrightside said, the Traffic police in my area drive them too, so they can't be that unreliable or crap in bad weather!

sb6699 · 22/12/2009 19:06

Dodgynoodles - mine IS an ex traffic cop car!

Mine was one of the only cars that made it up an icy hill yesterday - other cars were all abandoned. Slowly but surely my old trusty Volvo made it - so they cant be that crap.

I live at the end of a long, windy, single track road that is covered with ice atm and havent had any trouble getting in or out.

Maybe you've just had bad luck Bella or maybe there are faults in the new one. Mine is retro chic

AnyFuckerForAMincePie · 22/12/2009 19:07

serin, our V70 has seriously been sliding all over the place in the snow this week

just cannot get traction at all (and no, the tyres are not bald )

our other car is much better in the snow

lolapoppins · 22/12/2009 19:10

I must admit, as much as I love my V70 I was slipping and sliding everywhere when I was caught out on thursday night.

Still love it though. (Mine is v old too, I actually prefer the older shape).

gomez · 22/12/2009 19:14

I had the humiliation of being towed up ahill at the stables at the weekend in a v70. Bloody tiny Alfas and Hondas flew up the hill, not Victor (the Volvo). So I would agree shite in the ice - bloke who towed me up in his twin cabin pick-up thingy said BMWs and Volvos notorious for it.

Otherwise it is fab.

AnyFuckerForAMincePie · 22/12/2009 19:22

yep, twas the expensive BMW's, Mercs and Lexuses that were doing the worst sliding around and getting stuck round my way yesterday

ShellingPeas · 22/12/2009 19:22

But V50 is a little Volvo, not a big one. I had a Volvo prior to DCs and it was lovely.

sb6699 · 22/12/2009 19:32

Aaahhh, see now I have even littler Volvo (V40) maybe thats why I made it up the hill.

Had to chuckle at the guy in the brand new lexus who had to abandon his car on the hill after he cut me up at the roundabout (sorry, thats ungracious of me isnt it).

ClaireDeLoon · 22/12/2009 19:40

We're ttc and recently changed my car for an estate. I honestly don't care what people think re ttc. We holiday in scotland every year and even my decent sized old audi we struggled for space on hols.

DP did look at car and say too big but I ignored him as EVERYONE I know has traded up their car once they have children to csomething with lots of space professing shock at how much space one small baby (and associated stuff) can take up. So I'm going with their wisdom in this matter.

BellasSparklyBaubles · 22/12/2009 19:50

lol, sb6699, at 'retro chic'

dh knows volvos of old (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) but was quite appalled by the decline in quality in the new ones. It was my dream car so he gave in but it was awful.

brettgirl2 · 22/12/2009 19:59

I have a volvo, due to old car being unable to fit more in the boot than a pushchair.

I feel a right twat driving round in it though

worleywinterwonderland · 22/12/2009 20:04

i love my v40,have had it for past 3.5 years but am thinking of trading down now, i still have the 2 ds's but no need to fit prams/pushchairs in the back now.
it has been fine in all this snow and i also love its heated front seats. i put our takeawya on the front seat to help keep it warm till we get home lol!

sb6699 · 22/12/2009 20:11

Now Bella has burst my bubble

Have been yearning for a brand new Volvo and then she tells me they're crap!

Secretly I want an XC90 but am a bit worried I'll be shunned by the old school Volvo community

Eaglebird · 22/12/2009 20:29

I dreamed of owning an XC70. Alas, my purse wouldn't stretch to it so I drive an Astra estate. It's a joy to drive, has Isofix points in the rear for child seats, has a mahoosive boot, is fine to park, and gets me from A to B. That'll do me.

WetAugust · 22/12/2009 20:41

I have a Volvo V70 estate. It's my 3rd Volvo estate and I wouldn't have anything else.

It's safe

You can sling a fridge freezer in the back so no more time of work waiting for deliveries

Great for car boat sales - even has external hanging rails

Kids and I could picnic in the back if it rained on holiday

The heated front seats keep your take-away / fish and chips warm

Smaller cars get out of your way.

I sometimes drive a Fiat Punto and can't wait to get back into the Volvo he's called Sven.

dinsdale · 22/12/2009 20:43

xc90s are fab

loobylu3 · 22/12/2009 20:58

YANBU. I would get something 'in between'. You really don't need a huge car for one small child.

PippiliveslikeLauraIngalls · 22/12/2009 21:06

moulesfrites I think that you should go for something in between for now. You would not need anything that big for a good while. Not till you have two tbh.

On a more emotional level can I add that I understand 100% when you say it is more than just a car but more about your identity. I know what you mean. When I had to get rid of my car to get a family car I cried buckets. I felt like an idiot for feeling so sad because not only it was just a car but also because it was a swap for the better in prctical terms. But to me it felt my young independent self was going with it and here was coming this new boring mummy persona. There is def more in it than just a car.

arabicabean · 22/12/2009 21:24

loobylu3 - Depends on what you transport around. I have one child (toddler) and an E class estate. Practically the entire boot is taken up by his pushchair alone!

QueenTinselofStarryShadow · 22/12/2009 21:39

YABU. A car does not have to be a fashion statement.

DecorHate · 22/12/2009 21:43

if you don't actually need a bigger car right now for daily use, why not keep what you have and hire a bigger car for holidays when you need extra space?

BellasSparklyBaubles · 22/12/2009 22:24

Sb6699 - a large proportion of xc90's develop tracking problems and eat tyres like they're going out of fashion
dh and I have been watching The Wedding Date with Dermot Mulroney and Debra Messing. He had her pressed up against an xc90 and when I suggested thatI'd like to be in her shoes dh said 'no - not against a volvo '

Dalrymps · 22/12/2009 22:33

We have a volvo v40, best car we've had. Reliable, comfortable, safe, spacious and fits all ds's stuff in when we go away .. oh and good for the dog too!

The v40 is a smallish estate and kinda looks more like a hatchback so might be a good compromise for you...

See here

Dalrymps · 22/12/2009 22:34

Oh and i'm not old, 28, not a 'soccer mum' either

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