All you campers with big family tent + paraphernalia, what car do you have?

[amazonianwoman]

We need to change our car this year and need to make sure it'll fit all the stuff we need for family camping (we have a roofbox but that gets filled even going on a roof & 4 walls holiday)

I need to come up with some ideas before DH convinces himself that he needs a 4x4 gas guzzler...

We have a smallish to standard estate, no roofbox but 2 rather cramped in dc and one passenger (ie, me!)

You don't really need loads of stuff for camping [liar]

Maybe we should have a thread on what Equipment we take to see what others get by on,,?

We have threads like that every year!

I have my own one now, partly cribbed from various MN ones. I have saved it somewhere, will have a look later on and post it.

On our first few camping trips it was 4 of us and fitted everything into a ford focus and roof box. There are now 5 of us and we got a Ford S-max when the baby was born. I thought we'd now be able to manage without the roofbox but I was wrong - it seems we're adding more and more paraphernalia that we used to manage without just because we've got a bigger car, so we're still using the roofbox and can hardly fit it all in.

Agree that the bigger the car the more we seem to take or is it the more we go camping the more we want to take. First trip camping we had a citroen berlingo, tight but fitted everything in, the next trip we had a vw passat, brought a roofbox too and just about got everything in.. We then got the vauxhall astra estate and with the roofbox we really struggled.. having said that we did upgrage to a bigger tent and brought a fridge that takes up half the boot!!

Riven - v impressed!

Mercy - I've tried saving as many MN "what to take" threads as possible, but your list would be fab. Please

If I even suggested a trailer to DH he'd take that as a green light to buy a trailer tent

Oh we had a trailer tent when we were kids - a conway corniche! It was fantastic!

We have a C max and 2 smal dc's, think I'll be joining the trailer club this year as last year the GP's took the tent and various other essentials so we could get everything in the car and the roofbox ( On relection we did have 3 coolboxes worth of drugs so maybe not that bad!) but dc3 is due this summer which will inevitably mean MORE STUFF!

I have a 4x4 gas guzzler.

Volkswagen transporter...loads of space for kids, dogs and camping stuff...we have 4 dc's and 2 dogs! I love it

We have a peugeot 306.

And a trailer

we have a renault kangoo, like a berlingo... the canoe goes on the roof, the kit fits in the boot, it is spacious, very ugly and my dh loves it, and it was very cheap to buy etc.

We started with a Passat estate. Which turned into Passat estate with roofbox. Which turned into Renault Scenic with roofbox and massive trailer. Now DH refuses to camp again (not a big fan of rainy cold fields in August, don't know what's up with him ).

Believe it or not I have a Yaris.

Last year I took a huge 5 berth tunnel tent, 2 large (fold flat) picnic chairs, the folding table and bench combo, 2x sleeping bags and karrimats, 2 holdalls full of clothes, etc, stove, lamp, potty and dd's scooter. I only just managed to fit it all in.

This year we have to fit the same stuff in but a greyhound as well.

any estate and a roof box should do it. we have a smallish estate and roof box. it is a squeeze but doable.

Xsara Picasso (No roof box), 5 of us, HUGE tent, cooker table, chairs, all the extras you can think of - and still enough room for the dog

We have a diesel so not too uneconomical and is not quite as toe-curlingly embarrasing as turning up to school in a 3l 4x4

(P.S. if you have never seen one get a look in the boot of a picasso - they are like the tardis )

Used to have a Xsara Picasso and roof box. That worked ok-ish.

Then changed tent to a trailer tent pulled along behind and car now a Vauxhall estate.

We look like the circus has come to town when we arrive and put up the big top.

We did 2 adults, 1 baby and 2 dogs in a Peugeot 307 with a small roof box (room for DH's bike on top too). We like table and chairs but don't have blowup beds or anything (thermarests rule!)

Since then both dogs have died but our new jack russell puppy won't take up so much space

V impressed that you manage in a 307 or a Yaris

So, Picasso is on the list. Passat Estate now off the list after reading/seeing too many horror stories of newer ones needing hugely expensive repairs. 4x4s still off the list!

I was thinking one of those MPVs that have a couple of spare seats in the back which fold away must have mahooosive boots (obv with seats folded away) eg Toyota Verso.

I can feel a trial run packing the car with all our shiny new family camping stuff coming on

Nissan Prairie. It's our third. It's not a green car, but it's brilliant anyway. You can only get them second hand[blue] and most people who have one don't want to sell them. We'll run this one until it dies and then cry.

It doesn't matter what size car you have by the way - you will always pack enough stuff to totally fill it

Another Mondeo estate plus roofbox here

We have 2DC, and up until last year we had a Mondeo saloon plus roofbox, which was fine - we even managed to bring 5 dozen boxes of wine back with us from France

Hadn't even thought about (very important) space for wine!

V true about size, same with houses