Twin Mums - what kind of car do you have?

[ConfusedBiscuit]

OK so I really need to start thinking about shopping as my twins are due in July/August

Top of the list we really need to change our car - currently have 3 door VW Polo which I really don't think will do the job with 2 babies!

Everyone I know with 2 small children seems to have some kind of people carrier type thing - is this the best idea?. Have been looking at Seat Altea, Renault Scenic, Mercedes A Class etc, but don't want it to be bigger than necessary.

The main issues I'm thinking about are...

1. A car that's reasonably high off the ground so that I can get two babies/car seats in and out easily without killing my back

1. Am thinking of getting a side by side buggy like the Mountain buggy so need a boot that's big enough for it to fit. Also needs to be big enough for us + twins to be able to go away with luggage/buggy/other baby stuff

1. We live in London with on-street parking in a busy area so needs to be easyish to park and not too enormous

What do you reckon?

Aha. Just posted on the other thread and popped over here to read advice, did not realise it was such a new thread!

As I said before, we still have a golf, so no advice from me. Will wait to see what the others say. We were thinking of the VW Touran but think it might not be big enough as we have a 2-yr old as well.

Egg - my friend has a Touran and she gets her twins (now 20 months) and her 4 year old in it, plus double buggy etc, and is very pleased with it.

Oooh really? That's good to hear as we like it a lot just that I had heard boot space can be a bit scarce. Don't want anything TOO enormous. Need to do a testdrive then.

Going on hols in 2.5 months so we had better get a new car before then or DH will have to take the train .

She has all the kids on the one row, so the 6th and 7th seats are normally folded down, which gives a big boot. IIRC there wasn't a lot of choice of cars where you could get two baby seats and a toddler on the same row, which she wanted.

Do you know what kind of seat her toddler is on? In that mine is on a big isofix thing so don't think I will fit the baby seats and that in one row. I guess I could trade it in but it is so NICE and also v safe for DS1. He will in theory be in it til he is about 4 and he has only just turned 2.

He's not in an Isofix (I don't think any cars have 3 isofix points across), but is in a full, big, 5 point seat - which was the issue. She didn't want to send him to the back seat, so hoiked the two baby seats (fortunatly her sister has a DD the same age as her DS, and had bought the same stage 1 car seat, so had two already) around to try in just about every car on the market at the time to check.

I have a picasso and have 3 car seats in the back ds1 (4) in a Maxi Cosi Rodi XP, ds2 (11mths) in a Britax Isofix Duo and dd still in the baby rear facing as she is smaller.

But she will also go into the Britax Duo Isofix and I have checked and they all fit

I have a out n about nipper pushchair in the boot and when we go away I use a roof box for gear for 5, two highchairs, two travel cots, double pushchait etc..

I would love a C8 (which is huge) so that we can take further passengers

the c4 picasso has 3 isofix points in the back - but it was only released on sale in feb 07 and it the first car to do this - so I have been told

I had dts in baby seats and ds1 in his britax isofix in the back seats before he grew out of it

with baby twins I was driving a seat leon, DH had a scenic for about a year, hated it and got a mondeo estate (but that was more about the dog than the twins!) and I now drive a different lovely hatchback, twins are 4 - I see no real need to have an enormous car with just 2 children, my car is lovely and nippy and we will take it on holuday to France this summer as it is so much better than DH's

I have an Alhambra now (for 4 children) but before the dt's were born dh changed his Polo for a Golf so we had more boot space for the double buggy! I had a succession of various cast offs from my family-Nissan Sunny,Toyota Carina and a Diahatsu Fourtrak .

If they are your "only" children then maybe you don't necessarily need a people carrier at the moment,unless you're thinking long term .

We'll shortly be expanding our brood to 4 and have just bought a Galaxy. Haven't actually got it yet. Seems pretty spacious. Older children will go in 3rd row in their booster seats. Babies in middle row ... would love to work it so as they use an outside and middle seat, leaving an outside seat available to fold forward for access to the rear row. Only carseat I can find is Britax who say their infant seats can be used in the middle position with 3 pt belt. Need to find and try one though.

Doesn't answer your question ConfusedBiscuit ... we have had two children in a VW Passat for the last four years ... plenty of space & huge boot. Will be sad to change!

we have a kia sedona. Have twins and to other little ones. We found that it isone of the only ones to have decent sized boot. We have a mountain buddy double, and at first had the big double carrycot so neededa big boot for that. The kia managed this well. Also didn't want one child in back row, so the kia has 2/3 seats back, then 2 that can turn to face the front or rear, then the 2 front seats. We love ours.

Have a look at the mitsubishi grandis. We got ours last year and we love it. We have twins - they are a bit older, 7, but there is loads of room.

I love my Vauxhall Zafira. Its not as big as the Ford Galaxy I used to have but it still has 7 seats. Even if you don't have other children to fit in the car as well remember two children are likely to have twice as many friends

We have a Toyota Estima 8 seater which fits our brood comfortably (baby 5 due tomorrow). Boot space looks small but can fit in two double buggies along with change bags etc and love being able to play around with the seats. DH never yet had trouble parking it in London.

fingers crossed for you pixi xx

We got a Toyota Avensis Verso second hand as with twins arriving an a four year old needed space for three seats. There are other option like the kia sedona but you need to be sure that the back three seats are all wide enough for a child seat. We found some had a very narrow middle seat which was no good. The seven seaters also have loads of boot room with the back two seats out - perfect for a double buggy, shopping and our two dogs when we all go away together! I have found this a very solid and comfy car with bags of space from front to back, even with seven seats all being used as we did once. take your car seats along and try them. Thats what we did and they were really helpfull at the dealers about this. Good luck!

Thanks for all your replies.

I think the dilemma is that we don't really need a big car, just a big boot so that we can fit in a side-by-side buggy etc, but it seems the only way to get a boot big enough is to have an MPV. We went to look at cars last weekend armed with a tape measure and couldn't find any cars with a boot wide enough that something like a Mountain Buggy would fit in and sit flat in the boot so that you had a chance of getting anything else in...

i've got a renault megane and it has 3 three point seat belts on the back seat and the boot is big enough for a double buggy. #2 is due september and we have ordered a baby jogger double which fits perfectly in the boot with room to spare for shopping bags and general baby paraphernalia. our other car is a c5 estate but i wanted something that i could park but still had a big boot and decent seat belts.

HTH

I (sort of managed) the whole thing with a 307 but many a time was to be found crying tears of range trying to stuff monster double buggy into boot. Wish i had just bitten the bullet and got rid of 307 (bought it 1 month before finding out having twins) for something bigger straight away. Husband now has a Seat Toledo which i think would be quite good looking back. Bit higher up (but not too high that would be problem for toddlers climing in and out) huge boot, comfy, excellent diesel engine but quite reasobable price and not too big. Also hired a senic once and was a dream with it integral sunblinds and fold down trays etc. Think the key is to make things as easy on yourself as poss.

Hi I have twins and 1 baby. We had a scenic when we just had the twins but changed to a peugeot 807 last year when DS3 arrived. Love it - slidy electric doors and plently of room in the boot for a pram, you can have it in 5, 6 or 7 seat configuration. Would highly recommend. Good luck.

I can highly recommend a Skoda roomster. It isn't as big as a MPV on the outside but in the inside loads of room and a great boot for the double buggy and shopping. It's Isofix and a little higher than a car so no bending in and out. The back windows have been designed bigger and lower to help car sickness as younger children can see out the window when they start facing forward.and just to give food for thought a recent survey of 35,000 drivers rating their own cars put Skoda as a manufacturer and Skoda dealers second only to Lexus. It's incredably reliable and economic and the insurance is low as well, important with growing twins the engine isn't slow either so great for getting home quickly when their crying

1978 VW Transporter bus - cleassic combi van! Just got it. It's like a cupboard on wheels - you bung everything and everybody in and off you go...