What car do you drive and does it have enough room for DC?

[beela]

We've got a c-max and one DS age 2.8 - so in theory plenty of space, but at the moment he's running out of room for his legs.

I think it's because is legs are too short for his knees to bend in his car seat so they stick out forwards, and once he has grown a bit he will have more space, but at the moment the person in the front passenger seat is having to sit really far forwards. Seems ridiculous in what is supposed to be a family car!

We are thinking about changing cars in a few months, so what do you drive and would you choose it again?

I drive a VW Golf. Have had it since DS and DD were 2 and 1 (they're 9 and 7 now). Have never had any problems with legs fitting in :)

Miaow yes, I get what you mean - my DH is 6'4'' so we also need his seat to be right back!

I'm sure we'll have many more options once we don't need to fit child seats in - I remember DBro and I being driven around in an old style mini with no problems.

Seat Ibiza and its a nightmare have to take the two front wheels off her pram (silver cross linear freeway) to fit in boot then no shopping will fit in as well. Although in fairness it's more practical that the convertible I had when I fell pregnant (DD was slightly ahem unplanned shall we say) so the Ibiza was the best we could find when the convertible eventually sold (a week before I was due to give birth)

I really believe it depends on the size of the people in it!

Dh is 6,4 I'm 5,10. We have an Astra and with dc2 on the way (rear facing car seats take up so much room!!) and ds taking after dad it's tight. Next car will need to be bigger!

Just bought a vw touran and so far loads of room for everyone. Can comfortably get our 2 carseats in and loads of boot space too.

I have a Fiat 500 and 11y dd and her friends fit fine. But would have been
Harder with big car seats.

DH has had various Golfs and all have been fine even when dd was little in car seats.

We have a Dacia Sandero which we love. We have two high backed boosters and a maxi cosi Priori across the back. The boot space is massive for the size of the car and can easily fit a full week of shopping and kids bags in one go.

We have previously had a Fiat Doblo which was cavernous and could fit us all and shopping and my mobility scooter in the boot. We then traded it for a Multipla which people either love or hate. It had a surprisingly small boot but was great for having six proper seats.

SMax. Love it to bits.

We have one 2.3 year old, and we drive a Nissan Note as of three months ago. It is fab. It is a small car but it has a sliding rear seat so for general commuting/supermarket trips the seat is right back and no more being kicked in the back (we previously had an 8yo ie small Renault Clio so we were constantly being thwacked), but we can slide it forward for more boot space for holidays.

fififrog the sliding back seat is a good idea.

yummydolly I had a convertible when I fell pregnant too (also a surprise!). Getting in and out of that with a 7 month bump was fun! I still miss that car though.

Thanks for the ideas everyone

Ford Focus. DH claims it's not big enough for us, all the crap we cart about periodically (eg hols), our small but quite entitled dog (expects the whole backseat, in for a shock in 6 months) and the baby (due Dec) so he is in the process of upgrading us to a Qashqai...

I have acitroen grand c4 Picasso. Rarely use all the 7 seats, but its useful for the odd occasion.

Our DC are tall teens, and there is loads of space for their legs, and head room. Plus the three seats are 'full'seats in the back, not two seats and a shelf.

The boot is huge also.

Drives like a small car, and isn't hard to park.

I love my car.

Zafira - fits 2yo twins, dog, double buggy, shopping etc no problem at all and split seats in the third row are great. I hate the way it looks but have to admit it really does the job and nice to drive too.

Another VW Touran here. I have 2 DC and love it - plenty of room for everything.

Though it has the turning circle of the USS Nimitz...

mazda 5 for 3 dc, only 1 of whom is in a car seat. Plenty of leg room with sliding middle row of seats but very little room in the boot if all 7 seats up.

Citroen xsara Picasso as we have 3DC under six so all in car seats. Good car if you are on tight budget as can pick them up second hand for about £3k.

Loads of room for kids, massive buggy and shopping. Great for when we go on holiday as can fit everything in and great to drive.

Quite hard to park though and I have scratched it quite a few times...but I am not a brill driver

We have a c-max, and it fits ds (13), dd1 (8) and dd2 (3) fine. Plus me and dh. OP, if you are not changing the car anyway, it might be worth looking for a new car seat. Some car seats are ridiculously massive.

We have just got an S-Max. Absolutely bags of space. DD has a massive extended rear-facing seat (she's 3) and DS is in a baby carrier but an adult can still comfortably sit between them. There are two extra seats in the back and they can fold down to make the (very big) boot even bigger. Last week we had two adults, two toddlers, two babies and two prams in it.

We did have a Kuga which I loved but, although it's a big car, it didn't really have much space once both car seats were in.