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Original poster

Parents of 3 or more. What car do you drive?

159 replies

girlsyearapart · 10/02/2010 12:34

Hi I am due in august with dc3. The dds will be 2 and 3 in September.Anyway we will struggle to fit into the car we have now so are looking to buy a new one.

I am not the world's most confident driver so I don't want a bus but would like a 7 seater so if dc4 ever makes an appearance we wouldn't have to change again.

Budget 5-7 grand.

Thanks.

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PeasPlease · 12/02/2010 13:41

We have DD (3) and will shortly have twins.

I drive a Fiat 500 [idiot face]

Someone please buy it off me so I can get a Volvo!

crankytwanky · 12/02/2010 13:50

Lol peaseplease!

DH recently broke down with DC, and his mum had to pick him up in her fiat 500. He was not amused! He said his face was nearly pushed against the windscreen.

Just back from the front line. (Showrooms) Seriously considering an ancient v70, after reading Orms post on crappy cars being "character building". She has a point.

crankytwanky · 12/02/2010 13:51

Plus DS climbed into the boot of the Volvo and refused to come out.

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Debs75 · 12/02/2010 13:51

We have a KIA Sedona. 3 kids ATM 14, 11 and 16 months, no 4 due in August. The 14 and baby sit in the middle row, we have a rearwards facing seat and that fits comfortably, and the 11 year old sits in the rear. The rear seats are 'proper' seats, not folding seats like the zafira or the megane scenic. When the new baby comes we will have the babies and 14 year old in the middle and 11 year old in the rear with 1 seat taken out for the pram.
It is a great sized car and very roomy, even with the rear seats up i can fit a buggy behind the seats. Plus you get loads of head and legroom and inbetweenthe front seats is a huge space so the front passenger doesn't have to have bags in the footwell.

mowcop · 12/02/2010 14:01

I have a land Rover Defender 7 seater. It is both safe and roomy and suits my family of 5.

PeasPlease · 12/02/2010 14:04

Yeah, even at the moment if all 3 of us go out in it we usually have to put the other rear seat down to get all our stuff in the boot.

We were not planning on having more kids - let alone twins. I am getting nervous that the twins might arrive before we have a suitable car

neenz · 12/02/2010 15:29

I was pretty set on the Toyota Previa anyway but after such good write-ups on here i think it will be our first choice. I have always had Toyotas and they are great (current blip excepted ).

Romanarama · 12/02/2010 16:04

We have a Chrysler Grand Voyager and love it. It fits 7 plus loads of luggage, you can really easily pop the seats up and down to make a van if you need it or just a bit of extra space in the back (you can do this with one hand while holding the baby on the other hip). The kids are far enough away from each other not to be able to touch. It's big, but has a small turning circle and we have parking sensors, so it's dead easy to drive. Very comfy.

FreddoBaggyMac · 12/02/2010 16:34

Haven't read the whole thread but we have a second hand citroen C8 which we're extremely happy with. It's very roomy inside and has sliding doors which are completely fab when you're trying to get children in and out. Had a Renault Espace before which was nowhere near as good.
Go for the sliding doors as they're great!
The citroen C8, Fiat Ulysse and Peugeot something(??) are all actually the same car.

birdofthenorth · 12/02/2010 16:36

Another S-Max vote. Very spacious but feels and looks like a treat, not a tank!

FreddoBaggyMac · 12/02/2010 16:45

This new peugeot compact MPV looks good (although out of OP's and my budget) thought I'd mention it for anyone reading with more cash to spend!

OP I've noticed from further reading that the C8 is on your shortlist. Have to admit it is slightly 'buslike' but it has great visibility which makes the parking easier, and I really can't emphasise enough the wonderfulness of the sliding doors . The only slight negative I found on first driving it is that the handbrake is on the right, but I soon got used to that and I find it a bonus now as it makes it easier to access rear seats from the front.
Should add that we have four young DCs and the C8 works well for us. Make sure you check out the equivalent fiats and peugeots as as I mentioned they are just the same car with different branding. We found that the Fiats were often the best bargains.

CantSleepWontSleep · 12/02/2010 17:50

The Grand Voyager (except for the brand new model, which hasn't been tested yet but is expected to be much improved) has an utterly terrible safety rating though Romanarama, and that surely has to be one of the most important considerations where kids are concerned.

posieparker · 12/02/2010 18:49

Do not buy a Grand voyager...very unsafe, less than 2 ncap stars.
Zafira, really awkward to get three dcs in....the whole seat does move and you can't have carseats in when you move the seat because the seatbelts stop the seat moving.

I have a GRand Espace....perfect, lots of room, independent seats with seat belts on the seat and so you can move the seat with the car seat in. These can be pricey and customer service is okay, not brilliant. I would not get one without a manufacturers warranty, that goes for all cars.

I would consider a Ford and lots of people like the Nissan, but I've never driven one.

posieparker · 12/02/2010 18:55

Not Nissan Toyota.

Original poster
girlsyearapart · 13/02/2010 07:41

pretty convinced now with the c8 - just need to go test drive one!

It is rather bus like but if I will have all these kids I guess I should learn to drive a bus!

Fil said that was the car he used to have which Dh borrowed to drive us camping in France with 5 adults (one pregnant) one 4yo and tonnes of stuff so there was defintely enough room.

peasplease you will just have to refuse to leave hospital until your dh brings a suitable car to collect you!

OP posts:
posieparker · 13/02/2010 07:56

fbm, DID you have the new Espace or an old one, and what's better in the C8....we will have to renew our car in September.

sweetkitty · 13/02/2010 15:04

freddie - glad you are happy with your C8 as we are about to get one, there are hardly any of the Peugeot 807s about we found and you are right the C8/807 and Fiat are the same car much like the Galaxy/Sharan/Alhambra.

It's the sliding doors that done it for me, Dp was looking at the engine/dash etc whilst I was playing with the doors and the seats seeing how they fold etc and whether you could fit a double buggy in the back aka important things. I believe it also has rear parking sensors as standard which will help me.

kitkatsforbreakfast · 13/02/2010 22:39

I have VW Sharan and love it. The only bit I would like to change is to have sliding doors which would be a bonus.

The best bit is the integral car seats. 2 of the seats have a lever to pull so the seat base folds up to make a booster, then the inside of the back of the seat folds out and has a 5 point harness in it. Very cool, and very safe. And very convenient.

Each seat operates completely independently of each other so one can be reclined and the others not.

I was also told (and not 100% sure this is true) that the small MPVs with fold out seats (Zafira, Touran etc) have safety features designed as if they were 5 seaters. So the 2 seats in the back row are considered part of the boot, and therefore do not have airbags, and are part of the crumple zone in the car. In 7 seaters where the rear seats are proper full size seats - Sharan, Previa etc., they are fully safe with airbags and in front of the crumple zone. Whether technically true or not I don't know, but certainly I would not be happy with children in the rear seats of a Zafira on motorway journeys - the rear seats look awfully vulnerable if there was a crash.

posieparker · 14/02/2010 07:30

check out reliability of sliding doors....my inlaws have a puegeot that breaks all of the time, seven repairs in three years.

lovemynano · 14/02/2010 12:51

kitkats, I have a Touran and absolutely would not want my dcs in the rear two seats. My Touran is fabulous for fitting three car seats on the middle row, but if I needed 7 seats on a regular basis I would go for a Galaxy-sized mpv. I know that view is not widely accepted or welcomed, but there we go.

sweetkitty · 14/02/2010 17:02

kitkats - we feel the same the 5+2 cars with the folding seats didn't look safe enough to have a child in them all the time, more for occasional use. With four DCs we wanted 7, well 6, proper seats.

Cannot wait to get it now we were all out for the day in the CMAX and it felt very small and squashed and DS isn't even here yet.

weasle · 14/02/2010 20:18

thanks all. Can i just check, can you fit 3 car seats across the middle row in most of these cars? I note what you are saying kitkats and had planned on having the 3 dcs in the middle row and keep back row just for occasional use for grandparents or friends. Can i do that with the not-too-bus-like cars? (S-max, zafiria etc)? DH is in denial about having 3 dc i think and refusing to get bigger mpv with sliding doors.

mankyscotslass · 14/02/2010 20:27

We have just gone back to a Galaxy after downsizing (from a Galaxy) to a Grande Scenic.

The two seats in tha back of the Grande Scenic were only ok for occasional use and not recommended for car seats.

I am vertically challenged, and struggled in the back seat when we had my mum with us.

It was marginally better in the back of the Grande Picasso, and it felt bigger, but still nearly crippled me on a journey from Manchester to Southport.

The Zafira mum had before that was horrible!

We have tried the CMax as well, but had buckle crunch on that.

We keep going back to the Galaxy.

kitkatsforbreakfast · 14/02/2010 21:02

weasle I think the only way to be sure about car seats is to try them out in the car you are planning to get. A pain, I know (I used to carry 3 car seats into showrooms to try out and it is a bother) but it often really depends on the car seats. And sometimes (this happened in a friends car when we had to put 3 car seats in for a particular trip), although they eventually fitted in, it was a complete nightmare getting the highback booster seat belt clicked in. You had to tip it on its side to access the slot.

Also bear in mind how long you might want the car for. I was tempted by a smaller car until dh pointed out that while our dc were 5, 3 and 1 it would be ok, but as we don't plan to change the car until it totally dies on us, it would be rather more of a squeeze with a 16, 14 and 12 year old across the back.

I'm really pleased we went for the bigger option now. There is so much space...

mankyscotslass · 14/02/2010 21:07

kitkat, i agree. I think after 2 downsizing episodes we have fianlly settled on the Galaxy....

Our car history, since kids has gone, mondeo, galaxy, cmax, galaxy, grande scenic galaxy.

But in that we have also used mums Zafira and Grande Picasso.