1st baby due Jan. Estate car or get a 4x4..? How much space do babies use???

[octanegirl]

i currently have an extremely fast S4 Estate and there actually isn't that much room in the boot and it's drinking me out of house and home. However I've not had a baby before and don't know how much room they and their accoutrements take up!
My DP and I do a lot of driving as he lives in London and I live in the country, and we often go and visit our respective families. In other words the car gets used A LOT, locally every day and longer journeys several times per week.
I'm thinking about an A6 Allroad diesel as I need 4 wheel drive, or will that still be too small?

We're about to have DC3 & have just upgraded to an A6 allroad. It's great, boot space is just about enough so as you're on DC1 I'd say go for it. It would be more than enough space if we only had one DC.

We've also found the fuel consumption to be much better than our previous A6 estate (ie not the Allroader).

I found a Honda Civic had enough room for one baby and enough stuff for a week's stay at grandparents. We've now got a Ford Focus and I'm pretty sure it'll be big enough for a baby and toddler, although a bit of a squeeze.

So, no idea about 4x4s, but anything that sort of size or bigger will be fine.

Babies take up as much or as little space as you have. We can easily fit 2 adults, a 1 year old, his buggy and enough clothes, other stuff and toiletries for a week away in a Mini.

The bigger the car the more stuff you're likely to fling in "just in case"

This made me laugh! I used to have a fiat seicento (smaller than the inbetweeners car) 3 door and got me dd aged 9, ds and his car seat, dh and ds's silver cross linear freeway pram (minus the carry cot) in the boot bit!!!! :). (Well us in seats, the pram in the bOot!!)

You really don't need a big car, unless you WANT one :)

And on a purely lazy note, how much of a difference does the height make? Ie bending down for car seats in a car and not bending down for a 4x4?

One DC fitted fine in my ancient Citron BX.

Two to go away didn't if we wanted the travel cot, but that is because my old style mountain buggy was so long.

I'm now on my second Focus estate. Then a baby and a toddler fitted just fine. Now two secondary age DDs do too!

Only problem is that 3 car seats won't, so I had to stick the oldest DC in the front if they had a friend to tea.

I have 3 dc and dog who likes a trip in the car.

We cope just fine in a Renault megane, 3 door!

We have been known to drive to Scotland for a week long stay and have plenty of room.

Should say two DDs fit perfectly well in a Corsa, it's wanting to go away with the pram and something to wear that is the problem.

Wigglewoo I'm obsessively tidy (OCD level!) so although I don't NEED a huge car I do want one, so it always feels ordered and tidy even if full of stuff. There. Now you all know that I'm mental!

how many children are you planning? we're expecting no 2 and looking a VW golf sized cars (which are bigger than what we have with no1)

We had a Polo. Boot was filled by the stroller but with some imaginative packing, we could go away for a few days. We only upgraded to a Golf when we realised that DH (6'2) and small boy were going to be legroom challenged sooner rather than later if they were sitting in line.

We fit toddler and all accessories including large pram and travel cot into my fuel efficient Honda jazz just nicely.

We got a Nissan x-trail when DS was born and that fitted loads of stuff in plus a medium dog crate too. Now we have moved countries and are back to a normal height car and I find it much more difficult to get him in his car seat at the lower level. However, my mum constantly reminds me about how we, a family of 5, managed just fine with our Polo all those years ago!

I don't know anything about cars I admit, but we've got DC1 due December.

We've also got a dog and needed tonnes of boot space to fit in both dog and buggy.

We've gone for a Dacia Duster 4x4. Its new in the UK (we're in Germany and they're very popular here) and its a very good price with absolutely loads of room.

Link [http://www.autoevolution.com/testdrive/dacia-duster-16-4x4-16v-2010.html here]

balls, let me try again

here

Personally I can't see why you would spend more for less room but

I think it ticks all those boxes too actually.

It probably doesn't tick the "showing off" box but so what?

And interior.

Dacia Dusters look fantastic for the price point, but it's a very different proposition to a hot Audi.

I was going to suggest an A6 Avant, either that or look at a BMW 5 series Touring.

Cakebump

"I think it ticks all those boxes too actually."

I highly doubt it as Dacia is Renault's 'budget' brand, and Renault aren't know for their reliability themselves.

An S4 is in a completely different world in terms of performance - older versions had a 4.2 litre engine, the current one has a 3 litre supercharged engine. The Duster's largest engine (2.0) is low powered by the standards of other manufacturers' 1.6 engines.

Mmm I've got used to nice interiors etc so will be sticking to nice cars with leather and other such toys! My S4 is 8 years old now and has the 4.2 litre V8 but is still incredibly rewarding to drive and very nice to be in. Cars have always been more about just getting from a to b for me, I enjoy the journey too much.