Just vaguely wondering.
We currently have a Suzuki Swift which has been fine if compact for our lifestyle with one child in a booster seat.
However DC2 is on the way - we can of course fit a newborn seat + booster in the back but it doesn't leave room for anything else, and once the pram is in the boot forget it, nothing else can fit in there.
We were thinking about changing our car in about a year's time but DH suddenly discovered that we have less left to pay on the Swift than we realised so we are considering changing it a bit sooner. We went to look at second hand cars the other day and saw a Citroen C4 Picasso which looked really good. Only thing is whether to look for the normal Picasso or the Grand - as the Grand has 7 seats but the normal one only has 5.
Things to consider:
We may have a DC3 at some point in the future but can't count on this as we have fertility issues so it's completely up in the air. If/when we do have DC3, DC1 is likely to be too tall for a car seat so we won't need to get 3 across the back, but don't want him to be squashed either.
We live in Europe and are keen to do some driving trips back to the UK in future so a spacious, comfortable car which can handle long drives is important. However day to day it would just be used for a short commute/school run/supermarket.
We don't often give people lifts but it would be nice to be able to, such as when family come to visit (currently DH has to go and pick them up on his own) or when DC have friends around - this is why we're pondering over the 7 seater cars. But I don't know if it's overkill/necessary for what we want. We have managed so far with not realistically being able to fit more than 1 extra person in the car. I can't drive so we can't keep the small car alongside a bigger one.
Would you say a 7 seater is useful or the 5 seater is fine?
Would you recommend the C4 Picasso or something else around the same budget or less?
Must haves:
Big boot
Spacious back seat for comfort/car seats
Air con
Cruise control
Petrol/petrol hybrid - defo not diesel due to laws changing in the country we live in
Isofix (I guess all cars have this now?)
Good NCAP safety rating
Some kind of parking sensor
Nice to have:
Other driving assist things like lane assist/distance control, better parking camera/self park
I think preferably avoiding awkwardness with storage boxes and support legs for car seats - or should that be a must have?
Six gears for long drives
Tinted windows
Heated front seats
USB ports, power ports etc
Also any thoughts on built in sat navs? DH is quite keen but we currently use Google Maps which is great and always up to date with traffic etc - am a bit concerned that a built in one is going to be less useful plus I have this idea that you have to pay loads to get them updated every few years which seems daft when google is up to date all the time and is free.