Double post for some reason…sorry.

I just bought a new bagpack for my car. Its much better than the normal roofrack. Its so easy to use and you can add 20 kilos extra. I bought it in http://www.carux.com. Free delivery

That Carux is quite neat but seems to render the rear view mirror useless. Loving all the glamourous ladies in the images on the website though. None of them look like they have recently loaded a heavy bag onto a car.

Parcelshelves are generally made of cardboard, and stuff can smash down the folding rear seats.

Christ it'd have to be fairly hefty stuff. I dropped an old peugeot 205 nose-first off a 10ft drop and came to a very rapid halt (snapping axles and moulding the front end around the block) while having the entire rear end packed to the brim with kiteboards, mountainboards, camping kit, cookers etc – the biggest worry I had was the angry welshman whos fence I'd broken, the rest of the stuff shuffled a bit and sat back down, apart from a pack of tissues that ended up on the dash! I actually wondered whether if I hadn't packed it so full of stuff that things might have flown around more. That said, loose boxes of tools etc can be pretty damn lethal! I wouldn't put a pram into that sort of catagory though.

My take – roofbox is a great solution. Parents generally take too much stuff but it's better to get a box than to buy a pickup to carry the pram 🙂

TEo- thats interesting, but how does it fit to a non-hatch like the 407? And can you IMAGINE the drag on that ferarri 430 at 100mph plus, gee 😀

If you do end up getting a roof box I thoroughly recommend the Roofbox Company as a good place to get it from.

Excellent service, loads of stuff in stock and cheaper than Halfords.

We were in a similar situation – had a Civic Type R which has a decent boot, but our pram wouldn't fit in it at all!
Were planning on a new car anyway, and were looking at estates (for baby and biking duties!) but my wife found them MASSIVE to drive. Then we had a look at an octavia hatchback – the boot is mahoosive, and i found it more useable for baby stuff than the estate (pram fitted in lentghways in octavia, not in passat estate!) and drives beautifully. Best of all, it's VAG quality without the pricetag!!!

DrP

Not on-topic specifically but we have a Quinny Zapp and a Little Life travel cot that take up hardly any space…

One of the main requirements for our baby shopping was that it shouldn't fill the car with crap 🙂

Tinkerbelle goes back to work in a couple of months so we are going to hold fire until she has returned and established what the car allowance will be. Now I just have to bite the bullet and shift the MX5 for something capable of carrying even a minor load.

Had the same decision to make 2 years ago with a baby and fairly regular trips to the UK, as the car had roof rails (rover streetwise) we got a massive roofbox (470L I think) instead 2nd hand inc thule bars for about £200. It meant I could get all the stuff in that I needed too so long as I packed well and still take 3 people (mother in law nicking free trips back to england) and the nipper.

It weighs about 15kg, which is easy enough to put onto the roof of the car and is stored in the shed with no problems (stood up at the end out of the way).

We've since gotten a mondeo estate and we still use the roofbox when making any half decent long journey's (it has integral roof bars too). On a trip from Holyhead to Manchester I only managed 49.6mpg as opposed to the normal 53 ish I get when doing 70, which I didn't think was too bad.

It mainly has the pram thrown into it and 20 gallons of vimto on the return journey, it just gives you more options and less having to make do/struggle a bit.

I just recieved my CARUX is aswsome!!!! So easy to use and looks so cool on my smart for 2. They even have a video on you tube and shows you how to install it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWB1QSWn9rY

Have a nice day! 🙂