I never used it – but then it wasn’t that popular 13 years ago in Spain. I only mentioned it as something to be aware of.

Sorry, that wasn’t meant to be a dig. I agree – it’s worth being aware of. We went through it all a few months back, so it’s all still fairly fresh. One set of friends were semi-rabid in their love of it, others weren’t too keen.

OP – FWIW, we stuck with a Skoda Octavia estate. Bags of room for most things, yet not awful to park and a bigger boot than the Golf / Leon / A3 it shares a platform with. And it has Isofix (if you want it). 😉

We got a Ford Fusion because it doesn’t have a lip on the boot so the pram slides in and out.

focus here, been excellent, reliable, reasonably economical- with 1 kid could fold 2 seats down and load it with stuff

Now have 2 little uns, this year managed to get tent, trailer, weeks camping gear, 2 bikes on the sarris and drove to devon no probs

however, now looking at an c/s-max

All good suggestions above.

Whatever you opt for, the interior will end up looking like a cross between a toy box and a dustbin.

Good luck!

Wife has used a Yaris for years.
Movable rear seat help a lot.
Enough room to move around in to do up seat belts.
Fits a collapsed bugaboo cameleon in the boot.
All other paraphernalia in boot, back footwell or front passenger footwell.
Unfortunately not too good on headroom for the vertically unchallenged.

Main car is a Passat estate. Fitted everything we needed in the massive boot for two week driving holidays to France, and all under cover and out of sight. I am a master at packing, if I do say so myself 😉 .

You won’t believe what you find under kids car seats when/if you clean it out.
Get seat back protectors and proper blinds for the windows.

I really would suggest getting something bigger and getting used to parking it. Having a little one in the back and a pushchair in the boot doesn’t leave too much space for shopping. Bigger car, more airbags, more space. We used to have a Mitsubishi Colt which just fit the pushchair in the back. Missus was adamant we (she) wouldn’t be happy with a bigger car but nevertheless, I bought a 2011 X-Trail CVT. She loves it and has no issues parking it. After all, big supermarkets have parent parking spaces with a little more room.

Depends how many kids you (or more accurately your SO)are planning on having, we now have 3 boys and even Mrs Ddmonkey has had to admit that I was right all along and a VW T5 is the only way forward 🙂

thanks everyone – didn’t think it would be that popular a thread!

Looking at that meriva – think it could be a winner in a baby blue 😉

budget is in the 9-10k region

CFH – thanks old chap, all happened rather faster than I expected!

will drop you a line soon.

all happened rather faster than I expected!

I’m sorry to hear that. You need to concentrate on something else while you’re doing it. John Prescott naked, perhaps. Anything to take your mind off it, and then maybe it’ll last longer next time.

Oh, sorry, I see what you mean now. 😉

I’ll just think of you sporting some lycra flashy :p

😆

How about a Qashqai or even a Nissan Juke? The Qashqai is very popular (therefore loads to choose from at all budgets) and loads of space inside. The Juke may fall in the ‘cute/girlie’ category, although I admit the looks are a bit marmite.

We had a VW Touran for 7yrs and it was perfect for a growing family. No longer than a Golf but huge inside, and importantly big rear doors and you don’t have to bend down to lift the little one in and out.

Last year we decided to change it. Over the period a two months we drove almost every car known to man,and guess what? we got a new Touran. Dull I know, but kids are hard enough as it is, and the Touran just makes travelling that bit easier.

What ever decent sized Hatchback you prefer. 5 doors is easier for getting them into their seats, ISOFix isn’t necessary never used it any of mine even though it’s been in them.

I’ve had 307, Golfs and A3 they’ve all been big enough for 2 kids and their gear. Estates and those funny bulked out people carry things offer more room but it’s not needed.

A lot of people on here have suggested the S-Max. At the risk of being boring: we’ve got an S-Max. It’s quality, deceptively massive and very nice to drive.

just to add my 2pc worth, we had 5 door Focus with one child and now Mondeo estate with two, bonus of Mondeo is bike will go in back with seats flat pretty much fully built 🙂

As dull as they are Beringos, Partners and Doblos are great cars for lugging loads of crap around in while still being a small car. They also make very good bike carriers.

We also have a small person due on 8th May. My OH has a Qashqai in preparation, I’m hoping to keep hold of my 3 series coupe for as long as I can, I only got it 3 months ago!

Just about any car will do with 1 kid.
We have had several different sized cars on loan or rented but have gone for medium sized MPV’s when buying cars – three times in a row. I like to fit both family and sports gear (bikes / skis etc) in the car and those combined will take lot of room.
It is probably foolish to buy the car based on only for how it will work on holidays but that’s how I do it.

Octavia estate here with first baby due in march…… With 2 Labradors to factor into the equation I’m hoping that will do us 😯 May need to make the roof box a permanent fixing!

We bought a Honda CRV. Great piece of kit. Dull as dishwater, but in EX form, it has all the toys inc essential leather (easy wipe clean), isofix, sat nav, rear dogging camera, front & rear sensors, double height boot, sliding and reclining rear seats etc etc. it’s been absolutely perfect for us. It will never break and costs buttons to run.

We also run a VW T5 with front bench seat so we can all sit up front, and a track day-tweaked VX220 which I use to take the little one to nursery.

Live life on the wild side.. Don’t throw in the man card just yet!

Fiat panda works for us . But we had to chose the pushchair carefully . When your child outgrows the travelsystem thing and needs a proper child seat one that turns through 90 degrees is a plus. We get brat and camping gear including massive tent in with a roof box .

Vw transporter. Embrace the opportunity to get a proper vehicle.

I’ve always wanted a Defender 90. Then I found out we were having a kid……. so bought one anyway 😀
Actually, it works quite well- the baby goes in the front and the wife on the side-facing rear seat. With the passenger headrest removed, she can actually tend to Freddy without even needing to take her seatbelt off. And the Land Rover buggy we found on eBay goes in the back without even folding flat 😉

Seriously, I think you need to retain some sense of self to be a good parent. So as long as what you need to put in there fits- buy whatever you like 🙂

Embrace the opportunity to get a proper vehicle.

I agree.

Edit: Ha! Just seen Crosshair’s post. Great minds. 😀

Can someone give a summary of the pros / cons of isofix? I thought it was supposed to be considerably easier than using the seatbelts but reading the above I’m not so sure…

From our experience, the primary reason for opting for ISOFIX is that the child seat is attached to the chassis/strongpoint of the vehicle. Therefore, in theory, it is safer – less movement in a collision etc. Certainly, our ISOFIX child seats have less movement than our none ISOFIX ones.

However, the single most important tip I have for you is to buy a baby seat that has a permanent base that is left in the car (most tend to be ISOFIX). This means when the little one falls asleep in the car seat they can be removed or placed into the car easily, without waking them. In our case the baby seat dictated which buggy we bought.

thanks everyone – looks like she’s decided on a Peugeot 3008. big boot (bike capability), roomy, parking sensors and all that jazz.

can;t wait for it to get ruined!