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I'm thinking of a 2 litre diesel, about 6-7 years old, I have 3 kids (in childseat/boosters) a big dog, big pushchair/s, go camping and carry bikes. Hence the need for a huge car.
Sliding doors - because my wife wants a car with sliding doors (non negotiable)
Anyone got one?
Is the middle seat full size? (can you fit a booster or regular car seat to it)
Can you kids get in and out easily?
Do you like the car, many problems?
Any other alternatives with sliding rear doors?
I feel your pain. My wife wanted sliding rear doors, until I pointed out the additional weight and terrible fuel economy.
Whether or not your car seats will fit depends on which ones you've got, take them with you to a dealer and try and fit them in.
We've got a third baby on the way and with no room in the back of our Focus estate for a third carseat we checked out what was availble and bought a second hand Grand Scenic, You can fit 3 kids in car seats in the back with very rear seats folded away and the boot is huge.
but wish I'd seen this before
http://www.multimac.co.uk/car_seat_range
I could have got all 3 kids on one row and kept my trusty Focus.
There is not a good/good value car available with sliding doors - fact. Heavy, expensive, likely to go wrong etc.
You need to renegotiate. Her logic is probably fine but tell her the car would be absolutely awful and you would never be able to resell it
If however it truly is non negotiable, the Mazda 5 has sliding rear doors. You may struggle to get 3 child seats across the back though. How old is your oldest child? Ours is 9, and has just achieved the height whereby she doesn't have to use a booster seat any more, which is fortunate as there's another baby arriving soon. Even if they are younger, if you can't fit a child seat in for every child they don't have to sit on one.
Even if they are younger, if you can't fit a child seat in for every child they don't have to sit on one.
How do you decide which of your children will be killed in an accident?
Naughtiest, obviously 🙂
What's the budget? I have a new shape berlingo, it's ace. (check my previous posts on the matter).
Not as big as the ones you suggest, but still loads of space. The 3 seats in the back are all full size, and the boot's vast and tall, you'd get pushchairs in without folding etc.
IA +1
CaptainMainwaring -1
budget £5000ish
kids are 0,3,4 1/2
Had previously looked at the new belingo, may look again at it
the 08 onwards belingo multispace is too expensive, I looked at one last year and did like it though.
Obvious choice - vw crew cab van!!! Loads of space for all the above (and bikes!!!) and sliding doors. And they aren't French. 🙂
Robdob, I take offense at the French remark. No pieces of trim have come off my Berlingo yet which I haven't been able fix back myself!
kids are 0,3,4 1/2
Car seats all round then.
Yes, the 4 1/2 goes on a booster in the middle as we have no other choice, the 3 yr old is in an isofix front facing seat on one side and the 0yr old is in a rear facing car seat.
It takes a long time to get them in the car, doing the buckles up is very difficult as you can't get to them as the car seats are in the way.
And then the double buggy (3 wheeler twin) doesn't fit in the boot with the dog.
Currently have an older shape French Renault Scenic, and only bits to fall off have been due to me scrapping the car against stationary objects.
If you need leverage to get herself away from sliding doors hop over to euroncap.com and look at how that big hole in the side of your car's chassis permits side intrusion, should the worst happen. Scary stuff.
Yeah but we may have a big hole in the doors but our Kia Sedona passes crash tests with ease.
Trouble is its big heavy and uneconomical, I use mine for towing so it gets used heavily, if I didn't need it, I would look at something smaller like an S-Max.
It's more economical as our current scenic, being diesel not petrol, co2/tax is slightly more however.
807 (2003-) got 5 ncap stars c8 and fiat haven't been tested but are the same chassis/VINs as the 807 so says the ncap report so should also be 5 stars.
Our current scenic gets 4 stars
So it's safer than our current car
our other little car (my commuter) only gets 3 stars!
Are you still looking for a big car with sliding doors? I have one which may work for you. 1 owner, FDSH, etc, etc so if you're interested e-mail me off list:- alastair.hickling1@btinternet.com
midgebait - MemberRobdob, I take offense at the French remark. No pieces of trim have come off my Berlingo yet which I haven't been able fix back myself!
...a small piece of trim has come away from my very non french and rather german caravelle (c/w sliding door) which I [i]can't[/i] seem to fit back on myself. If that's any help.
Oh, caravelles are ace if your mrs wants something that is a bit comfier like a car inside. And the mercedes vito traveliner/combi vans seem a bit more like a car to drive too. (a tiny bit smaller too)
Kia Sedona...
Bigger engine (2.9), but a lot of car for the money.
Get a Volvo V70
Am I the only one who read "Big Cars with Sliding Rear Ends."
😆
If your wife is [s]wearing the trousers[/s]making all the decisions, let her find the car 😆