[Closed] Having a bigger car than you need....

Parking if you are not very good and need to park in a lot of small spaces and fuel costs.

I drive an SMax. Mostly just me, but occasionally there are 6 in it. Hence the need for it in the first place.

Positives. Nice place to sit. Can swallow a bike whole. Can fit 6 people and all of their stuff for a week away.

Negatives. 40 mpg. A bit wide... errr that's about it.

Not bad at parking and sensors all over high spec Mondeos anyway

None really. The Mondeo won't use any more fuel than the Focus and will be more comfortable. Handling might not be quite as sharp but they are still best in class.

Imo not that many.

Bit more of a pain in the arse for parallel / town parking and in unusually tight carparks. As noted above if your parking skills are not up to scratch this will be more of an issue.

Never really find the size much of an issue round town but in my 20 years driving I've never owned a car smaller than a mid size hatch and have had large estates for 12 years of that so a lopsided view.

Running costs a little higher.

Upsides comfort on long journeys and loads of space for bike stuff.

Went from a vw TDI lupo to a seat altea fr so vw was chipped to 100 bhp and the seat is 170 standard...fuel Lupo 55 mpg and seat 45 to 48 mpg I commute 75 miles a day a road and motorway ....fit rocky mtn 29 in both.

Lupo 30 quid a year tax and a blast to drive
Seat .????? .... More expensive to run ...lovely easy to drive easier to fit things in ....I like the driving position due to bad bad back...bizzarely easier to park

I could live with the smaller car easily.

Even with a Focus you're driving around in a car which is too 'big' most of the time, so just buy whatever size car you want.

For me, I've always driven larger cars, always nicer places to be than small cars.

After a hell of a lot of procrastination, research and test driving we recently downsized from a 280bhp Subaru Legacy estate to a 1.0 Focus, so quite the change. Initially I was convinced I wanted something as big or bigger (we have two toddlers).

My thought process went from big diesel estate, to small diesel mpv, to big diesel mpv (S-Max), then ultimately narrowed it down to ecoboost C-max or Focus. I started to go off diesels after that dispatches programme highlighted the amount of harmful toxins in the cabin of new diesels. That and it seemed like it might be hit with taxes soon and the car will be around for a few years.

When my son is kicking the back of my seat I do wish I'd gone for the C-max, but when I'm driving on my own I enjoy the lighter, sharper car. Bike carrying duties will be dealt with by a roof rack.

Parking's never really an issue. I think it comes down to visibility more than size. My old Hilux was one of the easiest vehicles to park I've ever driven despite being as long as an S-Class Merc.

Biggest problem with a larger car is street parking...you can get it into most 'average' length gaps but you need to be that much more precise and get closer to the other cars to wedge it in.

We got rid of a Mondeo estate as our street was extremely competitive for parking and a smaller vehicle was much easier.

Drive a 6 metre high top campervan now...even harder finding a space and it only does 18-25mpg depending on type of driving and what its towing, but then it only does about 3,000 miles a year so not really a problem. It has a reversing cam so the only difficult thing about parking it is working out where the front corners are 🙂

I'd personally go for the Mondeo. A bike should go in with both wheels no problem.

I have an Accord estate, I've had two bikes with the wheels removed in the boot with the seats up.

I might change cars next year but will almost certainly stick with an estate.

My Passat estate contains only me for 95% of the miles. However it has mass so it doesn't bounce around, which keeps my back happy. When we do need it to transport bikes or goods and chattels it's superbly spacious. Go for space every time.

Drive a 6 metre high top campervan now...even harder finding a space and it only does 18-25mpg depending on type of driving and what its towing, but then it only does about 3,000 miles a year so not really a problem. It has a reversing cam so the only difficult thing about parking it is working out where the front corners are

My mate's just ordered one of these, delivered next March. Wer'e getting a 2nd hand caravan. 😕 http://www.rollerteammotorhomes.co.uk/motorhomes/t-line/740

Hmm, this is confirming my thoughts....most of my driving is open road. Got a double driveway at home. Don't often park anywhere other than hone, work, or biking spots. Can't see much of a reason not to go large....!

Suppose it'll chew rubber a bit faster, but on the other hand might not be as tempted to throw it around as a smaller car.

& FWIW, my last car was a 54 Passat estate, now I've got a 2010 Mondeo Estate. The difference is very noticable, especially parking.
Recently I had a washing machine, a fridge freezer, a microwave oven, an electric fire, a petrol strimmer & 3 bin bags of assorted crap in it (plus the wife) I reckon I could've got another washer in with some twiddling.
The Orange 5 & or 13ft fishing rod (in 2 parts) & associated stuff is unnoticeable.

I used to have a Focus. Moved to a Mondeo and to me never looked back. Mondeo is a better drive than Focus, more economical, more toys, more comfy and quiet.

As to eating more tyres, probably not as the Mondeo chassis is better than the Focus so it will be more efficient with tyres, compare that with Audi drivers who go through front tyres as the chassis are some what lacking

I really don't see a downside.

I think you get better build spec on bigger cars like sound insulation and whatnot, and you usually get more kit on each trim level and widgets like more seat or steering wheel adjustments. Plus they are nicer to drive.

Also they are often cheaper as people want the smaller sizes. Whilst Focuses are seen as the best family car, a grey Passat or similar saloon is derided as a dull rep's car despite being pretty good.

Only persistent disadvantage to large that I've found is on windy country roads the extra width forces you to slow down compared to a proper small car. No bad thing really, I suppose.

Suppose it'll chew rubber a bit faster

I changed the Nokians on my Passat at 50k miles, and the rears were barely half gone. They were energy saving compound mind. Best tyres I've had by miles.

I have a mk3 mondeo estate, when it's moving it doesn't really feel big tbh, it can make a wee bit of difference in nip-and-tuck traffic though. Out on the open road it's a nonissue.

But parking, it does make a difference, no amount of sensors etc will make it physically smaller. It's not uncommon to find it doesn't fit in painted spaces frinstance, sticking miles out into the road at supermarkets or in one of my local ones, sitting with a wheel on the white paint on either side. And the length is a problem in my work car park which has narrow aisles between spaces, it's a real fight to get it in, out and turned. But tbh over time I've just got accepting of all that. If you're a "must get into closest space" person it could be annoying.

And the [s]boot [/s]cargo bay is fab. Not quite as efficient in use as it could be but it makes up for it by being really damn big.

Oh I dont know. I recently "downsized" to a '13 Bmw 1 series. My bikes go in and fit in exactly the same way as the lifestyle estate before it. It has a high quality interior and is lovely to drive, 55mpg average, RWD and 0-60 in 7 secs so a bit of fun too. Feels like a much bigger car when cruising, yet in m sport trim handles real nice. £30 tax and £300 fully comp in London with my wife added.

My requirements were exactly the same as the op's as we have another car for the family and I regularly travel for work.

The Google ads at the bottom have picked up a thread with a PIC of my mk.3 estate with four bikes in the back plus more stuff in the 12" gap before the tailgate 🙂 (seats up but bikes disassembled)

Ford Kuga here (Mk I). 90% of the time just me or me & mrs_d. Occasionally 5 drums, stands & cymbals, Marshall 4x12 cab & head, several guitars and a guitarist. 42mph genuine and much more comfortable than the Citroen C4 I was driving around in before that. Taller & wider but no longer than a Focus so just as easy to park in town. And when the snow comes it has 4wd...

Had a Mk3 Mondeo estate that handled surprisingly well for its size and was comfy, quiet, economical and would swallow a ton of stuff.
Replaced it with a smaller lifestyle estate that was less economical, handled rubbish and had less goodies because the wife was using the Mondeo more and found it as big as the work L200 to park. In hindsight, should have just let her dent and bend the Mondeo to bits.

I'm kind of with you on this but rather than ask myself whether I should get a larger car I'm trying to justify getting a smaller car! Currently drive a ford galaxy but only because when the relationship ended my contribution to the cars got ignored and I ended up with nothing so my parents kindly gave me theirs. It's rubbish and I hate it so next year when I'll have shared mortgage rather than a full rent I want to get my own car, something decent that j can keep for the foreseeable future. Had an older mondeo estate and although it worked like a shire horse it also had as much character as one and was affection ally known as the tub. Then had an Audi A3 sport back but the angle of the boot and the back of the seats meant air flow into the boot was none existent and the boot lip was too high meaning Ziva had to jump over it which as she gets older will get harder. I'd love a three door golf or similar again and I get quite despondent that I know it won't suit the requirements. I clearly need to win the lottery so I can have two cars!

Unsure what bike size you get in an SMax unless you remove wheels/seatpost. I could never get my bikes in complete, even on their side...things needed removed to fit. I doubt I've a large bike but the saddle is tall...so what size are the bikes that fit in without removal or adjustment needed?

FS 29er fits into my Focus Estate.

Ford do a nifty mat that has carpet on one side and rubber on the other.
Goes all the way to the back of the front seats and has straps that attach to the headrests. When seats are upright the mat folds in half and you have carpet again. Comes with bumper protector as well.

Boot edge is flat and the inside is nice and square.

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Unsure what bike size you get in an SMax unless you remove wheels/seatpost. I could never get my bikes in complete, even on their side...things needed removed to fit. I doubt I've a large bike but the saddle is tall...so what size are the bikes that fit in without removal or adjustment needed?

Is your bike a Harley Davison? Have you tried folding the seats down?

I work on the principle.....you can fit a small amount of stuff (or people) in a big car, but you can't fit large amount of stuff in a small car.

Have you considered the Honda Civic? Back seats fold completely flat (magic seats innit) & there's loads of space. Drive really well too. I had an old shape one for a couple of years and loved it (6'4" too, so lots of room). Otherwise concur with what others are saying, in that the Mondeos drive great, your real issue will be parking!

servo - Member

FS 29er fits into my Focus Estate.

Focuses are weird though, bigger on the inside. I swear every time Volvo made a V40, Ford stole some of the space and fitted it to a Focus.

(ok it's actually pretty simple, make the boot as big and as square and as unencroached as you can, get the floor low, use all the deadspace around the sides, and make the boot door as big as it can possibly be. It's just, that seems to defeat most estate designers)

Medium Pitch in the back of the Accord-

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I can chuck a large 29 FS, a pressure washer and a big bucket full of kit in the smax with the seats down.

Since when did it become such a massive problem to have to take wheels off?

No-one remember the days of three bikes and three people in a MkII Fiesta or what?

I can wheel two tandems straight into my vivaro 🙂 And have room for several more.

Only downside I can see is the tax. Running costs are low otherwise.

molgrips - Member

No-one remember the days of three bikes and three people in a MkII Fiesta or what?

Very well- that's why I have a big car. But it's not just about leaving wheels on, it's just a useful rule of thumb for size- if you can get a proper size bike in with the wheels on, then you've got a good amount of usable space for anything.

For me the real difference isn't about what you can get in a car, it's about how you can use it. Like, we spent a week bouncing from one place to another in Wales and riding every day, we could have fitted our bikes and kit in a small car but only by packing it like a dry stane dyke, whereas with a decent sized car you don't just have space for the stuff, you have space to move and access it.

Why have the faff of taking wheels off when you don't need too?

Quicker to start the ride and quicker to get away when it's cold and wet.

Im considering an SUV, but actually 85% of the time a supermini with a towbar rack would do the job.

But for the other 15% of the time?

A bigger car on the motorway is ace, much more a "waft" than a chore. Mk3 mondeo estate here, 5' missus can park it no bother (you can see the corners easy) and only struggle in a parking spot lengthwise.

It's ace to pack the car for the grand tour of the family at xmas (a week or so) and still have acres of room in the car and be able to see out the back.

Plus for the cost of a standard focus we got a higher spec mondeo with less miles.

The only downsides are the higher tax/insurance compared to a putput car due to the big engine, but I'm happy to pay them for the extra size.

Just to offer an alternative, the usual STW fall-back, the Octavia five-door, or the estate. My 51-plate Octy 1.9TDi could happily swallow my Inbred 567 (Inbred with a pair of 6" Nixons on the front) with wheels on, it usually had the seatpost removed just to stop the 'post getting all scratched to buggery.
All I used to do was take the headrests off, drop the back seats, spread one of those blankets removal firms use across the seat backs, and shove the bike in.
Lovely comfy car for long runs, quite fast enough, 110ps, a steady 70 on motorway runs can see around 55-60/gallon, according to the dash computer.
A VRs estate would be ideal.

I found the Octavia estate boot considerably tighter/smaller than the Mondeo estate, although the Octy did have the cubby hole under the boot floor which reduced the space, not sure if they all have that.

We've now got the aforementioned Civic and the clever seating system does make for a huge boot with the seats dropped.

Octavia's a really nice car but it's more of a lifestyle estate, the boot's a good size but it loses out on usability- lots of encroachment, raised lip on the exit (or you can fit the raised floor thing and lose a ton of space)

I have upset octaviites saying this before but it's fair I think; the car's about the size of a focus but I could fit things into the focus that don't go in an octavia. Demonstrated by rolling a bike out the back of my focus then discovering I had to take it to bits to get it into a mate's octavia

But you can get a hell of a lot of car for the money, and good dealer and owner support. The Fabia estate is kind of miraculous in its use of space and the bigger cars are good too so it just seems to be a decision on their part to compromise.

Yup, seats folded flat...a large (18.5/19") Marin Mount Vision; 26" wheels and a lot of seatpost showing...

Some cars feel unweildly and larger than they are to drive and vice versa.

Like bikes you need to drive them without a salesman distracting you with small talk. I jumped in a friends LHD to move it and was gobsmacked at how WIDE it is!!

But for the other 15% of the time?

There's a van hire place in the village 😀

molgrips

No-one remember the days of three bikes and three people in a MkII Fiesta or what?

Yep.

Or five of us off for a weeks backpacking, four of us with kayaks and paddles etc.

To be fair, the mk2 Polo 'estate' was the best small car for cramming outrageous amounts of stuff and people in...

I also hitched with kayak and roofbars, back when all cars had gutters, but that's another story...

When I owned a mx5 6 days of the week I was the only person in the car. Even now theres three of us I could get away with a mx5 for 5 days of the week.