Family of 5

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Fri 12 Nov 2004 10:27
Family of 5 - Dogbreath2
Is an estate car big enough for a family of 5?

I have an MPV at the moment with a smallish boot. This means (when the family of 5 go on holiday) the cabin area gets filled up with bits an pieces. Each of us however does get a good seat.

I would prefer an estate and am looking at the new Accord diesel.

Is it big enough for 3 kids in the back?
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Fri 12 Nov 2004 10:35
Family of 5 - Happy Blue!
For comfort of rear passengers, get a seven seat MPV diesel, and remove one of the seats permanently. This is enough for us with three children, one of whom is a baby so has lots of gear. The benefit is that each child sits on a separate row, so no fighting!
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Fri 12 Nov 2004 10:41
Family of 5 - machika
The headroom in the back of the saloon isn't great, so if you have tall kids (or they are likely to end up being tall), I should make a particular check on the headroom in the estate if I were you.

Poor headroom seems to be a particular blight on a lot of current cars of this size. It seems as if a low roof line is more important than passenger comfort, as far as a lot of manufacturers are concerned. If your head is in contact with the roof of a car, it can't do a lot for passenger safety either. I often wonder if this is taken into account when crash tests are carried out.
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Fri 12 Nov 2004 12:39
Family of 5 - tunacat
*And* getting 3 decent seats across in the back! If manufacturers made estates with three decent seats across the back -or even a good old completely plain bench (and why not still splittable)- instead of the usual highly-sculpted two plus a waste in the middle, there'd be no need for the 5 seater MPVs except for easy-access for people with restricted-body-flexibility, or a higher viewpoint...!

What's the Mondeo estate like for you?
Or the C5?
Or a Volvo V70
Or a Fiat Mulipla
Or a Citroen Berlingo?
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Fri 12 Nov 2004 12:49
Family of 5 - IanJohnson
Have had an Accord Tourer for 8 months now, back may be tight for three young adults on a long trip but for younger children would be fine.

Benefit of the estate over the mpv is economy and am getting over 50mpg from the diesel. If I needed something bigger once a year I would consider hiring one.

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