What car do the parents here have?

[Dissident]

Hi all,

I'm looking at getting a new car but I don't know what. Towards the end of last year we bought a 2000 Olympic Edition VT which has been great. Since we are now parents, it's great having a nice big car.

But with petrol going up, and the missus driving more and more, it's starting to cost money. I bought a 20 year old Ford Econovan for next to nothing which is on gas, so I drive that around as much as I can.

I could put the VT on gas, but I hate losing the boot space for the pram and baby items (read; golf clubs) so that sort of rules that out.

What do you other parents here have? Four or Six cylinder? Wagon or Sedan? Large Small? What makes and models?

I'm interested to see what other people have to get an idea about what direction to head in.

Cheers,

D

[Dutchy]

we bought a new Holden Astra in 2002, had baby in 2003, 2 months later upgraded to a VY Commodore...even with one kid you need a big car

[am Bays]

On Friday upgraded the VT sedan to a VX wagon. Starting to carry more sh!t each time we come over. We're different in that we do much more highway driving compared to city driving so our fuel economy is much better than what we would do if we were living in Adelaide. I have a 15 min walk to work (even though we live towards the west end of town) so "her indoors" and I barely use the car during teh week (3 times/week max).

*Tassie reminds himself to tell Souths major sponsors that I nearly went elsewhere and to put some coin the Bays way as more supporters over the hill probably barrack for the Bays than South*

[Booney]

Have two little Boons,10 and 6.

If you dont do much country driving,and can handle the stigma,not sigma with driving a Magna,I recommend them.Economy,enough power out of the 3 litre V6 and all the electric gadgets,and much cheaper than the Holden/Ford equivalent.Have no problems with space,even if a tag along gets in.

Reliability is no question with mine,and if any one follows on here bagging them,I guess all cars have the odd lemon.

[Dutchy]

Wagon good Tassie?...my lease comes up in July and think a wagon might be the go...presume you can fit more stuff in or is that a myth???

travelling away for a weekend with 2 kids in a sedan is an art form in packing!!!...

[smac]

VY Lumina for me, with 3 mini-smacs it does the job well. The economy is far better than the VT I had at one stage, get 600k's plus out of each tank of fuel ($65 - $70 to fill up).

My recommendation is to economise on the crap you take out with you. A small backpack can carry everything you need, as opposed to the family sized suitcase mrs smac wanted to take everywhere we went. Buy a pusher instead of a great-hulking 4wd contraptions that parents seem to go for as well. I went through a stage where a 3 door hyundai excel was big enough to cater for two mini-smacs - easily.

[gadj1976]

We're in the same boat, we've got a VZ sedan but the boot space isn't great cos of the swing hinge boot.

My wife drives around in that leaving her 96 Pulsar to me. I've been thinking of upgrading it as it's more than 10 years old and now I'm thinking of getting a 4cyl wagon myself - looking at either a Lancer/Astra/Camry wagon. The Lancer mightn't look the best, but if I get an 05 or 06, the warranty sh1ts all over the Astra and Camry. The Astra most probably has the best features but I like the warranty aspect of the Lancer. The Camry's ...........well as they say about Toyota's, they're just whitegoods on wheels.

[JK]

We're in the same boat, we've got a VZ sedan but the boot space isn't great cos of the swing hinge boot.

My wife drives around in that leaving her 96 Pulsar to me. I've been thinking of upgrading it as it's more than 10 years old and now I'm thinking of getting a 4cyl wagon myself - looking at either a Lancer/Astra/Camry wagon. The Lancer mightn't look the best, but if I get an 05 or 06, the warranty sh1ts all over the Astra and Camry. The Astra most probably has the best features but I like the warranty aspect of the Lancer. The Camry's ...........well as they say about Toyota's, they're just whitegoods on wheels.

I've had about 3 Lancers mate, and I cannot recommend them highly enough .. Economical and never missed a beat, great little cars

[Strawb]

We have two cars in my house the Family car is an 92 Fairlane not too bad on fuel straight 6 good car good boot space but once the double pram is in there thats it having twins is great but their gear does take up some space. I drive an old 84 Falcon and all i do nowdays is drive it to the railway station and back and catch the train to work piss easy.

[gadj1976]

We're in the same boat, we've got a VZ sedan but the boot space isn't great cos of the swing hinge boot.

My wife drives around in that leaving her 96 Pulsar to me. I've been thinking of upgrading it as it's more than 10 years old and now I'm thinking of getting a 4cyl wagon myself - looking at either a Lancer/Astra/Camry wagon. The Lancer mightn't look the best, but if I get an 05 or 06, the warranty sh1ts all over the Astra and Camry. The Astra most probably has the best features but I like the warranty aspect of the Lancer. The Camry's ...........well as they say about Toyota's, they're just whitegoods on wheels.

I've had about 3 Lancers mate, and I cannot recommend them highly enough .. Economical and never missed a beat, great little cars

Ahh, cool, thanks C_P, now all I have to do is convince the missus that I can get a VRX wagon!

[godoubleblues]

Have two little Boons,10 and 6.

If you dont do much country driving,and can handle the stigma,not sigma with driving a Magna,I recommend them.Economy,enough power out of the 3 litre V6 and all the electric gadgets,and much cheaper than the Holden/Ford equivalent.Have no problems with space,even if a tag along gets in.

Reliability is no question with mine,and if any one follows on here bagging them,I guess all cars have the odd lemon.

I too can vouch for the magna, have had mine for over 6 years, hasnt missed a beat and I do about 2000k's a week going to and from work and general driving around
it's a great car for mine

[smac]

Have two little Boons,10 and 6.

If you dont do much country driving,and can handle the stigma,not sigma with driving a Magna,I recommend them.Economy,enough power out of the 3 litre V6 and all the electric gadgets,and much cheaper than the Holden/Ford equivalent.Have no problems with space,even if a tag along gets in.

Reliability is no question with mine,and if any one follows on here bagging them,I guess all cars have the odd lemon.

I too can vouch for the magna, have had mine for over 6 years, hasnt missed a beat and I do about 2000k's a week going to and from work and general driving around
it's a great car for mine

Bloody hell gdb! That should have around 600,000 k's on the clock! I don't reckon I've been that far in cars in my lifetime.

[godoubleblues]

Have two little Boons,10 and 6.

If you dont do much country driving,and can handle the stigma,not sigma with driving a Magna,I recommend them.Economy,enough power out of the 3 litre V6 and all the electric gadgets,and much cheaper than the Holden/Ford equivalent.Have no problems with space,even if a tag along gets in.

Reliability is no question with mine,and if any one follows on here bagging them,I guess all cars have the odd lemon.

I too can vouch for the magna, have had mine for over 6 years, hasnt missed a beat and I do about 2000k's a week going to and from work and general driving around
it's a great car for mine

Bloody hell gdb! That should have around 600,000 k's on the clock! I don't reckon I've been that far in cars in my lifetime.

oops, got my figures a bit wrong, bring it back to about 1000k's a week
my work is 70k's one way, then getting around on the weekend to the footy etc

[zipzap]

ZZ Jr uses and recommends a laser wagon.

[Psyber]

Two marriages and no kids so I stuck to 2-seater sports cars, but have had a couple of AWDs for country trips and for the Mrs to drive. People don't cut her off in one of those like the used to when she had a Mini.

[Also we have had Irish Wolfhounds - you need a large wagon for them.]

[WRxb0y]

Ive got a Astra 03 CDX. No probs, big enough boot, and with 2 kids have no probs either. Went for the leather trim , as it is easier to keep clean. The boot spase is reasonable enough. Fuel wise it is great. Also got it in manual. (I still believe with all 4 cylinder cars you need to go manual.)

[Ian]

Our last 2 cars have both been wagons, if your planning any long trips, once you pack the kids gear, you may still be towing a trailer with a small wagon. 5 weeks on the road a few years back, our Magna was packed to roof hieght behind the back seats.
Our (my) second car is cheap as buggery to run, the kids love it, only down falls, no roof, only 2 wheels, and the kids have to argue over who's coming for a ride.

[Footy Chick]

Have two little Boons,10 and 6.

If you dont do much country driving,and can handle the stigma,not sigma with driving a Magna,I recommend them.Economy,enough power out of the 3 litre V6 and all the electric gadgets,and much cheaper than the Holden/Ford equivalent.Have no problems with space,even if a tag along gets in.

Reliability is no question with mine,and if any one follows on here bagging them,I guess all cars have the odd lemon.

I think i may have mentioned this in a previous thread but...
The only problem with the Magna (sorry to rain on your parade), is that they are the worst car in terms of depreciation, they lose half their value in about 2-3 years and tend to cost more to insure.

I'm gonna throw you one from left field and say a corolla stationwagon, most reliable car in the world with extra room... cant go wrong and its selling price has barely gone down $3000 in 3 years..

[am Bays]

Wagon good Tassie?...my lease comes up in July and think a wagon might be the go...presume you can fit more stuff in or is that a myth???

travelling away for a weekend with 2 kids in a sedan is an art form in packing!!!...

Will let you know after the weekend when the Tassie Clan (aka the Griswalds) venture over to the fair city we all love......

CU @ the Bay Monday Dutch Man

FC will vouch for the Corolla wagon we had one at my old place of employ amazing how much
sh!t you can fit in them (especially with the back seats down)

[Booney]

Have two little Boons,10 and 6.

If you dont do much country driving,and can handle the stigma,not sigma with driving a Magna,I recommend them.Economy,enough power out of the 3 litre V6 and all the electric gadgets,and much cheaper than the Holden/Ford equivalent.Have no problems with space,even if a tag along gets in.

Reliability is no question with mine,and if any one follows on here bagging them,I guess all cars have the odd lemon.

I think i may have mentioned this in a previous thread but...
The only problem with the Magna (sorry to rain on your parade), is that they are the worst car in terms of depreciation, they lose half their value in about 2-3 years and tend to cost more to insure.

I'm gonna throw you one from left field and say a corolla stationwagon, most reliable car in the world with extra room... cant go wrong and its selling price has barely gone down $3000 in 3 years..

I guess cars only depreciate quickly if you dont intend to keep them for a long period of time.If you intend on having it long term,no problems.