Baby on the way, what to do??

[matchboy]

Congratulations James, top news!!

I had a mk 6 GTI when our little one was born and the missus had a Focus, which then changed to a Guilietta; never experienced any issues with space with a hatchback, everything fitted in nicely - IMO there's no need to change cars whatsoever.  And yours is 5 doors so it's even easier.  As someone pointed out, the car seat base fits into the isofix points and never gets taken out - you just slot the baby seat into it, piece of cake.

Enjoy those sleepless nights when they come 

[CraigW]

Thats great news James, congratulations!!

I'm going to offer absolutely no advice as i don't have any children and wouldn't have a clue about the practicalities of getting things in and out of cars 

[Pixelmix]

We have a 1 year old son and a mk7 on order. We have lived for the past year with a Scirocco, which we are only changing as it is a little bit of a faff to lift him into the back now that he is heavier (and my wife is petite). The 5 door will be grand, and since the Golf boot is bigger and has a better opening than the Scirocco, that will make fitting the buggy in even easier.

We've just been to France and back in the Rocco and whilst a few more inches in the boot with the Golf will be handy, we survived.*


* Caveat - I am looking at buying a Caddy Maxi Life in a couple of years, but only because it will make transporting bikes and family to biking races so much easier, without the need for the roof rack. 

Congrats on the imminent arrival.

[isleaiw]

Congrats, being a parent is the best job in the world....

My two are now 22 and 21 this month. When the first was born I had a two door 3 series and we managed. When number two came along 15 months later, i was changing jobs and decided an estate was in order.... After that I had a mix of hatchs, saloons, people carriers, 4x4s, estates, and such like....

Even now they are "grown up" their needs dictate what i drive, i run a huge Mercedes E class estate as uni trips at start and end of term require loads of space. The Mrs now has the fun car (the GTi) and i use that at weekends and when we dont need the space.

I wouldnt swap early to get a bigger car but I would get myself something that gave maximum flexibility when the time came - and if you ahve two cars, make the big one the wife's!

Ian

[p3asa]

Congratulations Jimble. Very exciting times ahead 
I agree with the others, the Golf R will be fine.
We had twins and my Mrs insisted on a massive SilverCross pram. At the time (18 years ago) I had no option but to get rid of my Ford Escort and get myself an estate car as we already had a 4 year old.
The GTI of prams was great but was so big and bulky it soon got relegated to a fold-able push chair as soon as the kids were old enough for it.
What I'm trying to say is, chances are your initial pram will be big and elegant but for practicality they're not always the best so you might find it a tight squeeze for the first few months but you'll soon be onto something more appropriate and forgiving in a car. It would be a shame if you sold the R and lost out financially for what might be a short period. But then again once one comes along, you start to think it might just be as easy to have another one!! 

If you were thinking of selling the R and changing to something else, it would be worthwhile to sit down and see how it would affect you financially and would you actually be better off getting yourself a run around estate for a couple of years for the price it would cost you to change?!

A couple of years back I had a lot of DIY / garden work to do and was contemplating changing the Mk6 Golf for something bigger. Worked out I would probably loose about £800 to change cars. So went and bought a Skoda Estate off Gumtree for £350 with a years MOT and 6 months tax. Kept it for 11 months 3 weeks and got tons of use out of it. Sold it for £250. Even after adding insurance and another 6 months road tax, it made financial sense to me and kept the Mk6 good 

[Jimble]

Really appreciate the input guys and the insite from parents with experience of running Golfs, i had a look round an Octavia VRS hatch the other day and as has been said the boot is enormous!! Nice car however you can tell why it's cheaper than a Golf, little things like no vanity mirror lights and no fabric on the under side of the boot floor just ply wood among other things, still a very nice car though and without doubt it's the perfect family hatch. I'm going to have a chat with my dealer and see what the damage would be to change back to a GTI anyway as like i've said i actually prefer it to the R, we'll see though.

 

[mrzen]

see what the damage would be to change back to a GTI anyway

I'm sure you'll find someone on here to do a swap/deal with!

[Misterp]

Jimble, I thought of you today as I saw a guy in a lapis blue r infront of me in edgbaston birmingham he had what appeared to be a mahoosive pushchair in the boot but it was sticking out above the rear windscreen. I thought the boot can't be that much smaller than the gtd/gti. I think you will be ok with the r until you have to change.

[Suklpm]

Yeah.... Leave the parcel shelf out if the car permanently and you'll be fine

[Chief1337]

Keep the R - boot is only smaller by what 30 litres? :-)

I've got a little one and have had pretty much everything inside the GTi.