Is the Golf R a practical family car?

[hooba]

Lol.... yeah, doesn't sound like you have either by that wording....

As for the boot space... again, the GTI and R have the same "floor area". How many people here are stacking shopping bags multiple levels high?

The wording is correct, see my explanation above on "installing" kids.

As for stacking, you've obviously never shopped for 4 mouths, with a pram, and found the Huggies on special. Do yourself a favour and buy a couple of boxes of huggies, and work out where you're going to put the pram and all of the shopping in the boot of a Golf. That's right Coreying Bieber, you are now stacking.

There endeth the parental lesson (and thank god mine are almost out of home).

[Corey_R]

Huggies?
Damn young couples these days with their wasteful disposable nappies!

[mfl]

Have child seats got a lot bigger recently? From when I was born until I was school-aged, my folks had two kids and a Holden Gemini, which I believe is even smaller than a Golf.

My wife had a Gemini at that time and we would need to push the passenger seat all the way forward, with the baby capsule installed with the bub facing the rear. it wasn't comfortable for the front seat passenger, especially for long trips. So yes, the baby capsules took up a fair bit of space.

[hooba]

Huggies?
Damn young couples these days with their wasteful disposable nappies!

I've given enough hints so I will say it straight out, Coreying best to stop posting in a thread about what makes a family car when you've never had a family.

Not only are disposable nappies equal to reusables in terms of their environmental impact (google it), until you've actually scraped the poo out of a reusable nappy of a baby who is on solids, Family Law says that you do not have the right to judge others who choose to use disposables (especially if you can control your gag reflex).

[Corey_R]

It's ok man. I'm speaking based on experience of children I can admittedly hand back.
I'll defer to "real parents" opinions. But don't just assume that just because I don't have any of my own, don't assume that I've never placed a child into a child seat (which I have many times) or changed nappies before (which I have many times), or had to wash "old fashioned nappies" of children who are on solids - which I again have done many times... it doesn't help your cause either

In the end, it's 10cm of height different that you're arguing about. If the R is not capable of taking "two deep" stacked shopping (especially since the "roof" is not fixed), then I don't see it likely that a GTI is going to be too much better. A Golf Wagon, Jetta, or Tiguan, sure, but not a GTI. You also don't need to be a parent to be experienced in carting bulky goods in the boot btw

[hooba]

Putting up with poo from other people's kids - respect.

[ConR]

how did this thread go from practicality to reusable nappies?

[Corey_R]

Because of the Golf R's boot being about 10cm shallower... jeez krtianta, can't you read?! hehe

[anthony]

As you are not in a rush,wait for the 2011 Jetta 6.
It is basically the sedan version of the Golf 6,BUT is very practical,as has a massive boot.
Great car for a young family.

[MkVIGTI]

Well, I managed to fit a washing machine and a microwave in my GTI with the back seats down, all while my gf was making herself comfortable in the passenger's seat! At the end of the day, the GTI (or the R for that matter) has been commonly praised for its accessible performance and everyday practicality, it's also what makes it the benchmark in th class!

[skyva]

I went through this about 4 months ago. I loved the golf, but it was not big enough. Once you fit a rear facing baby seat, and a pram, there is very little room. Now I got the safest baby seat which is huge (not a capsule as my wife doesn't like the back strain of trying to haul 20kg of baby and other crap with the capsule out of the back seat). Our pram is also a large 3 wheeler. Once these are in there is not much room left. Also, we must carry another 2 or three bags worth of baby stuff around as well.
My recommendation is a Subaru Liberty GT wagon. Fast (and vfast if chipped), with awd and lots of room. Unfortunately it is ugly, but then the 135 is no oil painting.
Once the kids get to 4 or 5 you can probably go back to something sportier. The benefit is that having a kid will trash the car. Much better to trash a workhorse like a subie than something you love.

[dave_r]

As for stacking, you've obviously never shopped for 4 mouths, with a pram, and found the Huggies on special.

Does stocking up on booze count? As long as the R can take a few cases of wine, I'll be ok!

[DCD]

Wow i don't check the forum over night and the thread explodes! What a great board

I had a little look around at some other cars last night, I looked at what else BMW had to offer (my car was in getting a service yesterday), apart from the X1 I don't think there was much else within my price range and to put it lightly I'm not a fan of the X1.
The 3 series wagons look nice, but are pricey. Was surprised by how small the boot space in them is too. My old man used to own a Legacy and that thing was like a tardis.
I also looked at the Golf's again (BMW and VW are across the road from each other) and the Gti boot is noticeably deeper, but yeah I agree with Coreying, it may not be overly useable space since it's a bit of depth but the same footprint

The Octavia vRS is an interesting looking car. I think I'll add that to the list of cars to check out.

I didn't realise baby capsules are that big. Do they weigh around 20kg's with the kid? I'm not sure a capsule would be an option then I'm not sure my partner will be able to handle that weight, thats almost half of her!
Ha yeah I've talked to my parents and various other people, I remember when I was a kid my sister and I used to get carted around in a Honda Civic no problems. My partner was saying that her folks used to have some tiny Suzuki jeep thing when she was young as well. Will search for those other threads in the Mk5 forum.

Ahh changing nappies. I've been avoiding it as much as possible with my niece, although at least they use disposables! Scraping out a used nappy isn't high on my list of priorities, especially for someone elses child, even if it is family!

We don't even get the Jetta over here in NZ. No decent spec Tiguan and no Jetta. It's like VW NZ doesn't care!

Ok next chance I get I'll try and grab some of my sisters baby gear and try out the R. Its sounding like it's gonna at least be tight with a capsule and a pram. I guess it also depends on if we end up changing my partners car as well.

[team_v]

Wow i don't check the forum over night and the thread explodes! What a great board

I had a little look around at some other cars last night, I looked at what else BMW had to offer (my car was in getting a service yesterday), apart from the X1 I don't think there was much else within my price range and to put it lightly I'm not a fan of the X1.
The 3 series wagons look nice, but are pricey. Was surprised by how small the boot space in them is too. My old man used to own a Legacy and that thing was like a tardis.
I also looked at the Golf's again (BMW and VW are across the road from each other) and the Gti boot is noticeably deeper, but yeah I agree with Coreying, it may not be overly useable space since it's a bit of depth but the same footprint

The Octavia vRS is an interesting looking car. I think I'll add that to the list of cars to check out.

I didn't realise baby capsules are that big. Do they weigh around 20kg's with the kid? I'm not sure a capsule would be an option then I'm not sure my partner will be able to handle that weight, thats almost half of her!
Ha yeah I've talked to my parents and various other people, I remember when I was a kid my sister and I used to get carted around in a Honda Civic no problems. My partner was saying that her folks used to have some tiny Suzuki jeep thing when she was young as well. Will search for those other threads in the Mk5 forum.

Ahh changing nappies. I've been avoiding it as much as possible with my niece, although at least they use disposables! Scraping out a used nappy isn't high on my list of priorities, especially for someone elses child, even if it is family!

We don't even get the Jetta over here in NZ. No decent spec Tiguan and no Jetta. It's like VW NZ doesn't care!

Ok next chance I get I'll try and grab some of my sisters baby gear and try out the R. Its sounding like it's gonna at least be tight with a capsule and a pram. I guess it also depends on if we end up changing my partners car as well.

The X1 is a heap, i wouldn't even bother with it.
The subaru legacy/liberty wagon's are pretty decent.
They also have the new Exiga in aus which may be in NZ.

All reports from the skoda section here are favourable for families.

You may not get the jetta or the petrol tiguan's but you get the scirocco which we don't get.


Let us know how the test fit goes, please take some pictures as well so we can have them in case this question comes up again.

[simonm]

The baby capsules are bigger than a normal rear facing child seat, but the removable part + baby is not 20kg, since they're only suitable up to a baby weight of 9kg (so around 6 months), then you have to move to a rear facing child seat. The capsule inner is definitely not 11kg by itself.

Alternately, you can just start with a rear facing child seat suitable from birth. Capsules are nice though since you can lift out a sleeping baby without as much risk of waking it - something that is VERY valuable.

I have an MY05 Liberty GT sedan, and I find that the narrow boot opening of a sedan, especially with a non-folding rear seat, is not practical for moving a lot of child related stuff around. My wife has an MY04 Outback wagon, but with the cargo barrier you still can't fit large items (like cots and things), but it's great as our general purpose family car.

My Golf will give us the ability to move bigger things than my sedan can do without the need to remove a cargo barrier (which is a hassle). I have a 2.5 yr old and a 6 month old, my car (Liberty or Golf) has a car seat for transporting the 2 yr old when dropping him of at child care/grandparents, and otherwise it's just my work car. Family travel will still primarily be in the Outback.

So - having the flexibility of a hatch would definitely be better than a sedan with one child. Once you're looking at a second child, a wagon is almost essential.