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Comment by azherebtsov | Hacker News Reader

What car would you recommend to a family of five?

I have 2 kids and when we go for a trip the my Citroen c4 is full. Would I have one more kid it’s no way we can fit into this car, despite it has 5 seats.

Should we stop thinking about road trips and consider only plane/train/bus? Or should we consider only van/caravan?

I support the argument that unnecessary consumption should be penalised somehow, but I do not support blanket type rules that may discriminate absolutely reasonable people, like those with more than 2 kids.

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> What car would you recommend to a family of five?

Any mid-sized or larger station wagon. From experience, even riding along in a recent Skoda Superb is quite fun. There is also an enormous amount of space in the trunk, which most SUVs don't have.

I don't think you can drive a SUV in a city and fit 3 children in there. It's just too enormous, think about how massive it would be. We drove a van when I was small (VW sharan), which is the reasonable choice I think. I think SUV-type cars are generally too big for a city, except the smallest and a family should by a van as a van does generally not have such a large hood and it's height is not so high.

Big cars in a city have negative consequences for others. This is not only about enviromentalism, but increasing walkability, liveability and bike-ability in dense city environments. In my last city (Tübingen), you have to buy a "parking pass" as a resident to park in the neighbourhood. They recently greatly increased the price for an SUV, which I think is a good idea.

Xc90 length is 4953mm and width is 1923mm

VW sharan length is 4854mm and width is 1904mm

Therefore the difference in sizes is probably less than your palm. These cars are equally reasonable, it’s just a matter of personal preferences I think.

then maybe I am wrong! I just see those enormous SUVs all the time (probably small for americans), clogging the street and not fitting into parking spaces. With enormous, wasteful hoods. If you're family is big we have fitted in a van just fine and could also drive to our vacations.

Honda FRV was good but it's kind of old now. If you have one more kid, a minivan (anything that's used as an airport shuttle) or a 7 seater like the Ford S-Max, Peugeot 5008, Seat Tarraco, Skoda Kodiaq.

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