Living with a Mini & babies/kids

[pee]

Originally Posted by MikeytheMini

Update:
We've just done xmas with the Mini.
The wife had planned for us to use the Honda as there is more room, but the wipers broke.
So Mini it was - away for 4 days, Me, wife, 3 year old, 9 month old. In addition; 2 sports bags, 1 with kids clothes, 1 with our clothes, bag with steriliser, bottles formula etc. 2 toilet bags, Quinni pushchair, Blow up bed & compressor for 3 year old, laptop & a fair few presents for the various members of her family, lots of thick coats, handbag.
Yes we all fitted in & travelled several hundred miles with 1 problem - I got stuck in the snow/ice at the inlaws & ended up reversing out of their estate

Did you use a roof box a something ??? As we have just had a little boy and when we go away its a real struggle to get all our gear into the gfs mini. Ive already sold my cooper-s and id really like another but part of me also wants a civic type-r just for the space I dont suppose you took any pics of your mini all packed up??

[jamski]

Roof box, very interested in what ones people use with the MINI's!

[Step_7]

Probably about time I weigh in to this thread - I now have 3 children - 10, 8 and 2 and we have as our largest vehicle a Cooper Clubman...... There is no "Plan B" - all the other cars are Minis/MINIs with 4 seats - 95% of our travel is as a group of 4 or less so we see no need for something bigger just to be useful 5% of the time - it's just a waste of space and unnecessary in my view.

I'll admit we DO like our Minis so I guess it's a compromise that allows us to enjoy driving cars that we are passionate about but one that we have no complaints about.

When we need to go out as a family, the baby seat goes in the front and one adult and the 2 boys fit in the back - they are both tall enough not to need booster seats so the middle seat is perfectly usable. Boot space again is adequate, we can get all 5 of us, a Quinny Zapp and a weeks shopping in there so the need for anything bigger escapes me.

We are planning a few big driving trips this summer and we know that it might be a squeeze but we just pack and plan accordingly - the passenger footwell holds a load of stuff when there are no legs in it and the wheel well in the boot is useful too. Previously we did 1800 miles in a week in my old R50 before Grace was born (although she was in the car ) and coped quite happily so I guess we're just used to it.....

40 years ago my mother coped quite easily with 2 kids in a Classic Mini - why do we feel the need to cart about so much extra rubbish with us now????

[M7 ATW]

Hi everyone,

We've only had our Mini for 2 - 3 weeks and got rid of both an Audi A3 sportback and a Golf GTI at the same time, so the Mini is now the only car we own.

We have a 15 week old daughter and have found that we are coping very well with the Mini to date, although i guess the real first test will be when we go away for a weekend with all the associated luggage.

The only issue we have is that our pushchair is to big for the boot, so we are currently looking for a new one, however my girlfriend is very fussy, so i was wondering if anyone could suggest a number of buggies that fit, so that i can show her a few options. Obviously there's been a number mentioned on this thread already, but was just wondering if anyone knew of any other alternatives?

Overall i'm loving Mini ownership, and shrug off all the 'you must be crazy having that as a family car', as quite frankly, i'm prepared to compromise some practicality to own a car that genuinely interests me.

[Lucky Dave]

I can second the quinny zap and the maxi cosi both quality products! The wife still uses the mini with the 3 kids in it every day!

[MikeytheMini]

Took a pic - not as fully packed as Xmas but still enough for a weekend away

Bottom central is the Quinny pushchair
Bottom Left - Baby change bag
Black bag - Mum & Dads
Spotty bag - childrens clothes
Laptop, coats, carrier bag with food
Shoes etc in rear kickwells

[pee]

Originally Posted by MikeytheMini

Took a pic - not as fully packed as Xmas but still enough for a weekend away

Bottom central is the Quinny pushchair
Bottom Left - Baby change bag
Black bag - Mum & Dads
Spotty bag - childrens clothes
Laptop, coats, carrier bag with food
Shoes etc in rear kickwells

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! youve done a good job of packing all the gear in there lol

[Step_7]

Whilst not in the same league as Mikey's packaging efforts, here's a few pictures of our recent trip to the South of England in the Clubby.

Boot not particularly full to be honest, there's a Quinny Zapp in there along with one big bag for all our clothes. The rest of the stuff is in smaller rucksacks or bags fitted in the remaining spaces. There are also 4 big heavy winter coats at the top as it was snowing when we left!!



Space in the back for 3.


Footwell for extra storage - changing bag, laptop, camera bag, assorted toys and my stash of easily accessible drinks and junk food!



5 days, 944 miles and we didn't leave anything important behind. Family cars??? We're fine in the Clubby thank you very much!

[Golgarth]

The bigger the car the more space you waste

[Minnie]

I have to say I can vouch for Mikeys "pack in all in" approach!
I saw him at the weekend and was amazed that everything went in...pushchair too!