Which Estate/MPV for Windsurfing and kids

[AndySG]

I have to say I like the new Mazda 6 Tourer, goot power, good MPG, seams nice inside but not sure about the practicality of the sloping boot. I would imagine you will have issues when stacking up all the gear and boards.
Definitely need to try one though

[smidge]

A year ago we got a new Citroen Grand C4 Picasso (i lost the "discussion" about a van). It works well. Fold flat front seat and individually folding rear seats are for me non negotiable, essential items for a windsurfing car as it lets me turn the left hand side of it into a huge long space for 2 boards (more at a squeeze), loads of sails and 2 booms whilst still having a comfy passenger seat behind the driver, and even at a push a chance of getting a kid into a seat in the boot (not yet tested). We can also fold flat the middle rear seat and fit a board sideways plus a sail mast and boom and still have a comfy front passenger seat and kids on left and right rear seats. Just like our very old Grand Scenic that it replaced and served us very well.

I looked at new Renault scenic, XC90 and even Tesla Model x, but seat configuration doesnt work (either doesnt fold flat at front - xc90, not individual folding rear - new scenic, or just plain ill thought out and bonkers - Model X (I think they have subsequently changed it)). SUV manufacturers need to think about the fact that the S stands for Sport, and U stands for Utility and stop blinging these things up so much with unnecessary and fragile luxury.

We got the top of range C4 with the adaptive cruise control with stop function and lane keeping - its expensive but this technology will blow you away if you spend a lot of time on motorways. It basically drives itself, other than lane changing. Massive increase in safety and makes tedious motorway drives far more relaxing.

[/\/ico]

As I mentioned above, while the Superb is big the way the seats fold makes things a little restrictive. Two chaps at work have them as company cars but they are not windsurfers so would not encounter this issue. Because you have to fold the rear seat base up to fold the back down you cannot then fully lower backwards the front seat. As such, putting boards inside is not possible without obscuring the side window fully. Even a much smaller car like an Astra allows for the nose of boards to end up in the passenger footwell due to the way the seats fold. The Superb is a great car, as long as you do not want to put long objects like windsurf boards inside. Also beware of the green line models. They sit really low to the ground to aid economy, but bottom out on the slightest bump. I drove one into Hayling car park once and it hit the deck at lest three times. Chap at work scrapes his sills every time he reverses out of his sloping drive.

Interesting. I have both those problems with my Octavia estate, but you can solve the seat problem by removing the rear seat bases. It takes seconds, but then you have to put them somewhere.

Cars that are too low to drive around normal roads are a PITA. Whose idea was that?

[AndySG]

I actually quite like the looks of the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso, and 2.0 diesel would be ok.
Not sure I like the dash though but could live with it.

There is 1 huge BUT though: Its French.

[smidge]

Grand C4 is also pretty ponderously big to drive, not quick off the line, at least in automatic - perfect on motorways, not so good nipping around on the school run (but thats not what we use it for). Our other car is a Renault Zoe (all battery, massive torque) that drives like a smooth, silent, go kart, so the comparison is pretty extreme. We have now had 3 French cars in a row, all been good. Almost nothing went wrong with our Renault Scenic over 13 years and 100k (other than what we did to it, which was a lot....), and thats a car that comes out really badly on the reliability surveys. I got a discount of c.25% on the Citroen new via Autoebid.com, built to order. I got frustrated in the dealers showroom when the salesperson knew less than nothing about the car and pretty much ignored me and wife (suspect he thought we were time wasters), so bought online. Coming up to 11 months on Citroen now and its faultless, albeit just 7k miles.

[phill104]

My father currently has a Grand C4. Car is nice but he hates the controls. I drove a Pug 308 with the same system. To do a simple thing such as change temperature or blower speed involves navigating through the touch screen interface, not a good idea at 70mph. I reckon the motoring press should be harping on about the safety of such systems rather than whether the new model has the right rims etc.

[poehaaa]

There is only one Estate: Volvo 245. I have owned a lot of different cars (including a XC90), but there is nothing better than the 245.