[callahan]

Hi

I found this lovely site while trawling through the classifieds on Pistonheads and the first thing I find out is that the car I was lusting after had been bought by someone on here!

Never mind, here's a summary of my dilemma:

I am changing job at the end of the week ( ) and will be getting a company Volvo V50 2.4D, which is nice. However, my dilemma is that at the moment I have a company Fiesta van as a hack and a Mercedes C36 AMG as my 'family' car, but as of Monday the AMG and the Volvo will both fulfill the same role, although hopefully the Volvo will use a little less fuel....

I have decided to move the C36 on as it is a great and very fast car, but certainly not the last word in involvement - more of a comfy missile with an auto.

So I have been looking at alternatives that need to fit the following criteria:

Five days a week this will be my wife's car, we have two children (2 and 5) and she childminds (is that a word?) for a few others, so the car needs to be big enough to take up to four children (as well as a driver, I assume) in seats and a load of stuff in the boot.
It needs to be pretty safe and reliable, for the reasons above, and hopefully not too expensive to maintain.
Two days a week it will be mine so it needs to be fun for me to thrape around on back roads and generally act like a bit of a hooligan, so it needs to be fun to drive. If I were to be entirely honest, this may be the main reason I'm looking for a new car
Options so far are:
Accord Type R (obviously)
Leon Cupra
Impreza Turbo (except for the fuel costs)
Renault Megane Renaultsport 225 of some type.

Anyway, I'm just starting my search and know little about ATRs, so any advice is welcomed and any pointers to some great cars would be even better.

I'm in Saffron Walden, just south of Cambridge.

Cheers

Ben

[stux]

The size of the car is good. Plenty of room for stuff and people.

The only negative point i can make is that your mrs may not enjoy driving it. Some folks on here say that their wife/girlfriend does not like driving the car.....?

[Stoo]

Welcome matey

The ATR will comfortable fit 4 passengers (+1 driver), but it would be worth checking if those will need car seats/booster seats etc. I have 3 kids myself and we use the ATR as a family car as well as "Daddy's racing car" (as my 3 year old puts it).

It would certainly be worth getting a run out in one - maybe someone on here that's close to you could give you a ride

[obriener2054]

yep, it won't hold four children unless 1 of them will be over 12 to sit in the front

welcome aboard

[badboy]

Welcome to the madhouse

Thier is a nice example here http://www.accordr.o...topic=28847&hl=

[callahan]

stux2004, on Jan 12 2010, 05:11 PM, said:

The size of the car is good. Plenty of room for stuff and people.

The only negative point i can make is that your mrs may not enjoy driving it. Some folks on here say that their wife/girlfriend does not like driving the car.....?

No, she loves fast cars. I think she'd rather keep the AMG....

obriener2054, on Jan 12 2010, 05:16 PM, said:

yep, it won't hold four children unless 1 of them will be over 12 to sit in the front

welcome aboard

Can't younger ones sit in the front in the right kind of booster seat?

Stoo - a run in one could be a good plan.....

badboy - thanks, I'll have a look.

[obriener2054]

callahan, on Jan 12 2010, 05:23 PM, said:

No, she loves fast cars. I think she'd rather keep the AMG....
Can't younger ones sit in the front in the right kind of booster seat?

Stoo - a run in one could be a good plan.....

badboy - thanks, I'll have a look.

pretty sure the airbag can't be turned off

[badboy]

callahan, on Jan 12 2010, 05:23 PM, said:

No, she loves fast cars. I think she'd rather keep the AMG....
Can't younger ones sit in the front in the right kind of booster seat?

Stoo - a run in one could be a good plan.....

badboy - thanks, I'll have a look.

Have a look at the buyers guide http://www.accordr.o...wtopic=958&st=0 plenty of information about the car

[callahan]

obriener2054, on Jan 12 2010, 05:26 PM, said:

pretty sure the airbag can't be turned off

Can't it? I think it only matters for rearward facing car seats anyway, ie for babies. I'd imagine for forward facing seats having an airbag would be a good thing...

badboy, on Jan 12 2010, 05:29 PM, said:

Have a look at the buyers guide http://www.accordr.o...wtopic=958&st=0 plenty of information about the car

Had a look at that, thanks, a mine of information. It's also made me look at the pre-facelift cars rather than just the post.

Cheers

[obriener2054]

Comments
When Euro NCAP first tested family-sized cars in 1997 the Accord was not included; this test has been sponsored by Honda to enable a comparison to be made. The best of the original group scored four stars. The Accord has done well to match this. In the frontal impact, the bodyshell was stable but an unusual distortion of the rear floorpan caused concern over the seat belt compatibility with the three-year-old’s child seat. A three-point automatic belt was fitted in the central rear seating position. The side impact performance was above average in this group.

Front impact
The driver and passenger had good head and neck protection from the airbags. The forces on the chest from the restraints presented a low risk of serious injury at this crash severity. There was risk of injury to the upper legs and knees from hard points behind the facia. But the risk to lower legs and feet was not serious.

Side impact
The doors remained closed in the side impact, despite the exterior handle on the rear door being jammed in the opened position. The dummy’s head struck the front face of the central pillar and the doorframe, although the force was not recorded as dangerous. There would have been only a low risk of severe injury in this impact.

Child occupant
A passenger frontal airbag is fitted as standard, so there is a real danger of death for a child placed on the front seat in a rear-facing restraint. The labelling on the car gave inadequate warning of this. One of these labels was fixed to the windscreen and it could easily be removed or become lost if the windscreen was replaced. A good point was that each rear adult belt had settings to enable a restraint to be fixed more firmly. However, the recommended restraints did not perform well.

Pedestrian
The Accord showed no real concession to protecting pedestrians: all leg tests were poor. The best protection was provided where a child’s head would strike the bonnet, and results for four of the six tests were adequate. A two-star result is about average for a family car.


http://www.euroncap....rd_2000/79.aspx

it's a great score for a car made in 1998

[stux]

obriener2054, on Jan 12 2010, 06:43 PM, said:

Side impact
The dummy’s head struck the front face of the central pillar and the doorframe, although the force was not recorded as dangerous. There would have been only a low risk of severe injury in this impact.

I've actually done that. It hurts.

obriener2054, on Jan 12 2010, 06:43 PM, said:

Pedestrian
The Accord showed no real concession to protecting pedestrians: all leg tests were poor.

[irf]

my friend hit his head on the side pillar in his volvo 850 while he was having an accident at the ring. cracked the helmet

[callahan]

irf, on Jan 12 2010, 06:52 PM, said:

my friend hit his head on the side pillar in his volvo 850 while he was having an accident at the ring. cracked the helmet

If I didn't know you were talking about the Nurburgring I could easily misinterpret what you just wrote

[irf]

(that's me after realising what i'd just written)

This post has been edited by irf: 12 January 2010 - 07:25 PM

[toyracer69]

callahan, on Jan 12 2010, 06:58 PM, said:

If I didn't know you were talking about the Nurburgring I could easily misinterpret what you just wrote

irf, on Jan 12 2010, 07:24 PM, said:

(that's me after realising what i'd just written)

You'll fit right in.

And as stated the ATR is an ideal family car. IMO.

[Waz]

The ATR is a superb family car mate. Ticks all boxes.

[callahan]

irf, on Jan 12 2010, 07:24 PM, said:

(that's me after realising what i'd just written)

Sorry, mind in the gutter, as usual

toyracer69, on Jan 12 2010, 07:32 PM, said:

You'll fit right in.

And as stated the ATR is an ideal family car. IMO.

Waz, on Jan 12 2010, 07:36 PM, said:

The ATR is a superb family car mate. Ticks all boxes.

Thanks, I just need to find one to have a look at now. Shame yours is so far away Waz.

[TypeRDan]

obriener2054, on Jan 12 2010, 05:26 PM, said:

pretty sure the airbag can't be turned off

[TypeRDan]

Oh and welcome in too

[callahan]

TypeRDan, on Jan 12 2010, 09:38 PM, said:

Oh and welcome in too

Thanks.

Anyone want a '98 C36 AMG? Swapsies