s/o anyone drive a two door?

[AshleyAnn]

Its getting close to time to consider trading in my SUV for my next vehicle. I commute nearly an hour each way to work plus an hour and a half to class twice a week so gas mileage is pretty important to me. With the exception on my SUV I've always had 2 door cars and I just perfer the loo and feel of a 2 door. I've borrowed my moms 2 door a few times and its not anymore inconvenient to get DD in/out of it and space wise it works for us since we don't need a stroller anymore.

Is it crazy to buy a 2 door the year DD starts kindy? Anyone driving a 2 door with kids? Pros/cons?

[codex57]

Look, I love 2 doors too. I'm a gear head. Even DW says she misses our old BMW coupe. I used to be active on BMW boards.

That said, when I read your post, I flashed back to a story that went around the BMW boards. There was a M3 that crashed. Car caught on fire. Driver and front driver escaped just fine. Passenger in the back died cuz he was trapped and couldn't get out.

With kids, especially ones that may still be strapped in a car seat and need a little help or might be extra scared in a bad crash, I dunno. The safety thing worries me. As a compromise, maybe the new Mercedes CLA?

[AnnieW625]

I had a 96 Honda Accord Coupe from 2001-2006, we sold it when DD2 was 3 months old. I wish we would have kept it longer, but at the time we wanted a little more space so we bought a Honda Pilot. Last January I briefly thought about getting another Accord coupe (because I could get it with a v6 and a manual transmission) but decided that four doors were still easier. I ended up getting a Passat TDI, but also seriously considered the Jetta TDI sedan and the Jetta SportWagen TDI. All three models get between 36 city and 43 highway per the EPA. I spend a lot of time in stop and go traffic so my mileage is closer to city traffic, but I still really good gas mileage. I drive about 250-300 miles a week and I love not having to fill my car up maybe 3 times a month, but most times only 2.

I love driving my car and it reminds me a lot of driving my Accord so I think that is why I am so happy with my car.

[khm]

We possess a two-door. It's a 94 Accord Coupe that my husband bought brand-new. :) It is not driven a lot, generally, but I did drive it a lot a few weeks ago after we sold my sedan and were waiting to find another sedan.

It is more annoying, surely. Taking extra kids to activities is a pain. Most aren't used to not having an auto sliding door super mini-van, let alone crawling into a coupe by manually sliding front seats up. ;)

Once they are in, it is annoying to have them get out. ie, the last minute "Did you remember your cleats/waterbottle/homework?" I make THEM go get them so they hopefully learn, but it is a pain to let them out and back in. Carpool lane would be bad. Even regular drop-offs, I can't just stop the car and shoo them out, I have to park, get out, and let them out. If they have bags etc, it is a pain for them to crawl in with the bag, they usually toss it up front or use the trunk, one more step. When they get in, they can't get the front passenger door closed (and they are 9 and 10, it's just too far away). So, we either have to coordinate getting them in on my side, or I have to stand there and wait on the passenger side, then close the door.

I ended up with a super sporty sedan. It's awesome. I can't imagine that taking away two of the doors would make it any more fun to drive or improve the mileage. It would increase the day to day annoyance factor, for no real benefit. I hadn't even really considered the safety factor, that's a huge strike really. Just not worth it in my opinion and I am a "love to drive" person!

[schrocat]

DH drives a 2 door Honda Accord Coupe. I drove it until DS1 was about 3 years old. It was a pain getting the infant carseat in and out of that car but as DS1 grew older, it got easier. We can't fit all of our 3 kids in the backseat of our coupe but we do have 2 carseats in the back (a nautilus and a backless booster) and DH sends DS2 to preschool and picks him up 3 days a week and drops DS1 off in the mornings at school on the days that we have no preschool. It works for us. We're actually thinking of keeping the Coupe as DH's commuter car when we buy a new SUV that would fit more people later in the year. It gets good mileage and fits at least 2 kids well in the backseat. It works for DH's pick-up/drop-off duties.

[AngelaS]

We have a two door Challenger. It's dh's midlife crisis mobile that we drive occasionally for fun. None of my kids are in carseats anymore and it's a pain to stuff them all in the backseat. I cannot imagine if they were in carseats.

[YouAreTheFocus]

We know two families that have Minis, both the 2 dr version. They each have one child. One of the families has had the Mini since their kid was 1 or 2, he's now 5 and in a FF convertible. They have no complaints regarding the 2 dr/kid/carseat issue.

[khm]

I think if you HAVE A 2-door or have the opportunity to get a phenomenal deal on one, you can get used to it, sure.

I drove the aforementioned Accord for a year and a half with one rear-facing kid. I drove it occasionally after that with one rear-facer and one front-facer. It's not the worst thing in the world. I had a great system for getting the bucket clicked in. You do what you need to do.

But to be shopping specifically for two-doors? I guess I don't see the benefits outweighing the negatives. I am a "drive them for a decade" kind of girl, who also REALLY likes cars and how they feel, drive, look, perform.... so I really, really want to buy the right car for the long haul and minimize annoyances as best I can.

There are so many small sporty 4 doors, you can still get that "fun" fix and great gas mileage. :)

[AnnieW625]

We know two families that have Minis, both the 2 dr version. They each have one child. One of the families has had the Mini since their kid was 1 or 2, he's now 5 and in a FF convertible. They have no complaints regarding the 2 dr/kid/carseat issue.

I have actually installed a Roundabout 55 in my old DCP's Mini Cooper standing up. I am 5'6" and had some room standing up in the back to install it. We thought about the 4 door Mini Countryman as well, but again decided on a little bit more cargo space because we have a 3 yr. old who still regularly rides in the stroller, but the car is really fun to drive and I would recommend it, although it does take mid grade gas so not as cheap as regular, but better than a luxury car like a Mercedes, Audi or BMW that really truly needs and uses only premium fuel. If I didn't drive as much as I do I really would have considered the Mercedes sedan, the car is quite nice and even the base interior was slightly nicer than the BMW 3.

KHM, being nosey what kind of car did you get?

[khm]

Used '11 Audi A4 sedan. :) Previously drove a used A6 (for 10 years!). It does take premium, but I'm getting mileage in the low-mid 30s so far, even just on my little non-hwy work commute. Way better than the A6. I never did put premium in the A6 though, ran it to 215k and sold it to a high school kid.

The A4 is small, but the husband has an SUV that can seat 7, so we're covered and can trade cars whenever. I figure our gas mileage averages out to so-so between the two of us. ;) We only have the two kids, so sedans are great for us.

My husband is big into AWD. He cares more than I do, so I roll with it. There are still lots of options. I love VWs personally, but they did away with their AWD awhile back. The new CCs are 5 seaters! I think that is the most gorgeous car...... If I'd have learned that a few weeks earlier he might not have won the AWD battle!

[AnnieW625]

Used '11 Audi A4 sedan. :) Previously drove a used A6 (for 10 years!). It does take premium, but I'm getting mileage in the low-mid 30s so far, even just on my little non-hwy work commute. Way better than the A6. I never did put premium in the A6 though, ran it to 215k and sold it to a high school kid.

The A4 is small, but the husband has an SUV that can seat 7, so we're covered and can trade cars whenever. I figure our gas mileage averages out to so-so between the two of us. ;) We only have the two kids, so sedans are great for us.

My husband is big into AWD. He cares more than I do, so I roll with it. There are still lots of options. I love VWs personally, but they did away with their AWD awhile back. The new CCs are 5 seaters! I think that is the most gorgeous car...... If I'd have learned that a few weeks earlier he might not have won the AWD battle!

We did consider the Audi A4 sedan and wagon as well, but because my highway driving mileage is more like city mileage I wasn't sure how good my mileage would have been. Plus I couldn't quite find one with a manual transmission and less than 20K miles for under $32K listed and I really didn't want to spend more than $30K on a car (that's the cheap girl in me). The CC looks nice too, but I felt there wasn't as much headroom, plus DH didn't want to buy a VW that wasn't a diesel. We have no need for AWD though. If we needed it then yes the Audi would have been the most affordable luxury car out there, much better than the BMW.

[khm]

We did consider the Audi A4 sedan and wagon as well, but because my highway driving mileage is more like city mileage I wasn't sure how good my mileage would have been. Plus I couldn't quite find one with a manual transmission and less than 20K miles for under $32K listed and I really didn't want to spend more than $30K on a car (that's the cheap girl in me). The CC looks nice too, but I felt there wasn't as much headroom, plus DH didn't want to buy a VW that wasn't a diesel. We have no need for AWD though. If we needed it then yes the Audi would have been the most affordable luxury car out there, much better than the BMW.

I drove a manual A4, oh my stars it was fun! But, it was older, more miles, and way overpriced. Mine was a really, really good deal (private) and met my basic "must haves" and my husband's, so we went for it. WELL, well under $30k! If it hadn't came along who knows, my husband might have let up on the AWD thing, heavens knows my must haves would have stayed....