Friday, January 30, 2004

Baby- and SF-friendly cars

With the new baby we sadly had to replace our beloved Mazda Miata, "Junior." In its place we had to find a car that could both seat the baby and still be easy to park around Russian Hill -- a notoriously difficult SF neighborhood for parking -- where Lucy's mom lives. That meant we needed a really short 4-seater car, that was still fun to have around.

Here's my candidates list, with some benchmarks thrown in:

Length (in.) - Car - # Doors
---
142.8 - Mini Cooper - 2
154 - Scion xA - 4
155.3 - Scion xB - 4
155.4 - Mazda Miata - 2 <-- we were here
159.1 - Audi TT - 2
159.4 - VW Corrado (1989-95) - 2
161 - VW Beetle - 2
164 - VW Golf - 4
165.7 - Civic Hatchback - 2
165.7 - BMW 318Ti Hatchback (1995-8) - 2
168.1 - Ford Focus - 2/4 (same length)
168.8 - Chrysler PT Cruiser - 4
169.6 - Toyota Prius (2001-3) - 4
171 - Mercedes C-Sport - 2
172 - VW Jetta - 4
172 - Acura RSX/Integra - 2
173 - Subaru Impreza - 4
174.3 - Mazda RX8 - 4
175 - Subaru Forester - 4
176 - Mazda 3 - 4
182.1 - Subaru SVX - 4
242 - Maybach 62 - 4

Originally I thought a Mini would be the "it" car -- so short! -- but it became clear that the 2-door setup would make it painful for baby seat in/egress (imagine climbing around in a downpour), and that there would be very little room available for the stroller. Instead I found a 2000 Golf 4-door with the 1.8 turbo engine, and am so far very happy with it. (This configuration was available 2000-1.)

I wonder if Lucy will let me add a muffler whistle.

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home