Forget about performance cars and think about comfort and convenience. It has nothing to do with "giving up" and everything to do with not being a ****!
With young kids you need four doors a big boot and legroom.
If you will be doing long journeys or holidays a Golf/Focus size car will be a pain as the boot is too small for buggys/luggage/cots etc and you'll have to move the passanger seat uncomfortably far forward to clear the kiddie seat. If you are thinking about another child it really is a no-brainer.
All the MPVs give you is bit more height for loading the kids. Great if all you do is school runs and shopping trips but the compromises elsewhere are too great to make them worth it IMHO.
Get yourself the best Mondeo/Mazda 6 for the money you have and you won't go far wrong.

Just re-read this and was not suggesting that you are being a **** .

 

I used to own a wagon and I loved it, ideal motor for me and the 2 kids, then number 3 turned up (God Bless Her) and it got too small.

I ended up getting a Mercedes ML320, which I know has had a lot of slating, but do you know what it's fantastic!!

over 40K brand new and still looks like money.

Saying that I'm selling it for something smaller now as the baby has got past the huge buggy stage.

Now for some fun again.

Rob

 

How about a P1, it's the best family car i've ever had. And it's good on fuel It's worth a try?

 

As someone said before,it is the monster baby seats that bugger everything up.

Although yes,our double buggy did take the whole of the boot space up in the Fabia.Glad they are at least not needing that anymore

 

You could get a 05/55 ford focus estate tdci with high miles(which doesnt matter if its just zipping about here and there)
For around £3700.
This is what ive just done and its like a brand new car!for less than 4k.

 

Don't dismiss an MPV. I was like a lot of the anti MPV mob. Although by no means comprehensive, I've had an Audi A4 Avant and a BMW 325i saloon and my current kids chariot Focus C-Max 2.0 TDCI knocks the crap out of the former two in terms of comfort, space, load carrying and practicality all in a car no larger than a mid sized hatchback, ideal for my wife. Plus don't worry about the interior of the C-Max like I did with the Audi and BMW.

 

We looked at these and had the same thoughts....seemed to posh for kids .

Shame because one of my favourite cars.And yes,space wise didn't seem that big.

 

We had this issue in 2007 when my lad was born, so we went for the Civic 2.2, superb car and a load more space inside than any Golf, Focus, Astra etc if its a hatch you want. I have a Focus ST as my car and the Civic is much easier to pack everything into.

Civic got us to Suffolk and back last summer with all the gear, cots, prams, cases etc, plenty of room.

But as someone said, there are compromises with hatches so we will probably look at an A4 Avant next year.