My quest for finding the perfect MPV for my family

[Voodooman]

1 hour ago, Atrecord said:

You mentioned your parents/in-laws are in the 80s?

While kids will grow up fast, so yes, should - quoting you - milk it as much as we can while the kids are still young...
another factor is that the grandparents are also ageing rapidly, and... in all honesty, will not be around for very long... 

I've had to ferry my grandma around a bit when she was alive. I daresay i did that most, among my 20+ cousins. Honestly, I was grumbling why my cousins did not help out more, but thinking back, i hope that i - with help of my kids' presence - would have brought more comfort to my grandma in her later/final years.

I've extended this line of thought to my parents now, as they are in their mid/late 80s too. So have been considering whether to go back to MPV... but the COE is discouraging me 😅

OT but good food brings everyone together. 

A weekly or monthly family dinner at home or at a restaurant (better as more extended) whereby mobile phones are banned is better than any 30 mins MPV ride.  Might be cheaper too with COE at $110k, equivalent to $900 a month of F&B spendings. 😂

[Ctaiwee]

@Atrecord that is gold, I remember also having to ferry my grandparents around when I was just got my license. It was very nice to see their smiles when I come to see them. 
 

yes the COE has gone down, VW gave a rebate back 

[Atrecord]

1 hour ago, Ctaiwee said:

@Atrecord that is gold, I remember also having to ferry my grandparents around when I was just got my license. It was very nice to see their smiles when I come to see them. 
 

yes the COE has gone down, VW gave a rebate back 

Congrats on getting some rebate. Hopefully it's enough to pay for the Sharan's lifetime petrol... 😄

Yup, always good to see my grandma smiled... i didn't have the chance to ferry my grandpa, but guessed made up for it by ferrying my grandma for almost 30 yr...

[Beanoyip]

On 10/5/2022 at 1:57 PM, Voodooman said:

Can't beat the Hyundai Staria. 

Staria looks like a shoe box.. 😁

[Mkl22]

2 minutes ago, Beanoyip said:

Staria looks like a shoe box.. 😁

thats the purpose of a MPV right. people carrier. box shape is the best.

[inlinesix]

19 minutes ago, Beanoyip said:

Staria looks like a shoe box.. 😁

 

16 minutes ago, Mkl22 said:

thats the purpose of a MPV right. people carrier. box shape is the best.

It is a 10-seater van.

[therock]

2 hours ago, Mkl22 said:

thats the purpose of a MPV right. people carrier. box shape is the best.

I'm curious to know what's the typical drag coefficient... 

[Sp4wn]

our life trajectory is somewhat similar. 

before kids - i had my GTR. f**king loved that car .. i still turn my head to look when i see one pass me by.😢

then came along one kid, i sold my GTR and bought a macan 2L. the original intention was to have 1 kid first, then "see how" for second kid. 

at this junction, was tempted to buy myself a california but my wife said wait first, see the kids expenses. (good thing, always listen to wife. lol) so we wound up using the  macan (despite all its issues at the start of ownership)

then after kid #1 was about 6 months old, i tried to revisit the topic of a better car for myself .. and give my wife the macan. she said shelf the car first, buy a bigger place (the 2 bedder we had was getting a bit tight with 3 of us and we still at least planned for 1 more)

so shelved the car again, bought a bigger house (and thankfully, still listened to wife, since 2018 seems to have been the perfect timing to buy a new place and the new place has appreciated ... substantially ...)

in the end in 2019, we said we will try for 1 more. and as some of the bros here know ... i got a buy 1 get 1 free promo ... so now i have 3 kids under 5. and just like you, im all about safety. the only car that met my criteria at the time in 2020 was a citroen grand tourer. 3 isofix seats in the middle row (so front and rear impact kids would be "spared"). if my mil is with us, then either myself or my wife will squeeze into the 3rd row and my mil sits in the front seat. 

now that my oldest is 4.5y, we have switched him to a booster seat, so its actually v easy to remove, get someone in, and replug the booster back in after that. probably will drive this citroen till the end of life, keep the macan for another 2-3 years, and look for something a bit more ... powerful when the 3 boys are older ... been eyeballing an e63 (used) on sgcarmart, but cant bring myself to pull the trigger yet ... so far my kids have puked, peed, sneezed and drooled all over both my wife's and my car. so i figure, wait a bit more, and just see what happens every year or so, whether its worthwhile to switch ... 

on the flipside, my wife has agreed her car will always be the shoebox / mpv. (we did see the nissan serena and if it wasnt for the lack of an extra isofix, we might have bought that instead.)

[Ctaiwee]

1 hour ago, Sp4wn said:

our life trajectory is somewhat similar. 

before kids - i had my GTR. f**king loved that car .. i still turn my head to look when i see one pass me by.😢

then came along one kid, i sold my GTR and bought a macan 2L. the original intention was to have 1 kid first, then "see how" for second kid. 

at this junction, was tempted to buy myself a california but my wife said wait first, see the kids expenses. (good thing, always listen to wife. lol) so we wound up using the  macan (despite all its issues at the start of ownership)

then after kid #1 was about 6 months old, i tried to revisit the topic of a better car for myself .. and give my wife the macan. she said shelf the car first, buy a bigger place (the 2 bedder we had was getting a bit tight with 3 of us and we still at least planned for 1 more)

so shelved the car again, bought a bigger house (and thankfully, still listened to wife, since 2018 seems to have been the perfect timing to buy a new place and the new place has appreciated ... substantially ...)

in the end in 2019, we said we will try for 1 more. and as some of the bros here know ... i got a buy 1 get 1 free promo ... so now i have 3 kids under 5. and just like you, im all about safety. the only car that met my criteria at the time in 2020 was a citroen grand tourer. 3 isofix seats in the middle row (so front and rear impact kids would be "spared"). if my mil is with us, then either myself or my wife will squeeze into the 3rd row and my mil sits in the front seat. 

now that my oldest is 4.5y, we have switched him to a booster seat, so its actually v easy to remove, get someone in, and replug the booster back in after that. probably will drive this citroen till the end of life, keep the macan for another 2-3 years, and look for something a bit more ... powerful when the 3 boys are older ... been eyeballing an e63 (used) on sgcarmart, but cant bring myself to pull the trigger yet ... so far my kids have puked, peed, sneezed and drooled all over both my wife's and my car. so i figure, wait a bit more, and just see what happens every year or so, whether its worthwhile to switch ... 

on the flipside, my wife has agreed her car will always be the shoebox / mpv. (we did see the nissan serena and if it wasnt for the lack of an extra isofix, we might have bought that instead.)

Same Sentiment on the ISOFiX , if there were more MPV with isofix at their 3rd row, the Sharan would not have been our first choice too, we would have preferred a walk thorough configuration type of MPV. 

So we comprised with what is available at the moment to our fit most our needs.  Yes listen to wife is important, “ Happy Wife, Happy Life”

House is always a better investment than a car, as the car is almost certainly a depreciating asset. Unless you buy those rare car , which will cost millions. 
 

the Sharan is one of the few cars with build in Boaster seats that integrates into the 2nd row seats. I take 2 seconds to set it to position and 2 seconds to close it.

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Ctaiwee

[Sp4wn]

20 minutes ago, Ctaiwee said:

Same Sentiment on the ISOFiX , if there were more MPV with isofix at their 3rd row, the Sharan would not have been our first choice too, we would have preferred a walk thorough configuration type of MPV. 

So we comprised with what is available at the moment to our fit most our needs.  Yes listen to wife is important, “ Happy Wife, Happy Life”

House is always a better investment than a car, as the car is almost certainly a depreciating asset. Unless you buy those rare car , which will cost millions. 
 

the Sharan is one of the few cars with build in Boaster seats that integrates into the 2nd row seats. I take 2 seconds to set it to position and 2 seconds to close it.

 

wah thats actually pretty dmn cool. i cant recall why my wife didnt like the sharan. we saw quite a few (odyssey, serena to name a few). if model Y comes with 7 seats eventually, may change her car to that since we can charge at home easily

[Atrecord]

5 hours ago, inlinesix said:

 

It is a 10-seater van.

SG one i think only 3 rows, not 4 leh...

[Ctaiwee]

7 hours ago, inlinesix said:

 

It is a 10-seater van.

The singapore version I saw at the show room was only 3 rows, the middle seats are captain seat with full leg reclining function. It’s huge at 2m tall and 5.253m in length

its huge and longer then the Kia carnival. If you looking for 10 seats , go for the Mercedes V class.

[therock]

The hybrid sienta has only 91hp?

thats low…

[inlinesix]

4 minutes ago, therock said:

The hybrid sienta has only 91hp?

thats low…

91hp (ICE) + 80hp (Motor)

[Weewee1976]

1 hour ago, inlinesix said:

91hp (ICE) + 80hp (Motor)

Not possible as it's still under Cat A. Combined hp is only 114.

https://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/tech-news-toyota-sienta-hybrid-mpv-singapore-price-specs

[Gizmore]

23 hours ago, Sp4wn said:

our life trajectory is somewhat similar. 

before kids - i had my GTR. f**king loved that car .. i still turn my head to look when i see one pass me by.😢

then came along one kid, i sold my GTR and bought a macan 2L. the original intention was to have 1 kid first, then "see how" for second kid. 

at this junction, was tempted to buy myself a california but my wife said wait first, see the kids expenses. (good thing, always listen to wife. lol) so we wound up using the  macan (despite all its issues at the start of ownership)

then after kid #1 was about 6 months old, i tried to revisit the topic of a better car for myself .. and give my wife the macan. she said shelf the car first, buy a bigger place (the 2 bedder we had was getting a bit tight with 3 of us and we still at least planned for 1 more)

so shelved the car again, bought a bigger house (and thankfully, still listened to wife, since 2018 seems to have been the perfect timing to buy a new place and the new place has appreciated ... substantially ...)

in the end in 2019, we said we will try for 1 more. and as some of the bros here know ... i got a buy 1 get 1 free promo ... so now i have 3 kids under 5. and just like you, im all about safety. the only car that met my criteria at the time in 2020 was a citroen grand tourer. 3 isofix seats in the middle row (so front and rear impact kids would be "spared"). if my mil is with us, then either myself or my wife will squeeze into the 3rd row and my mil sits in the front seat. 

now that my oldest is 4.5y, we have switched him to a booster seat, so its actually v easy to remove, get someone in, and replug the booster back in after that. probably will drive this citroen till the end of life, keep the macan for another 2-3 years, and look for something a bit more ... powerful when the 3 boys are older ... been eyeballing an e63 (used) on sgcarmart, but cant bring myself to pull the trigger yet ... so far my kids have puked, peed, sneezed and drooled all over both my wife's and my car. so i figure, wait a bit more, and just see what happens every year or so, whether its worthwhile to switch ... 

on the flipside, my wife has agreed her car will always be the shoebox / mpv. (we did see the nissan serena and if it wasnt for the lack of an extra isofix, we might have bought that instead.)

I used to be very anal about the car interior cleanliness. 

Like you, with the kids, they do everything.... thereafter, cannot be bother anymore. Just vacuum once a month inside. Exterior.... sometimes 3 months wash once... 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Gizmore

[inlinesix]

2 hours ago, Weewee1976 said:

Not possible as it's still under Cat A. Combined hp is only 114.

https://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/tech-news-toyota-sienta-hybrid-mpv-singapore-price-specs

Toyota.jp quoted separate power. Don’t have combine power.

[Ct3833]

7 hours ago, inlinesix said:

Toyota.jp quoted separate power. Don’t have combine power.

But will LTA allows this kind of power rating standard, I would  think LTA would expect them to quote the total power output?