M5 Touring gets my vote
Congrats Ben - I knew you would find a way to fill up your new house 
My vote would also for go for the M5 Touring or a 530D Touring as I guess your going to need ride comfort as well 
Add a towbar and trailer and job done for track days as well
I’d be pi$$ed off if I found a BMW, let alone bought one.
How times have changed - I was instrumental in persuading my dad to get a new 2000 tilux in 1968, followed by a new 2002ti in 1972.
Congrats! Yep number three is so, so so, very very easy mate :whistle: Well done buddy.
I loved my Avant and I totally dig a V8…I’d rather an estate then 4x4 or MPV.
Congratulations Ben. Biggest issue with the car for 3 little ones will be getting the child seats side by side in the back seat, hence the number of MPVs you see around now. Brother has 3 and the mondeo simply wasn’t wide enough for the seats side by side. Think this will be true of most of the current crop of saloons/estates. In the end he’s gone for the smaller volvo v50? Bonus with that is that the rear bench flips up to turn into child booster seats without the need to add independant boosters, hence able easy to get the three kids side by side.
Congratulation Ben
We have 3 daughters, 15, 12 & 4 and are now on our third MPV � two Espaces and now a 5 seater C4 Picasso.
MPVs are not cool and they do shout as to what stage of life you�re at, but they are so easy to live with. We used to do a lot of camping / hill walking and the Espaces just swallowed up all the paraphernalia.
Tried trailering my Mini with the C4 at the weekend as the Exige is with JSR and was pleasantly surprised as to how that went.
Drive all types on extended test drives fully loaded and see what works for you.
Thanks for all the congrats, guidance and astonishment about my virility 
Simon, yep I checked, double checked and triple checked that there was only a single passenger at the scan. My Missus has a twin sister so believe me I was worried,…going from two to four may have tipped me over the edge.
Will, you’ve hit my primary concern on the head. Most normal cars don’t fit three abreast kid seats. Two of the seats will be ISOFIX too. Its not looking good. Options so far :
The Sort of Cool Options :
-
M5 Touring - none around s/h and probably won’t fit the seats. 530/535 more likely
Pesky hate bimmers. -
Audi - I like Audi’s, if an A6 works with seats the S6 V10’s have come down in price massively and are real Q-Cars Previous gen RS6’s are also bargains but look like they could eat cash. Auto only
-
E55 Estate - Hmmm don’t know if I’m old enough yet for a Merc?
-
Fezza Estate - errr there is only seven of 'em and 6 of them are owned by the Sultan of Brunei, like your style though
Let’s Face it It’s An MPV options -
S-Max - Based on opinion here worth a look, thanks for the pm Kevin.
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5008 - Thanks Con, I’ll take a look. When you said car you meant van though right
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X3 - Sorry Clive but I sometimes might have to drive it in daylight
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C4/Espace etc - Despite the other thread slagging French motors I’ll take a look. A French guy works for me though and I don’t think I could take the merde he would give me.
I’ll just add my congratulations. Have no view on child carriers as we stopped at two. But the S-Max does look good on the road.
For the fear of being shot down and left burning… take a minute out and ‘consider’ the new Skoda Yeti…
The wife works at a Skoda dealership and I went along to the launch, it really is a cracking vehicle, � 4 � the value and build quality is second to none.
Go on, it’s worth a visit to the Skoda website - y’know… ‘just in case’…
:whistle:
Drove the S-Max around MIRA a couple of years back and it was pretty good for Ride & Handling, was surprised (the active ride Impreza was more fun though )
From ‘our’ range I’d suggest the Qashqai+2, should work as a 5 seater but is also a 7-seater.
Again I can probably get you a discount . Think it’s around 20% at the moment.
Good call, Mark
[quote=fatcat]For the fear of being shot down and left burning… take a minute out and ‘consider’ the new Skoda Yeti…
The wife works at a Skoda dealership and I went along to the launch, it really is a cracking vehicle, � 4 � the value and build quality is second to none.
Go on, it’s worth a visit to the Skoda website - y’know… ‘just in case’…
:whistle: [/quote]
I see two problems here.
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Its a Skoda (not too bad, but Ben is a badge snob!)
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It’s called a Yeti!!! what the hell were they thinking when they named that???
Do the seats come covered in white fur???
Badge snobbery - strange thing that, I’ve been a victim manyatime, but when you consider what you are paying for the ‘badge’ it does make you think, take a look at the new Skoda Superb - why buy an A6 when you could have ‘just as’ equal Skoda and save �����’s.
Please note:
No Skoda’s have been bought or monies received from Skoda UK in the making of this reply!
Congratulations Ben!
I have three grandchildren…
Thanks again lads…lots to think about there and lot of ‘trade’ contacts to exploit once I’ve driven a few. I really appreciate it 
Aside from an Audi engined Lotus, I’ve seen Sean arrive in a 911 Turbo, M3, 135i but I’m the badge snob so I didn’t think it right to judge him He’s right though, “Yeti” wtf??? I could never buy that. It’s up there with the Nissan Cherry for cars you never want to report as being nicked “Yes officer it seems that I have lost my cherry/yeti”
hahaha
Range Rover Sport ben, just get one in!
Slagging the Skoda brand??? Says the guy with the Seat!
And yes I know I have one as well, but at least mine is a sensible colour!!!