4 door vs 2 door car?

brij2006 · October 2013

So we were having a discussion this weekend about baby and H's car. He has a 2 door coupe that gets amazing gas mileage, and I have a large SUV. We're trying to figure out if we can get away with keeping his 2 door car or not. He drives about 30k miles/year. So we need something that gets over 30mpg, but also has reasonable maintenance and doesn't break the bank.

He likely will not be picking up or dropping off the child from daycare. There may only be a few occasions that he does. We also figure if we go anywhere, we will likely take my car instead. But we live in the midwest, and on days where there's a lot of snow he will be taking my SUV to work and I will take his car. Since I don't have as much of a commute, and they send me home if it's starting to get bad.

So would you ladies trade his car in and get a 4 door car? We're looking at a VW Jetta TDI to replace his with (he has a Nissan Altime coupe). The Jetta would get around 40+mpg. So that would be better gas mileage, and a 4 door car. Or should we just try to get by with his 2 door car?

sgautschi · October 2013

Is it going to cost you more in monthly payments? Can you easily afford it? Those would be deciding factors for me.

brij2006 · October 2013

@sgautschi It would actually be a wash (or possibly cheaper). The payment would be about $10 higher/month, but the fuel savings would save us about $50/month.

This car also has a lot more options than H's current car, and it holds it's value a lot better. So those are plusses. It is also a diesel, so it's supposed to last to over 250k miles. He puts 30k/year on his car, so we could keep this one longer than his current vehicle.

BackseatDriver · October 2013

Are there any downsides to a new 4 door?

sgautschi · October 2013

What would be the downsides? It sounds like getting the 4 door is a no brainer. If I could afford to trade DHs truck in for a four door or even extra cab I would in a heartbeat. It's paid off though so we don't really want payments. If you can easily afford it, which it sounds like you can, having another vehicle that LO could easily ride in is a definite yes. I'd say go for it.

brij2006 · October 2013

@backseatdriver The only downfall that I have to the 4 door is that H is 6'5". So it's hard to find a 4 door car with enough back seat space to fit a car seat behind him. Along with still getting the better gas mileage. Although we can just put the car seat behind the passenger side, and shouldn't have an issue.
He isn't 100% for the Jetta, but we know that's the only feasible 4 door car that we can get that will still get the good gas mileage (he's anti-Chevy). He likes the Nissan Altima that is 4 door, but he wants the V6, which means only getting 25mpg. Which isn't good enough mpg's for his long commute.

If we were to keep his car, then it will be paid off in 2 years. Which is the big plus to me.

MadeOfAwesome · October 2013

there is no way I'd be able to deal with a 2 door. It's already hard enough to maneuver the carseat in my SUV.

AshleyMatt1215 · October 2013

4 door! This may sound ridiculous, but we have a friend that is around 6'5 and has a 2 door coupe. In the rush of his wife going into labor he took his car to the hospital without thinking.

When leaving the hospital he hit his head relatively hard, hard enough to leave a mark as he put baby into the car. This happened a few more times when he'd take the baby for whatever reason.

Why he didn't learn to duck is beyond me.

They now have his beloved coupe and a 4 door.

I totally get having a small car with great gas mileage, we're in the same boat. I drive a tiny Aveo and H drives an Equinox. We got the equinox because we knew that between family trips, Pennsylvania winters and just the mountain of stuff a baby needs for a day out of the house... My tiny car wouldn't cut it. I'm not sure that the stroller going to fit in my trunk.

My car was paid off in August and we bought H's car in August. It wasn't fun and I'm not looking forward to the payment for the next 5 years.... But it was a necessary evil for our sanity.

Wow, that was really long. Sorry!

LittleLady77 · October 2013

We have 1 SUV and 1 convertible. It has backseats but only two doors. We are going to make it work for the first 1-2 years. That being said, if a 4 door is a wash and you guys want it then go get it. We love the convertible so it's a little different for us.

brij2006 · October 2013

@littlelady77 We have H's "toy car" that's a 2 door. So we figure in the summer months we will likely be putting a car seat in the back of that. Which is why I think it might be in our best interest to not have 2 vehicles with only 2 doors. Also, H isn't in love with his car. So it's not like we would be keeping it because he likes it.

@ashleymatt1215 That helps a lot! I told H that we could borrow one of our friends' car seats to let him try to take it in and out of the back seat, and see if he could deal with it. But since purchasing it is pretty much a wash (and we would be getting a better car), then it might be in our best interest to at least check them out and see if we like them.

wiggyslilsis · October 2013

I think if the four door is doable than do it because there may be more instances than you know of where DH or at least his car may need to be used to transport baby and the 4 door will definitely be easier.

On the other hand if it would really stretch the budget then I would wait because you can make it work if you need to but the 4 door would definitely be more convenient.

iwalktheline · October 2013

We're sort of in the same boat. DH took out a 3 year lease on his dream car (a 2013 dodge challenger srt8) in april... We got our BFP in May. It's a two door, but it does have a full back seat. We are keeping it, obviously. It's the car that we always use if the two of us go any where together, and DH commutes with it every day. I have a Rav4, so we can primarily use that if the challenger becomes a big pain with the infant seat.

vitan · October 2013

another vote for 4 door. DH has a 2 door convertible and we've never had a carseat in there because we always just used my sedan but I had that option because we don't deal with snow or anything.

We even upgraded my sedan and got (gulp) the minivan!! But I love it. I do hate that we only rely on 1 car though. We'll probably upgrade his car soon.

bobcee · October 2013

I had a two door car when DD was born and it was doable but sucked. DH hated it more than me, so we eventually upgraded to an SUV and it was so much better. We used both of the cars equally with transporting the kid though. If you don't think you'll be using the 2 door frequently with the kid, then you can see how it goes and always decide later, but it seems like the upsides outweigh the downsides of just getting the 4 door now in your case.

nightmare_of_beauty · October 2013

My friend bought a 2 door mustang about a month before finding out she was pregnant. She hated it once her DS was born. She would hit her head, it was hard to get the carseat behind her seat, just lots of problems! Once she was done paying it off, she traded it in for a 4 door car.

ream02 · October 2013

I'd say the 4 door sounds like the winner for all the of the reasons you mentioned aside from extending your payment longer.

Getting a car seat in and out of a 2 door is a challenge that I could not do even infrequently.

carcrashheart · October 2013

I had a two door car. It was fine for a couple of months, though kind of a pita. DH has a small truck. We don't even have a second car seat base. He never puts the baby in the truck, there's no need. There have been 2-3 times when it was crummy to not have two cars LO could ride in but that's it. DH will trade in the truck for a crossover at some point but it hasn't been a problem thus far. Something to keep in mind though if your DH is going to drive LO sometimes is that it's one thing when you're taking the car seat in/out with the baby in it but once you stop doing that and are taking LO out of the seat and out of the car a two door car is next to impossible to do that with because you can't quite get in enough to buckle them in unless you want to get in from the other side and slide in. We stopped taking LO out in the car seat around 6 months. He was just too heavy.

I didn't read other responses so if this is redundant disregard.

Smiley-1980 · October 2013

Our 2 door worked fine with the infant seat but now with the convertible it's awful to get her in and out.

saralynn7 · October 2013

I had a 2 door car before baby and there is absolutely NO WAY I'd ever go back to one with a baby. I love my little 4 door Ford Fiesta. I travel 67+ miles to work each direction currently and I get anywhere from 35-39 MPG. It may be a bit small for your DH but I haven't had any issues with it yet.

4 door vs 2 door car?

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