I have never had a problem with the coop and practicality for day to day use or weekends away. You can fit a surprising amount of gear in the boot and I found it easier to strap the kids into the child seats than in many other 2 doors as with the seat forward I could stand in the foot well rather than trying to lean in through the door.

Unfortunately I am looking to change for something more practical but that's because I have 2 dogs as well.

i take my daughter everwhere in my coupe and as for stans theory i can see it is valid but 3 years ago my sister was driving a new VW Touran which is a 5 star ncap safety rated car my brother in law in the passenger side was part of the dash after a collision his pelvis was crushed and broke both his legs and 1 of his arms and also a fractured spin and spent 8 weeks in tration, The guy who did all the insurance stuff at one of these impounds showed us the car and he said my brother in law was lucky to be alive due this was because the distance from the front of the car to the cab is too small and not enough protection. I dont know how good a s-max or a C-mac would be but i dont trust people carrriers.

The collision was head on both cars doing around 30mph not speeding.

so down to those figures the coupe has one long bonnet and a fair distance from and head on crash.

The top tip of this dont crash

I have 2 children, one only weeks old. The coupe was my primary choice because it seats 4. The pram and other bits and bobs fit in without too much trouble (try a new style mini boot for size)!!.

The coupe, in my opinion, is as safe as older cars without traction, side airbaqgs etc can be and driven with respect should pose no more of a risk to youngsters than a porsche 944 or gtv etc.

It works well for us.

Been fine for me.

Funny story; my missus used to say to me "ooh this cars too awkward gettin him in and out" when tryin to put little stephen in his car seat, and bumped her head a few times when doing it.
Then we got given a courtesy car, a passat estate, and she was puttin him in the back and as she bent down she twonked her head and nearly ko'd herself, ha ha!

She never mentioned it again!

Weve got a holiday in devon in a couple of months and we'll be goin in the coop. me the missus and stephen and all our stuff, he has to go behind her as my seat is quite far back, (and weight distribution obviously) but itl be fine.

I bought the coupe after I had my first, second due any day. The coupe is very much our second car - in fact it's SORN at the moment, as I just wasn't using it over the winter.

The other car is a 2 year old diesel BMW estate, so that's pretty safe, and we do the vast majority of our family miles in that.

But I have no hesitation in using the Coupe. I agree that its not as safe as the BM, but I can fit the latest generation of kids seats in the back without too much hassle, there is plenty of boot space for quite large pushchairs, and I don't think that the extra risk is worth getting worked up about. Having said that, I would not want it as my primary / everyday car, but that's probably more of a practicality issue than a safety one.

At the end of the day, putting your kids in a metal box and then propelling it at 70mph+ with a load of other people of varying sensibleness, awareness, talent and drunkenness is a fundamentally unsafe thing to do. We all still do it, though.

Thanks to everyone, some very useful stories and advice im still considering it for definate, ill just have to wait and see if my car sells now

Keep the coupe and buy a Jeep Cherokee. We got a 1996 at the height of the snow for £1300 with 80k on it. Two new U-joints later (£150 fitted)and a set of tyres (£70 a corner for General Grabber AT2 235/75/15) the thing is absolutely perfect with that lazy 4.0 up front, comfy electric leather seats, aircon that could freeze dry a small cow and the ability to go pretty much anywhere.
Yes, they do 15mpg - but seriously that is GOOD news because you get to say "No Darling, I'll save fuel and just take the Coupe"

I know that 4x4s are often the enemy. I used to HATE them - but I guess I was just being blinkered. After a few miles you settle into relaxed cruising and just let it waft you along. Which is really what it is all about with your cargo....

I have a VW Caravelle for the family most of the time, but I'm impressed how 'practical' the coop can be, the boot is surprisingly large. I've managed to get two adults in the back seats with luggage.
The real surprise came when it went into the garage and I was loaned a four door escort, when I put the kids in their car seats I couldn't push the driver's seat back far enough to drive the thing! No comments about the size of gut please!
Can't use the fuel argument I'm afraid, despite being the size of a tank the VW is far more economical, probably 10-15 mpg better.