There are many things that you’ll sacrifice as a father. Sleep, your social life and other fun things beginning with an s. But do you really need to forfeit your sports car? We asked mother-of-two and author of Sunday Times bestselling book, The Unmumsy Mum, Sarah Turner, to test out some of the finest GQ-approved wheels to find out. This week we see if the newest, loveliest Audi TT can handle the rigours of parenthood. Read on, desperate dads.
Can you fit a baby in the back?
Technically, you can squeeze a baby in the back. In fact, it’s surprisingly easy to get two car seats in the back without any significant panting, but that’s before you’ve squashed the bollocks or non-bollocky area of whichever parent is in front. I’m 5ft 8in and my husband is 6ft 2in and there was simply no graceful leg positioning with a baby sat behind us (I found myself assuming the overall posture of a keen learner driver while he manspread his legs). I don’t think we’ve ever before felt quite so close as a family unit, though not in a spiritual sense. I could feel and smell my toddler’s Mini Cheddar breath on the back of my neck.
Kids move into less cumbersome car seats as they get older and our four-year-old’s seat, which is effectively a booster with slim back and sides, was much less problematic than the one-year-old’s space shuttle ejection capsule. A rear-facing baby seat would have been much harder to pack in, though it would fit diagonally behind the driver if there was no front passenger (if this was solely my car and I had "just the one" baby there would be no dramas).
Does the baby stuff fit in the boot?
Depends what you mean by baby stuff. A newborn comes with a mind-blowing amount of kit which often leaves you wondering why you have packed enough gear for three weeks in Barbados rather than an afternoon at your local farm park. The TTS comfortably housed our pram plus the change bag, along with several smaller artefacts thrown in at the last minute to avert disaster (Iron Man and Scooby Doo’s Daphne come everywhere with us as it’s simply not worth risking the meltdown following the realisation that they have been left behind).
These days most pram travel systems come with car seat adapters, so for short farm park excursions you might get away with only packing the pram’s chassis. You would struggle to squash the chassis plus one of those newborn carrycot attachments into this boot, so once again the car feels better equipped to cope with toddlers (and more lightweight strollers) or much older children than it does tiny babies. That said, if you’re a parent who’s proficient at the art of wrapping or clipping your baby in one of those fabric carrier devices (known in baby circles as babywearing) then you wouldn’t face this boot-space dilemma at all.
Can you change a baby inside it?
I can confidently report (after the one-year-old gifted us a mid-motorway faecal explosion) that if you are caught short on the changing facilities you can comfortably change a baby in the boot, after you’ve taken out all your gear. I didn’t try but I am fairly certain that attempting a change on the bucket seats would set you up for a back injury.
Can you get sick off it?
Sick, fruit juice, snot and the kind of permanent stickiness that small children seem to wear on their hands and faces were all easily removed from the leather seats with a quick wet-wipe. Top marks there.
How did your kids describe it?
“A sports car!” (Henry, aged four, though he’s too young to know any better). We tried encouraging "mainstream coupé" for a bit but by the end of the week we deemed sports car as acceptable.
Reaction from other parents?
It’s an interesting one, this. The car prompted conversation with several other parents, including our neighbours who I think were quietly surprised when we returned from a family trip to the beach in it. Generally the nods were appreciative but I didn’t sense desire from the dads (still talking about the car, though my skirt had indecently hitched up after an hour with my legs in a constricted side-saddle so I’m not sure why that wasn’t desirable). It was as if the other dads liked the car and wanted to have a quick nosey around it but weren’t particularly envious that my husband was driving it. I also spoke to two mums who have TTs (second generation) who said that they have always got on well with ferrying their kids around, though again they were slightly older kids. Is it more likely to be a mum’s car than a dad’s car, then? Or is that just the regular TT? Discuss.
Any good for mum and dad?
Given that our everyday runaround is a hatch with less power than a Rampant Rabbit, it’s probably not surprising that we were excited to drive this car, but actually its overall experience genuinely surpassed my expectation (and challenged a long-held preconception of mine that TTs are for over-achieving estate agents and hair stylists). It’s sleek, agile and earned extra points for its cabin, which was as well arranged as Rain Man's sock drawer. Also, the S version has a slightly more aggressive demeanour compared with the TT, so another plus.
Would I want one?
Probably not. Even if my kids were older and my husband were shorter I don’t think the TTS would tickle my pickle enough to buy one, but the upcoming TT RS might do the job.
So, can it baby?
Not much good for tall parents or for excessive newborn paraphernalia, but otherwise, yes it can baby (and if you are a one adult plus one child household it would do the job comfortably).
