Honda Civic Type R, Audi A4 Allroad
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Hello to hot hatch and holiday hauling
Mileage 6645 List price £42,945 Target Price £38,979 Price as tested £52,805 Test economy 40.4mpg
IF YOU HAVE kids, I suspect you remember your first holiday as a parent. I’ve just had the pleasure (or should that be ordeal?).
First problem? Getting to the destination. We decided to keep things simple by going to a family holiday home in the Dordogne region of France. While we usually fly, the need to transport enough baby paraphernalia to stock a branch of Mothercare made driving preferable this time. At least, it would have been, were it not for the fact that experts now recommend that babies spend a maximum of an hour at a time in a child seat. So the solution was that I’d drive down while my wife and daughter would fly.
Colleague Alan Taylor-jones was kind enough to lend me his Audi A4 Allroad, a car that would normally be perfect for a long, mostly motorway journey like that – except that it quickly dawned on me that there might not be enough space inside for all our gear.
Then I had an idea: what about a roof box? Audi offers two sizes: small and medium. I opted for the larger (which cost £442, plus £235 for the required roof bars) and was pleasantly surprised to learn the extra height didn’t push up the cost of my Eurotunnel ticket.
Despite the fact that it was a 10-hour journey each way, I didn’t feel too weary, thanks to the Allroad’s super-smooth ride, brilliant infotainment system and classy interior. In fact, everything went smoothly until I arrived in Calais on the return trip and set off the train’s height sensor. As a result, I had to wait for an escort to take me to a taller part of the train. And by the time it arrived, the train was full.
The moral of the story? Do consider a roof box if you want a relatively compact car but need to carry loads of luggage on the odd occasion. Just make sure you ask lots of questions if you ever find yourself at a Eurotunnel terminal.