I am dying at how much I am spending on gas with my current commute. I am putting about $100 a week into my car and I am thinking I trading it in for something more fuel efficient. It is a large SUV, an Audi Q7. It gets something like 17 miles/gallon and takes premium gas. When we originally bought it, my husband drove it and had a 4 mile commute. It is no longer cost effective to drive this tank of a vehicle.
I am thinking of trading it in for a smaller SUV or a station wagon. We don't have kids, but are going to start TTC in about a year so I would most likely still have this same car with a baby.
Cars I have considered: Subaru Outback Volvo xc70 Ford Escape (though I don't love the 2013 design) Audi A3 (think it might be too small)
Hmm I never really considered diesel but that isn't a bad thought. I drove VW's all through high school and college and loved them. I will check out the Jetta wagon, thanks:)
I have a Honda CR-V, and loved it when we had 1 kid. Once we had 2, I found it to be a bit small, as it was hard to fit anyone in the backseat with the carseats. Now that we have #3 on the way, I'd love a minivan. However, it's DH's "turn" for a new car next. What I think makes the most sense is to have DH take the CR-V and for me to get a minivan. However, if he doesn't want to drive the CR-V, he'll get a sedan and we'll continue to make the CR-V our "family" car.
Also, I was in a Volvo xc70 a few weeks ago and it was really nice!
Not one of your car choices, but we have a Rav4 and LOVE it! My friend with 2 kids also has one one and it fits the kids great. It gets about 24 mpg in the winter, about 26-27 in the summer.
eta: we test drove the CRV and liked the Rav4 a lot better. It drives more smoothly, more like a sedan. The trunk is also bigger since the spare tire is on the outside. The only annoying thing is that the trunk door swings sideways, which requires more space to open. But it has never really been an issue. They might have changed that on newer models, we have the 2009.
We had a Subaru Forrester that turned into a piece of junk after a few years. After years of longing, DH got rid of it and we got a Honda Ridgeline. I wanted a Nissan, either a Murano or Pathfinder. I wouldn't have minded at least looking at a Mitsubishi SUV.
It was a few years back, but I remember the Volvo seats being hard to fold down, etc
Good to know that the cr-v has good trunk space, that is important since we have a dog and need to be able to easily fit her crate.
Dr Loretta- what happened with the forester? My H drives a Subaru crosstrek and we have had a good experience so far with Subaru, though we only bought it in October.
Dr Loretta- what happened with the forester? My H drives a Subaru crosstrek and we have had a good experience so far with Subaru, though we only bought it in October.
It started to get too small for his crap for one, LOL. He also started having some random issues with it that ended up with him/us spending $$ almost every time we took it to the shop. Then we got rear-ended by a semi (long story) and the repair company screwed up the electronic system big time. It took a few years for us to work out all the bugs. It also meant we were afraid to take it on long-ish trips, as we never knew if something was going to go wrong (like the time the whole electronic system just shut down on I-84).
At that point it was a 10yo car with 130+K miles on it, and it was time for something we could rely on. Plus we wanted something that would fit DD, DH's fighting gear (think long sticks, armor, and fencing swords) and still leave room for us to sit, LOL.
Now he drives the truck when he goes to practice or events, and his 18yo Civic when he's just commuting to work. I have an '09 Fit that is my go-to car
Post by hellzkitten on Jan 29, 2013 16:23:05 GMT -5
We've got the CR-V... 2008 model we bought in 2011... love it. The "Trunk" space is huge, the legroom is great (we went from a '99 Rav 4 which couldn't fit a carseat)... we only have 1 kid & no pets... but we can really fit a lot in it -- random trips to Ikea for furniture or our entire family's Christmas gifts & kiddo's stuff, while still fitting our convertible carseat & us no problem. Great on gas (though not as good as the old Rav 4) & has AWD (great since we live on a big hill)
(like the time the whole electronic system just shut down on I-84).
This happened in my Civic once as I was doing 80mph down 101 in the Bay Area. It's great fun to merge back into left-lane traffic from a dead stop
Oh hey! Was it a 2001 civic, by any chance? My civic used to do that all the time when I was making a turn. No idea why. But yeah, happened on 128 constantly. At least I could restart on the fly so dead stop wasn't an issue. The Fresh Pond Honda dealership is forever dead to me, because they said it was because I couldn't drive a standard properly.
I have a CR-V and love it. With mostly city driving, I get about 25 MPG. On the highway, it's about 27. H drives what used to be my car, a 2012 Jetta (not the diesel, though) and gets similar mileage on mostly highway driving. I'd recommend both cars, and the Jetta comes with free maintenance for 3 years if that is something that's important to you. It also does pretty well in the snow.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I need to test drive a few and to gas mileage comparisons but this is a good start of a list. With how much I obsess it will prob take me months to make a decision.