S/o on the car talk

[librarychica]

waverly, let’s talk cars. I’m torn between spending some money on my 9yo Hyundai Sonata and replacing it with something larger — maybe a small SUV — and a few years old.

We tend to drive for vacation more than fly and this last time having all of our beach gear, an air mattress, the luggage, 2 kids and a dog in my sedan seemed tight. But I still want something with reasonable gas mileage and prefer a “car drive” over a “truck drive.”

Anyone have a recommendation?

[mommyatty]

We have a Volvo XC-60, and it’s wonderful. And since I got rear-ended today, I have to say I’m impressed with the safety. My car was banged up, but I got hit by someone going at least 60 mph to my 50 mph. The Ford that hit me accordianed, the bumper was falling off, and it was leaking fluid from the engine. The only damage to my car was the plastic piece around the bumper, the bumper, and some marks on the tailgate.

[madringal]

Minivan.

[librarychica]

Jun 26, 2019 18:05:05 GMT -5 madringal said:

Minivan.

But so big! When I was 15 I backed my mom’s van into my father’s work truck. #minivantrauma

[librarychica]

Jun 26, 2019 17:44:35 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

We have a Volvo XC-60, and it’s wonderful. And since I got rear-ended today, I have to say I’m impressed with the safety. My car was banged up, but I got hit by someone going at least 60 mph to my 50 mph. The Ford that hit me accordianed, the bumper was falling off, and it was leaking fluid from the engine. The only damage to my car was the plastic piece around the bumper, the bumper, and some marks on the tailgate.

I test drove one once. It was so lovely but out of my price range at the time. How usable do you find the cargo space? Also I worry it’s too nice for me to strap the double kayak hopefully in my future to the roof.

[librarychica]

mommyatty, also I’m sorry to hear about your wreck and so glad your car held up to the beating. We were hit like that once — we were at a complete stop at a light right outside our neighborhood and she didn’t even slow down — and H’s car was completely totaled.

[mommyatty]

librarychica- the cargo space is excellent. We just came back from vacation, and we had 2 large suitcases, 3 medium (biggest allowable carryon size) suitcases, three backpacks, and 2 beach bags in the back with no problems. Also, you can put half or all of the backseat down and move a ton of stuff if you don’t have to have passengers in there. I’ve gotten huge shelving units from the Container Syore in there.

The only thing I’m mad about is you used to be able to get one with the backseat with two built-in boosters. Now you can only get one built-in booster, and it’s in the middle. Wtf, Volvo?

[mae0111]

I’ve had excellent luck with Volkswagens. I had a Jetta for a while, then a Touareg for almost 10 years, and now I’m driving an Atlas. The Tiguan is now a bit larger since they’re no longer importing the Touareg. They usually have good deals and decent warranties, so might be worth a look.

I find that VWs drive well - like cars. I test drove a Honda Pilot and it felt like a tank to me. Their safety ratings are usually good as well. I like that they drive well in the snow, especially since my street, which has a downhill feeding into a very busy street, is never plowed well.

[waverly]

We have the Subaru Outback which is a car wagon and SUV crossover. They are doing a redesign next year so not sure if you want one this year due to depreciation. It seats 5 and has the 35 sq ft cargo space. It’s really nice space for a wagon/SUV. It sits on SUV tires but the seat is lower. The adaptive cruise control is amazing and if you have a bumpy road this car is great over bumps. We take it to MI because their roads are terrible.

Our other car is the Honda CRV. 5 seater SUV. I like that it sits higher. I have the touring so all the features. It has the adaptive cruise control which is nice but a bit jerkier than the Outback. It has a stop button which brakes for you after several seconds at a light which DH and I both love. It drives like a car. It is cheaper than the Outback. It is a stiffer suspension so you will feel the bumps.

DH despite our MI roots is staying away from GM because no adaptive cruise control. It’s latest tech maybe the last 3 years and we both love it. Ford has some options. Not a fan of the Ford Edge. We just like to go sit in a bunch of cars. DH tends to have certain brands he goes to first.

Like I said we looked at 3rd row SUVs and they do have more cargo if the 3rd row is folded down than probably the CRV or Outback. We looked at the Subaru Ascent, Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot. If you think you need more seats for local distances and more cargo space for road trips these give you that.

Don’t do what we did and buy the smaller car and think oh we can get one bigger later because now our cars have depreciated quite a bit so if you want the 3rd row SUV get it now. However with just 2 kids (3rd would be our tipping point) we can definitely still make a larger 5 seater work. We just have to be more careful what we pack. In terms of carpooling I can take 1 extra kids with me in addition to my 2. It’s hard that the passenger front seat is not really an option until they are 13 because of the airbag. Otherwise I could bring an extra 2 kids with me. We started carpooling this year. We were a bit later to the game than some that started in preschool. DS was 8 and DD 5 when we started carpooling.

Ascent just came out last year so used isn’t really an option and if you get a used Outback then the upcoming redesign probably doesn’t matter. They definitely got bigger over the years though.

[sdlaura]

mae0111 I have had the absolute worst luck with a Volkswagen . I got a lemon and was so glad to be rid of that thing!

We test drove the Volvo XC90 hybrid and loved it but it was also out of our price range, and I’m still anti-European car after my terrible VW experience.

I dislike minivans but told DH if we have a 4th kid I’d consider it. I’m lucky that on an average day I don’t drive any of the kids anywhere (both elementary school and the in home daycare are on our street) but I know we’d need a larger car for weekends.

[mommyatty]

mae0111, my rental is a VW Atlas. So far, I really like it! But it does drive much more like a truck than my Volvo. But then again it’s much larger than my Volvo, too, so there’s that.

[mae0111]

mommyatty, I would imagine that it’s more truck-like than the Volvo. I didn’t test drive a Volvo at the time, but I wish I had. I tried the Pilot, Highlander, Kia Sorrento, Mazda CX-9, and the Atlas. Pilot was very truck-like to me. Mazda was the most car-like. The Kia felt like it was going to fall apart if I hit a pothole. The VW felt solid and seemed easy to drive to me. DH was pushing the GMC Acadia HARD, and I dug my heels in. He had one years ago and I HATED it.

[phdmomma]

We just got a Rav 4 hybrid, way more room than our Honda Fit and excellent gas mileage.

[supertrooper1]

I have a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk and love it. If I were to do over again, I would have bought the Grand Cherokee to get more cargo space.

I had a Volvo S60 car and loved it until it cost me a fortune to repair. I've driven the XC90s and loved them, but after my expensive repairs, I'm hesitant about Volvo.

[2chatter]

The main thing that annoys me about my minivan is the car like drive. I like the invincible truck feel. So we figured out that a kayak would fit INSIDE the van. So measure and consider, as it’s my Christmas list item now.

[librarychica]

Thanks everyone! I’m going to head down to the credit union Monday and see what kind of terms I can get. I definitely don’t need a third row. I’m going to take a look at the XC60 again and a few others mentioned in this post. Maybe also a Mazda 5.