Another car/ vehicle Question

[waverly]

I posted a while back about getting a new car.  I had wanted one with good gas mileage, and DH was looking at Teslas -ha ha ha ha ha.  I wanted a bigger car, and they were like 80K nope.  So you all provided me some options.

Not really spectacular gas mileage, but we ended up getting a Subaru Outback because I also wanted a car to take on road trips and vacations and fit all our stuff.

But our older car also has 150K miles on it, so we are thinking we need to replace it as well because DH doesn't want to keep putting money into it.

The boring usage would be just for commuting.  I commute an hour a day roundtrip- about 50 miles.  I will also be hauling kids and sports stuff.  But I am not hauling kid's friends as of yet anyway.

The Subaru seems a bit big for commuting, but I guess if a car is bigger it could be fine as long as it is not a gas guzzler or has a bigger tank, so I am not always at the gas station. 

DH likes the adaptive cruise control on the Outback, and I like the blind spot sensors.  He likes all the safety features.  I don't think electric would work for me because I don't have a plug at work, my radius is a bit large, and I fear getting stranded and not being able to pick up the kids. 

This is our list so far- Volkswagen Golf but DH took a look and decided he didn't like it.
Toyota Rav 4 hybrid- we have a Prius now, and great gas mileage, but I decided I wanted something different than another Prius. 
Honda CRV- DH's suggestion
GMC Terrain- we looked at it when looking at the Subarus and kind of thought it was too truck like
Nissan Rogue sport
Subaru Crosstrek.  DH decided that he didn't like the Forrester.

He is not a fan of Kia's and Hyundai's, and yes he is extremely picky. 

Any thoughts? 

[mommyatty]

Have you looked at a Prius V? I had an Uber driver with one once, and that car was awesome. It’s like a small hybrid SUV. Crap tons of space inside.

[186momx]

I've been eyeing the Toyota Rav XL

My BFF loves her Prius V and hauls her 3 kids around in it and have taken it on cross country camping trips too.

[callmekd]

what about the Subaru Impreza (hatchback)? My H commutes 100 miles/RT daily and this is what he drives. we can comfortably fit 4 people (and squish 5 when we need to).

[2chatter]

We had a Terrain before getting the Enclave because of DS. It’s an inexpensive serviceable vehicle but not the most comfortable. The seats were kind of ... hard? Great storage space.

[waverly]

Aug 22, 2018 11:41:03 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Have you looked at a Prius V? I had an Uber driver with one once, and that car was awesome. It’s like a small hybrid SUV. Crap tons of space inside.

DH might have, but I have not.  Thanks for the suggestion. 

[twinmomma]

I have a Rav4 and love it! For a family of four, it's a perfect amount of space. You can fit a ton of stuff in the trunk area. I'm happy with the gas mileage. It does suck that we cannot fit another kid in the car though. We got the one with the hidden third row, thinking we could make it work. But you can't safely install car seats in that third row, which we didn't know because we bought it when I was pregnant and dumb about that stuff. So it's basically useless.

[waverly]

Aug 22, 2018 12:13:31 GMT -5 twinmomma said:

I have a Rav4 and love it! For a family of four, it's a perfect amount of space. You can fit a ton of stuff in the trunk area. I'm happy with the gas mileage. It does suck that we cannot fit another kid in the car though. We got the one with the hidden third row, thinking we could make it work. But you can't safely install car seats in that third row, which we didn't know because we bought it when I was pregnant and dumb about that stuff. So it's basically useless.

Could you do booster seats?  Mine are all in booster seats, and if I am bringing DS's friends they are all in booster seats too. DD's friends might be in car seats still, but likely the parents at that age wouldn't be as open to me driving them anyway (age 5).  

ETA- I didn't even realize it had a third row until I just saw that online today on another website, so thanks for pointing that out as well.  We are gathering our list to maybe go to dealerships on Friday. 

[twinmomma]

waverly I don't think so. There's no latch system, and the seat belt is a weird one that comes down from the ceiling since it's a temporary seat. It doesn't seem like it weaves in correctly when I tested it with our car seats. We're still in 5 point harness seats right now anyway, but they can convert to the high back booster and it didn't sit well. I have some of the smallest car seats on the market, so I don't think it would matter if we had different boosters eventually. There's really just one friend that it would be convenient for right now, since we swap childcare with them sometimes.

[waverly]

twinmomma, thanks I didn't realize about the weird seatbelt either.

[waverly]

Aug 22, 2018 12:04:42 GMT -5 callmekd said:

what about the Subaru Impreza (hatchback)? My H commutes 100 miles/RT daily and this is what he drives. we can comfortably fit 4 people (and squish 5 when we need to).

Good idea- added to the list.  

[2chatter]

That’s a good point though waverly. My next car will seat 8 instead of 7. That’s two adults and each kid brings a friend. If I had two kids my minimum would be 6 seats - two adults and a friend for each child.

Luckily DH generally wants nothing to do with six kids in the car so he just drives his car. Sometimes he takes a kid or two. We are also often driving two cars because we will go to different places after but being able to transport friends to soccer, volleyball, etc is sanity - if I could not ride share with four families for soccer I would lose my mind. (It works because I get three extra kids but my
other two still fit, too).

[shakinros]

I looooove my Nissan Rogue. Great gas mileage, good turning radius (we parallel park in the city), comfortable. We only have the one kid though. So, two adults, three booster seats in the back and we’re at capacity.

Not that I’ve had reason to squeeze three booster seats into the back row yet. We’ve only driven DD + 1 friend so far.

[waverly]

I have never driven another kid anywhere yet not even close friends that we have known for 7 years. But I am sure my time is coming...

[mae0111]

I have 2 kids and I have a VW Atlas. I had a Touareg before that, and the Atlas is only 9 inches longer with a ton of extra room. It seats 6 comfortably, 7 legally. The gas mileage is much better than my Touareg, but that’s not saying much.

I’m very happy with it.

[sunbutter]

Aug 22, 2018 12:11:58 GMT -5 waverly said:

Aug 22, 2018 11:41:03 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Have you looked at a Prius V? I had an Uber driver with one once, and that car was awesome. It’s like a small hybrid SUV. Crap tons of space inside.

DH might have, but I have not.  Thanks for the suggestion. 

I love my Prius V. It stores more in the back than my husband’s Rav4. And it is perfect for my commute. I spend about 1.5-2 hours a day in the car, half of that with two kids.

[waverly]

DH says they don't make the Prius V anymore which is a shame because it would be a good one to look at. We could get used, but last time we looked at used it was 5% financing compared to 0% or .9% financing from the dealership. So they few thousand we saved by buying used was eaten up in interest.

[phdmomma]

Honda fit? That is our only car. The back fits the one booster and one carseat well. Occasionally I've also squeezed in between them in the back, but you have to be fairly small to do so. We get like 25-30 mpg though and its a very affordable car.