ideal family vehicle

[Flynn]

AND money is not a factor...

What is your ideal family vehicle? I am still shocked how much space car seats take up and how SMALL our Durango feels with all of us in it.

I would like to take my parents with us when we go places (not a road trip) but the third seat is not safe with car seats -- plus it's an earlier model so adults back there are smooshed.

What is your ideal vehicle -- make and model AND what are the pros and cons to this vehicle from your perspective? I like the mini van with the exception of the lack of cargo space when all of the seats are being used. We have a big dog and with a stroller etc. It just seems small but I hesitate to get a suburban someday. It's such a boat.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[mommax3]

I KNOW this is so politically incorrect, but if you want to carry more than four people, AND you want substantial cargo space, you can't beat a Suburban. The obvious con is that the mileage isn't too good, although if you have the "lighter" version like we do and forego the four wheel drive(the 1500 as opposed to the 2500) your mileage is a little better. I really have to say, despite some guilt, that I love my Suburban and I can't imagine stepping down, even to a minivan, until my kids are grown. We got ours used, but if I was picking out a new one, I would get one with captain's chairs in the middle (our second and third seats are benches and that has been kind of a pain).

I never dreamed that I would have a Suburban and was disdainful of those that did, but with three big boys who will only get bigger and taller, (and two big parents! ) I really am glad we got ours. We've made lots of lengthy cross-country trips in the past four years, and have always had plenty of room for our luggage. We have put 80K miles on it in those four years, and have had really no trouble with it, repair-wise, at all.

And here is a secret that I will let you all in on......remember when I had my wreck a couple months ago? I was taking my middle son back to school after a trip to the dentist. I was slowing down on a through street, preparing to turn left into the circle drive in front of the school, when a college kid driving a pick-up pulled out right in front of me on the right hand side. The right front end of the Suburban was destroyed.....all the lights, the fender, the bumper, and the hood....even the radiator. Three thousand dollars worth of damage. Here's the secret....since we were almost back at school, my son had ALREADY UNBUCKLED himself in the back. When my car collided with the other one, I heard Joel's hands hit the back of my seat. He was scared and ashamed to admit to me that he hadn't been buckled......but he didn't get hurt at all. He is very vigilant about buckling up and STAYING that way until the car stops now, but I (right or wrong) attribute his safety, and actually, mine as well to the vehicle I was driving. My husband has a large sedan, but if we had been in that and gotten hit, I KNOW I would have been hurt.

So there is my opinion, for what it is worth. As far as feeling like you are driving a boat.....I would much rather drive a Suburban than any SUV thing made by Ford. We test drove an Expedition at the same time we found our Suburban, and it made me really nervous to drive, even though it was smaller. Something about Ford building their SUVs off a truck platform......(I'm pretty much clueless about cars.) I am hoping that there will be a hybrid Suburban by the time we need to replace the one we have.......

Sally

[DCJenn]

We are seriously considering replacing Nigel with a Toyota Prius. Why? Because I took the dog to the vet with Nikolai in his carseat and had no room for anything else. I love my mini, I really, really do- and for most of our in town trips, including to the grocery store, it's great. Add one more heart beat to the mix though, and it's not that great.

But we know he's it, and we know we're facing yet another move. Last time I had the 3 cats in the Mini and Rick had the dog. This time- we've added a whole new wrinkle. I also like the VW station wagon (well, I really like the Audi wagon, but the VW is much less expensive). I don't know. Of course we won't do anything until we know where we're going. Both cars will go if we're sent to Germany, one car will go if we're sent to Hawaii, and one car will be replaced if we're sent to Seattle or San Antonio. If we stay here, I think we may seriously consider getting rid of both and only having one car.

I can't wrap my head around the idea of paying so much for gas with anything bigger. It just pisses me off (it's my political bias, for sure)

Jenn

[Sheherezade]

We considered the Audi station wagon and the Passat wagon as well. What put us off was a problem with the transmission at around 4 years -- something like that. There was info on the web; check into it before you buy. I'm with Jenn on the gas. I love my Honda Oddysey. The only problem is its hard to spell!! Otherwise, I consider it a perfect family car. We get 27-29 mpg, seat 7 and have hauled home more junk from Lowe's and Home Depot than anyone can imagine. Also, we've always owned Hondas and haven't let a single one go with less than 200 K on the odometer. We're at 160 K for DH's car and over 100 K for the van and still going strong.

[Rapunzel]

My ideal would be Sally's - a "full-size" SUV (ie a "Suburban") because we have seven people in our family now. SEVEN! And, we need all the room we can get in a car!

Jennifer

We have a Dodge GRAND caravan (emphasis on the grand) and it's been great. The Grand caravans are longer, so we actually have a decent amount of cargo space in the way back--enough to get the double stroller, an umbrella stroller, and a moderate amount of groceries (including three gallon jugs of milk) back there at once. My inlaws are 3 1/2 hours away and we were just there this weekend, so DH and I were up front, the two kids (and their massive carseats) were in the middle, and the yellow lab takes up the third row bench. Adding in DD's bouncy seat, luggage for all, the portable DVD player, DS's beloved body pillow, and a few miscellaneous items, we fit just fine. I will seriously drive this car until it dies. The MPG is pretty decent too---I usually get between 300-330 miles to a tank, depending on how much highway driving we're doing.

As far as cons, the only big one is that it is a big car. I've always driven big cars, so it doesn't bother me, but when we take my inlaws to dinner and they're in the way back, they joke about being driven around in a church bus. However, I think it handles much better than any SUV I've driven. Definitely a better turning radius and definitely easier to get in and out of parking spaces.

And I didn't buy this car until I'd had a year long argument with myself about how uncool it was to have a minivan. I got over it two days after I'd had the van because I didn't know how I'd lived without it. I just pretend that I'm the kids' nanny...

My vote is for the new Honda Odyssey (major changes with the 2005 model).
A few months ago, we spent a lot of time thinking about this. We ended up replacing our inherited Toyota Landcruiser (Landbruiser?) with a 2001 Volvo V70 wagon. It's a great car -- as are the Passat wagons, IMO. However, had money been less of a factor, I think we would have spent more and gone with a new Odyssey. The Volvo does not solve the problem of giving a visiting parent more room -- but we can get ourselves kids, and a grandparent seated comfortably.

I was really impressed with driving my friends Tahoe. I liked it better than the Suburban, but in fairness the Tahoe was a few years newer than the Suburban I drove most recently.

[Sheherezade]

Just had to add that I married my husband because he seriously told me that he thought the Porsche 929 was a great family car -- it has a backseat. Gotta love that in a man. Totally wrong, but we can dream!

[SueC]

I'm right there with Sally--I likes my Suburban, though I do feel pretty conflicted when I consider the environmental implications. I'm toying with the idea of getting the Volvo XC90, but I haven't done my homework yet to figure out if it makes a bit of sense. It has less space, which may be terribly inconvenient with 3 kids in carseats (not to mention our giant dog), but it may be easier to get around town and if it has significantly better gas mileage I may decide to go for it.

[Vanquisher]

I want a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. It doesn't have as much room as a Suburban, but it's good enough for my family, and gets 33 mpg. Plus it has lots of horse power.

http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/minisite ... index.html

I can't find any cons for a family my size. It's obviously too small for a family of 7 with cargo.

Sue -- I tried the Volvo X90 too and liked it. I think the seat configuration and movement is nice. If I remember correctly, the third row might not be approved for car seats (as many of the 3rd rows are not). It was a nice car. I drove the V6 rather than the V8. If I was going to think about it more seriously, I would try the V8 as well because I was a little disappointed by the power of the V6.

I can't remember what the MPG was like -- nothing extreme one way or the other. Just another plug for the Odyssey on the mileage -- I think it is 28 MPG for the highway. The engine turns off 3 of the cylinders when you aren't rapidily accelerating (like on the highway) for fuel efficiency. Cool!

[Amiens]

(I had a nice well thought out post written and Brigham came and pushed a button on the keyboard--- poof gone!)

Here's the gist of what I wrote.

We are in the market right now for a second car as well the 2000 Alero that we have had for 5 years now would be a very tight squeeze with a third car seat in the back. Matt's parents is letting him use a 1986 Pontiac Fiero, so he wouldn't have to ride his bike to work. Well the car needs $1000 worth of repairs, one of which is the brakes, and it's worth $2000. Luckily they will pay for some of the repairs, but it seems we will be buying our mini-van sooner than we thought. When I told my mil this, she in so many words asked "Why do you need to buy a minivan?"

We have two mini-vans that we really like on paper- Toyota Sienna and the 2005 Honda Odyssey. I am leaning more towards the Odyssey b/c of in-floor storage, and slightly better ratings from Consumer Reports. We still have to test drive them. My parents are on their 2nd Dodge Grand Caravan. The 1st one it seemed it was always in the shop for a belt or the transmission. I don't think they have too much problem with the 2nd one- it's a 2003/2004. It's plenty roomy, but it doesn't handle as smooth as I would like it to.

We have some criteria that we wanted in our next vehicle- good gas mileage, slow depreciation, good mechanical reliability, leather interior, and tinted windows. The leather takes precedence over the tinted windows. After having Brigham I don't know if I want to ever have cloth in a car again. It's one of those things dh and I have come to agree this is one of those things it's worth the money.

I don't know if we would ever do a SUV, mainly because of the gas issue.

Crystal

When I told my mil this, she in so many words asked "Why do you need to buy a minivan?"

That's kind of funny....

If you do go with the Odyssey -- I had the wholesale price for the Odyssey EX with leather. Anyway, I think I passed it along to Dagny, maybe she still has it. I looked at the Sienna too and though they are really similar, thought the Odyssey was better for gas mileage, safety, features for price. I don't think you can lose with either!

I want something that doesn't exist.

A car that comes equipped with car seats that are controured to allow 3 children to sit abreast each other in the back seat. There is no way we could fit anything besides a booster and a convertable carseat in the back of our car. YOu can't even sit my diaperbag facing out between the two!

My dream car is the VW Microbus -- a new version of the old VW vans (like the reintroduction of the bug). It's still a concept car and I'm beginning to wonder if they will ever produce it. Wah.

Here it is:

Never mind. It's not even on their website anymore. :thud: Maybe all those emails I sent freaked them out and they took it down.

Well, here's a picture from another website but I don't know Spanish and have no idea what it says:
http://mikymotorweb.americas.tripod.com ... b/id2.html