a good car

What kind of car is a good family car? Is it impossible to get through residency with one car? Our current car is not very family friendly, (meaning that my kids have to sit close enough that they are able to torture each other) I don't know if we should look for something bigger.

And what about those dvd, machines for the car, We don't have them over here yet but I'm just wondering if they are worth the money?

[PrincessFiona]

Well...we made it through residence and fellowship with 3 children and a beat up chrysler plymouth breeze I wouldn't recommend going that route, but it was possible. My kids pretty much tortured themselves and Thomas and I wherever we went. When we moved from Florida to MN we actually drove for 3 days with 3 children and one 65 pound Australian Sheperd dog crammed into the backseat!

We have a VW eurovan now and love it. Of course...now that we have 4, they are still sitting close enough to torture each other...

Consider getting a mini-van... 8)

kris

[Cumberland]

We are car shopping right now. My dream family car for now is a VW Passat Wagon, but I think we are going to go for the gas guzzler Ford Explorer bc they have third row seating ( so they seat 7 altogether) and are pretty affordable used. We were also thinking of the Suzuki XL7 but I havent read any reviews of them yet.

[fluffhead]

We want a Toyota Prius, but the wait is 12-18 months

[SueC]

We splurged and got a Suburban when we found out we were expecting baby #3. Before I'm taken out and shot for owning a car that is so not environmentally friendly let me explain why we have it. With 3 kids in carseats our only options really are a minivan and an SUV. Add to that a very large dog that we enjoy taking to the park and dogbeach, the minivan option wasn't an option anymore. A Suburban (or equally large Ford SUV, etc) is the only vehicle that can haul a family of 5 AND a huge dog around.

I'm not really a family car lover, (grew up on mini-vans). Dh is convinced our new family car will be a minivan. I'm convinced it will be a VW Golf. Wonder who is going to win this one?

Ok coming out of VW dream world. I used to think a Suburban was the largest vehicle money could buy short of a school bus. Now that I've tried some car traveling with kids, animals, camping equipment, etc. I sometimes wish I had one. Is it scary driving a vehicle that big?

[mommax3]

We have a Suburban also, which we ALSO bought in preparation for baby #3. (We will have to stick together, Sue!) I must confess that when I moved to TX and saw all the Suburbans in suburbia, I was all high and mighty and said I would never own one unless I lived on a ranch or something. I still (inside my head) sneer when I see people who have one child and never leave town (their family all lives here) driving one, but the older I get, the less I am willing to go "on the record" with my "I would never......" comments. I probably should have included our Suburban as a luxury item in the other thread!

We don't have a big dog, but we travel long distances by car 4 to 5 times a year, and with three boys, two parents, (DH and I are not small people!) and our stuff......I really can't imagine cramming us into a mini-van, although we did test drive one. I was about 4 months pregnant and felt claustrophobic driving around San Antonio......and at that time, we were anticipating moving when I was 6 months pregnant, and driving to Idaho with our two kids and (at the time) 3 cats. The Suburban we test drove next looked and felt pretty darn good with all of that in mind.

We drive our cars until they die, so my boys will be MUCH bigger by the time we are ready to get something new, and since my 9 year old is 5 ft. tall and weighs 100 pounds already, I imagine a minivan would feel pretty cramped in a couple years, even if we were just driving around town.

I really do love having it. I love having the room to buy a bunch of stuff at the nursery (plants, mulch, manure) and be able to load it all in the back. I love being able to pass some jackass on the road when I need to and feeling those eight cylinders kick in. I love that neither mine or DH's head even comes close to touching the top of the car on the inside. I love that my kids are not crammed three in a row in the backseat, like I remember being when I was growing up, because if they were, we would rarely go anywhere in order to save my sanity.

Two things I regret......ours has a bench seat in the middle, which makes it hard to get to the back row, so I wish we had Captain's chairs in the middle row, and (this is just a wish) my FIL has a Yukon XL (same body as the Suburban) that has the turning radius of an Accord......I would really like to have that! I don't know what the technical term for this is, but on his, all four wheels turn when he turns the steering wheel. That could really come in handy sometimes.

I think we will probably buy another one in 5 or 6 years. <ducking to get away from the environmentalists> BUT if there is a more environmentally friendly SUV of the same size available at that time, we will strongly consider it, even if it costs more. I promise.

Sally

[DCJenn]

Since we live in the city and don't have to drive to get anywhere, we have a Mini Cooper and my husband has a BMW. Neither one is driven very much, although my husband does drive to work if it's raining or too cold- he prefers to ride his bike, though. When it snows, he takes the Metro. My commute is to the airport and if I'm flying out of Dulles or BWI I have to drive. (there is public transportation to BWI but often my flights come in too late to catch the last train home to DC). I take the Metro 90% of the time to National Airport.

So, when we finally bring back this small Russian person, we will have a car seat in one or both cars but hopefully we won't need to drive anymore than we do now. (only when the cats have to go to the vet is a car essential! The vet is walking distance so when the dog has to go, we walk. However, 3 cats in car carriers is too much, even for me the environmentally obsessed one.)

When the fellowship is finished, we could end up being sent to Hawaii or Germany and the Army will only allow one car to be shipped. In the case of Germany, we won't ship either car. We'd probably sell one and store one. In the case of Hawaii, we'll probably sell one and ship one.

If we are sent back to San Antonio, we'll buy downtown again, (therfore no excessive need to drive) and if we're sent to Tacoma (WA) we will try for on post housing. (not that I've obsessed about this next move already or anything....)

But, the point of this missive is to say that for me, a good car is one that isn't required. We chose to live in areas that have good access to public transportation and walking distance to stores.

Jenn

Sally,
A friend of mine has a Yukon and when I was chauffeuring her around (she was post-surgery and couldn't drive), I was AMAZED by how easy her car was to drive, esp turning radius. And I really had to test it out, going through her favorite drive-thrus, her snug garage space, and parking in a part of town I wasn't familiar with. Not even a door ding!

In a few weeks I'm going to trade my Volvo for the neighbor's Suburban when we have guests from out of town. Who knows, maybe I'll get hooked on the big rig!

btw, I emailed VW about the Microbus, asking when it would be available,etc. If they answer, I will let you know. (I know, I have a problem... ).

[BonBon]

DH and I also drive cars into the ground, he currently has a saab convertible and I drive a nissan altima. I'm just a few miles from 100K, but I just can't see getting something else until I have to. It's a great car, the most reliable one I've ever had. We also only buy used. It would kill my frugal sensibilities to pay full price only to have the car depreciate immediately. (Did I ever mention that we also buy our cars online??? )
That said...as we are planning on having 3 more children - unless someone examines my head first - and a regular car just ain't gonna cut it. It seems my only options are minivan or SUV. When the time comes, count me in with the Yukon crowd. With four(potentially) kids, 2 big dogs, and 3 cats we need a bus.
Question: are Yukon and Escalade the only ones with second row captain's seating? I definitely don't want a second row bench seat.

DH and I were in Europe on our honeymoon - have you guys ever seen the Smart Car? Now if they sold those here, I would get one just for kicks.

[mommax3]

I think you can get Suburbans with middle row captain's seats. We got ours used (but only 27K miles! DH and I share your attitude about buying a new car) so I didn't have any choice about that. Sadly, after only (not quite) 3.5 years, we are approaching 100K miles on our beloved Suburban. I am hoping that after we move this summer, we won't put on the miles quite so fast since we won't be driving from TX to IN twice a year AND I won't have to drive 2.5 hours (one way! ) to do any decent shopping. Here's hoping......

Sally

We bought a Ford Expedition before we had our baby, and it has the Captain's chairs. We bought it new, but got it for a ton off(over $15K) because it was 2001 and the new 2003's were coming in-and we had a marathon negotiation session, it helps to shop around, A LOT.

It also has a turning radius tighter than most GM models-Yukon, Escalade, Tahoe....but the new models, have the third row that folds flat into the floor-that is awesome, as we have to remove the third row if I need to haul stuff. And that is a pain.
The Ford sits in the garage mostly, unless we are road tripping, but we have a GEO Prizm that gets over 30mpg that gets driven daily. It bleeds oil but it has to last another four months, and it has been pretty dependable....just tiny.

Here's the VW Microbus update. The said in the email that:
__
At this time, the Microbus is considered to be a concept only, but is
being preliminarily explored by Volkswagen for possible inclusion into our
model lineup at some point in the future. Be sure to visit http://vw.com/microbus for more insight.

If you would like to be updated when information becomes available
about the possibility of the Microbus for North America, please send us your complete name, mailing address and email address information.
__


Maybe they are just hoping that I will buy a Tourag in the meantime? Well, I'll just sit tight and wait for my Microbus.

[peggyfromwastate]

Our dream car is a Suburban. Our actual car is a Ford Windstar minivan (96 model). A minivan is nice for about 2 kids, but beyond that, it's been a struggle. With 4 it is not even funny. We are so crowded and there is no cargo space (minivans don't have much room back there...). With huge car seats, you really can only count on 2 sitting in a row type of seat. Plus our minivan doesn't have enough room for the car seats in rear facing position in the captain chairs (2nd row). And our minivan is one of the larger options... So we dream of a Suburban, but it's too expensive. Don't forget the extra cost of maintaining a 4WD car... And the gas, I guess, but still it's less gas than driving 2 cars everywhere, which is what we are about having to do if we all go somewhere...

I am very familiar with Suburbans-- I grew up with them back when they were only diesels... (I think the first model we bought was an 82 or something, after my dad crashed our station wagon by driving it over a guardrail on a mountain pass in Oregon ). They are huge to drive, I wouldn't recommend them in Hawaii, or in a city really, but still, they have cargo space! The newer ones are actually getting cushy...

Also, I would totally recommend a DVD player. Ours has been a total lifesaver-- of course we had a cross country move with twin 2 year olds to contend with... We never would have survived w/o the DVD player...

Jenn--- if you're reading this, I went to Ft Lewis this summer! Madigan is a beautiful hospital, but Rick probably knows that! On-base housing looks nice, but I think there's a long waiting list??? You probably would want a car that can be dependable in snow over there-- not that they get a ton... Anyway....

[mommax3]

Kristen, I didn't see your second post on this thread.....we must have posted at the same time! Anyway, to answer your question.....no, it is not scary to drive a Suburban at all. I wondered about that myself, because my ILs used to have a Ford conversion van that we took on a trip once......I tried to take my turn driving, but I felt like the steering was loose and I was all over the road......I was too scared to drive it. The Suburban is very smooth and handles very well. It takes some getting used to to be up so high, and to have SO MUCH windshield (which would be the same in a minivan, too) but other than that, it wasn't hard to get used to. We test drove a late model Expedition when we were looking, and I thought it was a lot harder to handle than the Suburban. Since then, I have heard that there is a fundamental difference between Ford and Chevy trucks (vans, SUVs)......I don't understand what it is, (maybe someone here can explain it) but I wholeheartedly agree there was a definite difference!

Our Suburban does not have 4 wheel drive, which helps with our mileage, I'm sure. We don't need it because it doesn't snow here.....we'll see what we think once we get back to Indiana, and if we think it would come in handy, we'll get it on our next one. DH has dreams of getting a camper or a boat, or both, so I am sure 4 wheel drive would help with that.......

We just got a portable DVD player before our last long trip, and it is awesome, especially because we can take it inside with us! DH and I set it on the console between us and Nathan (our youngest) can watch DVDs from his carseat in the middle row. The older two boys watch videos (we have WAY more kid videos than we have DVDs) on our portable video player in the back row.

Sally