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What small-mid-sized SUV fits 2 car seats WELL?


redkow97

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16 hours ago, Tpoppa said:

My kid hauler is a Ford Flex Limited.

It seats 7 comfortably, or 5 and a lot of cargo...and it's not a minivan.

It's a better vehicle in every way than my Trailblazer with the exception of towing capacity.  

I generally favor Fords over other domestic brands, but in this segment, I like the Dodge Journey for some reason.

Friends of ours "downgraded" from a Durango to an AWD Journey (they live in upstate NY, and have property that we visit on a lake every summer.  AWD is extremely helpful to access it in fair weather, and essential in the winter).  They have been very pleased with it. Only complaint is that it has large rims which require uniquely sized tires (big rim, narrow tread).  Tires are expensive and harder to find.  So absent that, something in the Journey/Flex range may be the answer. 

The wife just doesn't want a large vehicle, but if I can't sell her on a mini van, a mid-sized SUV or larger crossover will probably be the compromise.   Then I'm just riding the line between "nice" and "too nice."   As noted, this will be the family vacation vehicle - but I also remember what my brothers and I did to my parents' vans.  I'm not about to pay a ton for something that is going to have raisins stuck in the seats within a week.

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We have a Nissan Pathfinder.  We have twins too, so at one point we had three car seats all the way across.  Seats a total of 7.  Been a great SUV.  We are looking to move over to a Honda Pilot.  165,000 mi on her and still going.

Edited by Wolfman1
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What year Pathfinder?   Or perhaps a better question might be, which generation?   I will be buying used,  and the generation changed between the 2012 and 2013 model years.  Honestly, I would buy a 2012 if that generation is well-regarded, but I wouldn't want to buy any older than that...

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On 2/8/2016 at 4:48 PM, redkow97 said:

Pauly - not ignoring the subarus, but I am worried they won't provide the interior space I want. 

 

Don't sleep on the latest Gen Outback if interior space is a priority. I actually don't know of anything in its class that has more backseat leg room (read: with rear-facing car seats installed, driver still has room to slide his seat all the way back.) The wagon-type of setup also provides more functional storage than anything other than a suv/van with a 3rd row seat removed. 

The sweet-spot with Subarus is buying the base models... the options on the premium packages suck and are a lousy value. 

Caveat: based on my research, I chose to avoid the models with 2.5 engine and CVT. 

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  • 3 months later...
On 2/14/2016 at 10:46 AM, dustinsn3485 said:

I looked at the pathfinder some. Before you buy, research that CVT in the 2012+. I decided against it because of a lot of discussion about the reliability of it. Seems they were having a lot of problems.

Wife was dead-set against the new car until we spent 10 hours in a small SUV on the drive home from vacation.

I'm no longer "pushing" for a minivan, but I still think that's ultimately the best suited vehicle...  I quoted the post above, because I have pretty much narrowed our SUV options to the Toyota Highlander, or the Nissan Pathfinder.  The CVT is rated for 5,000 lbs., and the Nissan is a couple grand less than the Highlander when comparing similar age and mileage.

The other front-runners are Honda Odyssey and Chyrsler T&C.  The major selling point on the Honda is that it gets far superior crash ratings in the partial-offset testing...  That may be worth the $5k premium on its own.

Even so, I am still not "excited" about a minivan.  It was less than a month ago that I was looking at "older" (2009-2011) Volvo XC90's figuring "hey, we can get a car that's safe AND classy for about $18k, if we're willing to have a higher mileage model."   Then vacation happened, and space was at a premium...

 

I think the van is going to be the way to go, until the kids can get into the car and buckle themselves in, but it's still a tough sell. 

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20 minutes ago, redkow97 said:

Wife was dead-set against the new car until we spent 10 hours in a small SUV on the drive home from vacation.

I'm no longer "pushing" for a minivan, but I still think that's ultimately the best suited vehicle...  I quoted the post above, because I have pretty much narrowed our SUV options to the Toyota Highlander, or the Nissan Pathfinder.  The CVT is rated for 5,000 lbs., and the Nissan is a couple grand less than the Highlander when comparing similar age and mileage.

The other front-runners are Honda Odyssey and Chyrsler T&C.  The major selling point on the Honda is that it gets far superior crash ratings in the partial-offset testing...  That may be worth the $5k premium on its own.

Even so, I am still not "excited" about a minivan.  It was less than a month ago that I was looking at "older" (2009-2011) Volvo XC90's figuring "hey, we can get a car that's safe AND classy for about $18k, if we're willing to have a higher mileage model."   Then vacation happened, and space was at a premium...

 

I think the van is going to be the way to go, until the kids can get into the car and buckle themselves in, but it's still a tough sell. 

Once you go van you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

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I wish there was a van that was the size of the original Toyota Sienna...  I don't need 130 cubic feet of cargo space - 100 cubic feet would be fine.  But i want the sliding doors and third row.  Seating for 6 would be plenty, so long as all the seats stowed in the floor easily enough.

Whether it appears so or not, there is a drastic difference in floor-to-ceiling height in a mini-van versus a Highlander...  I would love to split the difference.

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37 minutes ago, Casper said:

We had a 4Runner. It was fine with one kid. Two was difficult. Got a Sienna. As much as I hate having a minivan, it makes everything so much easier. 

we always said we'd be just fine with an SUV and we'd never get a minivan. Then twins happened so I know after a couple of months my wife is going to want the ease of a minivan and frankly I'm fine with it at this point

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2 minutes ago, Bad324 said:

we always said we'd be just fine with an SUV and we'd never get a minivan. Then twins happened so I know after a couple of months my wife is going to want the ease of a minivan and frankly I'm fine with it at this point

I push two buttons on the remote and the sliding doors open. Another button opens the tailgate. It's awesome, even if it is a minivan. 

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25 minutes ago, redkow97 said:

my dad's consumer reports account is proving useful for this.  Odyssey is definitely the front-runner
.

My buddy's mom had a new Odyssey. He drove it while is car was broke down. I'd say it is the nicest van I've seen. Heck it has a built in cooler.

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16 minutes ago, JustinNck1 said:

My buddy's mom had a new Odyssey. He drove it while is car was broke down. I'd say it is the nicest van I've seen. Heck it has a built in cooler.

When we bought the Sienna, we looked at the Odyssey also. After comparing, we went with the Toyota. Google "Honda Odyssey transmission". That scared me, and we've always had great luck with Toyota. 

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Just now, Casper said:

When we bought the Sienna, we looked at the Odyssey also. After comparing, we went with the Toyota. Google "Honda Odyssey transmission". That scared me, and we've always had great luck with Toyota. 

Well yeah I am not a fan of any CVT stuff.

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