Not a science topic this time....
Dr Hyde and I are proud owners of terrific, 27 mpg-overall Accord. We love the car and she has been very reliable.
There are two problems. 1) She has only two doors. 2) She is 19 years old.
If this whole child thing works out, it will be time to change vehicles. The question is, what to buy?
Here are the parameters:
--We are urban people and our instinct is to get the smallest car that will do the job.
--We do not live in a location where "no car" is an option, nor are we likely to move to one in the near future.
--There are several grocery stores and parks within easy walking distance of the house; we typically use the car to go to lab on weekends (when transit doesn't run), to go to more exotic grocery stores, to go out to dinner, and to visit Dr Hyde's sister and family. I imagine that all of these except visiting Dr Hyde's sister will fall by the wayside for a while after infant arrival, although there will be pediatrician appts etc.
--We might be moving to a snowier climate next year, so the Mini convertible is out. Boo.
--Based on what we see and the Consumer Reports car issue, we're most excited about the following cars, all in a hatchback or "5-door" format: Honda Fit, Subaru Impreza, Mazda 3, Nissan Versa. However, some people suggest that these cars are too small for 8 lb babies, who apparently arrive with 80 lbs of accessories.
--We are ok with buying a smaller car now under the assumption that if we have a second child or move to a more car-dependent location, that we will need to embiggen or buy a second car.
--We're ok with used cars up to about 4 years old. We could afford to pay $20K for a car, but we'd prefer $12-$15K, since so much money is lost to depreciation, and anyhow the baby's just going to puke on the seats.
Anyone own one of the cars listed above and have thoughts on its suitability for our situation? Anyone own a baby and have thoughts on car selection?
15 years ago
51 comments:
I drive a Ford Focus ZX5 and have been very pleased with the space afforded by a 4-door hatchback. I've heard that the Honda Fit has a smaller interior than a lot of the other smaller cars but I would really encourage test-driving all of your viable models.
I don't have car advice, particularly. We replaced our unreliable Ford Tempo with a small AWD when we had our first kid. We added a minivan when we tried to load 2 kids (and occasional grandparents) into anything else, and realized that small is better doesn't apply.
But, I did want to say that you will be able to go to exotic grocery stores and dinner when you have your infant. Especially when they're under a year old they are pretty portable. Don't inhibit yourself. We'd been pretty housebound out of fears of baby travel, but took our 6 week old on a plane trip, and then realized that we could take her everywhere.
I love my Mazda 3 hatchback. It's plenty roomy for 2 adults (3 if they're buddies) or 2 carseats in the backseat. You can also lay the seats down for loads of cargo space (pre-kids) or lay one seat down and keep the other up (if you have one passenger and lots of cargo). We actually bought it with the same (baby) considerations in mind, but have been using the cargo space for our dogs in the meantime.
I'm not sure how big the fit is compared to the civic, but a good friend of mine has a 20 month old kid and a civic, and this seems to work very well. In fact, they do long road trips with it.
(The civic is also available as a hybrid, if this is your thing, but might be a bit more expensive then)
I've heard everyone raving about the Honda Fit but do not own one myself.
I drive a first generation Toyota Vitz, basically a smaller Yaris. Subcompact Toyotas don't seem to score as well in car ratings things as Honda Fits, etc, but consumers who drive them tend to *really* like them and they don't seem to depreciate as quickly as other subcompacts. Mine is much roomier inside than it looks from the outside, easy to maintain and extremely fuel-efficient. I looked into the local equivalent of a Honda Fit when buying a couple of years ago and while I think it's been remodeled recently, I found the ones I test-drove to be ugly and clunky.
My brother owns a Mazda 3 and loves it; I also have a friend who owns a Subaru and she loves it too (in fact, she's owned 2 Subaru's and swears by them). I think either of those choices would be great!
we love or 6 yr old subaru impreza. it works with 1 kid great, and can be used easily to tote two kids back & forth to day care every day. Which I know, because I do it every day.
Love the safety features, love the AWD. Note the MPG won't be as good, since the AWD adds ~1000 lbs. to the car. But it's a good little car.
it might be worth checking the price difference on the forester (which we also have) they aren't much more expensive (because I think they're assembled in Indiana, and the impreza is shipped from Japan). They aren't so big to be a real SUV, ours gets better MPG than the Impreza, and there's enough extra room to make it more comfortable for everybody.
And yes, there will be puke in the car. In fact, just this happened Monday morning. The smell still lingers...
We've got a small car and two kids. Works fine. Actually, we only have two doors and that is the first thing that I would change would we have the money. Backaches...
But, no, you don't need a large car. Small cars have the advantage that you won't take so much stuff with you on vacations, it makes you stick to the basics, and I consider that a good thing.
I never understood why having a baby creates the need for huge cars.
We realllly wanted to buy a Honda Fit at the end of last year, but we also wanted to eke those last few mpg by getting a manual transmission...impossible...we waited two months and then went with a 2009 Ford Focus instead. It is very nice (lots of power and 39 mpg) and feels humungous inside. We had a coupe before (two doors only) and it is a joy to place things in the back seat via the back doors now :) I feel it would be easy enough to get a baby in and out through them too. All the requisite safety features were included and the traction control plus included tires were great during an upstate winter. I didn't test the Fit in the snow, but my previous Honda Civic sucked in the snow...curious to hear what people think of the Fit in snow..
No kids or experience with those particular cars (though I secretly covet a 3 or an Impreza), but I just wanted to note - while in Ireland on vacation last week, I said this exact sentence to my husband:
"Only in America do you need a midsize SUV when you have 1 kid, and have to upgrade to a minivan when you have 2."
There were little hatchbacks with 1 or 2 carseats in them everywhere. So go on and do your thang with a small car! :)
I drove a 98 Impreza wagon until a little over a year ago when I go hit and insurance totalled it. I have never loved a car more and still miss it! I've been car free since, but if I buy another it will be an impreza.
It was an AMAZINGLY roomy car for it's size and I had no problems hauling lots of gear and people or a handful of my nieces and nephews and all of their stuff.
Also... Even with the AWD I still got about 28 mpg in town and 32 on the highway. My friend has one slightly newer than mine was, with a manual transmissission, and she gets even better mpg than I got.
This is all super-useful! I'd been googling around for info on this topic and drawn a blank. Thank you, anonymous blog readers (and the onymous ones too)!
When it came time for a second vehicle, we ended up buying a Versa (hatchback) with a CVT. Our kids prefer to ride in the back of the Versa over the Saturn LW300 (and I can't blame them). The Versa's safety rating is what pushed us in that direction. The trunk is a decent size, the car handles well in all the varied driving conditions we've seen (snow/rain/ice), and there is pretty good visibility for the driver.
I think a Ford Focus would fit both baby and groceries.... great MPG, especially with a manual stick shift. but don't take my advice all too much since I don't have a baby.
But the Focus is a "semismall/big" car.
And I wish you all the best with the baby and the car buying thing!!
Babies do (usually) come with a lot of accessories, but no need to cart the accessories everywhere. I can't help you on the car front -- I drive an Element, which I used to use for carting around my bike, kayak, and a zillion other things and which is now pretty comfy with car seat and easy to change diapers and nurse baby in.
I will second what others say, it's easy to get out and about with a wee one. Bambina is almost 8 weeks and we've gone out to eat a lot. Today we went to the botanical gardens, apple store, and whole foods (with lunch somewhere in the middle) and it was really easy. We have the Mico Cosi car seat and Quinny Zapp stroller. They work together and the Quinny frame folds up really small. That + a backpack is all that goes out with us. I'm quite sure we could manage a smaller vehicle without problems (and perhaps we will when we replace 402's car).
I have a Subaru Outback Sport which is technically a 5dr Impreza hatchback. I bought it last November, just before the biggest winter storm on record and the AWD was outstanding - I didn't get stuck once, despite some of the roads being covered in more than a foot of snow. The car has a ton of room inside and the back seats have a split fold down to make even more cargo room next to baby's seat. Not as high a mileage as my previous tiny car but still pretty damned good. Highly recommended. And it looks supercool too which your yet-to-born child will appreciate in a few years time :)
Babies are easy to travel with when they are really young. They will also fall asleep in loud restaurants, so make sure you keep going out when bsby is little. As baby gets older, you will need to do more entertaining, and baby's personality may reduce the chances you have--my sister can't eat out with hers (starting at 12ish months and continuing to 29 months) due to the screaming and food throwing.
As for stuff--we don't have a car at all (yay urban environment with good public transit), and we just had #2. We still go out of the house. :-) Babies can generate lots of stuff, but you don't need to take it all with you. As long as your carseat will fit the car, it is big enough.
Not the impreza- if you are going to buy a subaru- which I highly recommend (I've had 2, and the only reason I've had two is because the first one was totaled about 1/2 way through it's useful life at 100K miles)... but the bigger wagon- the outback.
Only problem with it is that the back seat is a little narrow, otherwise it is perfect. Drives well and is fun, gets reasonable milage (27-30)- looks well enough not to feel frumpy, and has enough space in the back for all the kid gear you might need. And trust me, there will be a lot of gear and that doesn't let up as they get older... it just becomes a different kind of gear!
The most important feature is to find a backseat that will fit a rear-facing car seat. We had an Impreza with our first--which worked only because her rear-facing seat fit in the center between the two front seats. When the second baby came, we had to upgrade to the Legacy (Outback size) so we could have a rear-facing seat behind a front seat.
We owned an Element, which has a LOT of interior room and flexibility, but the suicide doors are difficult to deal with in parking lots while manuevering car seats around. Both my kids could climb in and buckle themselves when we owned it--I wouldn't want to have it with little ones who had to be lifted into their seats. Major back pain.
We currently have a Pontiac Vibe (same thing as a Toyota Matrix), which we like, but I haven't tried to fit a rear-facing seat in it. A good friend as an Outback with plenty of room for her rear-facing seat and pretty good cargo area.
Car seats are a whole other issue. Britax are the best and totally worth the price.
We have been using a small 2 door car with the first baby, but the rear-facing infant seats are bigger than you would think, so nobody could sit in front of him until he switched car seats. Which was fine when there were 3, but with the new baby coming we are getting either the Fit or the VW Jetta Diesel. (We eliminated a lot of other options due to lack of getting great safety ratings and having side air bags). We put the rear facing infant seat in the back of the fit, and a front passenger can still be comfortable, if they are medium or short sized. Of course, some seats are bigger than others. There should be no cargo problem with the Fit--seriously, babies don't take that much volume of stuff around with them in a car--just a car seat and stroller, which will be fine in the Fit or similar cars anyway.
The idea that babies come with 80lbs of stuff is a fallacy. There is very little you actually need to travel with a baby. I did just fine with a Chevy Metro for the first bit of Little Isis's life. We now have a Hyundai Sonata and I love it.
We have a rear-facing baby seat in the Toyota Corolla and Subbie Forrester - and the Corolla is better because the seat in back is wider. The Forrester we love, but it's too narrow. But the space issue is really about getting stroller in the trunk or back-back, can't see how people with teeny cars do it (do they sling their babies everywhere?).
Also we find that when there are two of us & baby in the car, one of us sits in the back with the baby, for feeding, playing, etc. So make sure you can sit next to the seat with it in the middle position!
Maybe backseat size varies by specific model of Impreza... but I was able to fit a rear facing car seat behind both the front seats of mine, even when they were all the way back. I had the Outback Impreza Sport. In fact, on more than one ocasion I had a front facing seat flanked on both sides by a rear facing seat... AND a twin stroller and singleton stroller in the back with my 6' BIL driving!
Very useful....sounds like I'm hearing that we should either buy the carseat now, and make sure it fits in our car of choice--or buy the car now, and make sure that any carseat we buy fits in the rear.
Or just buy a minivan and be done with it :)
I'm a little late to this party, but we have a Nissan Rogue and one child and it has been great. What sold us was the good MPG (28/31, I think), AWD standard, ABS standard and a host of other safety features. We get snow here and the car handled very well throughout the winter. It was a great comprimise between the smaller size and features we wanted. Plus, it doesn't feel like it would turn into a sardine can in an accident!
Also late to the party - casualty of a three-day weekend, not a thing about which to complain! - but hey! a topic I know about.
[Caveat: grew up driving in the UK, much smaller average car size. Before that, grew up with two siblings and all three of us being driven long distances (even by US standards) in the back of a Fiat 125, roughly the size of an average US lawnmower...]
One thing to consider - although obvious on test drives - is head room. may not be an issue, but at 195 cm, this factor _severely_ limited cars I am/was willing to buy, especially in the small/compact class.
A further vote for the Forester *if* you go Subaru. Not too big, handles nicely, can be US-made.
However, I want to vote for my own current vehicle, a VW Golf (now 'Rabbit' over here, I think). It's currently at 10 years and a little over 200K miles without any need for repair; it handles my need for space and two kids in the back seat just fine*, handles great, gets ~33 MPG, has a hatchback trunk that easily accommodates pack-n-play, overly large stroller, and luggage. We've been extremely happy with it.
{*This will change soonish, probably; my legs are long enough that while our 6 year-old fits behind me OK, at 12 or so he won't.}
I like the Fit, but the handling is not as good as many others in the class. Of course, I also drive too fast for the US, see UK upbringing above..
One strong vote *against* the Yaris or similar, mostly driven by the idiosyncratic dash design which I hate but also by lack of power and serious understeer. yuck :).
The Mazda is a good car but I have less experience with it. We have driven a Mazda 5 on several occasions where we had >4 people to haul around, and it's OK: very good at fitting all people and stuff, not great to drive. I refuse point-blank to drive a minivan daily, but my wife (slower driver, more driven - sorry - by features and space than by handling) is strongly considering having her next car be one and loved the 5. Haven't driven the Versa.
[Yeah, this is a huge comment. Sorry :).]
Babies sub-6 mo or so are indeed infinitely restaurant-friendly, and one of our key goals as the now 2 boys (currently 6 yr and 5 mo) grow up is to acclimate them to relatively fancy dining food and manners, so we never stopped going. Around 2-3 is hardest, but doable with enough distractions (at least for our elder son, who has been willing to sit with a pile of books essentially forever; we'll see whether this repeats!).
Finally: car seats - I thought that the push to get a stroller-fitting model was marketing, but I was wrong and it really does make sense. We have been very happy with the Graco seats and stroller (an extra base @ $10 or so to allow one seat to slot in and out of two cars is great but sounds unnecessary for you). Lugging the 'bucket' sans stroller is of course possible, and I can do it OK, but the stroller makes it possible for my wife and easier for me - this mostly matters if you're either (i) flying a lot or (ii) taking a lot of strolls, so adjust accordingly.
Ok, enough...
Since we're expanding this discussion to car seats, I have to give a shout out to the Britax marathon that we've had our 3 year old in since 8 or 9 months old. It's expensive, but also having one car with a Graco, you can see all the things that just make the Britax easier to install. I also think our son finds the Britax more comfortable.
Of course, there's a good $100+ price differential between the two, so that has to be taken into account. Still, if you're going to end up moving the seat much (and you probably will more than you think), it's just a lot easier to do so with the Britax.
We had a lovely dinner at a cloth napkin restaurant with our two kids, 2 years and 3 months, last night. If you don't count all the winter clothes, we brought about 5 pounds of baby gear; half of them due to the scooter.
"Only in America do you need a midsize SUV when you have 1 kid, and have to upgrade to a minivan when you have 2."
This is not just because American's are "that way" but also because most states require you to put your kids in giant car seats until they are practically old enough to drive themselves.
Friends of ours with twins had to get a bigger car when the kids were born, because although they thought their car was plenty big enough, turns out that they could not fit two rear-facing infant car seats in the back seat without putting the front seats so far forward that there was not room for their own legs. Our own (seemingly gigantic) car is sort of the same way, at least with our "baby to toddler" car seat when it was still rear-facing - it would only fit in the middle of the back seat. Behind either the driver or the passenger, it took up so much room that the front seats had to be moved too far forward to be comfortable.
Anyway, just my two cents on what kind of car dimensions are required. To me, it's not so much the cargo space (esp. not for general errand type of transit) as the front-to-back footprint of your kid's car seat(s) in the back seat.
Okay, so I just read the entirety of the comments, and I see now that mine is redundant. So, I just echo what others have said, about the car seats.
And since others are recommending car seats, I'll share my thoughts on that. We had the average carry-the-baby-around car seat for Average Baby until she was too big for it, and then we got a Radian 80 (Sunshine Kids). It accommodates kids up to 80 lbs so I am hoping it will be the last car seat we need to buy, and because of the way the seat is shaped, the car seat doesn't take up a giant amount of space in the back seat, allowing us to still comfortably fit a passenger on either side of Average Baby in the back seat.
Also, the car seat folds in half (well, the seat folds up into the back), and has a carrying strap, so you can easily take the seat through an airport, through security, and gate-checked or on a plane. If you intend to ever do any air travel, this is a nice option, because it means you can bring your car seat with you somewhat easily (next time you are traveling, notice the number of people carrying bulky car seats with them - there are a lot, I just never noticed them before I started pondering how to easily do air travel with an infant). We actually have two carrying straps and wear it like a backpack.
I drive a Ford Focus and I have 2 babies worth of "accessories" to haul around. The car itself is smallish, but the trunk is amazing. it will hold a double stroller and a week's worth of groceries. Or, without the stroller, camping equipment for a family of 4.
Long story short, don't eliminate small cars just cause you have a kid. We actually drove a Ford Escort the first year we had the twins.
I haven't read all the comments, so if I duplicate I am sorry. We purchased a 2001 Jetta TDI (diesel) when I was prego with the monkey, thinking it had a spacious backseat area and would last for 2 kids. It will not.
Car seats are huge! Its so freaking annoying. Neither Mr.SM or I am terrible tall (5'11" and 5'5") but it is very very uncomfortable to be in the passenger seat when monkey is in the car, because your knees are basically touching the dashboard. Monkey can not be placed in the center (which is the safest) otherwise Mr.SM can not put the seat far enough back so that he can drive. When we switched from the infant to toddler seat, we were limited to only 1 choice because that is all that would fit. Measure the size of the backseat and think about the car seats and how much room you need.
Outside of those issues, I LOVE owning a diesel. It is way way more fuel efficient. The jetta had a huge trunk which is great for being able to hit costco with monkey's big stroller in there. And yes you do need to think about trunk space in relation to strollers. Some just didn't fit into our car.
I have a versa sedan and i would say that it is a good ride and quite roomy compared to other models.
One more thing- we also have a Toyota Corolla (sp?), which my husband drives and loves. We joke that it's back seat is bigger than the subaru back seat (actually, it's true!). Also easy to drive and can be purchased with every airbag you would ever want.
I would have had a hard time fitting the double jogging stroller I had into something smaller than the back of my subaru though.
And one last thing- when you get around to deciding what you want, send me an email and I'll tell you how to buy a car in the most painless possible way, without any haggling... I've bought three cars like this and never had to haggle with a car salesperson. All very pleasant experiences.
This is the usefullest thread ever. Perhaps it is irrational or unfair of me, but I put more faith in the commentary of scientist-bloggers (or just scientist-blogger-groupies) than in the general parenting boards.
Not that you all have come to any better consensus than the parenting boards, but at least I'm getting the clear message to consider car seat size vs backseat dimensions before making any decisions!
What everyone said about measuring for the rear facing carseat * 1 bazillionty. If you want a dinky car, this measurement is key.
And a four door-your back will thank you.
Final thought on big cars- it isn't the 80 lbs of stuff. It's that when baby is crying or you are trying to do the sleeping baby transfer you don't have time to screw around with having to pack the trunk just so....
As I've been reading the comments, I thought that I would add something about considering 4/5 adult size people in the car. I generally look for cars that have significant longevity; I do not want to be replacing a car after 4-5 years of using it. The backseat facing car-seat dimension will also help in thinking about bigger people in the car. Also, in thinking about loading cars, a critical feature of quick loading is timely unloading. If the trunk's nearly always empty, it's much easier to load up quickly.
I had a Subaru Forester when I first had my baby and we had a hard time finding a car seat base that would properly install/fit in our car. We upgraded to a Highlander when we had to fit in two car seats because there just wasn't enough room in the back for both car seats. I have a friend with two carseats and an Outback, and she seems to have more success with that. I love Subarus.
Babies R Us will allow you to take car seat models out to your car to test it out. (Also - you don't want to embark on this by yourself when you're 8 months pregnant.)
I also second the Britax seat reccomendations when your child outgrows the infant seat.
Husband and I have started having car trouble again and so we spent some time looking into cars (though ultimately we decided we can't afford to replace our car right now). We've got a 2 year old, plans for a second kid, and a dog. The cars that topped our list were the Mazda 3 hatchback, the Toyota Matrix, and the Nissan Versa.
Kids really DON"T require a lot of bulky gear, but the rear-facing car seat requires significant back seat room, so keep that in mind as you look.
If we had the money, I think we'd be getting the Toyota Matrix over the other two models by virtue of the fact that Toyota's have such great reliability/maintenance records. My dad had a Mazda and it totally fell apart on him in just a couple of years. The Matrix also gets pretty decent gas mileage. (The Mazda 3, while adorable, is built for more of a race car feel when you drive, so the gas mileage suffers a bit.)
I think everybody has already covered the key points about infant car seats, so I'll just mention that for cars, if you're buying used, the model year matters. People mentioned putting infant car seats in Toyota Corollas, but they've gotten a lot bigger year by year. We had to sell my 10-year-old Corolla when we had our son because that model year was smaller than the newer ones, so the car seat absolutely would not fit. (We went with a Camry Hybrid, which has been perfect.)
I'll also throw this out: you don't need a giant stroller. Check out stroller frames (eg, Snap'n'Go). They fit (almost) all car seats, but they're very light and much more compact than traditional strollers. I just leave the frame in the car, and then we just need the baby, carseat, and very small diaper bag when we go out on the town.
Here are my (late) two cents:
We have 2 kids (3 y & 11 mo) and they both fit very well in our Honda Fit, car seats & all. I ordered mine, so I could get the manual transmission... but that was 2 years ago. The best bit about the Fit is that you can put an umbrella stroller under the back seat and have the trunk free for everything else. BTW, we can fit both kids in our Mini Cooper too :)
On the matter of car seats I would say you want to look into the Sit-N-Stroll. Carseat & stroller & airplane seat all-in-one. We used ours a lot and it is great in urban settings (Rio de Janeiro & NYC, in my experience). It's great for taxi rides & subway rides.
Drop a line if you have any questions I can help with...
I have a toyota corolla and a VW Jetta in a snowy but relatively flat area- both have worked great for us and our son, who just turned 1, although I wish there was a bit more headspace in the cars. Now that we've moved up from the infant car seat to a convertible one, it is somewhat difficult getting him in and out of it without bumping his head. I find myself coveting the SUVs and minivans in the daycare parking lot as they seem to have such an easier time (remedied as I fill up the gas tank though!).
Go for used Toyota Camry (approx. 3 years old) which will be approx. $10K. A wonderful car to have with 2 kids and lots of shopping(Grocery or otherwise) associated with kids.
When we had one child, we drove a Mazda Protege and an older Toyota Corolla, both of which were just fine for our needs. Now we have two kids, a Mazda 3, and the Protege. The Protege is still fabulous and the Mazda 3 is great, but...the rear-facing car seat doesn't fit behind the driver's side.
This is only a minor inconvenience for us, since the passenger (i.e., me) is short and can move the seat all the way forward. If, however, you expect to have tall people in the passenger seat, I'm afraid the Mazda 3 won't do. Which is too bad because it's a spiffy little car :)
I definitely agree with other comments - you do not need a big ass car just because you have a baby.
We have a Saturn Ion (the four door version). Love it. It is quite zippy and maneuverable - great for city driving, and it has a very large trunk for how small it is. Also, the rear seats can fold down for when you need to tote larger items. The price was nice (inside your budget for a new one), and every time I have taken it to the dealer for service it has been a pleasure. They actually make AND stick to appointment times.
We were able to fit a rear facing car seat in the middle position of the back seat with no problem. Thing 2 now sits comfortably in a Britax Roundabout, even when she is behind my 6'4" tall husband. I didn't go for the Marathon because I was concerned about the size, plus Thing 1 aged out of the car seat requirement, and was tall enough to wear a seat belt properly before she hit 65 pounds. I expect the same growth pattern for Thing 2. There is plenty of room for two older kids next to the car seat, so we can carpooling with friends of Thing 1. Three not-so-large adults have also fit back there, too.
I loved my Impreza and it was definitely more than adequate for me, spouse, baby (and gear), and dog. But the AWD costs you MPG - I got between 25 and 30 mpg, which isn't so great considering the size of the car.
Now I have a Prius that I LOVE LOVE LOVE. We've done lots of around town and in state trips with it with 3 adults and toddler. But add a dog or a lot of luggage and it's a bit cramped. Fortunately, toddlers don't require legroom so you can fill that space with stuff.
I have recently purchased a much researched and truly beloved 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDi. I am delighted to have a clean disel car, I am nerdy and handy enough to do biodiesel eventually, and I paid 24K for a car that is extremely safe, handles and drives well, has awesome torque for our own eventual move to the snowy climes, and is getting in its first 1200 miles (have to break the engine in) over 40 mpg. There's also a 1300 tax credit for buying this car.
The smaller cars are OK, but I am tall and I really couldn't stand them. I would also not be thrilled with putting my family's kids and my eventual ones into it. The space available is also not good for someone like me who has a lot of need to haul crap about. (Also, if you drive stick, and the boy does not so I didn't get it, much better fuel economy of course.)
You want a car that can grow with you, too. Kids are going to get older, have more stuff, be larger, you name it. You sound like people who want a car to go the distance, not to be dumped or traded in at 60-100K.
I previously had a 1994 Camry (V6) that a Land Rover totaled for me. I had 280K on it. We also have a 2005 Prius that's got maybe 100K on it (we both drive too much for work) and we love that too. The Camry would have gone forever, it really would have.
Seems like you are getting a lot recommendations to go bigger, but Fit owners are still scarce enough that I feel moved to pipe up.... I was thinking of the Fit as an answer to your query before I even got to your list of choices. I adore my Fit, now 1.5 yrs old. I'm getting about 31-32 mpg in town, up to 40 on road trips. Somewhat to my surprise, it handles better in snow (I live in Colorado) than did the Civic I drove for 16 years; I did avoid the Sport model due to the suspiciously low clearance of those bottom panels. It fits into small parking places. Inside, even my tall dad finds the headroom ample; it's easier on his arthritic knees to get in and out than the lower-slung Civic. The seats are adequately comfortable and reasonably grunge-resistant; I do add a lumbar pillow for long road trips. I don't haul kids in carseats but I do haul a lot of gear for skiing, camping, and teaching workshops, and for packing and unpacking I LOVE the hatchback, the split seat fold-down options, and the high vertical clearance due to the extreme flatness of the fold-down. The rear storage looks small but actually holds quite a bit, I find (I'd test whether it will hold a stroller cross-wise). And, to dispel one myth, modern automatic transmissions are as fuel-efficient as manuals these days for all but the most expert drivers. Lastly, you can't beat the price - especially for something so durn cute!
Honda Civic Hybrid!
44 mpg average in city driving.
But pricier than the regular Civic.
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