Looking for Family Friendly Car

We have a Jeep (because we transport a lot of musical gear, and are on dirt roads a lot) & an 03 Mazda Protege. LOVE the Protege as a sedan... but when we replace it, we're getting a Prius. Hands down.

Especially on car buying though (although we use them for everything from toasters, to mowers, air conditioners to TV's)... consumer reports is worth every single penny.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm

I love my Prius and because the seats flip down it acts like a station wagon if necessary. Great savings on gas. I get about 43 miles per gallon or more.

Glad you are all ok!

Have you checked out Kias at all? I know they used to have a horrible reputation, but we love ours and they have a surprising amount of standard safety features. We have the mini-van and it's the safest mini van tested. The Rondo or the Optima might be good options for you...As an FYI...my sister also has the minivan and last year someone ran a red light and T-boned them in an intersection. Air bags deployed...my niece, nephew and both sisters were fine. My one sister had some bruises from the air bag going off, but that was it. The car was totaled and they got another one.

Good luck!
-M

PS...you can check out www.safercar.gov for safety ratings.

I love my 2009 VW Jetta TDI. My dh and I do alot of driving, it gets great mileage. We get about 39 mpg on average. Plus it runs on diesal fuel so its a bit easier on the wallet when your gassing up weekly. We have a 6yr old and 10 month old. The kids are comfortable in the back. After the fact I wish we would have got the wagon instead of the sedan. The trunk is big, but I would have enjoyed the extra space.

I always stick with Honda for safety and reliability. We have the Honda Accord too for our sedan. My sister in law has the Honda Pilot - it's pretty big but it runs like a smaller car. My Aunt loves her CRV.... you can't go wrong with any of them.

Take the whole family out to the car dealer and try them all out to see which feels the most comfortable!

Good luck.

I have to recommend a Toyota Prius....great on gas mileage, fits kids well in the back seat and the hatchback works great for groceries, soccer equipment...you name it. I have a fifteen year old girl, a six year old boy and an eight month old boy...I was worried it wouldn't work, but it does. It is too small to go on road trips but for in the city...fabulous!!!

Hi L.,

I absolutely LOVE my Nissan Murrano. I've had it for 4 years now and I still can't see myself driving anything different. It gets really good mileage on the highway, not quite as good around town but all the bells and whistles make up for it. Very comfortable to drive and to be a passenger. My family loves it.

Also check out the Mazda 5. It seats 6 and is roomy for storage with the two rear seats folded down. There are two seats in the middle row. The gas mileage ranges from 22 to 28 mpg I think. I love mine. The MSRP for the base model is around 19,975 but we got ours through the internet haggling for about 16,900. Whichever car you decide on, spend about a day on the phone calling different dealerships and ask to talk to the internet sales department or the fleet manager. They can usually give you a deal. Good luck!

I also am glad everyone is ok. I personally drive a Chrysler Pacifica and absolutely love it. If you're not going with a brand new car, I wanted to mention to you that you might want to check out Enterprise Car Sales. The cars are very reliable and usually a much better deal than a dealership. There are lots of Enterprise Car Sales around -check them out online http://www.enterprisecarsales.com/carsales/deeplinkmap.do... - you can usually tell them what you're looking for and they'll do all the legwork for you. Good luck - please let me know if you decide to check them out. Just respond back to this :-)

We have a Honda CRV and a Volvo V70 and love them both. The new Volvo v60 might be a good crossover as well. Good luck!

I LOVE, love, love my Toyota Rav 4. I also drove and liked the Honda CRV but didn't like the way the seats folded up and preferred the way the Rav 4 drove. Whatever you get, definitely take your two car seats and test them in each car. That may be the deciding factor. Good luck!

We have a Rav4 Sport and a Prius. We love both cars and we both love to drive each other's cars. We only have one daughter, age 21 months and she loves both carseats and both cars. There is plenty of room for someone of normal size to sit on sit on both sides of her. We take the Rav4 on trips where we have to take suitcase and stroller, but we take the Prius everywhere else. Both cars have excellent acceleration, excellent visibility, excellent manuverability, we can do a u-turn on a normal 2 lane road, both cars are very reliable and very safe.

I love my sister's puris. It has more room than you would think and the hatch holds much more than a trunk. We took it out on dirt roads. The GPS is phenomenal. So is the gas mileage.

I work for Hyundai dealership. And not just because I work here I think they are great cars. I have owned 3 camry's and Gmc Yukon, and a couple of Fords. So I have been able to compare. The Sonata is a geat car it is not as expensive as the toyota's or nissans but it has a lot more safety features on the car. You mentioned your husband uses a car for long commutes so do I. We recently purchased an Elantra which is about the size of a Corolla, and it is great in gas since both my husband and I also commute far. If you want let me know we have great sales guys and no pressure if you would just come down to look and drive them. You make your decisions when you want but it's worth a look plus you can't beat the warranty 10,000 mile or 10yr warranty. You could also go on hyundaiusa.com and look. Let me know if I can be of any help.

A.

We are on our second Honda Civic Hybrid and we have loved both cars. Although the mileage isn't quite as good as the Toyota Hybrid, it just seems more "friendly" to us inside the car. It's quite snappy and responsive to drive, and we have gotten as high as 50 MPG on long trips if we pay attention to how we drive. We have had NO problems with either car, and are approaching 100,000 miles on the second one. The battery is still fine! There is plenty of room for two adults and two young children, and good trunk space as well. (Actually, we drive it with two teen-age grandsons and no complaints).

I LOVE my Subaru. Also, think you couldn't go wrong with a Prius

I know several people who own a Toyota Rav 4 and LOVE it. When we get a new car here soon that is what we will be buying.
Sorry to hear about the accident though. Thank goodness for no serious injuries! Good luck on the car hunt!

We have a Honda Civic Natural Gas Vehicle. It was a used fleet car and we love it. Natural gas is cheap and has a smaller carbon footprint. We have 4 seats (ours did not have the middle seat in the back for some reason). I have a 40 mile commute and I love this car. Our other car is an older Rav4 - the gas mileage is so so, but the car is super comfortable and holds a ton of stuff.

So many people overlook Mazda. Mazda's new MAZDA6 sedan is big and handles great. Also, they have a small cross-over called the Mazda CX-7. Zippy little thing and very cool.
I drive their large cross-over the Mazda CX-9 which is wonderful. I used to drive the XC-90. Not much of a step down really and I believe the handling is better in the Mazda and significantly less expensive to purchase and service. Check them out ... I don't think you'll be disappointed!

I positively LOVE my Honda Civic Hybrid! I've had it for 3 years and plan on keeping it forever.

Glad to hear everyone is alright. Why not go with another accord? I love mine. They are so reliable. Mine is 1998 w/ 250,000 miles and is excellenct. Or do you just want to try something different??