Need Help Choosing a Car

S.--I have a Honda Odyssey and LOVE IT! I would say, however, if your car is paid for, that is a huge burden off of you and you have to consider what the car is worth TO YOU, and how long you need to make use of it, and not what the dealers will give you for it.

I love that all my kids and friends will fit (mine seats 8) and I love the gas mileage. I have a model (2005) with a sunroof...so I at least feel like I am driving a cool car...also, at the gas stations a great deal of the time, the cashier will call it an SUV...I don't know why a van bothered me for so long! I just put new tires on it, and that is the only thing I have done besides oil, gas and filters. (in 50,000 miles)

I love my van....

Hi, S.. We have a Toyota Sienna CE-minivan. I'm not one for minivans, but it works. I love my SUV's, but when I had my wreck, this came available, in our price range-so we wouldn't have to make payments, etc. I will admit that it does have lots of room. We have 2 girls and I often times have my 2 neices as well. There is a space between the 2 front seats, so if I need to get up to take care of something, I can. The middle seat sits 2 and is one full seat. The last seat sits 3, and the seats are 2 seperate seats, so you can take one out and leave one in. My DH is in a band, so it has been very usable and roomy with all his music gear, me, and the girls. Oh, and one nice thing about it, is that when my oldest opens the door, I don't have to worry that she will hit another car with it-since they slide. Good Luck to you.

I've got an 03 Honda Pilot and love it!! In fact, I got it a week before my son was born!! I had a Escort and I knew 2 kids wouldn't fit back there very well. I don't use the 3rd row seat very often so it stays folded down which gives me more room in the back to keep the unmbrella stroller and what not. It handles like a car, I get about 300+ miles to a full tank of gas (most of my driving is in town but I get around 400 on the highway). Hope that helps!! Good luck when you need to go car shopping!!

S.

Well I have always driven fords and I have a Ford Windstar, but my husband little escort just died so we were stuck needing a new vehicle. We have 4 children and two need a booster seat and two are in car seats, that leaves me pretty limited in choices. I did not want another minivan, (mom mobile) so I oppted for a suv, with the gas prices ouch.. I looked at the smaller suvs and the only one tha thad everything I wanted was the Honda Pilot.. I drive that now with all the kids, and my husband got the minivan ( he says that he had to turn in his man card) but he feels better that we are in the pilot for safety and comfort.
I LOVE IT!!! and I think I will be with it for a long time. Gas is comparable to the van, and it is the only non hybrid suv that has an eco friendly fuel emmissions, when it reached a certain speed it cuts back on the engine. There are great deals on them right now and great prices, go for an 08 and you can get a better deal. I offered them 9,000 less than sticker price and walked out with an even more upgraded version 7,500 less than sticker.
a good place to view, compare, and see what the going rate in your area is for vehicles, go to www.edmunds.com it was very helpful in the decision making process. don't let them cook you in the deal, be prepared to walk out if you don't get what you want. donot pay the amount they want for fees, give them a price. tell them ehat you want, and stick to it, get everything in writing and have a lender in mind, unless you want to go with their finacing, we did that because it was the best deal. Oh did I mention while I was in doing the dealing, my husband was in the car with the kids...
ok that was more than a few ideas... sorry I love to tell that story, I really felt power in it all and my husband is so proud. Good luck with the hunt.

If you're wanting something bigger and better able to carry your two plus some friends, I'd say a Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey. Consumer Reports loves them too.

Hello S.! Allow me to completely disagree with the rest and share with you my vehicular excitement - the new Dodge Charger! Before you freak out on me, it has PLENTY of space for (up to) 2 kids. If you're planning on more....go ahead and go with the minivan moms. :D It has TONS of trunk space, it's luxurious inside, and if you have the money, it can run up to $40k, but the V6s with moderate equipping will probably run more like $28-30k. Not to sound like a dang Dodge dealership here, but MAN I love my car so much, and if you buy a brand new one, Dodge is running it's $2.99/gal gas for 3 years and you get a lifetime powertrain warranty and a 1 year subscription to Sirius radio and, if you get one, Sirius backseat TV (Disney, Nickelodean (sp??), and Cartoon Network).

I've had my new Charger for a little over 2 months, I have one daughter, but I can easily see two toddler-sized carseats in the back of this car. The interior is huge, as is the trunk. They can come with backseat TVs and headsets that ONLY work in the backseat (they don't even work in the front passenger seat) if you plan on any long trips (it can also play DVDs).

Maybe the minivans others have mentioned come with these things (especially the Dodge Caravan probably), but I just wanted to open the door a little to these awesome cars that many women discount because they're "muscle cars" not "family cars". The new ones are MADE to be Family Muscle Cars. Check it out! We got ours from Hoover on Trolley Rd in Summerville, but Hendrick on Savannah Hwy has some too, I'm pretty sure. Best of luck in your car quest!! :D

We drive a Toyota Van and before that a Dodge Grand Caravan. We love vans! They have so much room and are very comfortable and you can have family/friends ride with you if needed (unless you have a lot of children....I'm pregnant with my 5th).

BUT, if you are looking NOW..I'd go with a hybrid or something like that, that would save you money-wise. Gas is so expensive now and will only rise.

If I was personally looking for a vehicle now, I'd definitely be looking for something that is electric, hybrid, etc.

Hi! I absolutely LOVE my 2003 Honda CRV. I got it used and it has been a dream to drive. Very easy to get my son in and out of (this is especially wonderful since I am pregnant again.) With older children I do agree the Honda Odyssey is wonderful. I didn't want a "minivan" so I opted for the SUV type. It gets very good gas mileage too (similar to a car even though it's an SUV) and this is important these days!

I drive a toyota sienna minivan. I love all the practical things, ie; very easy to get kids in and out, don't have to worry about them slamming doors into the next car, lots of seating for our many visitors, fits lots of strollers and groceries, gets decent gas mileage, reliable. The only drawback is that I have to tell people I drive a minivan. :o)

S., I am driving an 04 Honda Pilot. I love it, I cannot think of one thing that I do not like about it. It is big, but not huge. It rides really well, I live in Georgia with family in Florida (8-12 hour drive) and I have never had a problem with the car. My kids on the other hand, no one likes to ride in a car for that long. :P The gas prices are bad, but compared to others that I know with vehicles the same size or larger than mine, we don't do to bad. Honda's are very good cars, they last forever, they hold up really well, and a very safe vehicles. I had POS for my first car, and then I got a Honda Accord and loved it. I have only drove Honda's ever since. I do look at others, but I have always gone back to a Honda. The Pilot is really nice. It has seating for 8, including the driver, all the back seats can lay down out of the way, the middle back seats move forward & back for more or less floor room. I have noticed in a lot of SUV's that the floor of the third row of seats is higher, so your knees are in your chest, the Pilot does not have that, the floor is the same level at the rest of the vehicle. As you can tell, I love my Pilot and I would recomend a Honda to anyone especially if they have children.

Here is a site that helped me when buying a car. I became one tough cookie and snagged a wonderful deal!! LOL Hubby was there, but let me do the talking. I am still driving the car I negotiated and it has been almost 5 years.

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/used.htm

Hi S.,

I drive a Honda Pilot '07 that I got from Ed Voyles in Marietta (great place by the way). I got it last summer when I upgraded from my Saturn SL2. Needless to say, I got a whole lot more room when I moved from a tiny 4 door that barely sat 4 regular size people to an 8 passenger SUV. With that said, the third row seat on the Pilot does not have much leg room. Three people can sit back there comfortably, but I wouldn't want to try that out on a long car trip. The seats overall are comfortable and there is plenty of room in the second row for my son's car seat, plus two additional people. The only thing I don't like about my Pilot is the cost of filling up the gas tank. It gets decent mileage so I don't really have to fill up all that often, but filling a 20 gallon tank at $4.00 a gallon is pricey.
One thing I really like about the Pilot is mine tells me when I need to get my oil changed. It has saved me a lot of money there. I don't have to do it every 3 months, more like every 5 because there is a gauge that tells me how much oil life I have left. There also is rear air control so I can have the back seats at a different temp than the front seats. I don't like it very cold, but my son loves air conditioning so we can have different temps and we're both happy. Plus, the Pilot is very affordable. I priced it next to Saturn's SUV, the Toyota Highlander and the Ford Expedition and it was definitely (in my opinion) the best value for the money. Good luck with the car shopping. Do ALOT of online research and get price quotes before you ever go to a dealership. I'd be happy to help you through the process if you'd like.

Hi,
I drive a Dogde Grand Caravan and it runs great for the most part. It seats seven and has room in the trunk. It does however have brake issues here and there...constantly changing brake pads. I'd heard this about Dogdge but didn't believe it but it's happened with me. It's not a HUGE deal but I wanted to share.

Now, the Toyota Sienna...I've heard wonderful things about from friends that own it. Seats fold down, windows in the back roll down...has many features and runs great. In my opinion, Toyota is a GREAT manufacuturer. I acutally wished I would have bought a Toyota but funds were limited.

Happy Shopping!
D.

I have done lots of research. The Saturn Outlook seems to be a front runner in everything I look up.

We have 3 kids 3 and under and had to trade in our cross country volvo (which I loved and broke my heart) because the back seat couldn't fit 3 car safety seats. So we now have a Honda Odyssey minivan which does make our lives SO MUCH EASIER. Plenty of room for kids and other passengers, plenty of head room, makes gettign the kids in and out much easier.

That said, we have already picked out our next car,when the kids are old enough to buckle themselves in and out: the Honda Pilot, a mid-sized SUV with 3 row seating.

I would check both vehicles out on Consumer Reports, both are top picks in their class.

Good luck,
Liz

My husband drove a Honda Prelude (small sports car) for over 10 years with NO major problems, so when we needed a larger car, we looked at Honda first.

We love love LOVE out Honda Odyssey, especially when extra kids tags along. And we love it on road trips.
They certainly aren't cheap, though - even the used ones are in pretty high demand. Also, I would love to have a car with better gas mileage. I mean, it's a minivan, so there's only so much you can do until they start making hybrid minivans.

We've had very good luck with Honda's reliability - I still drive that Honda Prelude every day (now 12 years old).

Oh, and starting in the year 2007, the Odyssey starting making the backseat windows that can roll down, which for us was a big deal. (That's the second row, not the 3rd one.)

I got a Ford Freestyle (it is now being changed to the Ford Taurus for some reason). It's a cross over vehicle and has good gas mileage. I have an 18 month old in a large Britax carseat and it fits great. It has 3 rows which will be great carting little ones around in the future and lots of great features. We looked at several makes and "fell" into this one. We were originally looking at the explorer. I LOVE my car! The back row even flips to look out the back of the car so you can tailgate! Check them out!

Minivans are the best! I used to dislike them until I had kids. I drive a Toyota Sienna with the automatic side door. This allows you to open the door with just your key or by pressing an inside button. VERY good when you have a kid in your arms or by the hand or both. It also is one of the very few vans where the large side windows roll down. They only roll down half-way for safety measures. It has a lot of cool features and PLENTY of cup holders and places for the kids to plug in their hi-tech gadgets. We LOVE it. It has the great "LATCH" anchors for car seats, too. We got ours pre-owned at a decent price, it was only a year old and had less than 10,000 miles on it. I definitely recommend trying to get a slightly used/pre-owned one because a brand new one is pretty expensive. Another great minivan is the Honda Odyssey, but they are expensive also and hard-to-find pre-owned because they get sold so fast. But Toyota and Honda make the best minivans so if you are going to spend the money then you may as well try and get the best, right? Minivans are so nice when you drive long distances, too. VERY comfortable. It gets about 21 mpg.
But if you don't want a minivan, check out the latest Consumer Reports magazine. This issue has a listing of cars that give the best gas mileage. You also want a safe car and they can give you the ratings on that, too. Good luck! - C.

I have been driving a Nissan Quest van. It is one of the roomiest minivans available. I love it because it not only fits all kids- on the girls getaway we can get 6 adults in the van very comfortably. It's pretty good on gas and drives like a dream. Before that I had a nissan Ultima car and I actually prefer the way the van drives.
GOOD LUCK and hope this helps!

I have a Dodge Grand Caravan and I love it. I am not a fan of American made cars, but this one is pretty good. I would have preferred a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey but the budget didn't allow for it unfortunately. Another recommendation for the Dodge Grand Caravan came from my mother's best friend. She bought the original Caravan when it first came out in the 80's, and every time she goes in for a new car, she just trades her Grand Caravan in on a new one.

I fit two car seats, one booster seat and two adults in the back, as well as two adults in the front. It fits seven easily with all the seats. I drove it from Georgia to Vermont and averaged over 23mpg. (Of course, my little car gets better, but it doesn't fit everyone.)

We have a 04 Ford Freestar and we love it, the rear seat folds in the floor so when we dont need the extra seats we have the extra room for the dog , bags of mulch or whatever.

I drive a ford taurus and even though it is a car is has a decent amount of room for a car.I can fit 2 people or carseats in the back and 3 people in the front.

Hi S.,

I drive a Saab 9-3. We bought it used and it was an absolutely great deal, and there is a station wagon version available. The vehicle itself gets great gas mileage, runs so smooth, and has a great sound and air/heat system. I will definitely buy another Saab when we decide to sell this one.