I currently drive a older Chevy Cobalt, and it has seen better days. It seems like every other week something goes wrong with it, and SO agrees that now is a good time to get something new before the whole thing just falls apart! I have never driven a brand new vehicle, and as much as I want to enjoy this process, it is seriously stressing me out!

FI owns a newer Ford F150, so we are looking to get a car, preferably one that is good on gas. Our plan is to lease - I know, this is not a hugely popular option, but we've talked about it a lot and this is what we are going with for now.

I was really interested in the 2014 Chevy Cruze, but I've read so much about how cramped the back seats are, so I'm a little worried about car seat installation. We don't have kids yet ourselves (hopefully TTC this year!), but I nanny for two children who are both in convertibles, and I always have (at least) one of them in my car.

I've been looking at vehicles up to $26,000 -- I know it isn't much, but this is my comfort zone for a short-ish lease. We already own one vehicle that was more expensive than I wanted; I'd just personally rather spend my dollars on other things, but SO obviously feels differently than I do

- Decent on fuel
- Roomy enough for 2 convertible car seats (while still leaving leg room in the front)
- Automatic transmission
- A vehicle that won't break the bank if we go above the base model; I'm looking for power locks/windows, AUX input, climate control, that sort of thing. I don't want to downgrade my car at this point

Can anyone offer any suggestions/recommendations?