Three years in, we do not love our Toyota Sienna. It feels like it’s too big 95% of the time. We have five year old twins and are done having kids. Cars I’m thinking about: Toyota Highlander, RAV4, Honda CRV or Pilot, Suburu Outback or Forester. What would you recommend? We want something that sits up higher ( we drive a lot of country roads with minor flooding), and we go to the mountains fairly regularly. I imagine we’ll have a fair amount of kids’ sports equipment to haul around soon.
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@Eminthevalley: do you ever have other people riding with you, or do you just need space for the 4 of you?
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I really like our Nissan Pathfinder. I think we got a lot of higher end features for a really reasonable price. We’ve had it for over 5 years and no complaints. We are selling it this summer though and getting the new Subaru Ascent that is coming out. My Dh loves our Subaru Legacy and really wants another Subaru. We aren’t ready to downsize to the outback size yet so will give the Ascent a go. The early reviews seem really positive.
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I really like my CRV, but if budget hadn’t been a factor would have gone with the Outback just because it’s a little higher end and wider so sitting 3 across in the back is possible even with car seats. I personally prefer the CRV over the Forester (we got to drive a Forester for a week, and based on that decided to go with the CRV). No experience with the Toyota’s, but the CRV and the Subaru’s are rated higher.
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My husband had a forrester when we started dating, and as much as I was raised GM/Chevrolet by my hot rod loving mechanic/auto body family... It was actually nice. It drove nice, it got great gas mileage if he could keep his foot out of the gas, it wasn't too big.
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Another vote for the Nissan Pathfinder. It drives like a car, but has the option of the 3rd row that folds down for a ton of cargo space. We've used the 3rd row a few times when we had multiple people to take with us. The kids' car seats fit great in there. We have a 5.5 and a 2.5 year old. So one high back booster and one convertible car seat.
ETA - I drive a 2003 Highlander, and we also test drove a Highlander before the Pathfinder. The Pathfinder won for me 10x over. I feel like with Toyota, you're paying for the name and the supposed reliability. We've sunk more money in the Highlander than any other car we've owned. It was DH's old car that he bought brand new right after he graduated college, and it's given him nothing but problems. We're currently waiting to pay off our Pathfinder to get me a new car, and we're looking at Subarus and the Nissan Rogue. I just felt like the new Highlanders weren't any nicer than my current 15 year old Highlander, and you got more for your money with any other brand.
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@Eminthevalley: I've had a Subaru Forester since we bought it new in 09 and its served very well, I love it. While I would highly recommend it, it depends on how much stuff you plan to haul, etc. I have 4 year old twins and we're about grown out of it as it's getting more difficult to find room for all the stuff we need to pack for trips to the lake, road trips, etc. All this to say, it's a great choice so long as it's big enough for all your crap
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We have a 2015 Pilot (so, the last 'boxy' model) and we LOVE it. I have a 5 & 2 yo, and we're always toting around a ton of stuff, and the third row is great when you need it (a pain to get into though, so not ideal if needed all the time)
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Check out the Hyundai Santa Fe. I love mine!
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Depends on if you need a third row for extra passengers. I think you will find most third row vehicles feel large to drive. The Pilot is huge like a tank. If you can get away with just 2 rows, I love the Outback. It is lower to the ground but has all or 4WD so you should be ok. Check out the Forester if you really need it higher. Honda is better than Toyota for car seats and seat belts in general. I think the Rav4 doesn't technically allow for 3 passengers in the back (with or without car seats) due to the overlapping seatbelts. We had a Rav4 but had to get rid of it because of the poor seatbelt design, whereas we would have been fine with a CRV.
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we haven't started shopping yet but I got a ton of great info on small-medium SUV's from my thread about this last month:
http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/small-suv-or-station-wagon-recommendations/page/2#post-2808768 -
@2PeasinaPod: knock on wood, but we have that body Highlander too, and have had no issues at all whatsoever with it. And we're nearing 120k miles.
Having said that, it's been good to us,and we do actually use the 3rd row a fair amount, but the small middle seat in the second row makes it hard for car seats so I would only recommend it if people only need 2 car seats max.
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While I love our Honda CRV, I def also love the space we have with our Sienna (we traded cars with my in-laws so we can have a minivan so no say in the car itself). So I'm not sure if going down to just 2 row would become too small for you. I'd focus on looking at SUVs with 3rd row for the extra cargo space and occasional extra riders. I like the new look of the Pilots, and if you can swing it, the MDX is also amazing.
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We are looking at the new VW Atlas.
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I have 2 kids (ages 4 and almost 2) and I just leased a new Forester. I had the CRVpreviously, but hated the redesign. I love the visibility of the Forester and the gigantic moonroof. Storage space is the same across all the small SUVs. As stated in earlier posts, I didn’t like he Outback and found it claustrophobic. We decided to lease the Forester since I think I’m going to want a bigger car as my kids get older and bigger. I won’t get a car unless it has AWD since we live in the northeast. While the Forester has awesome gas mileage, I will probably get the Subaru ascent or the Honda Pilot next.
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if you don't need more seats than 5 people, we love our outback! we're about to have our third and are keeping it for a while longer (hopefully!) because we don't drive extra people at this point and the trunk is spacious! and it's AWD means you can do those back roads easily!
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@Anagram: That's a good question...we originally got the minivan for the 3rd row, but we've only used it twice in four years. Mostly we cart around one of our parents with us, but they have bad knees/backs and can't get back there and don't do second row either. So I don't know. I guess when the kids get older maybe friends would ride back there? I mean they have to be in car seats until they go to college these days basically so does anyone get to take additional kids in their cars ever?
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@Charm54: thanks! I've heard other good things about the Pathfinder; might have to add it to the list.
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@LCTBQE: thanks for this! Super helpful!
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@crazydoglady: I've heard good things. We had a Hyundai Tucson before the minivan and it was not a good car. Lots of problems. But the Santa Fe seems like a better one.
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@Eminthevalley: I semi-frequently transport my daughter's friend. She started doing drop-off playdates at around age 4 and when its convenient I will drive one way. We only have two kids, so we usually keep the third row down, but its incredibly helpful to have in those times (which are increasing). The kid's mom just drops off her carseat with the kid.
They have a RAV-4, so they can never transport my daughter. We actually have to trade cars in two weeks because they are picking our daughter up from school so we can both be with our son while he has an operation.I don't think you NEED the third row, but I will say that once you start having more regular and consistent playdates/relationships with kids it definitely makes it easier. That said, someone else will always have a minivan, so I'm sure you could work out something.
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