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Airbags all around. Safety, safety and more safety. I like a car that feels heavy on the road, too, if that makes sense at all. And, superficially, I just cannot live without a sunroof. I live in the subburbs and travel to the city often.

Have fun car shopping! That's exciting!

@LovelyPlum: awd / 4wd. No sedans.

4wd! I also look for a car that feels heavy on the road, has substance to it. A comfortable driver's seat. I drive a full size SUV - my standard commute is about 20 highway miles each way, 5 days a week, plus city driving.

4wd or awd, room for two car seats, safety/collision ratings, gas mileage.

I live somewhere with 4 distinct seasons. Can get tons of snow/ice, some years, none.

Gas mileage, safety, durability and size. DH and I share a 2008 Toyota Yaris and we chose it because it's efficient and doesn't take up much space. We live in a city and parallel park everywhere (including at home), so having a small car that can fit into tight spaces is important to us. Our city gets four seasons and the Yaris handles well in them all. Also we've never had any mechanical problems with it (although I problem just jinxed us). It's a car that's built for the long haul: it has 103K miles on it and we're hoping to drive it for another 103K. Good luck with your search!

We need a third row with enough space behind for a stroller or two, awd or 4wd, we live in the country, have a very long rainy season with occasional ice and snow. We went with a Honda Pilot, the ratings were great, we got a great warranty, the gas mileage stinks though.

For our last car, our criteria was:
Safety ratings
"fun to drive"
Interior must have memory seating and a power liftgate
Awd medium sized SUV

We bought a Nissan Murano I like it a lot and it was pretty good value for the money compared to its competitors.

@LovelyPlum: I love having a hatchback. We drove the sedan model to PA and it was nice but didn't have the room of the hatchback. Nissan also has tested most car seats on the market in all of their cars and published the documents, which I really like.

I currently drive a Toyota Matrix, and its a great car. Its old (2004) and has 175k miles on, but its great. My husband drives a Toyota Corolla (2003) with 125k miles on it. Also great & reliable.
We are trying to get it to last for two more years, at which point we will be in a much better position to afford car payments.

When that time comes, we're planning on getting (most likely) a Subaru Outback. I really like the hatchback style, it creates so much more room for packing for trips and the like. Now that I have a kid, I'd really like to have AWD for the rough winters that we have here. We don't need a full sized SUV, and would rather take a slightly smaller vehicle with better gas mileage at this point. In the future, we will need something with 3rd row seating. But not yet!
My husband will get another sedan of some kind, with the emphasis on gas mileage.

We will probably both get used cars, but only a couple years old. I don't mind driving used, and you can get great deals on a car that is only a couple years old. We have both been loyal to Toyota, and had incredible luck with dependable, long lasting vehicles. As our income increases, we will start to choose vehicles with more luxury features- I really like the BMW X1- but maybe in 7 years or so

3rd row , backup cam, built in Sirius XM, roomy, 4WD/AWD, leather for easy cleanup (we have a drooly dog and a messy kid)

We bought a Nissan Pathfinder last year and it

We live in a snowy climate, rural/suburbs

safety, room for 3 carseats/boosters, leather (easier to clean), AWD, comfy heated seats, sunroof, remote liftgate

next time i'll pay better attention to fuel economy, i get 14/mpg & it makes me crazy, i have such guilt over that. also, i want a backup camera, i can barely see behind me & when i bought an after market one & tried to have it installed, they told me it would void my warranty, so i'd make sure there weren't any options missing that i might want. i live in a med sized city in new england, but i have off street parking, i drive mostly around town, but some highway

@Mrs. Jump Rope: your doors can open themselves or just your liftgate on the trunk?? i would loooooove it if my doors opened & closed themselves!

I need tall clearance- for the snow, but also for my back! I always sit next to LO to get her out of her seat since I hurt my back in the newborn days.

In relative order of importance
1. AWD. I started requiring this after we hydroplaned while driving under the speed limit.
2. safety- should be a top safety pick
3. reliability/cost of repairs
4. gas mileage
5. I look at where it is made.
Everything else is bonus, but I really do like heated leather seats and that my phone links with the stereo system.

FWIW, I drive a Subaru Impreza and I LOVE it! AWD, top safety pick, great gas mileage, sunroof, awesome tech package, heated leather seats, GPS, fold down back seats that recently allowed me to fit my kayak in the car (VERY cozy but the trunk did close).

I live in Michigan and mainly drive to work and around town.

1) AWD
2) Fuel economy
3) Cost
4) Leg room and head room (DH is tall)
5) I will now be looking at how easy it is to get LO in and out of the carseat because it is such a PITA with my car.

@LovelyPlum: I have an Impreza hachback and I love it It does great in the snow (though we don't have much around here). My biggest priority at the time was a hachback because I love how functional it is for carting around stuff. Unfortunately, the gas mileage isn't great, though they did just come out with a hybrid Crosstrek that is similar (just a bit taller).

Safety, reliability, longevity, 4WD (winters in MN!), towing (we have one car for our family and DH has a boat).