Looking for a New Car - What Do You Like?

I really like the Honda CRV. It drives really well in the snow. My 6ft tall daughter has room in the backseat. It also has quite a bit of "trunk" room for all the kids stuff.

I have the Lexus IS and LOVE it!

Acura TL is pretty great for a sedan and had plenty of legroom. I am 5'10" and I sat in the backseat from Chicago - Minneapolis and did just fine in it.

For a crossover - Acura RDW is a BLAST if you get it with Turbo :) I drove it in a snowstorm last winter while my car was in the shop and was quite confident in its abilities

For a full-sized SUV, Acura MDX - we had one and it was great (with 2 kdis), but knowing that we wanted more kids, we moved to a van.

My sister bought a Toyota Venza and she LOVES it.

I have a Nissan Pathfinder (with the 3rd row that doesn't have much leg room) and I do like it. I need a 4 wheel drive for our winter's otherwise I would have something smaller with better gas mileage.

A van. With two kids I find I need the extra seating so we can bring friends on outings and carpool. Roadtrips are definitely better with the extra space you get in a van.

We just boughta jeep compass, and We love it. Its great size for our family of four, and we bought a 2011 and got it for a great price! I never pictured myself havinga jepp, we were honda people, but we love it. I dont know about the snow thing though. Where I live in Texas we dont get much of that!

I just called a mechanic who works on high end cars. He's a family friend and he gave me some insight. I have been looking, too.

He told me that he sees alot of Volvo SUVs once they hit 80,000+ miles. He replaces alot of tranmissions in the X90 model. Also, he said to steer clear of a car when is introduced. I was looking at a 2010 X60. He did not rec it because it's a new SUV -- and 2010 was it's first year out. Same thing w/ the Venza.

We have 1 Lexus SUV. The bills are outrageous!

We drove our last 2 Hondas until they couldn't drive anymore---which was well over 200,000 miles on each one ! They were great vehicles and never needed any major repairs. We always changed the oil on schedule.

In the June 2010 Consumer Reports the small SUVs were rated in this order: Toyota Rav4 (3rd row and 23 MPG), Subaru Forester, Honda CRV, Mazda CX5, Nissan Rogue, Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson.

I drove the Rav4. I loved it !

I LOVE my Honda Odyssey-touring elite. It is a luxury car. I had a lexus suv. I have a 5 and 3 year old and we all love the sliding doors, etc. Encourage you to drive one. Life with the kids is so much easier with the minivan. A big benefit is that you can carpool. I can take kids home after school for playdates. Great trunk.

Subaru or Volvo. That's what I'd get if I had to drive in the snow. The Subaru is more practical, whereas the Volvo you can get more luxury.
Good luck!

I don't know you, what your family does or how old your kids are. Sports that are played if any...do you take other kids places with you? We bought with OUR needs in mind.

I have two boys - ages 10 & 12. We routinely take their friends places.
We have baseball, soccer and LaCrosse.
I needed ROOM!!!

The car you have - you could probably still get $20K for it if the body is in good shape. BMWs are nice cars but like Mercedes, when they break? They break big!!

We have a Honda Odyssey and a Honda CR-V. My minivan is new to me - we bought it in May 2012.

We carry other kids frequently - so I needed a 7+ passenger car. My husband was against a Suburban (Land Yacht to him ). So we stuck with the Minivan.

You might like the roominess of the Cadillac Escalade and the upgraded features.

My girlfriend has a Lexus LX 570 that fits 5 comfortably. Her husband has a 2012 Toyota Sequoia Platinum that seats 8. Both of these cars have the leather upgrades you are looking for and GREAT maintenance backgrounds!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!

Go for a Toyota Sienna...I have a 2006 and love it....I still owe $ on it but I do want to sell it. You'll LOVE the space! Even if you bought a used one like I did, you will still be happy. Toyota has free oil changes and a lot of other free freebies. :) I love the new 2012 Sienna's...a lot of money though!

Good luck!

We are Mercedes drivers and will drive nothing else. We have 3 (CLK350 daughter, E350 hubby, SL550 me) and never had any major issues with them at all. We follow the book on care of them and only our dealer has touched them. The only issues we've had were simple and covered under the warranty.

That said.... you metioned snow. When it snows here or gets icy (we DO NOT drive at all) because here in TX some people truly believe you can drive on ice, lol. We stay away and off the roads in bad weather.

I have a couple of neighbors with the Mercedes SUV and they love them.

My best friend has a lemon BMW... she does not walk out of the repair shop for less than $1000. She's moving to Mercedes.

Good luck!

We have a Nissan Armada (LOVE it and drives amazing in the snow), a Toyota Prius (love the gas mileage because my husband drives 2 hours each way to work), and a Toyota Camry Hybrid (love the gas mileage and it fits the 5 of us for short trips.

I haven't had the Camry in the snow yet, but they are amazing cars and you see old ones all the time. My neighbors have one that must be from the mid-90's and it does fine in the snow. It's roomy and the trunk space is fabulous! I've put about 10000 miles on mine and I got it in the very end of February this year! But that's how much I drive, and why we got a second hybrid :).

We have a Ford Expedition with all the bells and whistles. Love it. I used to get a new car every 2 or 3 years, and was a huge BMW fan. Considered the X5, but that thing has no trunk space! That led us on our search, which culminated in the Expedition, and I've now had it for 10 years! It has 175K miles on it, never had a major mechanical issue (and only a small handful of minor issues, all wear and tear related). It's great for carpooling (you can haul 6 kids plus all their stuff). Great safety features - we were once rear-ended by someone who was traveling 60mph (he was in a full-sized Ram pickup, we were sitting still). We all walked away without a scratch, and the Expedition only needed a new bumper. No joke - built like a tank, this thing.

So, my husband keeps saying we need a new car, and I keep telling him he'll have to pry this one out of my cold, dead hands. LOL Anyway, I will buy another Expedition, or maybe a Navigator (same thing as an Expedition, really). I have no complaints about this SUV. It has been a total workhorse with all the luxuries I had been used to with my BMWs.