Love Your Car? I Need Family Sedan or Small SUV Suggestions. No Minivans.

Honda CRV. Awesome!

My parents have a Toyota Highlander and they like it very much, too.

YMMV
LBC

We have a Toyota Venza, which we are actually trying to sell due to a recent promotion on my husband's part (his new position came with a company car). I LOVE this car. It has great cargo space, for any gear you might need with the kids, and it's roomy on the inside, without feeling huge. I drive a Highlander, and I'm tempted to keep the Venza and get rid of the Highlander. Both are great vehicles, but the Venza is just a nice ride without feeling huge or "Soccer Mom"-ish! I didn't want a minivan either, so these were the two vehicles we went with. I couldn't be happier.

The honda CR-V fits all the requirements you have, especially the good gas mileage. I am on my second now and I love it! You can't go wrong with a Honda, in my opinion. I especially like that the back is a door that opens up and not sideways, so parallel parking is easy and you can get into the back without worrying about having room. I highly recommend it!

I too, really enjoy my CR-V... My only complaint with it is that the road noise is a little high. If you're planning to use it a lot for long distance trips, you might want to look for something a little higher-end. The Honda's do hold their value probably better than any other vehicle. I bought a used '04 CR-V in 2006, and I now have about $4000 - $6000 equity in the car (it has only depreciated about $4000 or so in the last 4.5 years.

I also HIGHLY recommend going to edmonds.com and checking out their "true cost to own calculator". It will give you an idea of how much it will cost to own each type of vehicle including maintenance costs, etc.

Good luck! :)

Depending on how much you want to spend, I would suggest the Buick Enclave or GMC Acadia. Both have the 3 things you listed above!

Very roomy, comfortable and wonderful vehicles to drive.

Honda Accord. LOVE Hondas. Comfortable, spacious, great cars that last forever.

I had a Toyota Avalon that I loved but I am not so sure I would buy a toyota now. Last year I bought a Volvo S60. I like it but it is a little small although my oldest now sits in the front seat most of the time. It is a little tight for her in the back but is ok for my 7 year old. I do miss the larger size of my old Avalon but I still recommend the Volvo. Happy car shopping!

Hi M. P---We purchased a used Volvo XC 70/Cross Country several years ago and absolutely love it. It is a station wagon, can be found with built in child seats and has high ground clearance with all-wheel drive making it a dream in the snow.

Volvos are designed with safety in mind so it goes through light bulbs quickly. We've decided that we want to keep this as long as possible so we keep up with recommended service...which does cost a bit more than a domestic model. But we have nearly 170,000 miles (44,000 when we got it) and it still looks and runs great. They are built to last a very LONG time when taken care of properly.

Mileage is 22/26 because of the all-wheel drive. But living where it snows, we've decided that we never want to be without that option. Good luck with your search. D.

I have a Pilot and Love, love love it!!! It is almost 8 years old and it has been totally reliable and great. As your kids get older you will need more and more room and this is one of those that allow for that.
Good luck

I have a Honday Pilot and LOVE it! I would recommend it to anyone- very safe, reliable and great on gas. My mother just bought a Ford Escape and she loves that too. In fact, when we are next in the market we'll probably look at those two options.

2010 Subaru Forester - I downsized from a Ford Explorer (that had 3rd row) for my family of four...I have two in car seats, plenty of cargo room....great on gas and looks sharp!

I leased my Ford Flex in 2008 and LOVE it!! We have 2 kids and if I need to get in the back to help them buckle, I don't have to squeeze across, I can move in and out easily due to the roominess. Storage is AWESOME. Great for grocery shopping or if you needed to take a full size bike somewhere, all of the back seats fold completely flat. The ride is smooth, the structure is sound. The Flex moves good in the snow and is good on gas....I have a 35 min drive to work each way, pick kids up from school and run errands daily and fill up the tank once a week.

I did NOT like the looks of the Flex when they first hit the roads. I happen to sit in one ONCE and I instantly said, this WILL be my next truck!! So happy I did- LOVE it! When my lease is up in Oct., I beleive we will be buying another Flex (versus Leasing again).

And here's a clip on the Safety from the Ford Website....

The 2010 Flex earned the highest government crash test ratings in frontal- and side-impact crash tests from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. So it’s no surprise that Flex was also named a “Top Safety Pick” by the IIHS. With advanced features like available All-Wheel Drive and a standard anti-lock brake system and AdvanceTrac® with Roll Stability Control™, Flex is engineered to help keep you safe and in contro

We had a Chevy Equinox for several years and I really liked it. We had to trade it in when I had our third (and needed more space) but for a family of four, I was pretty happy with the Equinox!

It's on the smaller side, but fits a family of 4 great, The Saturn Vue. It's really good on gas too.

We recently purchased a Kia Rondo with a 3rd row seat and love it. They don't make them anymore so they can be hard to find. It has great mileage and is super roomy for trips. It gets very high ratings for safety and reliablility from Consumer Reports. We got ours at Carmax for under 10,000 with our trade-in. It is considered a wagon but sits a bit higher than a car, which I like because I previously had a Rav-4 and liked sitting a bit higher, but needed more space for us and the two kids. Good luck!

Mazda CX-9. This is my second mazda, previously had a tribute. Fits us well as a family of 4, and great reviews in Consumer Reports. We test drove an Acura MDX, and this ride feels the same for a lot less.

Love my Jeep Compass. Bought it brand new, and haven't had one problem with it. Excellent gas mileage- 25 city, 29 highway. I have two kids (4 yo and a 4 mo) and it's comfortable for us. It has 4 & 5 star safety ratings.

We have a GMC Acadia...2007....I love it...the inside is as spacious as my minivan was but the outside is way cooler....the gas mileage is not so great....about 18-20mpg...I am keeping it forever! M.

We have the Volvo XC90 and love it. I have a 9 yr old and 5 yr old twins and we love the built in booster and the thhird row for my older daughter and her friend. It it is comfortable and super safe and we love all the features, I just wished I paid the million dollars for the movies in the head reats but now that they are older they have protable dvds to bring to the dr office and on the airplanes etc and they bring those in the car for long trips and can all watch their own movies with all the charging outlets, one in the back , one in the middle and one in the front! Kids can get in and out and can put all seats down to move and buy things he he! go in to the dealer and check one out.

We have a dodge during and love it! I refuse to get a vehicle that isn't 4 wheel drive. I try to stay American they are easier for hubby to work on. We have an 02 and no complaints other then routine things we have not had to make any huge repairs. They don't make them anymore ( at least I don't believe they do) so I don't know what my next vehicle will be.

We LOVE our Chevy Traverse!! The Buick Enclave is the same vehicle with just some Buick upgrades that you pay a bit more for, but we really liked that as well. The GMC Acadia is also supposed to be the same, but it isn't rated as high as the Traverse! Our gas mileage is 17 city and 24 highway. Our neighbors also have a Traverse and love it. Both of us have families of 4. They have the bench seat in back and we have bucket seats in back. We use our 3rd row seats when we need them for our golden retriever, when family comes to visit, etc. otherwise it is collapsed for extra storage space. Good luck!!

I am a Honda girl, thru and thru. When our first was born I automatically decided on the Pilot. My husband is an American-Made kind of guy. He suggested the GMC Acadia after doing lots of research on safety, mileage, blah, blah, blah. We test drove the Pilot...I liked it but it wasn't very "plush" and my Accord had been and well, the bells and whistles matter to me. Then we test drove the Acadia and I LOVED it. 3 years and another child later, I STILL love it! It's comfortable, has captain seats in the back (for kids) and then a 3rd row bench seat for "company", that lays flat for when you need more storage. The best feature that I'm so happy we went for is the remote start. If it's 110 out and you're walking out of the grocery store with your kids, you can start the car before you ever get to it and the a/c kicks on and cools it off before you put your kids in. Then you can unload groceries, put away the cart while the a/c blows but the keys are still in your pocket. Greatness. I can't recommend it enough.

I have a Toyota Highlander that I love! We bought it used, so it's an '04, but it fits us all nicely (My husband and I and our two kids who are both still in carseats) and has a fold down third row seat. The newer ones are a little bigger so the third row seat has more space than the one that we have, but it does everything I need it to do! The gas mileage isn't as good as my old car, which is now my husband's car, but that was a Camry so you can't really compare. But it doesn't get bad mileage.
On another note, I've never driven one, but I've heard good things about the Mazda CX-9.

Love my Toyota Matrix XR Wagon! Its an 03 and it still gets 39MPG hwy.!
We have two in car seats and have plenty of room in the back for groceries. Oh, and my Graco Duo Glider fits too! (Wouldnt go to far without that stroller!)

We have a 2010 Ford Flex and we LOVE it! It has tons of space for when we need to haul around extra people or lots of cargo. It gets great gas mileage for it's size and with the ecoboost option it feels very sporty without sacrificing MPGs. Flex's safety ratings are among the highest in crossover SUV's right now. It all comes down to personal taste concerning the Flex's exterior asthetics, but if you test one out you just might learn to like the way it looks too. ;)

Chevy Traverse! I can't say enough about mine.

Good Luck on your search!

I LOVE my Saab 9-5! Roomy enough for me to put a booster and still have the car seat in the center. Extremely comfy, and great gas milage. Great safety ratings. You can usually pick up a certified used for a reasonable price- and all of my saabs have gotten over 200,000 miles on them! (fingers crossed for the 9-5)
Let us know what you get and how you like it!
HUGS