My husband & I are talking about having our 2nd child in the next year :) He currently has a Chrysler Sebring convertible (2005). It's a 2-door, and not really 2-kid friendly lol So we are trying to figure out what we want to replace it with. We know we want an SUV of some type. We've looked at a few, and he is really sold on the Nissan Murano & all of its features! haha It is really nice, but he wants to buy a brand new car with its warranty, and that is a little pricey to me :/
Do you have an SUV that really works for your family of 4? What do you like about it? What do you not like about it?
Our daughter will be at least 7 by the time we have another baby. She is in a 5-point harness in a Graco Nautilus 3-in-1.
I currently have a Chevy Colorado Crew Cab (2006) in case you are wondering :) And hubby does not want a mini van.
Also, instead of buying a brand new car, I would personally prefer a used car. But, hubby wants the warranty. Is there a make that will transfer the warranty on a used car? Maybe a year old car? Would we have to buy it from the dealer, or could we find something like that at CarMax?
Thanks for your help! :)
Thank you for all of the suggestions so far. We are looking for an SUV with room because my husband is in the National Guard and often has to travel with all of his gear. Plus if we go on a trip as a family we would need the room. A car is just too small.
I keep pushing toward a used car, so hopefully we will find something used that he will like!! :)
My co worker brought a Honda CRV and it's so comfortable. The front is very roomy and so is the back seat. It would definitely be easy to get the two kids in and out!
We have a Honda Odyssey Minivan and a Honda CR-V.
We are a family of 4 and when it's just the 4 of us - the CR-V is a VERY COMFORTABLE and is GREAT!!
Love my CRV. Big enough that you are comfortable, small enough that I don't run into things. :)
Used Acura MDX with 3rd row seating. Love, love, love!
3rd row is small but perfect for kids when there is a tagalong!
We love our Honda pilot. We bought it used and it came with a warranty. We like it because if the 3rd row. We are Honda people
The Nissan Murano is nice ... we test drove that one when buying cars ... but we ended up buying an Acura RDX. It was the same price as the Murano and we got an Acura instead of a Nissan. Totally different experience dealing with an Acura dealer vs. Nissan. Acura is zero sales pressure, painless negotiating. Just all around pleasant.
When it's time to move on from my Honda Odyssey minivan, I'll be looking at the Acura MDX (larger than the RDX, but very similar).
I love that Acura is related to Honda. Very reliable, no hassle vehicles.
The Acura RDX & the VW Tiguan are pretty cool little SUVs if you just have 2 kids in carseats/boosters. We don't own either, but have used both a few times when my car was getting fixed.
We're also a CR-V family of four (me, hubby, 3yr old and 9 month old). We have a Subaru Outback for our 2nd car. Mostly we take the Subaru, but that's just because it's newer. :)
I love that my 3yr old can climb into her carseat by herself (no running boards) in either car. Both have great resale value. Plenty of room for both kids and stuff, but not too huge to drive either.
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My in-laws just bought a Pontiac Torrent and I SO want one!! The backseat is huge, there's tonnes of cargo space and on the outside it still looks smaller than my van!
I do not like Nissans because they often have timing chains vs belts. These are intended to last the life of the car, however on my nissan (hand me down from my dad) it only lasted 8yrs. Any well maintained car can last over 10yrs or more ... the timing chains are 3kplus to replace, it is worse than replaceing a transmission. With that said, I LOVE my MIL's Ford Escape. I drive it all the time (ty MIL) and I love the size of the cab, and the back seats (I am 6'2" space is important), my son has the very same car seat as your child and fits VERY WELL, and in and out is easy. It is not too high up, my son climbs in and out easily, pleanty of cup holders, and spaces to put things/hold items in the car, the back is good for a decent trip to the grocery store or camping supplies, even with a full cab. Gas milage is good (4cyl) on both streets & hwy, long and short travels. I love the hands free phone features and the Sirius sattelite radio as well (bonus!). All in all, if I could I would buy this SUV for myself and reccomend it to anyone. In addition the car emails you when oil changes are due, and other maintenance needs are coming up. If you are planning on keeping the car for YEARS then buying new may not be a bad idea, however you can purchase a warranty for the car thru a private company if you need one.
I have a Nissan Rouge and it is a little small inside and we are usually 3 in the car, I am sure the Murano has more room.
Why not look into a certified used car, they usually still have warranty on them and/or you can purchase a longer warranty. Check out kbb.com or Edmunds.com so you will have an idea of prices and you can compare different vehicles with reviews.
since you already have a truck, I would look for a good used gas-sipping car or SUV with a smaller engine.
buying a new car is great, but if you're on a budget.....there are many good used cars to chose from. Spend an afternoon really just shopping around & locating a warrantied great buy.
We own a 4x4 truck for my DH - a necessity with his work/schedule. It's a gas hog. I drive a 4wd Explorer with the larger V6 engine. I avg about 21mpg.....which is fine with me. We need the towing capacity for our boat, the 4wd for getting out on the riverbank, & room for the 4 of us + 2 80lb dogs. It's a good compromise between mpg vs. 4wd. :)
We love our Honda CRV - family of 4; hubby, 4 yo DD, dog and me!
I would go with a used car. You can absolutely get a warranty on a used car if you buy one that is only a year or so old and hasn't used up it's factory warranty. We have done this on both our cars. My Honda Pilot is 2009 and we are still currently under warranty. It had everything I wanted and more than I needed and I love it so much!
The CRV is also nice, but it was a little too small for our needs. The car part is roomy but I like having the bigger car and more hauling space. We also drove the Toyota Highlander and the Mitsubishi I think...either that or the Acura, can't remember. anyway I loved the little zippy suv so much, but it just wasn't big enough for us.
Why not get a car? I just got a Camry Hybrid and my 3 kids and I drive in that all the time. We only use the Armada if the 5 of us are going on a LONG drive with luggage or if I have more than 5 people. Hubby drives a Prius as well.
Nissan's are nice. We got our Armada used and have an amazing warranty on it. Of course we had a huge repair bill as soon as it wore out, but still, great cars. And you can find SUV's for cheap now because gas prices are bad. But I'd get used if you are not going for the car route.
Check out the Camry's though. I'm 6'1 and hubby is 6'3, plus a 8, 7, and 5 year old. We fit comfortably in there.
We have a Mazda CX-9 and absolutely LOVE it. We are a family of 4 about to be 5. It has three usable rows of seating, you can actually get into the third row easily. When we have our large dog with us there is plenty of room for her in the back to lay down and be comfortable. We have gone on many road trips with lots of luggage and been good. It rides great...much more like a car than a truck. They also make a CX-7 and now a CX5 so there are different sizes available. The only thing I dont like is that there is no latch system in the third row. That really stinks now that we are about to become a family of 5. I have almost 5 year old twins so I still have 2 in a 5 point harness and need to fit an infant seat. It is pretty resonable on gas. Much better than the Acura MDX we had (also an awesome truck though)
kia sorento!! they are reasonably priced ours new at 2011 was 25000. i think. it is GREAT plunty of room
I would suggest buying a used car. Most places can sell you a warranty with the car, if it doesn't already come with one. Buying brand new is never economical because of the immediate depreciation.
We have a Ford Explorer and we LOVE it! It has third row seating, but the back seat is roomy enough that we don't use it much. We keep it folded down to haul our sports/extra-curricular equipment around. When we are transporting our girls' friends around, the 3rd row really comes in handy. The height of the SUV makes it super easy to get the kids/carseats in/out of the car. I always hated getting carseats in/out of the sedans.
We have so much room in our SUV that we can haul practically anything that we could haul in a pickup. We picked up an entire living room of furniture once, and last weekend we hauled away a new sliding glass door from Home Depot along with some moulding & other stuff.
Our big white boxer rides in the back so he doesn't get white hair all over the car, haha!
The gas mileage isn't too bad, considering (I mean, it's certainly not comparable to econ-cars, but I can live with it). I love all the room it has- cupholders, great little cubby spaces in the console, etc.
Have fun car shopping! A new/used car is exciting!
My daughter buys used cars that include a warranty. I think she pays extra for the warranty but the cost of the car is still less. Her current car is less than a year old, was a demo car, looks brand new and cost a thousand dollars less than a new one.
