My Turn: 2 Adults, 3 Car Seats, $200 in Groceries...What Car?

I could fit $250 in groceries in the truck of the Miata, but that's shopping at Whole Foods.

It's all about the car seats. I can just fit three of these forward facing in my E36 M3, which is a very narrow car. Two R100's and one rear facing infant seat worked with my test baby (niece) as well. There's tons of room left in the '05 Accord with this setup. I haven't tried them in my Fit, but my eldest is 7 so he'll likely use a backless booster when new baby shows up anyway.

So almost anything will work if you're careful about seats. The rest of the question is just how much bending and reaching you're willing (and capable) to do in order to reach into that middle seat...

Bear on thing in mind while trying to stuff three kids in a row.

The kids may be able to fit in skinny seats in a bigger second row... but, when they age just a few short years, they will not be able to buckle themselves. You'll end up having 6-7-8 year old kids in five point harnesses, which is suboptimal. A family friend of our did it and said it was really hard. We have the minivan and now age 4 and age 6 can buckle themselves in and are in regular belts, which also means that seat switching for various reasons is far easier than unbelting other type.

Suburban. Something from the 2004 vintage buy it for 5-7K save the extra budget for fuel and it will run forever, haul everything and fit everyone.

The Kia Rondo is ideal, in that it seats 3 across the back seat. With the right car seats, you can easily put three abreast and still have the rear hatch available for groceries. A used one will be 1/2 your budget, but still be under warranty with plenty of life left. It doesn't do great on MPG and you'll have to forget fun to drive. (I mean, it's as fun to drive as an Optima with a piano on the roof. But that's not great.)

Enterprise Car Sales sells the Chrysler T&C. They have a lot of bells and whistles for the money, are well maintained, rarely abused, and the Pentastar has plenty of kick, but the lowest price seems to be $20K+ Maybe look for one with higher miles?

KyAllroad wrote: Suburban. Something from the 2004 vintage buy it for 5-7K save the extra budget for fuel and it will run forever, haul everything and fit everyone.

I'm in a Saturn outlook now but previous 2 vehicles were suburban and I loved them. Fuel does get expensive though.

I could fit $250 in groceries in the truck of the Miata, but that's shopping at Whole Foods.

Good quote for the mag.

OP, you need a minivan. If you dont like Chryslers, get a Toyota or a Honda or a Kia/Hyundai. All of them are amazing.

I have a '99 suburban but since I don't daily it I don't mind the horrible mileage. And the room is amazing when 7 of us take a 1000 mile trip. Everyone has so much more space than in just about anything else. GM cars might be garbage but they really got their act together in their trucks and full size SUVs.

I think one of the reasons is that being built to tow/haul really heavy loads their underpinnings are built to a much higher capacity compared with passenger vehicles. I often hear about suburbans going over 500k miles.

Vigo wrote:

I could fit $250 in groceries in the truck of the Miata, but that's shopping at Whole Foods.

Good quote for the mag. OP, you need a minivan. If you dont like Chryslers, get a Toyota or a Honda or a Kia/Hyundai. All of them are amazing.

You could fit $250 in groceries from whole foods in most glove boxes

KyAllroad wrote: I have a '99 suburban but since I don't daily it I don't mind the horrible mileage. And the room is amazing when 7 of us take a 1000 mile trip. Everyone has so much more space than in just about anything else. GM cars might be garbage but they really got their act together in their trucks and full size SUVs. I think one of the reasons is that being built to tow/haul really heavy loads their underpinnings are built to a much higher capacity compared with passenger vehicles. I often hear about suburbans going over 500k miles.

My last sub had 350k on it before it started to act up, after a catastrophic front caliper failure, and 3 fuel pumps within 4 months it had to go as much as I loved it. Gas mileage on the road wasnt horrible, mine had the 5.7 and on the highway I could just edge it over 20 mpg. Although in town stop and go traffic forget it 13 mpg all day

My sister has had good luck with her toyota sienna minivan, that's all I know about them

Ford Flex

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Any reason no one has suggested a Highlander?

I'm kindof thinking "The World's Nicest XJ Cherokee," but that sucks on require #2.

However, the money you'd save would pay for the gas difference for a couple decades.

Sitting 3 across in the back might be a little tight, but am i right in ASSuming that it's not like you'd have to put all 3 in there daily?

My sister had a highlander. IIRC it shares a lot of it's underpinnings with the camry. Hers was fine but she traded it for a Sequoia when kid #2 arrived. She has since gotten a RX400h but you can tell it's too cramped with just two kids in car seats. Mileage aside the Sequoia was the better family truckster.

If a used Hybrid Highlander is in the budget, those things are hilariously fast. Could be fun.

2006/2007 and newer Odys had alot less transmission issues than the previous years. Our 2005 has 3 front facing car seats in the rear row, a booster seat in the second, and still has room between the seats and in the rear hatch for a trip to Wally World, Sams Club as well as the triplet stroller in the storage area. Its not horrible to drive and gets low-mid 20s on the highway.

I fought this for a long time. I ended up with a 2008 odyssey for a bit more than your budget. It made sense for me because I am very familiar with them, so I rationalized paying the yuppie premium on the Honda was an investment in easier service later.

They really aren't bad to drive. The current ('12-present) and former ('06-'11) generations were developed in part or in whole in Ohio by a group of engineers who play race car driver on the weekends. I believe this shows in the handling.

If you go this route try to avoid a VCM engine. They have been a warranty nightmare (I think I get a letter from the dealer every couple months), and the active engine mounts are very expensive when they fail. This will rule out the more expensive models and make it easier to stay on budget.

Handling not to your liking? I have seen at least one company that offers a coil-over kit for the '06-'11.

I've had 5 adults and a washing machine in my 2010 Ford Transit Connect. Have only had one baby seat in it but if they aren't too wide you could put 3 across on the second row.

JamesMcD wrote:

szeis4cookie wrote: How old is the oldest, and how tall are the two of you? The Mazda5 will do it, as long as you're not both six-footers, and the oldest can get into the third row on their own. It'll be the most fun-to-drive option, but as you can probably surmise from the questions is a bit space-compromised. Pentastar 3.6 equipped Chrysler minivan is probably the best answer.

We are a short people and the oldest is four. I initally was interested in the Mazda5, being a Mazda nerd, but I don't think it meets the groceries requirement. Whatever we choose has to fit the fam plus an overflowing cart-load of groceries.

Learn grocery tetris my son. If I can do 600$ worth of Costco in the back of my ms3, you can do 200$ in a 5 with the seats up.

A nice used Plymouth Voyager.

Face it, life is finished. Can you believe that you're actually buying a ride based on grocery capacity? What's next, "low lift-over?"

I case you're wondering, your balls are in that small box on your wife's dresser.

TeamEvil wrote: A nice used Plymouth Voyager. Face it, life is finished. Can you believe that you're actually buying a ride based on grocery capacity? What's next, "low lift-over?" I case you're wondering, your balls are in that small box on your wife's dresser.

But I still own five turbo mazdas! And the FD has a spot in the garage damnit! And I have guns! And a welder! And a lathe! In a shop! Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaallalallllalalassaaallallslsjfuuyyshbbcuudndnxn....

And yet . . . here we still are, discussing shopping bags and child-safe seating arrangements.

TeamEvil wrote: A nice used Plymouth Voyager. Face it, life is finished. Can you believe that you're actually buying a ride based on grocery capacity? What's next, "low lift-over?" I case you're wondering, your balls are in that small box on your wife's dresser.

Now that is say what quality

DeadSkunk wrote: Ford Flex

I 2nd the flex. Tons of room. Gas mileage is good. Handles good.

I'll jump on the Suburban bandwagon. Tons of room, versatility and great reliability!

The wife's parents had a 2012 Flex when we had our '01 Burban and we all took a trip down to Springfield Missouri, they in their Flex and us in our Burban. It was about 380 miles each way. Our respective average fuel economy differed by less than 1 mpg; our Burban returned slightly over 18 mpg and their Flex was slightly under 19 mpg. That was average each way for the trip with the a/c blasting.

It will suck your wallet dry around town, though...