New Family Car

So this topic is determine what car(s) my father should buy. He has recently gotten remarried to woman from Germany and they moved back to the states. There is a 7yr old and a baby as well.

Currently he owns a 1993 Nissan Quest, runs well but is starting to rust away and the AC is broken. A new car needs to be bought for the wife, a nice family car.

No big SUV
Can easily deal with a child seat, so 5 door
Good on gas
Smallish and cheap
At most couple years old
She likes manual being from Europe and all

Im not sure if the car should be bought new or used, but Honda Fit seems like it would be a good fit? I don't know this segment of the market. So what car for the wife?

Then for my father:
Every summer he likes to drive up to NH for summer vacation. In the past the Nissan Quest has always been used and it worked well. Then the A/C broke and it becomes more of a problem in July/August heat. This year the wife refused to take it since 6 people were going (not me thankfully), so a small SUV was rented. My father loves his minivan and if he was to get a new car, I would think maybe the Mazda 5 would be a good choice?

I think he should drive the Nissan until it becomes cost prohibitive then buy a small cheap reliable car and rent a car for summer road trip. Its probably the cheapest way, right? What do you think I should advise he do?

The new car for the wife is the larger priority currently I suppose

Mazda3 5-door. Awesome little cars (especially for the money), and meets all criteria.

Mazda5 is the answer here, for sure.

Mazda3 5door for the stepmom and Mazda5 for the father? Throw in my miata and that would just be one big Mazda family. Should I steer them towards used?

Wait a second, you said 6 people were going for a trip? If they are 6 real people and its a real trip there's no way thats going to work in a mazda5. Even if you could get the people to agree to get in there, they wouldnt be able to take much of anything with them.

If he likes his minivan (and i dont think thats one of the better ones..) why not just get him another? Does he have an MPG requirement?

'13 GT-500

sorry. it's my answer to ALL "what-car" questions right now.

I HAVE to have one.

In reply to Carro Atrezzi: Already suggested Mustang GT I dont think he went for it though.

The six people in the car was a special circumstance, normally it would be 4 going to NH but my sister and the new wife's mother also went along for the ride. So 4 would be typical.
The Quest gets 17-20ish mpg so more would definitely be nice. The problem I see with getting another minivan is that it would have a bunch of excess capacity >90% of the time. So I wonder whether it is worth it to buy a minivan for the rare occasion it would be perfectly suited.

Im actually thinking the Spec B cars would be a good fit for the step mother. Mazda 2, Fiesta, Fit, etc...Be able to fit 2 kids semi easily and then a large hatch.

Well, if you want a 3 row that's perfectly comfortable for 4, technically possible for 6, and can get around 30mpg, try the current gen 4 cyl rav4.

My aunt has one (two row) and ive taken several day trips in it and averaged over 30mpg with 4 people and luggage. They sell a 3 row version. Its got quite a bit of space behind the 2nd row, not sure how much with the 3rd row there but definitely more than a mazda5. The 2nd row is ridiculously comfortable for 2 with great legroom and reclining seatbacks.

If he ONLY wants to get 5-7more mpg than he does now, he could get the v6 model and also run 14s in the 1/4 mile and beat up on the modded E36 M3boxes a lot of us forum types drive to keep himself entertained when he's riding solo.

If you're carrying 4 people and a reasonable amount of cargo, the Fit is really hard to beat. We've got a family of 5, and my wife can make trips to Costco with it and haul everything back without folding the back seat down. We average about 38mpg with our 5spd manual.

We have both the Mazda5 and the Fit. Both are great cars. The 5 is a bit more comfortable in the back seat and has quite a bit more hauling capacity. It is also a much better freeway driver than the Fit. We take it on nearly all our long trips.

His German wife would probably love the Fit - it's great for around town but can be very buzzy on the freeway at speed. If using it on the olde American autobahn, she might like a used Golf hatch more.