Good family car

[Sebastienne]

We have a Pruis V and love it. It's roomy enough for car seats and my 6'5" husband, and it's pretty much impossible to beat the gas mileage (and the hybrid tax credit!). I can't recommend it highly enough.

[Steve]

I have a baby benz (mercedes type A) it is on the smaller side, fits 2 kids and some stuff easy, and I have not seen an elk yet so it has stayed upright for me.....

I like the car, it is not as expensive as it sounds.

[Bijou]

I am looking for a family car that would comfortably fit 2 kids in car seats.  Ideally I am looking for something with some trunk and storage space (don't think we'll need a ton) and isn't massive as I don't enjoy driving very large vehicles and saving on gas would be a bonus.  Seeing some suggestions would be a great place to start.  Thanks.

I have a 1990 Toyota corolla and I love it!
We've had it for about 16 years.  I don't know if that type of vehicle would fit your needs but you probably would have a hard time finding one, anyway.  We just love it so much that when it needed very expensive repairs a couple of years ago we weighed getting another car or sticking with this one and we decided to stick with it.  (Think automatic transmission  :oP)  So far, no regrets.

[Foureyesonemouth]

My sis has a Honda Element. It's roomy, has a backup camera, and the seats fold up and attach to the side walls. It also has no carpet so it's easy to clean in and out.

[half_dollars]

We drove a new Toyota Camry when our car was being repaired after an accident.  I want to say it was a 2012, maybe 2011.  I have 3 kiddos still using the 5-point harness carseats, and fit all 3 comfortably in the back seat (carseat cup holders had to be stowed, though).  And I was able to fit a double stroller in the trunk.  Gas mileage was awesome and the front seats were very roomy (DH is 6'3", I'm 5'10") and there was plenty of room between the front seats and the kiddos' legs.  I was quite sad when I had to give it up after our car was fixed.

[yokozbornak]

Mechtilde’s post raises a good point: are you in the US, OP? Or somewhere else? (Because Skodas and Citroens aren’t available here)

My Jetta is aging now (2007), but it has easily accommodated two adults and two car seats in the back in the past, and has a nice sized trunk for a compact. The newer ones get better gas mileage, too.

My SO’s parents recently bought a Mazda5 to cart around the three grandkids in. It is sort of a cross between a mini-van and a normal car. It’s not that large, really, and gets ok mileage. It has a lot of storage space if you aren’t putting people in the third row, but the addition of that row makes it a 6 passenger car (possibly 7? I’m not sure how many belts are in the third row).

I second the Mazda5 suggestion.  It has all the functions of a minivan (seats 6 and has sliding doors which makes getting the kids in and out of the car so much easier), but it's on a compact car base so it's a the size of a car instead of a minivan.  We love ours, and it gets excellent gas mileage.

[Morty'sCleaningLady]

I'm another Subaru Forrester driver.  I jokingly call it the ugliest station wagon ever, but it's got great space, good gas mileage, and all-wheel drive.  Can't beat that! 

[Shoo]

I'm another Subaru Forrester driver.  I jokingly call it the ugliest station wagon ever, but it's got great space, good gas mileage, and all-wheel drive.  Can't beat that! 

The older models were kind of boxy, but the newer ones look really good!

[joraemi]

I'm not sure if you only meant cars or if mini-vans could be suggested as well.  I have a Toyota Sienna which I LOVE for the kids and all their paraphernalia (which includes lots of friends riding along and their stuff too!!).

[kajunchick]

I was just about to post about my van! I have a Honda Odyssey and I love it. I bought it used three years ago when my kids were 11, 4, and 1. There is so much storage space, and room for extras when the kids have friends with us. It gets pretty good gas mileage, is cheap on insurance, and drives like a car. Also, it looks teeny next to my coworker's Expedition.

[doodlemor]

We really like our Honda CRV.  It has all wheel drive, and right now I have studded snows on all 4 wheels.  It seems big on the inside, but seems small on the outside when it comes to parking.  There is a hatch door, and a lot of room behind the rear seats.  The rear seats will also fold down several ways for more room, if you want to haul something.  The safety ratings of the model that we bought were good, too.

If you buy a used car be sure to check the title to make sure that it is not a flooded car from Sandy.  There was a story on the news about this.

Best of luck with your search!

[MrsCrazyPete]

I simply adore my Kia Sportage. Great gas mileage, I feel comfortable driving it. I read in Car & Driver magazine that used Sportages from 05-09 were one of the best used cars available anywhere.

[Slartibartfast]

Personal experiences trying to wedge two carseats into the back of my car:

1) You really, really want something that is truly 4-door.  Wrangling an infant carseat into DH's old 2-door Mercury Cougar was a royal pain in the neck, and even dealing with my clamshell 4-door Saturn Ion is less than ideal.  The tradeoff is I can park next to someone and get the kids in and out because my back door is so short - DH has more trouble in his Hyundai Sonata because the doors are longer (but easier to get kids in and out of when nobody's parked next to him).

2) Anything with a bench back seat is going to be useless for everything except car seats, even if there is theoretically a middle seat back there.  Car seats take up more horizontal room than most people do and they're a pain in the neck to climb over (even just the car seat base for infant seats), which means you can maybe squeeze a very skinny person in between them for a < 5 minute ride but they probably wouldn't like you much afterward.

3) You probably transport extra people more often than you think you do.  DH and I have only been doing the two carseat thing for around seven months now, and we've already had a dozen times where we wanted to pick up someone for an activity (because of course we always have to drive when carpooling, since we're the ones with the carseats) and we end up having to take two cars because we can't physically fit more than two adults plus the two carseats in either of our cars despite technically seating five.

4) Bucket seats are a pain in the patootie to get car seats into.  Even when you do get the carseat in properly, you have to stick a cut-up foam pool noodle underneath it to make it settle correctly and then you have to adjust it all the time because the angle gets off after a month or two.  If I had known how much trouble it would have been, I would have gotten a car with a bench back seat without the buckets.

5) Whatever size your trunk is, make sure it's the right *shape* to fit a folded-up stroller (or two?) plus a load of groceries.  Being able to fit a stroller plus a regular-sized suitcase is a plus.

6) Should be obvious, but it's worth stating: if you're getting a bigger car than you have now, make sure it fits in your garage before you buy it