What vehicle would you choose for us?

[ishyfishie]

We're currently a 1-car family with a 2005 Chevy Aveo but hoping to get a more "family-friendly" vehicle for me once finances allow. I'm having trouble deciding what to narrow it down to! The Mazda 5 is definitely on the table, along with the general heading of mini-van, but that's as far as I'm getting.

Currently, it's dh (6'3), me (5'3) and 20 month old dd. My mom lives upstairs from us so the most we'd usually have in the vehicle is 3 adults and 1 carseat. We don't expect that we'll have another baby at least for several years, if at all, but it's not totally off the table down the road. Dh's parents live out of town so we'd like to be able to fit 5 adults in with the 1 carseat when they visit and we all do things as a group. Very, very rarely we might have an extra adult visiting at the same time as his parents (one of his siblings), but the last time it happened, the sibling had his own car with him.

I love the idea of stowing rear-seats but think a fold-down third row would probably work just as well for us, since we don't do a lot of hauling stuff and would have enough notice to remove the seats to go pick something up, if we had to. Coming from such a small car that's so good on gas, we'd really like decent gas mileage, hence the Mazda 6 being at the top of the list, but I'm not sure if having a van that seats 7 would be more important in the long run. There might be a medium-sized dog added to the picture before another baby, too, LOL.

So if you could choose anything for us, what would you suggest? We'd probably be buying used and I'm not positive what our price range will be just yet, but probably under $20k for sure, possibly more like under $15k? I think we'd be aiming for 2007 or newer since we'd most likely be buying next year.

[WhatAboutPuppy]

You'll probably get better opinions than mine but I have myself, my fiance and two stepsons. So 4, a different 4 but still similar. We also have a fairly large dog. :)

I am looking at a minivan for these reasons:
I can stow (or remove) the 3rd row for daily use, this will allow me to properly tiedown a dog kennel and make her as safe as possible. Another reason, I have that 3rd row for hauling family and friends as needed and already have a pet buckle for the dog as we don't have room for the kennel yet.

[ishyfishie]

Thank you for your input! The other thing I didn't mention is that we have no garage and very little storage room in the house, so removing seats (instead of just folding down or "stowing") will be a little difficult for regular use.

[codex57]

At the year range you're looking at, most of the minivans "stow" the 3rd row. Very helpful. You rarely take out the 2nd row seats.

I'd really just stick with minivans since your family might grow.

[ishyfishie]

Oh really? I was trying to find out which ones "stow" but my searches only turned up Dodge and Chrysler (presumably because they trademarked the "stow and go" title).

[jewlsvern]

I have the Mazda 5 and have carried many different configurations of people. I have had 4-5 adults and 1 in a car seat, I have had 3 in car seats and 3 adults and many other ways to accomodate passengers. It is a great car when you need to put more passengers in there.

I also really like the fold down seats. I think they are similar to a stow seat as they lay completely flat in the car (3rd row). I usually have 3 car seats in the car but I love that I can just fold down the 3rd row to accomodate groceries when I need more space. I can even fit a double stroller on just one side of the 3rd row.

From what I've seen new Mazda 5's start around $17,000, but that may be the dealer price (DH works for Mazda).

[ishyfishie]

Oh man, thank you! I hadn't been able to find pictures of the third row folded down completely into the floor--that makes a big difference in my opinion, lol! I think, unless something changes before we can afford it, that the Mazda 5 remains at the top of my list then!

[codex57]

Oh really? I was trying to find out which ones "stow" but my searches only turned up Dodge and Chrysler (presumably because they trademarked the "stow and go" title).

Yeah, you may have to be a little creative when searching. Fold down or flip down seem to be the most common terms I see. Also, try searching for fold flat or flip flat.

[ishyfishie]

When I did the initial search, I couldn't for the life of me think what else to call them, lol. "Fold/flip down/flat" are excellent options. :-)

[Defrost]

I have pics of my Mazda 5 interior with the seats folded. With the third row folded, it really is more like a "stowed" seat. My friend has stowable seats in her Sedona, and we also just fold them when we're playing around doing installs, so I understand the difference you're talking about, but the Mazda 5 does it completely differently.

Lemme see if I can find those pics...

Here's one with both the 2nd and the 3rd row folded:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/alunatic_photos/IMG_1992.jpg

Here's how the 2nd row folds; a bit more complicated than the 3rd row but still not hard:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/alunatic_photos/IMG_1980.jpg

Here's access to the 3rd row with the 2nd row flipped up:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/alunatic_photos/IMG_2002.jpg

And here's my 6' dh in the 3rd row. As you can see, he's not exactly comfy, but I've definitely seen worse:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/alunatic_photos/IMG_2004.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/alunatic_photos/IMG_2008.jpg


BTW, I think a Mazda 5 would be a great option for you. :thumbsup:

[ishyfishie]

Thank you SO MUCH for the pictures! They really helped!