Safe commuter car to haul a few kids sometimes?

mamaofthree · Aug 4, 2011

I have a Sienna, but it is time to replace dh's civic. We have three kids, so he needs a car that can fit them all in a pinch, but one or two of them more often. Gas mileage is important, he drives a good distance on the freeway every day for work. I HATE the van- unless I have all the kids with me, if he is home then I drive his car. So we'd like an automatic, because even though dh loves manual, I despise it. Any suggestions for a good, safe commuter car? Budget is about $15,000, hoping to get a 2009. TIA!

Patriot201 · Aug 4, 2011

I have a Civic and can easily haul three kids without a single problem.

How old are your kids and what type of seats are they in?

Up until a week ago, I had a Graco Nautilus and two Radians installed. I have also easily fit a Parkway SG and two Radians, a Nautilus, a Radian, and an adult, and about a thousand other combinations.

Melanie · Aug 4, 2011

Another Civic. Just make sure you get 4 door and not coupe. The coupe doesn't have the nice flat backseat.

mamaofthree · Aug 4, 2011

Now I'm curious. Flat backseat? How is the seat diff between the 2 and 4 door? We DO have a coupe right now. One of the reasons we want to replace it. Dh bought it on a whim, because the price was right. We've had it 5 years, but its a 2001. It still runs great, but tired of dealing with a manual transmission and the 2 doors. I never drove his car when the kids were young because it wasn't worth climbing back there to buckle them in. They can do it themselves now. We keep a no back booster (cosco highrise?) and a Nautilus in his car. We will keep whatever we buy next for as long as it lasts, so I'd like to get the newest model we can afford. I know civics are reliable, so we will prob go that route, but are researching other small cars with good gas mileage. Hyundai elantra? The gas mileage is awesome, but not sure of their reliablility record. Weve only ever owned hondas and toyotas. Wondering if we should look at accords to have a little more space, or if thats overkill since the main use is for dh to get to and from work.

Patriot201 · Aug 4, 2011

There is a HUGE difference in body style between the 2001 and 2009. You will have far more room in the 2009 than the 2001.

mamaofthree · Aug 4, 2011

Patriot201 said:
There is a HUGE difference in body style between the 2001 and 2009. You will have far more room in the 2009 than the 2001.

Yay! Glad to hear this.

Melanie · Aug 4, 2011

mamaofthree said:
Now I'm curious. Flat backseat? How is the seat diff between the 2 and 4 door?

The 2 door has a bump in the middle and the 4 door doesn't. DH has a 2010 2 door and I don't think it would be possible to get 3 seats in there. The 2010 4 door had a nice flat seat bottom. The 3 across thread shows 3 in a civic.

You might have good luck getting a new Civic for $15k. That's what we paid out the door for DH's car. It's like 1 step up from base model, has a/c and automatic. We were originally looking to buy used for DH's civic and there was barely any difference in price. One car was a year old and only $300 less. I think they were slightly redesigned in 2011 so you'd want to double check the new back seats.

Patriot201 · Aug 4, 2011

I haven't seen the 2012 in person yet; have you? I am not sure what changes, if any, were made to the space in the backseat. Looking at photos of it, I *think* it is similar to the 2006-2010, but I can't tell for sure without seeing it in person.

mamaofthree · Aug 5, 2011

I've been doing some research, and there's no way we can get a new one. I'm only finding 2007s in our price range. And civics and accords seem priced the same! Gosh, this economy and price of gas has sure inflated used car prices. The diff between new and used is so small now.

EmmaCPST · Aug 5, 2011

mamaofthree said:
I've been doing some research, and there's no way we can get a new one. I'm only finding 2007s in our price range. And civics and accords seem priced the same! Gosh, this economy and price of gas has sure inflated used car prices. The diff between new and used is so small now.

My dad has an 07 Civic and it's super easy for seats and pretty roomy, both my MyRide and Marathon classic fit RF behind the passenger with the seat only a click or two forward.

Make sure it's had the rear control arm update done though - it's a TSB (not a recall, you have to pay for it) and there's an update, they chop the hell out of tires in the rear if the update isn't done.

EmmaCPST · Aug 5, 2011

You should be able to find a Mazda 5 in your price range too, they're good on gas and lots of room for kids. Keep in mind though that the newer Mazdas tend to have fairly expensive tires on them - lower profile tires on bigger wheels = better gas mileage, but you can pretty easily drop $800 - 1000 on tires which is a definite consideration if you're going to be racking the miles up.

Safe commuter car to haul a few kids sometimes?

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