Pittsburgh Nesties
billiburrows
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Vehicle Recommendation
We are looking to buy a new or used vehicle that's affordable, roomy but not huge (compact SUV?) and good on gas milage and preferably all wheel drive. Vans are nice and roomy but i think its too much room for us as we currenly only have 1 child. so i'm looking for something smaller but something we could grow with. i really like the idea of the smaller suv's with 3rd row seating but the 3rd row typically only adds 1 more seat to the mix and i'm really wondering how useful that really is since it is really crammed in that 3rd row.
Anyone have a car with 3rd row seating they can tell me about?
Or, anyone have a car without 3rd row seating that you would or would not recommend? we're sort of looking at Honda CRV, Toyota Rav4, etc...
Re: Vehicle Recommendation
We just recently bought a Kia Sorento. We have the V6 AWD model, and we really like it. Its roomy enough, but I do not find it too large to maneuver or drive. We are only expecting our first child, but it does the the 3rd row seating, and from the looks of it (though we have not used it yet), it looks like there is decent leg room back there for two people (especially two children, if needed). Plus, even with the 3rd room up, there is still a decent amount of trunk space.
.
We bought an 11 GMC terrain, and are not impressed. It is the SLE edition with AWD. Our primary reason for purchasing this was for the fuel economy, and despite advertisements, we only get around 20 mpg even on the highway. When running the a/c it feels like the car has zero power, and the vents are located in awkward places.
It has average cargo space, and I would say the best feature is the sliding rear seat. We are expecting our first child in December, and I think it will nice with a large husband and a rear facing car seat. Also, the rear seat does not fold flat so that makes packing in certain situations a challenge.
We don't see it being a long term family car - we have 2 medium size dogs and ran out of space when we went to NC in February, and that was before the baby.
We have an '09 Traverse - 3rd row bench. Honestly, I've enjoyed it - mileage is not great (I get about 15.5 mpg and I drive downtown 5 days a week from Cranberry), so it costs around $75/week to fill. I was really hoping to downsize to a nice sedan this year, but *surprise!* number 3 is on the way.
As for space in the 3rd row, we drove 4 adults, 1 infant, and 3 kids (teen, pre-teen, toddler in a carseat) up to Niagara Falls a couple of summers ago and the older kids/adult in the 3rd row all said they were comfortable. It does limit trunk space, but it worked.
That said, we are looking at getting another 3rd row vehicle (long story short, we think a problem that came up back when we first bought in 2010 was brushed off by the dealer as a spark plug replacement but now has caused an engine light issue - which, as of this weekend, we think might be a future bigger issue than we realized, involving the cam shaft).
DH is waiting to talk to a friend in the car business more about it, but if we do get something "new," we are looking at the 2nd row being bucket seats to make access to the 3rd row easier, now that my 5.5-yr old will be relinquished to the back (which he's excited to be away from the 2.5-yr old). LOL
I would still recommend the Traverse, though. Keep in mind, though, that the '09 was the first year the Traverse came out, which I think is part of the problem.
(I, too, will be stalking this post - DH still refuses to do a minivan and now he's leaning towards Yukons, Suburbans, etc. and I'm about to blow a gasket at the thought of driving that downtown every day.)
My three sons!
Tell your husband to look at the price tag on a Yukon/Suburban, it may give him a heartattack. My boss got a new one last year after his accident, it was only $66,000. Granted he has leather interior and the XL version but "base pricing" started at about $45,000.
I have a Jeep Patriot which is similar to the Compass. While I love it (the 4x4 is some of the best I have ever driven, even my husband is really impressed with it) it definitely isn't super roomy.
We drove a GMC Acadia last year on vacation in CA and I was seriously in love. While the third row was a bit tight if you were over 5'5", it still had cargo with the third row up. We fit 6 adults and all of our luggage into it. We drove from San Francisco to Monterey and I was really impressed. We made the drive a few times.
My next vehicle will probably be a Grand Cherokee. We drove my mom's this summer on vacation (my parents drove my dad's van). Although, if we ever have kids, I will get a minivan. Seriously, I love my dad's van (2012 Town & Country) and so does my husband. The drive is so nice and you cannot beat the automatic doors and liftgate.
Although, right now, my husband really wants my dad's new car a 2013 Dodge Challenger SRT-8.
We just bought an outlander, it has 3rd row seating and even though its an SUV, its been really great with milage, better then our BMW.
Im very happy with it.
Oh I know Kris!! But he's looking at used ones for around $30-35K - still more than I want to spend!
Oh - he also wants to stay away from Acadias - said something about bad reviews. Have you heard/experienced anything with this Make/Model?
Sami - the Outlander comes with a 3rd row? Very interesting!!!
My three sons!
Yeah, used you can get a more base model in the $30,000's. They are hard to come by though. Another case of the lack of leasing for a few years.
Like I said, we only drove the Acadia for a week on vacation. But Nathan's friends have one and they love it. They haven't had any issues and they have had it for about 3 or 4 years. I even asked my dad if they could get them at auction through GMAC but they would be rentals and I would never buy a formal rental car.
I bought a 2012 Hyundai Tucson GLS w AWD package last December. I've been very happy with it. I love how it looks, I like all of the Hyundai extras (Bluetooth, heated seats, leather seats, cargo net). It's got a very spacious backseat, though I wish the cargo area was a bit bigger, but I had been driving an Explorer Limited and was used to a huge vehicle. I get between 22-24 mpg. The warranty is great also. It was definitely the right choice for us. I think there will be plenty of room, even with another child (maybe, someday).
11-15-08
12-1-10
last August we bought a Hyundai Santa fe. We LOVE IT.
I had an Hyundai Accent and have had no trouble at all with the car. it is 10 yrs old and has run amazingly.
I had originally wanted to get a Sonata, but found out they were the same price as a Tuscan- the smaller SUV. So we decided to go that route. I love the look of them and that is what we actually went to buy. BUT they were haveing such a good promotion on the Santa Fe and offering an amazing trade deal (which DH's car wasnt worth much other wise) that we ended up in it- a little bigger, much roomier SUV for the same price as the smaller with no promotions.
Drives great, very comfortable, roomie, not loaded but just enough bells and whistles. it is only the V4 but it has a lot of zip! AWD was one of our musts. We are really happy with it, we bought it at Wright in Wexford.
No 3rd row in the Tuscan or Santa fe you have to go to the Veracruz for that- which is very nice too, much bigger and had the price tag to go along with it! Not sure how it compares in the way of price to other makes, but it is the top of the line SUV for Hyundai and was more than we wanted to spend, and bigger than I wanted for my first SUV!
Married, September 23, 2006
what did you hate about it? it's one of the vehicles on my list to look in to when we purchase later on this year. it would be helpful to know what sucks about it first!
E says it does. You can check it out during lunch one day if you want to go the garage
My brother just got a cr-v and he loves it.
I loved my CRV - with 2 kids though, the backseat was pretty much taken over by both car seats. Someone could fit (snugly) in the middle between the car seats, but it took some maneuvering to get there. The trunk space was great, I liked driving it, it was great on gas mileage (at least that's what dh said, I never really paid attention). It was a really great car, and I would definitely buy it again.
We recently bought a Honda Odyssey, and I freaking love it! I would go on about how awesome having a minivan is, but I'd probably embarrass myself.
Meghan - I would totally be down with the minivan - specifically the one youhave b/c I've always heard great things about it! DH, though, is standing firm against it.
My three sons!
It was HUGE. I'm a small car girl. I felt like I was driving a boat, was up so insanely high that it was hard for this short girl to get out of the car and to get DD out of the car seat, and the gas mileage sucked. It was just "too much vehicle" for my liking. My DH was set on buying a Forester for the safety reasons but after test driving about a bizillion SUVs I just knew the CR-V was right for us.
I have a GMC Acadia, Denali edition and LOVE it. Fuel economy is decent at 18-20 highway. It has a middle row bucket seat so with a car seat and base in place and never moving, it's really easy to get to the back row. DH's 81 year old grandma even climbed to the back. While we were crammed, at one point, we had 6 adults, 1 kid in carseat, 3 full size suitcases, 7 carry ons, 3 purses and a Chicco C7 stroller in the car when we went to and from the airport. I've had it for over a year and I'd get it again in a heartbeat. The Denali version is key as everything inside is more a sport luxury (reminds me of my husbands German car interior) with black leather, black woodgrain, heated/cooled seats, nav, parking sensors, power liftgate, remote start, dual sunroof, backup cam, entertainment, memory seats, etc. it's list price was around $52 but with incentives, bonuses, etc, it came in around $46 before trade in, GM card "cash", etc. It's definitely a heavy car but I love it. I considered, drove snd looked at a bunch of cars including the Lexus GX, Mercedes GL, Honda pilot, Infiniti QX, Buick Enclave (the yuckiest IMO as it reminded me of my grandparents car and rode/felt just as smooth as the Acadia), and Chevy traverse. I think base is upper $30s
I had an Equinox before this and liked it. But with the consideration of 2 car seats on the horizon, we wanted something bigger as we travel quite a bit and sometimes, others come with us.
I did try the Honda odyssey but couldn't see any advantages aside from the sliding side doors.
Look at the Honda Pilot.
I love my husband's Infinity JX. He is 6'4"and could actually ride in the 3rd row. I've riden in it with one of our boys in his carseart to NJ and didn't feel crowded at all.
I have an Audi Q5 which I love to drive, but nobody adult can ride in between the boys carseats. We do have Britax Frontiers, which I believe is named for the amount of car seat real estate each takes up!
K