Looking for some advice on what type of car to get for my family. Right now we only have one 2007 VW GTI with 160k miles that needs about $1000 of work to fix a vaccum pump, but it still drives OK. We are family of 3 now, soon to be 4 and I simply cannot fit (drive or ride in passenger seat) in this car with two car seats. I'm 6' 2".
We normally (October to March) all three drive to work/daycare together even though its only 2 miles away. We often bike when its nice. However, we often take 200+ mile trips to the mountains on the weekends to go hiking, biking and skiing. We also go see my wifes family which lives 600 miles away two times a year. I guess our yearly mileage is 10,000.
We have about 8k saved up. Our monthly budget is tight (if we get a loan we could put in $400 a month max) but mainly bc we max out our retirement accounts. No emergency fund other than brokerage account with about 30k in it.
We need to be able to haul lots of camping stuff, skis, a hitch bike rack, canoes etc. We also park on the street in an urban area.
We are thinking about a year or two old CRV or the Subaru outback simply bc the legroom allows the car seat to fit. However, I just saw we could get a narrower car seat, the Maxi-Cosi Pria 70 for $200 which is about 3" narrower. And now I'm back to considering the Forrester or other smaller cars. All these cars seem expensive though!
Any thoughts on a reliable car with storage for a family of 4 with a tall person? And should we get a car loan or use some of that brokerage account? The other consideration is at some point we need to move due to school district and we would like to rent our current house out instead of sell, so we will need to keep some cash on hand for that but we won't be moving until either the market crashes or the kids reach school age.
EDIT: I also should have said this, my wife has put her foot down and said we will be getting a different car before the 2nd baby comes so we can postpone but only for 3 or 4 months.