vehicle suggestion with 4 kids

[BigDnTtown]

Ok Mustachians, I was going to see if anyone has any good suggestions for a vehicle to handle 4 small kids (all under the age of 8). We currently have a 2005 Toyota Sienna with 140k miles and I have a 2008 Toyota Sequoia with 123k miles. I plan to keep my wife's even though I have been having some problems with it. I was wondering if I needed to get rid of my vehicle. I tend to drive around 125 miles per week so the gas guzzler is not being driven all over the place. The vehicle is worth about $17k and I owe $6k which should be paid off in a few months. Seems like the talk is always about small vehicles but when you have 4+ kids, that eliminates a lot of vehicles because you need a third row. So do you think I should get rid of my SUV and if so what should I get or just keep it since I do not dive too terribly much in a week?

Thanks

[Hurley82]

Ideally you would only need one vehicle that needs to hold the whole family at once. When your all together you take that but if your just running errands or carting around half the kids take the more fuel efficient vehicle. Id sell the sequoia and pick something up that can be purchased with the proceeds from the sale.

[cchrissyy]

I agree - sell the Sequoia and buy something smaller and more efficient within the budget of your $11k proceeds.  You already have the Sienna for outings with the whole crew.

[Bill76]

We have three kids (oldest is 11), and my wife has a Siena for when the whole family needs to travel together.  I go back and forth to work in our 2003 Camry with 135k miles.  I'd say sell the SUV and get a small, cheap, fuel efficient vehicle for your work commute. You should be able to find something good and reliable for less than the $11k you'll net from selling the SUV.

[zolotiyeruki]

We have three kids (oldest is 11), and my wife has a Siena for when the whole family needs to travel together.  I go back and forth to work in our 2003 Camry with 135k miles.  I'd say sell the SUV and get a small, cheap, fuel efficient vehicle for your work commute. You should be able to find something good and reliable for less than the $11k you'll net from selling the SUV.

^^^ This.  You don't need two cars, each capable of hauling the whole family.  Personally, I'd go smaller/more efficient than a Camry, since it'll be a 1-person car 90% of the time, but that's just me.

What kinds of problems are you having with the Sienna?  My brother has one of those, and loves it.

[MayDay]

If you do need two cars that can hold all 4 kids, consider that one of them could be smaller and less comfortable. For example, I wouldn't want to fit 4 kids in a rav4 with a third row, or a Mazda5, or a dodge journey* on a daily basis, but occasionally in a pinch it would be ok.

*that particular car is shite, don't buy it.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

If you do need two cars that can hold all 4 kids, consider that one of them could be smaller and less comfortable. For example, I wouldn't want to fit 4 kids in a rav4 with a third row, or a Mazda5, or a dodge journey* on a daily basis, but occasionally in a pinch it would be ok.

*that particular car is shite, don't buy it.

This is a good point. If you have complicated schedules and both need to be able to carry kids, you can get a minimum. My sis has a Mazda5 for three kids--there is not much trunk space, but it gets the job done. Ideally, you would get, like, a Fit or something for your other car, but you do what you gotta do sometimes. (I only have 2 kids, but we do both use our cars for carrying the kids--I drop off, he picks up, etc.)

[mateoSF]

+1 for Mazda 5. Plus I think you can get one with a stick shift.

[BigDnTtown]

Thanks for the info. We use to only have the Sienna but I got the bigger vehicle once my oldest child started kindergarten. At that time we had 3 kids and I would be responsible for the kids in the morning and my wife would deal with them in the afternoon. My mom now takes care of getting all the kids everywhere (4 different locations lol) and they are building a house next door to me so a smaller vehicle could possibly work now.

Paid off the van last year then the ac went out, got it fix and the transmission goes out. Finally get the van back and it was leaking some transmission fluid so I had to take it back again for that to be fixed. Other than that, we have always liked our van. Just need to get DVD player fixed :) I just wish my van would be the more reliable vehicle but it's not.

[zolotiyeruki]

Thanks for the info. We use to only have the Sienna but I got the bigger vehicle once my oldest child started kindergarten.

Something here is just begging for a facepunch. :)

[Matt_D]

+1 for Mazda 5. Plus I think you can get one with a stick shift.

Just sold our 2009 Mazda5 with the 3rd kid on the way (we also have a dog who goes on all the long trips with us). I loved how it handled, but I have to say I had some long-term concerns (dying suspension even though we replaced 2 yrs ago, a high-speed shake we never figured out, engine noises we also hadn't figured out yet) that made me pretty dang happy to dump it and go for a 2009 Odyssey. Mileage is a bit worse (though the Mazda5 was always worse than I thought it should be), but I have expectations of it being pretty rock-solid and the extra space will be really dang nice at Christmas!

My vehicle (which I love but kinda hate that I need) is a 2009 Honda Fit. Fits up to 5 in a pinch, incredibly flexible interior so I can easily toss a mountain bike or any number of things in it, and averages 35-36 mpg (it says up to 41-42 sometimes, but the mpg calculator lies like there's no tomorrow).