What’s Your Ride?

wanderlustsoul

This thread is helpful because, one day, when we relocate, I’ll have to trade my bike in for a car. Sadly. I don’t miss cars or driving (it’s been 2.5 years 😬😬) 

dogmom5

@AKuzReve I bet you have saved so much money without a car payment, maintenance costs, gas....that’s awesome. 

ETA:

we currently have a Tahoe and love it. Will probably be upgrading to a suburban at some point for more room. I like the smaller size of the Tahoe but we need more room with a suburban. I could have used a suburban with 1 kid when we take the dogs places 

ellieemc26

@akoros I think you're correct about the crumpling being an intentional design.  I believe the idea is that the extremities of the car take the brunt of the force and the cabin where everyone is sitting stays intact so it is actually part of the safety features.  I think most cars are actually designed that way these days.  The unfortunate thing is that even a minor accident ends up basically totaling your car like @toesinthesand-2 describes.  That being said I'm sure some cars hold up better than others as far as the crumpling goes!

As for our cars, we're holding out to trade in mh's chevy blazer for an electric SUV once more models become available in the US.  I'm keeping my little crossover (buick encore which I love!), I just don't like to drive big cars, but he likes the bigger cars so it should work out fine when we need the extra room.  He of course likes all the luxury models that are already available but neither of us want to spend that much on a car so we're waiting for some more reasonably priced ones to become available.  The new VW one they just started advertising actually looks like a good option, we shall see!

toesinthesand-2

@akoros - honestly it very well could be designed to do that. I haven't researched it, I just felt like it was pretty extreme for such a minor accident that it definitely would make me second guess getting one. 

tilournextadventure

@AKuzReve I loved when we lived in Europe and had no car for almost a year. So much easier to go carless with all the transportation options available. Gosh I miss being there so much. 

laurad75

We are shopping on Sunday!  I'm test driving the Kia Telluride, Lexus rx450, and Toyota Highlander.  I know that sounds so all over the place but H really wants to try and end up in a hybrid and I need to understand what all the hype is about with the Telluride.  

it_is_a_baby

I am not much of a car buff so I have to Google what some of you ladies drive lol. I have a Jeep Cherokee which is a nice size for me since I’m in sales and do a lot of driving. I didn’t want to have to park anything much larger, but now when we add the second car seat there won’t be much room in the back row. My husband won’t be able to move the seat back much if he wants to drive it.

DH used for have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and there was more room in the backseat than mine. Now he drives a RAM truck. Sooo much room back there now. It’s easy to get the kiddo in and out too. Lol. In case any of you ladies are in the market for a large truck 😂

it_is_a_baby

TIP: For all of you ladies test driving...if you have a car seat already you may consider taking it and checking the distance between the car seat and where you are comfortable sitting in the driver/passenger seats. If you have one child and put them in the middle seat sometimes the front seats still hit it and you can’t move the seat back very far. We have a Peg Perrego infant seat and the Graco 4-Ever car seat.

I am on the shorter side so not so much of an issue for me, but depending on where you like to sit it may be something to consider.

laurad75

@it_is_a_baby +1 for that advice. It drives my husband crazy but if we are testing a car and seriously considering it I install both car seats and make him adjust the seats for himself so we can really see how it will be.  I’ve heard that some people just measure but it doesn’t give a true representation of how much space a rear facing car seat take up. 

disgruntled_pelican

I am so excited! We are picking up our new Subaru Ascent on Saturday! DH works for Subaru so we get a boss deal on them. We originally had our eye on an Outback before we found out about this baby, but thank goodness we waited because we need a 3 row vehicle. 

laurad75

We are going back out this weekend to look at the Toyota Highlander (again) and the Kia Sorento Hybrid.  H is dead set on getting a hybrid so we are down to these two.  I prefer the Sorento overall but the hybrid only comes in FWD and a lower trim with some details I have gotten used to on our current car.  We will see how this goes.