[AG23]

Doing research on a new car for my wife and would value any input from the community.
My wife currently leases a Honda HRV which she is turning in at the end of August.
We have a baby on the way and I'd like to get something that is safe, fuel efficient, has comfortable seats, has sufficient space for stroller/bags/etc and reliable long term.
Only planning for 1 child so we do not need anything huge.
Safety is the main concern.
Reviews seem to be all over the place.
At one point was considering a cpo x3 but it may be a little small.
Kia Tellurides have good reviews but I have no experience with the brand.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.


Update as of 7/20- We ended up going with a leftover 24 Acura MDX with technology package. The leasing was really good and my wife is happy with the car.
Also- I traded my daily WRX in for a 24 X3 for Dad duty. Again- negotiated a very good deal since it was end of life cycle.

Thanks again everyone for the insight.

[chassis]

Telluride, Pilot, RAV4, CR-V.

[c1pher]

Cayenne E-Hybrid.

[DanG]

Mazda CX-50 or CX-90.

Wife has a CX-5.

[BlkGS]

We have 2 toddlers, both under 3. Initial thing to tell you, you may plan on 1, but that's now. Believe me when I tell you that beyond the chance of an oppsies baby, having your first one will RADICALLY change how you view things. Everything from missing the little baby cackles to watching your nearly 3 year old be a walking, talking, bringing you stuff little person. It is quite literally a daily battle to not have more, and we don't even have the "if something happened to us we wouldn't want our baby to be alone" thoughts to fight.

Depending on your height, X3 might be slightly too small. I'm 6'2, and I couldn't fit a rear facing child seat behind me in X3. I sit much more upright than a lot of people too. Cargo space wise it would work for a stroller, though if you were to go fullsize stroller (we have an Uppababy Vista), it would be a tight squeeze.

I stepped up to an X5 due to the seating issue. My son also went front facing weeks after that, and he would have fit just fine front facing (but he would have been able to kick the crap out of the seat - he can still push on the seat in the X5 if he chooses to). Overall space between the two is a fairly.modest increase, but sometimes that little bit more space makes the difference. I don't think you would notice the size difference driving.

Kia Telluride was on our shopping list for my wife (who ended.up with an Expedition). It's the same as the Hyundai palisade, but more sporty looking vs more luxury in the Hyundai. They're great, not fast, but super nice. They're big too, real big. Not Expedition big, but they're the next step down in size, probably as big or bigger than an X7. They're both cheap brands, but they have massive warranties on them and frankly, Telluride and Palisade seem to be a cut above their normal models,

I think the first thing you should do is figure out your budget, if you haven't already. What to buy at $30k vs $50k vs $70k is a pretty major difference. I wouldn't go down a size from our expedition even with just 1 kid except for a handful of options like X7. It's a tank, and that feeling of security and safety is worth any price or hassle. My wife got side swiped by a Corolla a few months back in it. Her wheel was a little scratches up, and the power running boards was scratched. The Corolla lost its front end. Safety above all else, there's little one can do to defy physics that bigger is better. I'd put my babies in a literal tank if I could.

[Tejas1836]

Get bigger than you think you will need [especially if you travel with kids!] if you are planning on keeping it until it falls apart

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by Tejas1836

Get bigger than you think you will need [especially if you travel with kids!] if you are planning on keeping it until it falls apart

Totally agreed. My one complaint with our expedition is I didn't get the extra long one, lol.

[Alfisti]

The answer is incredibly simple, RAV4 hybrid. Damn near 50 MPG, comfortable for 5 and all your kid shit without being too big to scooch around in. No turbo chargers, no tech that will blow up, just a dumb, reliable car that will do family duty.

BTW safety is incredibly difficult to find information on because so much of the ratings are based on tech doodads that are questionable at best, ignore them all and look for acutual CRASH tests. The rest is utter garbage.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

The answer is incredibly simple, RAV4 hybrid. Damn near 50 MPG, comfortable for 5 and all your kid shit without being too big to scooch around in. No turbo chargers, no tech that will blow up, just a dumb, reliable car that will do family duty.

BTW safety is incredibly difficult to find information on because so much of the ratings are based on tech doodads that are questionable at best, ignore them all and look for acutual CRASH tests. The rest is utter garbage.

My friends have a Rav4 hybrid and one toddler. They hate it as parents, it's way too small. Loved it as a DINK couple, hate it now. Literally started looking at replacements the day they brought their son home. They only haven't replaced it yet because it's his wife's car, and she wants to get a basic Grand Highlander, and he wants to step up to the Lexus.

I dunno where you're getting comfortable for 5 from, it's tight for 4. If two of them are preteens. 5 adults? Not unless they're all 90 pound girls.

I agree about crash test results. Don't get me wrong, knowing that there's good lights and all that is important, but not amount of driver aids on my wife's car was gonna prevent someone else from side swiping her when she was stopped at a red light, maybe some sort of force field but they don't have those yet. Driver aids are great and all, but there's no replacement for size, structure, and actual crash safety features.

[Alfisti]

Way too small? What is it with you Americans and land yachts? Jesus H it's one freakin toddler, we have managed just fine with two kids with a 9-3 wagon and a Stelvio as family cars, both of which are smaller than the Rav 4. What on EARTH could you need something the size of a highlander for with one or two kids?

I rented a RAV4 hybrid in Australia, 2 adults, one 8 year old, one 12 year old, both lads are tall. It carried the 4 of us, 4 large suitcases and two carry on size cases. Once the cases were back at the hotel the car was perfect for trips to the beach etc where we needed space. The engine is coarse but gets the job done and a LEGIT 48MPG which is nuts. At times my mother came along, she sat in the front and my wife was fine in the rear with the two boys.

A highlander is overkill for two kids, let alone one.

[Bc2005]

If you are okay with a little larger vehicle, my first choice would be an X5. Great vehicle, and very competent for nearly all driving conditions. Drove one on the track and the short off-road course at the BMW center in SC, and I was really impressed (I was picking up my M340).

Recently purchased a 2024 Toyota RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid. Very good acceleration compared to most small SUV’s (302 horsepower) and impressive economy to drive if your electric rates are moderate. About 45-47 miles electric range around town, and my Chargepoint app shows a 34 mile top up at home (yesterday) cost about $2.20. Normal hybrid economy on the highway is about 35-36 mpg, with a 14 gallon tank.

Most noteworthy RAV4 complaint for families is that the rear doors don’t open fully 90 degrees, so it’s harder to get kids into car seats. CRV has wider opening rear doors, but there is no spare on the CRV hybrid, and no run-flat tires. RAV4 has a compact spare.

BMW improved the X5 plug-in hybrid’s electric range in the 2024 models, so I would also check that out.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Way too small? What is it with you Americans and land yachts? Jesus H it's one freakin toddler, we have managed just fine with two kids with a 9-3 wagon and a Stelvio as family cars, both of which are smaller than the Rav 4. What on EARTH could you need something the size of a highlander for with one or two kids?

I rented a RAV4 hybrid in Australia, 2 adults, one 8 year old, one 12 year old, both lads are tall. It carried the 4 of us, 4 large suitcases and two carry on size cases. Once the cases were back at the hotel the car was perfect for trips to the beach etc where we needed space. The engine is coarse but gets the job done and a LEGIT 48MPG which is nuts. At times my mother came along, she sat in the front and my wife was fine in the rear with the two boys.

A highlander is overkill for two kids, let alone one.

RAV4 and Stelvio are about the same size. But if I was gonna wager a guess, you either are more minimalist than most parents, and/or just flat out smaller. I think you also really overestimate how big something like a Highlander is. It's the next size step up from RAV4 (unless Toyota brought back venza again or something), and it has basically no cargo space with the 3rd row up. It's hardly a land yacht, it's pretty compact for a 3 row crossover. My buddy has a Pilot (moved down from a Tahoe for cost reasons) and he's constantly complaining about it being too small, having basically the same fuel economy of the Tahoe, and having way worse range because it's gas tank is tiny.

I think the key wording you said was "managed just fine". We don't do that. Managing implies that you're working around the size, with a large SUV, that's not necessary to do, there's always plenty of room. My wife can damn near stand inside our expedition at 5'4, so if it's pouring out and the kids are screaming she can crawl back there and help without getting soaked (in Florida, this is a very common occurrence). It could be snow or whatever somewhere else.

Anyways, I'll leave it at this. Unless you live in a densely populated inner city, you'll never regret getting the larger vehicle.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by Bc2005

BMW improved the X5 plug-in hybrid’s electric range in the 2024 models, so I would also check that out.

Yeah... 50e is a turd in the pool. Lots of reliability issues. The 45e with it's more limited range and electric motor is the one to get.

Over in the g05 forums we were on a nice little streak of no new threads with 50e issues. Then the 2025s started shipping and it's a constant stream again.

[c1pher]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Way too small? What is it with you Americans and land yachts? Jesus H it's one freakin toddler, we have managed just fine with two kids with a 9-3 wagon and a Stelvio as family cars, both of which are smaller than the Rav 4. What on EARTH could you need something the size of a highlander for with one or two kids?

I rented a RAV4 hybrid in Australia, 2 adults, one 8 year old, one 12 year old, both lads are tall. It carried the 4 of us, 4 large suitcases and two carry on size cases. Once the cases were back at the hotel the car was perfect for trips to the beach etc where we needed space. The engine is coarse but gets the job done and a LEGIT 48MPG which is nuts. At times my mother came along, she sat in the front and my wife was fine in the rear with the two boys.

A highlander is overkill for two kids, let alone one.

I don’t think it’s just Americans…..I see plenty of your countrymen down on the East Coast with huge RVs and vehicles. They generally are unskilled at driving too or maybe not used to driving in high volume traffic. Almost like deer caught in headlights.

[alex2364]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Way too small? What is it with you Americans and land yachts? Jesus H it's one freakin toddler, we have managed just fine with two kids with a 9-3 wagon and a Stelvio as family cars, both of which are smaller than the Rav 4. What on EARTH could you need something the size of a highlander for with one or two kids?

I rented a RAV4 hybrid in Australia, 2 adults, one 8 year old, one 12 year old, both lads are tall. It carried the 4 of us, 4 large suitcases and two carry on size cases. Once the cases were back at the hotel the car was perfect for trips to the beach etc where we needed space. The engine is coarse but gets the job done and a LEGIT 48MPG which is nuts. At times my mother came along, she sat in the front and my wife was fine in the rear with the two boys.

A highlander is overkill for two kids, let alone one.

Having an 8 and 12 year old is completely different from toddlers or babies. Try fitting a rear facing convertible car seat and full size strollers in back of a small SUV with 6 ft adults in the front seat and tell us how comfortable you will be.

[e90Dawg08]

We just purchased a Grand Highlander a couple of weeks ago and so far we're loving it. 2 adults, a teenager, and a toddler. Having a teenager, we know we'll need to squeeze most of the soccer team into it eventually, which is why we opted for the GH rather than something smaller like the Rav4 or even standard Highlander. My parents are also nearby, so we often like to fit all 6 of us in 1 car. We also go camping with our dog and all the gear (5 people + dog & gear), and don't foresee any issues with space.

We opted for the hybrid max powertrain and platinum trim level, and it's basically a Lexus with all the options. My one option I needed to have was the panoramic camera (bird's eye view) so that my wife could park it in the garage without risk of bumping something. We also needed something that could tow a boat or an equipment trailer since we recently sold our pickup. It gets around 30mpg so far, which isn't bad for something that can comfortably seat 6 adults, tow 5k lbs, and get going rather quick. Also, our large stroller fits behind the 3rd row in the trunk if you don't lean the 3rd row back.

However, if our budget couldn't swing the ~70k, we were strongly looking at the base hybrid model. The dealership did not offer test drives at the time we ordered it though, so we couldn't check if that would be quick enough for our comfort. I believe that powertrain gets closer to 35mpg and a lower trim could get you around $50k?

Toyota's protection packages are also pretty nice -- we opted to include all service, all electronic warranty, and tire & wheel replacement if we ding/damage anything for the first 120k miles.

[erickonphoenix]

This is so funny to me, 1995 we ferried the kids to see family every summer from NOLA to San Antonio in a 1992 Honda Civic. If it didn't fit we didn't take it.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by erickonphoenix

This is so funny to me, 1995 we ferried the kids to see family every summer from NOLA to San Antonio in a 1992 Honda Civic. If it didn't fit we didn't take it.

It's all a matter of what resources you have. Doesn't make sense to intentionally get too small of a vehicle if you don't have to.

When I was a kid my whole family of 4 stuff ourselves into a Nissan frontier extended cab that had little jump seats in the back. Just because that's what we could afford back then doesn't mean I'd make my kids do it too.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

RAV4 and Stelvio are about the same size. But if I was gonna wager a guess, you either are more minimalist than most parents, and/or just flat out smaller. I think you also really overestimate how big something like a Highlander is. It's the next size step up from RAV4 (unless Toyota brought back venza again or something), and it has basically no cargo space with the 3rd row up. It's hardly a land yacht, it's pretty compact for a 3 row crossover. My buddy has a Pilot (moved down from a Tahoe for cost reasons) and he's constantly complaining about it being too small, having basically the same fuel economy of the Tahoe, and having way worse range because it's gas tank is tiny.

I think the key wording you said was "managed just fine". We don't do that. Managing implies that you're working around the size, with a large SUV, that's not necessary to do, there's always plenty of room. My wife can damn near stand inside our expedition at 5'4, so if it's pouring out and the kids are screaming she can crawl back there and help without getting soaked (in Florida, this is a very common occurrence). It could be snow or whatever somewhere else.

Anyways, I'll leave it at this. Unless you live in a densely populated inner city, you'll never regret getting the larger vehicle.

No mate the Stelvio is tighter than the RAv4, considerably tighter. The back seat is much larger on the RAV4 and the trunk is like double the freakin size.

Closer in size (but still not as big) would be the X3 we had (2013MY). We are not really minimalists, I am a big guy (240lbs) and of course we had the ultra large child seats (Britax Marathons) and in the early days the fold up stroller the child seat could CLICK into so the stroller base was FREAKING HUGE.

The RAV4 is more than fine, someone suggesting an Expedition is utterly insane.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by alex2364

Having an 8 and 12 year old is completely different from toddlers or babies. Try fitting a rear facing convertible car seat and full size strollers in back of a small SUV with 6 ft adults in the front seat and tell us how comfortable you will be.

As explained above, I did. Our primary vehicle was a 9-3 wagon which again, is smaller than the RAV4 by a margin.

[FC4]

Kia Telluride all day. My wife and I were shocked at how much we enjoyed it as a rental for a few days, and we’ve had premium luxury SUVs for the last 20 years.

[T0RM3NT]

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...8&postcount=20

and

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2030639