We’re expecting another baby in July, and we think it will be very difficult to fit two car seats and all the kid and baby paraphernalia in our 2004 Honda Civic, so we are looking for a new car. We went out yesterday and test drove a few cars. We had been thinking of a Subaru Outback, but I didn’t like it much when I test drove it. I guess I’m just not an SUV person, even as a mom… I did like the Subaru Legacy and the Mazda 6 that I test drove. I would also like to try out a Toyota Camry hybrid, though did not get to do that yesterday.
Do any of you have (or have had) a Subaru Legacy, a Mazda 6, or a Toyota Camry hybrid? What did you like about it, and what didn’t you like? Would you recommend it for a family with two kids? Any other car recommendations?
One of the things I really liked about the Civic was that it was a good basic car to get me from point A to point B without requiring a lot of maintenance or fuss. It did not have a lot of mechanical problems over its lifetime, and got good gas mileage. It lasted a long time, which is something I very much want in a new car. It takes me a couple of years to properly get used to a new car, so I don’t like changing cars often. I don’t care at all if a car is “fun to drive”- I don’t really enjoy driving (I wish I could get a self-driving car). As long as it’s not something really ugly like a Pontiac Aztek or a PT Cruiser, I don’t care much about how it looks. I’m not looking to impress anybody with my car, unless someone might be impressed by the amount of cracker crumbs and old receipts in it or something like that. We don’t do a lot of long car trips, so stuff related to that is not really an issue. Mr. Neville doesn’t drive much, and my limit is about 5 hours of driving in a day (I’ve made it from Pittsburgh to Baltimore or DC in one day, have gone to Chicago in a 2-day trip, would not want to drive much further than that). I can’t drive a manual, that’s straight out. I live and shop in urban areas, but I’m not the best at parallel parking, so I want something that is fairly easy to parallel park. I really, really liked the backup cameras on the Legacy (and they’re available on the 6). They had distance markers at 1, 2, and 4 feet. I really, really want a car that has that, since I am no good at all at estimating distances. Mr. Neville really wants lane drift warning and blind spot detection- he’s not at all a confident driver. I wish I could get a windshield wiper on the back window, but that doesn’t seem to be available on the Legacy or the 6
I’m in Pittsburgh, and one of the big problems I’ve had with the Civic is that it doesn’t do very well in ice and snow. That became very obviously a problem this winter. I’d really like to get a car that will do a better job at that. Does anyone have experience with any of those cars in ice and snow?
I have 2007 Subaru Legacy Wagon (not an Outback), and the only major maintenance I’ve had to do in the time I’ve owned it was a head gasket and water pump last year to the tune of $2200. Other than that the car has run flawlessly. I live in N.Alberta and have winter tires on the car, it is great in snow, starts reliably has buckets of cargo room and replaced a Ford Focus so I could take everything we needed to go camping. Mileage is decent, usually in the area of 33mpg highway, 25 mpg city. The new Legacy posts much better numbers than that.
I like driving it, it has sufficient power and overall has been the best vehicle I’ve owned. I’d buy another one in a heartbeat but now that the kids are moving out, I may buy a WRX instead.
Have a look at the new Ford Fusion, it’s in the same category and was my second choice when I bought the Subie, which only got the nod because I wanted a wagon (I’m not a fan of SUVs either).
I drive a Subaru Legacy Outback wagon, and I pretty much love it. The only two downsides I see are that even after driving it for a few years, I have almost no feel for how long the damn thing is… it’s longer than the Ford Escort wagon I used to drive, and I still park by Braille sometimes. Maybe that’s just me. The other is blind spots… when I’m sitting at a light or a stop sign, the car to my right on the cross street is completely blocked by the rear-view mirror, so I have to duck my head down to see if there’s somebody waiting to cross in front of me. And, the mileage is a little low. Also, the turning radius is bigger than I’m used to. Okay, so, that’s four downsides.
Otherwise, I like the access to the rear seats. It’s got a fair amount of cargo capacity with the seats down (I’ve moved six times since I got it). Drives great in winter weather; I lived in St. Paul previously for about 18 years, driving a Volvo wagon, Ford Escort wagons, and a Ford Econoline van and these last two winters driving the Subaru have been the best ever. My aunt is on her 2nd Subaru, both of them passed 250,000 miles before they gave up the ghost.
I have a 2012 Mazda 6 and have two kids, one of whom is a toddler now. Overall, I like the Mazda. it has a nice driving feel. I find that putting my 13 month old in the rear facing child seat is a bit of a pain since there is a slope to the rear roof and his seat has really high sides. I think that will be an issue with pretty much any sedan however. The Mazda 6 is really long however, it will be a foot longer than your Honda Civic and a few inches longer than even a Subaru Outback. It is a bit of a pain to parallel park. Get the reverse parking camera.
I drove it this winter, and to be honest, it wasn’t great. The day it was a bit icy and snowy, it was slipping and sliding. I went back home and took my older Honda Element instead and had no problems on the same stretch of road. It is probably a function of the tires, so if you may want to invest in snow tires for the winters.
No. The Outback is, in effect, the Legacy station wagon, raised up several inches to appeal to those who like SUVs. They stopped selling the lower Legacy station wagon in the US in 1995. They continue to make a Legacy wagon, but only sell it in Europe and Japan. We get the raised Outback instead.
Like the OP, I prefer driving sedans over SUVs or wagons. I have a 2011 Legacy that I like very much. Very dependable and comfortable, and gets good gas mileage for an AWD car. Highly recommend.
Indeed. Very easy to drive in the snow. I’ve driven various Fords, Hondas, Toyotas and Nissans, and the Legacy is head and shoulders better in the snow.
As for the rear window wiper, you really don’t need one in a sedan. In fact, I’ve never seen one on a sedan. The rear defroster works fine.
I’ve heard that you can fold in the side view mirrors in the Outback in Japan, but not here, too. That’s another feature I wish I could get. If I could do that from the inside of the car, that would make getting tickets in parking garages and using the library bookdrop much less scary activities (I’ve got short arms, so I have to get pretty close to the ticket machine or bookdrop).
That was allegedly true in my Civic, too. I don’t like waiting for the defroster to do its thing. When I get in the car, I want clear windows NOW, and the wipers do a better job of that than the defrosters. (I’m also lazy and would much rather use the wipers to clear snow off than use a scraper) Unless the defroster in my Civic is much worse than the ones in bigger cars. We didn’t do a test drive in conditions where the defroster was necessary, so I really don’t know- is it?
You really shouldn’t use your wipers to clear snow. If there is snow and ice, the wipers could be frozen in place, and you can mess up the wiper blade and/or motor. You really should use a scraper to clear the windows on all four sides of the car, and make sure the wipers are free to move, and won’t get torn up by any ice.
One neat feature the Legacy has, if you get the “all-weather package”, is a special heated area at the base of the windshield where the wipers sit. This is in addition to heated seats and heated side mirrors.
I own a 2010 Mercury Milan (basically Ford Fusion) Hybrid. This platform is based off the previous generation Mazda 6 (ie not the current Mazda 6 platform, but back when Ford/Mazda were collaborating on the platform).
It has room for 4 adults or 5 kids.
It gets around 40MPG in the summer, more if you study the gauges and drive it with a mind toward economy. In the winter, because of the need for heat here, it goes into all-electric mode less frequently and thus I only got 30 - 32 MPG.
It’s got a backup camera, and some of them have touch screens if you want to go all luxury-upscale
The downside is that you lose some trunk space due to the battery. Coming from my 2007 Impala that had a “six body” trunk (you could easily fit 6 dead bodies in there), it’s much smaller, but still adequate.
With decent tires winter handling shouldn’t be a problem. Mine was awful for part of this winter but the tires were pretty worn. Once I got new tires on it it was a whole new ballgame.
I bought the car last year with 25K miles on it, and I have not regretted it. I easily save $100 a month in gas compared to the Impala.
What year were you looking at? Outback got a major redesign in 2010 and seems like a whole different car. If the one you were looking at was 2009 or before, or 2010 and after, the other side may be more appealing.
Indeed. I assumed the OP was looking at new or nearly new cars. Subaru redesigned the Legacy and Outback in 2010, making them much larger. They redesigned again in 2015, but the changes are much more modest. I am tall and could never fit in a Legacy before the 2010 redesign. Now, the Legacy has a lot of room in the front and back seat, making it suitable for tall people as well as car seats.
Also my 2012 has folding mirrors I guess. Not powered or anything. I think of them as breakaway mirrors, so that when some jackass hits the in a parking lot they snap forward or backward pretty easily rather than breaking.* I never really considered doing it on purpose, but I just went a checked, and you can pull the driver one in easily from the seat, so it only sticks about 1.5 inches past the side of the car.
This is a major thing in Michigan for some reason. Living in Colorado for 12 years and never lost a mirror or noticed any damage. Living in Michigan 6 mirrors on three cars in 4 years(one mirror twice).
We are looking at new cars. I buy my cars new with the plan of driving them for a long time, because I don’t like shopping for cars or switching between cars. Don’t ask how long it took me to get used to the gas cap being on the driver’s side on my current car, when it was on the passenger side on my previous one.
Would a pre-2010 Outback be likely to have a backup camera, electronic stability control, lane drift warning, blind spot detection, and the ability to play music from my iPhone on the car’s stereo? Those are things we definitely want. If they were smaller, would they be likely to have room for two car seats plus an adult in the back seat? How are they on reliability? We don’t do any DIY car repairs (we’d probably manage to set the car on fire if we tried), so any repairs or maintenance are going to mean a trip to a mechanic, which is something I’d rather do infrequently.
wolfman, what make and model is your 2012?
I haven’t lost any mirrors, but any time my mirrors get close to anything, I hear my dad’s voice telling me, “Watch the mirrors!” I swear he said that probably at least ten times a day when I was learning to drive. I do NOT want to have to admit to him that I misjudged a distance and took out a mirror…
No, maybe, no, no and no. Even 2010-2014 would be no, yes, no, no and maybe (depending on year and trim level).
Go with new. Like Honda and Toyota, it seldom makes sense to buy a used Subaru, as they hold their value so well that used ones (nearly new and in good condition) don’t sell that much lower than new ones.
I have had a 2010 legacy since the release year and love it. It’s reliable, gets decent mileage, looks nice, and has decent trunk space. My model doesn’t have the best back seat for car seats if you have longer legs but I haven’t driven any newer models. We can make it work but it does feel a little cramped when the carseats are in there. My wife has a 2004 Forester with over 100k miles and it’s great for carrying all our junk but still the car seat dilemma, it’s like Subarus don’t like back seat passengers to have legroom.
You don’t have enough room for a 2.5 year old and a newborn? How much gear are you packing?
What issues did you have during the winter? Did you have the correct tires?
If you are worried about snow driving Subbies do very well here in Alaska and a wagon will give you more room. However in urban areas a front wheel drive car with correct tires is often enough for most people.
Have you considered a minivan? They have loads of room and drive like cars and depending on how much you want to spend they can have just about any convenience you can think of.
Some other vehicles to consider:
Nissan Rogue; up to 3 rows of seats or 2 rows with storage and available in AWD.
Honda Odyssey; lots and lots of room and it’s a Honda.
Honda CR-V; a Honda non-minivan.
Chevy Traverse; SUV-ish without being an SUV, however it also has SUV-ish MPG.
