Is there one? Moderate price, mpg over forty, lots of butt room? What do you guys have that you would recommend?
Reported for move to IMHO.
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So moved.
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I’d recommend a minivan, but it’s not going to get much over 30 mpg. You might want to wait for the Tesla Model X. Doesn’t come out until 2014, and the pricing will be a bit outrageous.
I can’t think of a single car that would match all those criteria. Especially mileage. You’ll have to compromise on that one.
The new Ford C-Max may be very much what you’re looking for. It’s an MPV, which is a class of car popular in Europe that falls somewhere between a station wagon and a minivan. The one we just started getting in the US is a hybrid that gets 47 MPG city and highway.
Other than that, there’s the Camry Hybrid, which is reasonably roomy and gets around 40 MPG. The Passat TDI is also fairly roomy and gets 40 on the highway. There’s also the new Prius V station wagon, which gets 40something, although I don’t know if the larger hatch area also translates into more rear seating space.
Even the hyundai accent doesn’t get over 40mpg. My mom had a ford taurus (full sized sedan) she sold to my brother, and even that was ok with 4 adults, but with 5 it would be cramped. However that was a 2 row seating car.
A minivan or any car with 3rd row seating should do the trick. But finding one that gets 40mpg is going to be hard unless it is a hybrid. But hybrids don’t really do better on the highway than a regular car.
The Ford Fusion hybrid is rated at 47 mpg.
Do the C-max, Camry and Passat TDi qualify as having “lots of butt room” for 3 adults in the back? I guess it depends on the butts…
I doubt the C-max is wide enough to comfortably seat 3 across. It’s basically an up-sized Focus, but it has the same width. I’ve sat with two others in the back of the new Focus models for several hour road trips, and it’s not particularly comfortable or roomy. Definitely not “lots of butt room”.
I didn’t check to see how it stacks against your requirements, but you should look into the Ford Escape Hybrid.
The width might not be different, but having more headroom, legroom, and a flatter center hump makes all the difference in the world. Your 3 across backseat passengers are still going to be touching each other, but unless they’re grotesquely wide they should be way more comfortable than in a regular Focus.
One other option I’m seeing on the EPA site is that apparently Toyota makes an Avalon hybrid that’s rated at 40 MPG. I didn’t even know they still made that car, and it’s a little pricey, but the Avalon has historically been the Japanese answer to the Buick LeSabre so it should be pretty cushy and roomy.
I’m going to agree with the sentiment that nothing without a full sized third row like a minivan or a large SUV like a Chevy Tahoe or Ford Excursion is going to qualify as “lots of butt room” and “comfortably seats five adults”. Not that you can’t get five adults in say, a honda civic and similar sized cars named above, but the guy in the middle is always going to be cramped airline seat style as far as side to side room.
The Mazda5 can actually carry six adults in reasonable comfort. It has 3-rows of 2-seats so everyone gets their own butt space. The loaded Grand Touring model (with heated leather seats, Xenon HID headlamps, Power Moonroof and SiriusXM) can be had for around $23k.
It also has some very cool storage spaces under the 2nd row seats, a fold out cupholder console for the 2nd row and the 3rd and 2nd row both fold flat for a huge cargo area when needed.
It only gets about 29mpg highway and, with a full load of passengers, it isn’t exactly swift…but it’s still pretty interesting and unique enough that it doesn’t really have any direct competitors.
Sonata Hybrid. Not quite 40 mpg, but close. Comfortable, stylish, well rated.
Interesting take on the Ford Fusion – my son-in-law works for a large company that buys 100’s of cars a year. They went from Toyota Pruis to the Fusion. The cost of the hybrid didn’t make financial sense to them. And they keep cars for 80,000 miles. My SIL hated the Prius, but is very happy with the Fusion. Just picked up his second one last week.
I had dinner with my favorite cousin, from the Italian side of the family and he made an interesting and valid point. If the car seats four very comfortably AND has a trunk with plenty of room for the fifth person would qualify, that opens up a LOT of other options!
Just how comfortable do they need to be? Is it essential that all five arrive at their destination with a pulse???