Hi all, 35 year old dad, I have a 5 year old and a 5 month old (plus my wife). I recently got a new job that is about an hour and a half away in Chicago (I live in the suburbs). It’s a 60mile commute one way. I work 3 days a week as a firefighter so it isn’t awful.
I currently drive a 2009 Honda civic, it isn’t terrible but I’m lucky to get 30mpg. For how un-fun it is, 30mpg is pretty disappointing. I had a Lexus ct200 and it was miserably slow but at least I could justify it with nearly 50mpg. The civic is actually more miserable to drive and only gets 30mpg so it’s like “what’s the point?”.
I have a boner for wagons but they are difficult to find and generally underwhelming. The Buick regal wagon is cool but GM is pretty terrible these days. Considered the accord crosstour, ugly, but unique and some what practical. My wife had a 2023 CRV hybrid and it was pretty nice and got good mpg but they are expensive still. I JUST got this job so I’m only making about 80k a year and my wife isn’t currently working so my budget is like $250 a month or below (I know, I’m trying)
Doesn’t have to be new. I’m open minded. Even considering a used minivan but figured I’d ask Reddit for opinions.
Hunting for:
-Something not miserable to drive on highway
-prefer greater than 30mpg but a little less won’t be a deal breaker.
-space for stroller, kids stuff, fire gear and occasional tools for side jobs.
-two baby seats
-safe enough
-$250 or less payment if at all possible but cheaper the better.
Help a sad, ex car dad out. I used to have lots of awesome cars before kids and now I have my wife’s dead grandmas automatic civic that’s slowly falling apart.