I hate cars but...

May 16, 2006 9:14 AM

I want a car that carries more than 5 passengers AND gets good fuel economy! I did see some similar recent posts on this question, but not explicitly including the more than 5 seating issue! Right now I drive a tiny civic hatch back. I don't care about having a BIG car, I just want a car that can carry more people than the members of my immediate family. I hate to switch from 35 mpg to the 18 that even the most efficient minivan provides. Any creative seating solutions (Optional rear bench? Back facing station wagon seating?) will be considered!
posted by serazin to shopping (27 comments total)

Mazda5?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:20 AM on May 16, 2006

Hmn, well, a Honda Oddysey will get 19/28 in EX trim, which is almost as good as my Accord V6 will get. You can usually get somewhere in the midrange.

I think the only other option might be a Volvo or BMW station wagon, if they still make them. I remember a rear-facing seat in a Volvo.
posted by SpecialK at 9:21 AM on May 16, 2006

Toyota makes a hybrid version of the Highlander SUV that gets good mileage, with that freaky hybrid "better in the city" mileage. 7 passengers. Around $30K. No idea if that fits your budget or other needs—I'd be reluctant to get an SUV myself.

As far as plain old station wagons go, I couldn't find anything that meets your specs. Chrysler does make the Pacifica (which is almost as tall as an SUV) with a third row, but it gets 18 or 19 mpg city.

Edmunds.com is a good place to do research on this.
posted by adamrice at 9:37 AM on May 16, 2006

Passat wagon, or an older Jetta wagon with a TDI? Volvo V70 seats seven: 22/29, and around 24 in real-world use. And the Mazda5 is a three-row seven-seater in European trim, and a six-seater for the US.
posted by holgate at 9:47 AM on May 16, 2006

It looks like a Ford Focus Station Wagon might fit your needs. Check the mileage here.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:50 AM on May 16, 2006

My Scion xB is unbelievably roomy on the inside. Every person who's ever sat in it immediately comments on how spacious it is. It can seat 5 no problem. Good legroom in the back and great headroom above. If anyone's particularly large side-to-side, you might not fit 5. Small or average folk will fit.

I get ~31-33MPG and parking is a breeze.
posted by scarabic at 10:03 AM on May 16, 2006

Could a scion XB seat two adults and kids ages 2/5/6/9 ?
posted by mecran01 at 10:11 AM on May 16, 2006

If you can find one where you live a Volvo V70 diesel should get you 35-45 MPG and seat 7 fairly comfortably with the rear facing seat. The rear facing seat is only good up to about 10 yrs old, although in a pinch you can fit two guys in suits going to a wedding. We have the gas version, and it's a great car.
posted by true at 10:25 AM on May 16, 2006

Even if the xB could seat 4 kids and 2 adults now, what happens when the kids are 5/8/9/12?

You need a three row seater. Time to shop for minivans or SUVs.
posted by jeversol at 10:31 AM on May 16, 2006

We faced this when looking for cars last year. We needed to be able to carry six people, and I consider it essential that each person should have a real place to sit with their own seat belt, so "squeezing in" a nominal 5 place car wouldn't cut it.

The station wagon route is fine but the third row is usually limited to kids under about 10 (and reduces your luggage space to zero unless you put stuff on the roof which will in turn reduce milage).

To seat 6 or more larger children or adults you are pretty much limited to a mini-van or mid-sized, or above, SUV. Mini-vans generally get only slightly better milage, but there are some that do better. The Odyssey gets good cruising milage by turning off three of its cylinders when possible -- not often in town, but much of the time on the highway, as long as you don't go too fast. The older style Odyssey, pre sliding doors, was smaller than most mini-vans and could have had better milage, but I presume they changed to being like everybody else's mini-van because it didn't sell as well.

I'm sure that somebody will eventually come out with a smaller, hybrid six-person vehicle, but I couldn't find one when I looked.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:34 AM on May 16, 2006

You may want to check out the Ford Escape Hybrid FWD, which gets 36MPG highway, 31MPG city.

A visit to fueleconomy.gov would be a good idea... and, yes, diesel is a good thing, though I suspect you will find that the price for used diesel vehicles have been going up quite a bit lately. Lots of people want them for their fuel economy, and for running on biodiesel.
posted by insomnia_lj at 10:37 AM on May 16, 2006

The new Toyota RAV4 has a 7-seat option, although my understanding is that the last 2 seats are very tight. Fine for kids, not for adults.

Fuel economy is suprisingly good too.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 10:39 AM on May 16, 2006

Although minivans are not typically offered in the US with diesel engines, full-size vans can be. I am currently investigating this option, although I have found that the advantages minivans have for hauling people and kids are pretty high (that's why people buy them). There's a lot of little touches that aren't in, say, a full-size passenger van.

I wish they'd come out with a hybrid minivan, but I imagine it's difficult with the small engine bay or something.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 11:08 AM on May 16, 2006

Any creative seating solutions ... will be considered!

Spread the seating out over two small vehicles. That is, drive two small cars.

If you do not plan on traveling frequently with six or more people like a clown car in the circus, but you instead expect to drive with a smaller load 90-99 percent of the time (commuting to work, etc.) like most people, you might get much better mileage by driving one small car with great mileage 90-99 percent of the time.

For days when you need to move more people but to various destinations, you probably will make better time using two small cars going in different directions rather than one big car making the grand tour.

And for the infrequent (?) times you need to take all three rings and the sideshow to the same place at the same time, load up two cars (10 or more people?) and drive off knowing that you do not have all your eggs in one basket.

Running two efficient engines for a small proportion of your trips but just one efficient engine for a large proportion of your trips is probably better than running a car with an almost always unnecessarily large capacity for all of your trips.
posted by pracowity at 11:42 AM on May 16, 2006

The current Prius has about as good fuel economy as you can get, and it seats three in the back seat fairly comfortably. Toyota claims it has a bigger interior than the Camry. It also has a good amount of trunk space.
posted by me3dia at 11:58 AM on May 16, 2006

"... more than five ..."
posted by knave at 12:13 PM on May 16, 2006

Don't rebound too much. My Toyota RAV 4 seats 4 very comfortably, and 5 around town, i.e. no 6 hour trips. There's room for stuff in the way back, and a roof rack. It feels much, much bigger than my old Nissan Sentra, which still had 5 seatbelts, IIRC. If you really have 6+ people in the car a lot, then get the minivan or SUV with the best mileage. But for a family consider 1 tiny car for whoever commutes farthest + 1 medium sized car. With the savings on gas and insurance for a bigger car, you can rent a van for long trips.
posted by theora55 at 12:34 PM on May 16, 2006

The Saturn VUE gets 23/29 MPG and seats 6 comfortably with a lot more room in the back for stuff. And they are coming out with a hybrid version next year, 2K more for 27/32 MPG.
posted by visual mechanic at 1:18 PM on May 16, 2006

Something to seriously consider: an old (60s) Nova wagon with a six -cylinder that's been converted to fuel injection. I could get 18 mpg out of my Impala before I souped it up and lost all semblence of mileage.


Plus it's way cool.
posted by notsnot at 3:19 PM on May 16, 2006

Mazda5. Rated at 22/27 MPG, and has seats (and seatbelts!) for six people. Also check out the Ford Freestyle (seats 7) and the new RAV4.

Hardly any of the other vehicles mentioned (Saturn Vue, Escape, Prius, xB, etc.) are legally capable of seating more than five. Yeah, you could throw two kids in the cargo area but that's illegal, unsafe, and just stupid.
posted by bhayes82 at 3:36 PM on May 16, 2006

The Peugeot 307 station wagon has foldable seat mounts on rails, so it can seat from 2 to 7 people. Get the 2.0L HDi model and you're cruising at 38.6 mpg in the city, 60.1 mpg on the highway (50.4 mpg combined rating).
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:42 PM on May 16, 2006

I don't have a suggestion, but about the Scion xB:

It barely seats five. And by barely, I mean, the middle seat in the back is actually less wide than a coach airplane seat. I've been in one with three people in the back, and it's doable, but it's not comfortable.
posted by CrayDrygu at 5:11 PM on May 16, 2006

Consider a Dodge Sprinter van. It's a re-badged Mercedes product made for the European market, sold here under the Dodge name. It has a diesel engine and gets 25 or 27 mpg. There are many configurations, some seat 8 or 10.
posted by richg at 5:54 PM on May 16, 2006

can you clarify?
The size of the 5 people and how far you want to drive makes a huge difference. What may work for a run to the mall wouldn't work for a 12 hour road trip. What may work for 2 adults and 3 kids might not work for 5 adults.
posted by Megafly at 5:57 PM on May 16, 2006

Mazda5. Rated at 22/27 MPG, and has seats (and seatbelts!) for six people. Also check out the Ford Freestyle (seats 7) and the new RAV4.

While at the dealer getting my car serviced, I was wandering around the showroom and climbed into a 5 - While it technically has 3-row seating, the back row is difficult to reach and looks really uncomfortable for anyone other than smallish-kids for a ride of any length. Granted I'm not small (6'1"), but I had trouble getting in to the middle row.

That being said, if you don't plan to hold on to it forever, it might work for 2 adults in the front and kids age 2 through 9 arranged behind. I'd want to verify the cargo space with all the seats in - it didn't look like much, but otherwise it looks pretty cool (for a non-car) and all reports are it drives really well.
posted by jalexei at 6:30 PM on May 16, 2006

Sorry - thought the original poster had mentioned the kids age 2-9 - adjust input as needed - mecran01 may want to check out the Mazda5 ;-)
posted by jalexei at 6:33 PM on May 16, 2006

Diesel is the way to go, my 25 year old, 4x4, 6000 lb. 6.2 liter Suburban gets 22+mpg and will seat 9 with the third seat. The main thing with a diesel is to make sure it is not geared too low, overdrive is a good thing. Without overdrive, the mileage on diesels can drop 20% for each 10 mph over 55. The dodge sprinter van has been mentioned, I think it uses a small turbocharged mercedes diesel engine.
posted by 445supermag at 9:07 PM on May 17, 2006