Compact sedan as a family car

[99Saturn]

Took a family vacation a couple of weeks ago (1 week, 4.5 hours in the car each way without stops, two adults two kids in car seats). I was pleasantly surprised that we fit all of us and pretty much all our stuff in our compact sedan (Chevy Cruze). Got me thinking about our next car purchase and what size vehicle we will end up shopping for, as I have just sort of assumed we would "upsize" to either a hatchback or small SUV at a minimum.

Curious who else has exclusively had compact (or subcompact) sedans as family vehicles? If so, have you been happy with that decision or had regrets?

 

[Vern_in_IL]

regrets, mainly towing capacity.

 

[supton]

Had a Jetta wagon with two in car seats, worked ok but a bit cramped. Camry was a nice step up, and often good enough, once we ditched the stroller.

Do want another wagon though, have to run trash cans to the transfer station each week, just too easy to toss into back of our CRV (which might head to college next fall).

But with just two kids, no need for bigger.

 

[andrew_j]

We used to have a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT wagon for family of 5(ages 2,9,11) and it was tight but worked. Interior was size of 2015+ Honda Civic now but with way better cargo area.

My wife’s VW Tiguan(compact SUV) is smallest I would go with three girls now 8,15,17.

 

[nickaluch]

As kids get older they get bigger. We had a few Chevy traverse they worked out for us especially when moving them into the college dorms. Buick enclave we like even more great road trip vehicle

 

[MCompact]

We only had one child- which thankfully kept us out of "practical vehicle" purgatory. We used the Club Sport for most family trips and vacations until my son was in middle school. After that we mostly used the MS3 and occasionally my wife's E83 X3. The C43 is the largest vehicle I've owned since we sold the E39 5er in 2005.

 

[UG_Passat]

My parents had a 84 Corolla which was more subcompact. Until they got a 93 Caravan for Home Depot hauling duties

 

[TumblrDucks]

More leg room is always better

 

[Cujet]

Something many people miss with certain compact sedans or smaller 4 door vehicles, is the fact that the door pillar often rubs the driver's left shoulder. I find that infuriating. Leg room up front is almost always OK. But I can't take the constant chafing of the door pillar.

 

[eljefino]

Years with Saturn s-series were tight, had to push the passenger seat forward to fit a rear-facing car seat in the back.

My 02 camry counts as a midsize or fullsize car, so that doesn't count.

Had a Neon for a bit.

Got into Prii, they are also technically midsize.

My dog is the wildcard on road trips. Sometimes she gets kenneled, and not just because of car choice.

The older my kids get, the more they seem to need driving around. Treading water here in overall fuel consumption.

 

[fisher83]

We have had a few. A couple of Elantras, an Accent, the current Forte, and probably others I'm forgetting about. We are taking our family vacation next weekend in the Forte. Hard to beat the low cost of fuel for a long trip and we make enough stops anyway that we don't ever get uncomfortable.

 

[SeaJay]

Depends on how many long trips are to be taken and how big is the family.

 

[ATex7239]

Sedans can get it done.

We have a Fusion and Sienna. Clearly the van is the hands down winner when it comes to a family hauler as we cannot fit all the kids in the car. But when we only had two kids a sedan worked very well. We put almost 200K on a Honda Insight with two kids - no problems at all.

 

[addyguy]

Growing up, the family car for our family of 6 was a 2-door base Toyota Tercel.

I’m not kidding.

 

[Al]

We took vacations with my '69 Camaro and two small kids...when I was young and dumb

 

[brianl703]

Growing up, the family cars my parents had were:

unknown year VW Bug
unknown year Chevy Monza
1981 Plymouth Horizon (replaced the Chevy Monza, which was totaled in an accident)
1984 Chevy Cavalier wagon (I still have this)
1991 Ford Escort wagon

 

[gregk24]

Something many people miss with certain compact sedans or smaller 4 door vehicles, is the fact that the door pillar often rubs the driver's left shoulder. I find that infuriating. Leg room up front is almost always OK. But I can't take the constant chafing of the door pillar.

The B pillar? If someone is rubbing up against that while driving I think they have other problems.

 

[jstert]

when it was four of us (two in infant seats for awhile) we had a nissan sentra and toyota corolla. now just two of us ride in a vw passat. we didn’t realize that we were crowded back then.

 

[Randy_R]

We have small two compact CUV’s for ease of entry and exit. Both are low mileage for their age so fuel economy is secondary. Our son has three kids 8 and under and a 15 mile commute to work. After having Jeep Cherokee and S10 crew cab, he now has a Camry and enjoys better fuel economy. He wants a Corolla next but I hope to talk him into another Camry or an Accord. He’s a tall guy.

 

[PF52]

Once my dad no longer had access to a company car, the whole family (four of us) used to take road trips in my parent's 1983 Honda Civic. It didn't seem so unusual back in those days when SUVs were a rarity and minivans were only just starting to become commonplace (and the 1979 gas price spikes were still in recent memory).