Any SUV recommendations?

[Jen_in_NH]

DH and I are looking at trading my truck in this spring, before the baby is born. We can't fit a car seat in the back seat of my truck, so it's time to get rid of it. I need to get something with 4WD so I'll be able to get home in the winter, and something large enough for 2 adults, 1 baby, all the stuff for the baby, and 2 dogs (think BIG dogs) We were looking at Ford Escapes and Subaru Foresters, but if anyone else has any other recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

Jen

 

[Hercules10]

I have a V-8 4wd 4Runner. The V-8's are full time 4WD and the V-6's are shift on the fly.

With our ice storm yesterday I can attest to the fact that this thing handles GREAT on slick roads.

PS we have two Shiloh Shepherds. I.e BIG doggies

 

[debster812]

LOVE LOVE LOVE My Subaru Forrester!!!!!

Drives like a car, goes great in bad weather, very good safety ratings, big enough for us, and gets decent gas mileage.

LOVE it.

 

[rgf207]

I have a V-8 4wd 4Runner. The V-8's are full time 4WD and the V-6's are shift on the fly.

With our ice storm yesterday I can attest to the fact that this thing handles GREAT on slick roads.

PS we have two Shiloh Shepherds. I.e BIG doggies

I have an '05 Toyota 4runner V6. Shift on the fly 4 wheel drive. It is a wonderful car. Good gas mileage and runs superb. It saved my life last year in a snow storm

 

[suezpqt]

My friend just bought a Jeep Liberty. I love it. They have 2 kids and 1 Great Dane - all fit in there fine.

 

[merrily]

I have a Honda Pilot and love it! Very roomy. It has on demand 4WD

 

[Dina]

We have a Jeep Grand Cherokee-- I love it!

 

[allie&mattsmom]

We have the lexus GX which is the mid size sport ut. We love it. It is all time four wheel drive and has a v8. It is by far my favorite vehicle I've owned.

 

[Disney4Drew]

I have a 2006 Honda Pilot with 4WD. I LOVE it. We drove it in the snow just a few days after we got it. It handled very well! It has a 3rd row that folds down so you can either have lots of seating room or lots of storage. We also test drove the Toyota 4 Runner, but I keep buying Hondas.

 

[Michie]

an escape is a compact suv, so if i was you i would look at something bigger. we own a car/boat/truck lot and we have several escapes that people have used as trade ins due to the fact that it is too small for all of their baby gear.

 

[Christine]

I own a Toyota Highlander. Really love it. And it always gets a great rating.

However, I'm not sure that the cargo area in the back is large enough to hold two VERY large dogs comfortably. I put my 45 lb dog back there and it is fine for her. I wouldn't want to put, say, two big Labs back there.

 

[kerrynic78]

I just sold my Escape which I loved and bought a Murano which I love even more! We are expecting our daughter in 4 weeks and we have tested putting the travel system, car seat, pack and play, etc in there and they fit great.

 

[rcraw45425]

I love the roominess of my Mercedes ML. My kids have enough room that they're not fighting all the time like in my sedan. I have also had an Explorer ('96) and an Expedition ('99 I think, first year they were out). Size wise, I like the maneuverability of the ML, so does DH, he'd much rather park it than his full sized FOrd F150. Mercedes has a lot of safety features that I like too.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

I own a Toyota Highlander. Really love it. And it always gets a great rating.

However, I'm not sure that the cargo area in the back is large enough to hold two VERY large dogs comfortably. I put my 45 lb dog back there and it is fine for her. I wouldn't want to put, say, two big Labs back there.

Good to know - that's another we were looking at. We have a 100lb Newfie and a 90 lb lab, so they take up some space (as soon as they learn to curl up and not sleep completely stretched out, we'll be even better. )

Jen

 

[kpm76]

We have an 2006 Equinox and we love it. The leg room in the back is amazing. If we want to move the whole back seat up though to make the storage in the back bigger that's an option too. We're very happy with it so far (we've had it since June).

 

[Alice28]

Subaru! Subaru! Subaru!

Go with the Subie! You won't be disappointed. We will ALWAYS have one in our family after buying our Outback in 2002. We now have the Tribeca and a used Dodge Dakota my dad gave us for free. We sold the Outback to pay off most of our bills....let me say this- we paid $19,000 for it in late 2002. We got $14,000 for it this September. I couldn't believe it- they hold their value WELL. (granted we had taken excellent care of it and it had new tires, but still!). We will be buying another Outback for DH to commute to work in when we can deal with another car payment in 2-3 years.

I can't tell you enough how much we love how much our Subarus handle, the AWD, the smoothness of the ride....just great, great cards.

 

[lulu71]

Please don't make the mistake that I did and buy a Land Rover Discovery (now LR3). There is no air or heat in the back and the backseat is super narrow so it is a chore to get baby in and out of the carseat. It is great for dogs though because of the huge tall cargo area.

I now have an Expedition and love it!

 

[Fitswimmer]

I have an '05 Toyota 4runner V6. Shift on the fly 4 wheel drive. It is a wonderful car. Good gas mileage and runs superb. It saved my life last year in a snow storm

I've got the '06 and even if I won the lottery I wouldn't trade it for anything! I've never owned a vehicle that I've liked this much.

 

[MScott1851]

I don't think the Subaru is going to have enough cargo room for the dogs, or an Escape, either. I had an Escape a couple of years ago, and I thought it was too small.

I have a Ford Explorer and DH has a Toyota Highlander, both have roughly the same backseat and cargo space. Those are two mighty big dogs you have there...they would definitely fit, but it might be snug.

I'm thinking maybe an Expedition, just for the cargo space. The backseat really isn't that much bigger.

I love 4-Runners, but I'm not familiar with the interior size of them.

 

[robinb]

The Escape Hybrid and the Subbie were both on my short list this summer. The Subaru Legacy Outback is actually a bigger car. I also liked the Mercury Mariner Hybrid, the brother to the Escape with a nicer trim line and quieter ride. We also liked both the Hyundai Santa Fe and the Saturn Vue. We ended up with a different kind of car, the Mazda5. It was too good of a deal to pass up and the car seated 6 instead of 5.