Civic Si Sedan vs. Pilot vs. WRX Hatch for Family Sedan.

Here's the scenario:

I already have the WRX hatch. The issues: gas mileage is weak, interior quality is shoddy, rear facing car seat and stroller make it a tight squeeze for anything else i.e. a person sitting in the front passenger seat or groceries in the rear with stroller in as well. The pros: AWD, Turbine Power, Subaru safe ass b-pillar, looks neat, rallyx and autox awesome.

The Civic Si Sedan: This was the fiancees suggestion as a replacement. She knows it can fit a car seat and stroller in the back when she was rocking mine while I was away last year and she was taking care of my new born nephew. If I could find a clean 8th gen it would be choice or a refreshed 9th gen (with navi and all the goodies). Cons: Not as fun as WRX, K24 not as neat as K20, looks are okay. Pros: More space, more options and amenities, better MPGs, Honda reliability and residual value, a great autox car.

The Pilot: I would get this for the fiancee, get myself a beater, sell her Accord, have a true family truckster and get a project car. This is the most expensive option but may be the most sensible in the long run as a hauler of other cars for racings and such.

As always just looking for a GRM opinion to get my thoughts going. I'm content with the Scoobie the woman just brought this up and it got me thinking that I should be making moves to be a good father more than a weekend racer at this moment.

I feel like I go through cars worse than I did women my freshman year in college.

edit post was supposed to say "form family truckster"

Skip the Pilot and go for the Oddity if you're going to go that route. Otherwise, if it were me, I'd stick with the WRX, especially if you have an Accord as well.

Slightly left-field option: Forester+WRX goodies?

Disclaimer: I am a single dude, but have been involved in some capacity with every car purchase in my family for the past... 13 years or so, which spans everything from Miata's to Crown Vic's to Oddity's to Subaru's to Mercedes Benz to BMW to Pickemups.

A used Forester XT seems appetizing. The woman is obsessed with Pilots. She's been saving penies for one since I've met her though.

CRV
It will not tow but it will meet all of her daily needs and your family outings.
Equally can be replaced with Rav4, Ford Escape or Mazda5. If looking at new, the Mazda CX5 would be good too.

Rav4 can tow and does not suck gas like the pilot. Out of the above options, I'd go with the si.

Having been in your situation a few years ago, I will ask you this: Do you plan on having more than two kids, and if so, how far apart?

Remember that the kids don't stay in those huge rear-facing seats for very long. It's when they are at their smallest, that they seem to require the largest vehicule. Once they are old enough for forward facing seats, any four-seater will do. Also, as bad as the WRX may seem for MPG, a Pilot won't get any better.

Now, if you plan on having kids really close (as in two babies in car seats and strollers), then I would say you would really enjoy the extra space of a large SUV. This is just my experience. YMMV.

Didn't you just trade in a Civic on that WRX? I'm so confused!

I have a rav4 and almost bought a crv when we were looking. Great family car. Good ish mileage and good space. We considered an outback or forester at the time. A minivan is now coming in to the picture as the kids are tall enough now to keep kicking me in the back as I drive. That is annoying.

Pilots are nice, but my friends say they suck gas like a full size Chevy.

Keep the WRX. It'll only be another few months that the kiddo is in the carrier, and from there you can choose your next car seat such that it'll fit behind the front passenger seat. Either that, or go to your local Babies R Us and try replacement infant carriers until you find one that works. Do the same with the stroller. This solution is vastly less expensive than replacing the car.

Note: if you want to indulge some automotive ADD that's fine, but the numbers just don't work out IMO. The Si's improved gas mileage probably won't be enough to justify a cost difference on its own. I would push the large SUV discussion off until if/when kiddo #2 enters the picture.

Rear facing is only the first year. Tough it out. Not worth shuffling cars.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Pilots are nice, but my friends say they suck gas like a full size Chevy.

This is where I get lost on them. A great vehicle no doubt, but I feel like there is a better vehicle for whatever you need it for, from mom-mobile to tow-vehicle.

But hey, if it keeps momma happy, then that is reason enough.

I don't know what it is with (some) women (my wife included.) Buying a minivan is akin to mommy hanging up the spurs. They make the most sense and are the answer to any vehicle logistics issues. If the rational choice is out, most of the new crop of mid-size SUVs are sporting 25+mpg. We just got a '14 CX-5 and it is returning 28-30.

The Pilot sucks a lot of gas, and the earlier ones had a lot of fit and finish issues in my experience. My buddy had one, didn't have any rug rats, and the vents and knobs were all breaking at 5 years old.

Get a dead-nuts reliable vehicle for momma, and you can have three project cars (as long as one of them will get you to work on any given day.) And a pickup truck.

They changed the how long the rear facing is required, as long as possible based on the weight the baby seat was designed for. Around 2 a least baby seat info

That said if I had a WRX there is no way in hell that I would trade it for one of the boring other options...well unless it's to escape car payments.

Get a roof basket (waterproof bag and a HF cargo net) that spans as much as the roof as you can. Throw strollers and what else doesn't fit up there. You can do other stuff like get a umbrella stroller, and leave the spare tire at home for more space too.

For gas mileage start doing some mods if you haven't already, exhaust, higher fuel pressure, intake, belly pan, ligter wheels...

szeis4cookie wrote: Keep the WRX. It'll only be another few months that the kiddo is in the carrier, and from there you can choose your next car seat such that it'll fit behind the front passenger seat. Either that, or go to your local Babies R Us and try replacement infant carriers until you find one that works. Do the same with the stroller. This solution is vastly less expensive than replacing the car.

+1 for this.

And see if you can mod it for better MPG. Does it have a roof rack right now, and if so, do you use it? Did it come with wheel spats, and if not could you mod some on? Any room for weight reduction?

Not sure what your definition is for better MPG, but the Pilot is probably not significantly better. Two people I work with have them and I think just under 20mpg seems to be the norm for both.

My wife has an '03 CRV and it gets around 26mpg with her driving, less with me. It has easily been the best car I've ever owned. The square back will haul amazing amounts of stuff, and the only failure it's ever had was the AC compressor just a few months ago. And at 100k, it's only on it's second set of tires. It still looks and drives like it did when it was new.

My DD is a Mini Cooper S, and when I drive the CRV, it's not as huge of step down in fun as you might believe. You're not gonna mistake it for a track car, but for a SUV, it's not bad. It's certainly not as nice, but it is as good a driver as the parents BMW SUV.

Now, as to whether I'd get rid of a WRX to get one, not sure about that. But we carry two small grandkids in the back, both with car seats, and it's a breeze to get them in and out. The car seat hooks are easy to access, something that couldn't be said of my old G35 sedan. It makes a huge difference in the frustration level to have the hooks accessible.

It's just a hypothetical scenario. The fiancee just worries and no we don't plan on having any other kids any time soon. This baby was a freakin miracle two forms of contraceptives were defeated! I just feel horrible that she was conceived in Mississippi and born in Virginia and came out with a mullet. Hopefully she doesn't like third gen f-bodies and Dale Jr. when she's older and get caught up in that crowd.

fanfoy wrote: Remember that the kids don't stay in those huge rear-facing seats for very long.

Rear-facing until 2 years old or 50lbs by law, highly recommended they stay that way until aged 3-5 or 75lbs.

buy my '03 Mazda6 and strap the rear-facing car seat into the center of the rear bench.

A 50lb kid won't fit in a rear facing seat. Once they weigh over 22 lbs and have proper neck control they can go into a forward facing car seat.

DirtyBird222 wrote: I just feel horrible that she was conceived in Mississippi and born in Virginia and came out with a mullet. Hopefully she doesn't like third gen f-bodies and Dale Jr. when she's older and get caught up in that crowd.

I LOL'd

+1 sir

In reply to docwyte:

No, they changed the standard that was the old standard for the rear facing seats.

This is the seat we have, look at the weight range for rear facing http://www.justkidsstore.com/prod/diono/radian-r120-car-seat/storm?gclid=CL78oYH3wrUCFcZFMgodgRUAUQ&

In reply to docwyte:

Sorry bub, the laws and standards have changed. We have a 50Lb rated rear-facing for mini-Jav. 3x less likely to get injured.

DirtyBird222 wrote: This baby was a freakin miracle two forms of contraceptives were defeated!

Say What? Hahaha

I believe the American Academy of Pediatrics changed their guidelines to rear facing until 2 years old, the laws are not changed. We just flipped my daughter around a few months before her 2nd birthday because her legs couldn't fit in the backward seat anymore. Good luck fitting a 50 lb kid in a rear facing seat...my 5 year old weighs less than that.

Um, they can change the recommendations to whatever they want, but they can't change common sense.

Jere, that's a forward facing car seat you linked to.

A 50lb kid isn't going to fit into a rear facing car seat and not only that won't tolerate being in a rear facing car seat. I had to put my daughter into a forward facing car seat because she kept shrugging out of the harness straps on her rear facing seat so she could turn around and see us.

The pediatrician recommended duct taping the straps so she couldn't do that. My response to him was less than polite.