Is there a Vehicle for Larger Families with great MPG potential?
 

I am basically a quasi hypermiler in my Toyota Yaris and often get 45-47mpg.

I'm in kind of a quagmire of sorts, as my children age and we are finding the need to not only haul them, but their friends around. We still want to get great fuel efficiency while doing this.

I would be THRILLED to get into something that would get 36+ MPG, along with having the capability of seating for 7 people. I've looked around at corolla wagons (don't know if they seat 7).

So I'm here looking for suggestions and recommendations on what type of vehicle I can get. I'm finding this to be a HUGE challenge.

Most people think "mini van", but that's out of the question as the MPG's will never make it.

We will be doing a TON of highway miles carrying 5 children (7 people total).
4 cylinder would be perfect (I wish 3 cylinder vehicles were wagons).

I'm pretty desperate to find something that will work out. I understand my options are probably limited.

Thanks!

Looks like there might be a few options out there.

Just calculate in man-miles per gallon. 25 mpg in a minivan x7 people is 175 mpg a head.

Back when I was looking, it was between the Mazda 5 and a Dodge. The Mazda was rated a bit higher, but cost a bunch more and was a lot smaller. Purchase price and utility made the Grand Caravan a much better move despite getting worse mileage.

One of these might do the trick, if you can find one:
http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/IMG_1588.jpg

LOL on the car.

Yes, looking for something that can pass inspection and be reasonable. I was considering a Toyota Corolla wagon, but I don't know if they made those for 7 passengers or if anbody knows of a 3rd row (even reverse facing) set of seats (aftermarket, mod, or whatever). It's at least got to look legit and legal.

Those don't come close and they are silly expensive. At those rates a $10,000 used minivan will destroy them in total cost per mile. You can get high 20's in the right minivans and they are so much better travellers then a wagon. Go back a few years on a Toyota around 2005 when they started using the 3.5. The early 2001-2004 Grand caravans with a 3.3 or 3.8 had solid reliability and cost even less yet could get 22-24mpg without even trying. 2007 up Kia and Hyundai with their redesign did similar and are low prices. Honda s are good but the best mpg models up until 2014 were only the loaded ones and to me never seemed worth their price tags so much higher then everybody else.

This has been a DAUNTING task for a long time for me. Mini-van's are really out of the question because anybody can "settle" for that. They are not incredibly aerodynamic. We already have a Toyota Sienna anyway, and it gets about 24 MPG if I drive it "specially".

We are looking to "improve that" and try to get something much better. I wish there was a 3 cylinder Geo Metro wagon. :) But a 4 cylinder with 7 passenger seating MAY be good.... but I'm having a ton of trouble finding stuff like that.

Mazda5 comes to mind, but to say its a true 7 passenger is a stretch. The 3rd row is tiny!

There's not much else out there. I know of no Corolla wagon which would seat 7, heck, move a class up to mid size wagons and I can't think of any 7 seaters.

We are a family of four and our subcompacts work...sorta. But wife's family comes in now and then, really stretching what we have. Add to that my need to haul appliances, etc. several more times per year, and we decided a minivan is in order. A previous generation Honda Odyssey or a current generation Pentastar V6 powered Chrysler T+C are on the list. Neither are 30+ contenders but both are incredibly practical.

Ford Flex might also be a possibility.

Mazda5 in only a 6-seater. 2+2+2

I have an Odyssey. The new model is rated 19/28 mpg. Which is almost as good as the pint-sized Mazda5 (22/28).

I had high hopes for the Prius v when it came out, but the 3-row option isn't offered here, only overseas. 45 mpg and 7 seats? Yes Please!

Compare 1999 - 2014 Cars, Trucks and Vehicles

2014 Mitsubishi Outlander tops at 31 hwy,

Kia Rondo is probably the best balance of initial used cost vs mpg.

If you let in 6 cylinders 2006 Highlander hybrid is right behind the Outlander.

It sounds like you want to make things difficult to find something that isn't a minivan, has a 3rd row, and gets over 30mpg. The wagon with third row seating doesn't really exist anymore unless you're looking at a mercedes e-class wagon (expensive and only mid-20's), or the mazda5 (still kinda small, but great mpg). Most people who are shopping for such a thing nowadays will either get a minivan or an SUV. Hell, even volvo doesn't make a wagon with a third seat anymore, and they're what I think of when I think wagons. If money isn't an issue a highlander hybrid is probably your best bet while staying as close as possible to your requirements. At the end of the day though you are going to be hard pressed to find anything more aerodynamic than a minivan that has a third row.

Nifty, I stand corrected!

The older Taurus/Sable wagons had third row seating but as you can see Moon Unit leaves a lot to be desired in the mpg department. I'd expect one without the hot-rod 24 valve engine to do better.

Over here there's the Dacia Logan MCV as a relatively cheap station wagon that seats adults in the third row.
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/specialy...e/190/hi-2.jpg
It can be had with a diesel engine too.
It is no eco wonder but certainly less thirsty than the big SUVs.
http://wiki-auto.fr/images/thumb/e/e...e_coffre_1.JPG
Full size 3rd row seats and even some luggage room behind them, in a car that is a lot cheaper than a VW Golf...!

In 2013 a new Logan MCV was launched and believe it or not, it has less room in the back than the old one...

I noticed the same thing about the 1st and 2nd gen Taurus/Sable wagons, according to fuelecon.gov. :mad:

I used to get 32MPG on a 2001 dodge caravan in the rolling hills of Tennessee.

Are you trying to save money or fuel?

This is a silly thread.

You already have the best vehicle for hauling 7 people around.

If you want to save money, then keep the vehicle you already own.

If you want to save the world by burning an insignificantly smaller amount of fuel, then don't drive.

Beyond that, you can ecomod your van by giving it some aero treatments and airing up the tires... partial grill block, camback, wheel covers, remove the roof rails, etc. I bet you could get 30mpg by doing these things.

My parents had the V6 Odyssey for a while, and I drove it a couple times to L.A and back at 55mph and got 29 mpg. I P&G'd in the city and when I could on the freeway, that thing had insane coasting capabilities. I can imagine the 4 cylinder version would get 30+ with some aero mods and careful driving.

Newer
Tesla Model S
R320

Middle
E300 wagon

Older
VW Eurovan diesel (Canada only)
early-mid nineties camry wagon 4cyl

Custom
Caprice wagon with 6.2L Diesel

Lower mpg
volvo v70 5speed
Sprinter
transit connect
commander crd

Wat?! :confused:

Yeah 30 MPG isn't impossible with a V6 mini van. Very good actually when you think how many people and how much stuff they can haul. I used to pull a 12" enclosed trailer filled with scrap metal daily and still got around 25MPG. It was way better then my 1983 ford van. 8MPG and still no power :(

You can get a rear facing jump seat with them

Taurus wagons are very hard to find with 3rd row...have a customer with a Taurus and he said he has looked into the 3rd row thing. Few were spec'd out from the factory so equipped, and adding them from the secondhand market is relatively costly.

Ok now that I think about it, it makes sense that the Mazda5 is a 6 seater. Third row, as I said, is tiny and there is practically no room behind the third row for...anything.

We bought a second bench seat for our 3.3 2002 Dodge Gran Caravan to replace the two middle single seats. This gives us seating for 8 people. Adding a boat tail to the rear hatch is something I have been considering along with a bottom pan, wheel covers, and grill work. Some vans are 4 cyl.

Prius v swap won't work- phone won't let me paste, but search and it has to do with the batteries and space.

Agree on just using what you have. For me, a standard is mandatory. EOC is worth an automatic transmission in gold. I'd get a Mazda 5, boat tail, underbody, and grille blocks. Couple years old, under 10k. The way to be.

We had a sable wagon with the 3rd row, it faced backward and was approiately named the nausea seat. Impossible to get in and out of and used up all the cargo room when used for people. Still got no better mileage then the grand caravan we had before and after. Oh and it blew 2 transmissions in 100,000 miles. We would get 24mpg with our 1999 grand caravan going 75 mph and it was a 3.8 with AWD.
We have finally gotten off the minivan road after 25 years with various models and now have a 2009 Buick Enclave that seems better aero, has more power with the direct injected 3.6, and does OK on economy at about 22mpg but that is also with fat 19" tires and AWD driving fast. I mainly wanted the higher tow rating but it also rides nicer and is much more luxurious then any minivan I have ever seen. I thought about the Flex or MKT but the Enclave was $16,500 and I just never can across that good of a deal on one.

I read the topic and saw this touched on already but I'll talk about it further:

If you're into customizing, You can go get one of the G.M 1991-1996 Whale Wagons (Buick Roadmaster, Chevrolet Caprice and Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser although the Olds was dropped after 1992) and convert it to Diesel. That would get 30 MPG on the highway easily even with a stock automatic transmission, but if you stuck a manual transmission in it the car would get even higher. Add a few more mods and you got 36 MPG. However, They have rear-facing seats and I'm not yet sure how they are compared to minivans when it comes to storing a few possessions inside the car with a full load of passengers. With five people in the car the rear seat doesn't need to be up, but with seven I'm wondering about storage capability. (Yeah, Even though I like station wagons I admit that.)

I wish we bought the manual version of the Mazda5. We have the auto. Our mileage numbers are great, but knowing there is potential for more with the manual leaves me a little upset. But, it's the wife's car and she didn't want a manual. I drive it on all of our road trips and it really is a great car, even with our automatic base model. It really is a car more than a van. It parks like a car and handles like a car.

To reiterate, the Mazda5 can't seat 7. There are only seat belts for 6. Plus, with 6 people, there isn't much room for a lot of stuff. Maybe a few grocery bags in the trunk and that's it.

OP, if you already have the Sienna, keep it. 24 mpg in a people mover is pretty good. You'll lose money trading it in or selling it and then lose more on buying another vehicle, unless you can get vehicles for way under Blue Book. Then you have to pay for registration and sales tax. The cost savings of going from 24 mpg to 29 mpg over 50,000 miles is about $1,400. You will probably lose triple that (or more) in a vehicle swap.

But, it sounds like you want to get rid of the minivan. What is your price range?

It's so small they don't actually list it on their site. :p They only list cargo space with the rear seat folded.

Still, it's probably the car I should be driving. With a stick and me driving it, I could probably double the Odyssey's 25 mpg. It'd be good for commuting, cargo hauling, family driving around town, leaving the Ody for longer trips where cargo is required. With my Fit being only a 5-seater, it stays home any time we all go somewhere.

We considered a Mazda5 and eliminated it when we had to haul 5 people and their stuff to the airport in a rented one. We could take 3 people and all the stuff or leave stuff behind. (They really didn't need all the stuff they were taking...hmmph. Women.) They took my Dad's F150 instead. It's the right vehicle for a young family of four or five. But when you're married to a Hispanic woman, all her in laws need transport too :P

It still gets bonus points for having stick, though.

A case of lateral thinking, literally; make the car a bit wider then have 3 in the front and 3 in the back.

5 years out of production, but seats 6 in 2 rows:
Honda FR-V - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...t_20080718.jpg

Same concept, but uglier:
Fiat Multipla - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...lver_front.JPG

I made the mistake of buying a car larger to haul other people, 90% of time it was solo operated. It's gone, I'd rather drive (2) 30-40 mpg cars to the same place occasionally than have one of those as a daily driver.

Other problem they (wife's friends) always wanted her to drive.

Neither of those made it to the states though.

Some recent impala's still had 3+3 seating, co-workers' does. I remember riding 4+4 as the youngest of 6.

Apparently 2013 was the year the bench seat died.

I have nearly the same situation as the OP. Due to wife's requirements, I came up with what I thought was a decent compromise: (bio)diesel Suburban.
I tried to get her to agree to a diesel crew cab pickup, but she said she would be too scared to drive it. ;)

Others have shared this same thought on diesel people haulers. There's a reason semis and dump trucks are all diesels. The more weight you haul, the more sense it makes to go diesel.

Still waiting for that factory diesel Sienna...:D

I see where you're coming from. Wife's Kia gets a bit small for our weekend trips sometimes too, and I moonlight as a property manager and haul appliances now and then. I definitely appreciate the need for room and desire for economy.

I'm still waiting for a diesel Toyota Tacoma. There are no diesels offered in the light truck segment.

That would be ridiculous with a family. So one parent takes 1/2 the kids in one car while the other parent takes the other half on a 3 hour drive to grandma's. I personally love the long trips on the road with the family, getting 22mpg is a small price to pay for these lifelong memories.

If they can borrow your help in a way that you're paying for the gas and doing the work, they will. One of the benefits of buying a trailer (instead of a pickup truck) is that everyone wants to borrow your pickup, but only two people have ever asked to borrow my trailer- and only one of them actually did.

Getting 22 mpg on a long trip with everyone is fine. Getting 22 mpg all year long because you take a road trip once or twice a year is ridiculous. Drive what you actually need the other 51 weeks and rent a van for your trip.

Not quite. Check out prices of renting a van for a week. My quick search shows that Enterprise charges $650 if you keep the van local to surrounding states. If you leave those states, there is a $0.29 fee per mile. So, if one had a 50 mpg car and rented a van twice a year for one week, the fuel savings cost equals out to just driving a 22 mpg car around year round.

Now, I can see this for a 12 mpg truck when the truck bed never gets used for things that can only fit in a truck's bed.