Look at the smaller hondas, toyotas, and scions. Use cars.com to browse used cars for sale by zip code, they list things at dealerships and I think also some private listings.
I believe the Toyota Echo, the Toyota Yaris, the Scion Xa, and the Honda Fit will be too small for your needs, at least once you have kid #2. I think you can make it work with the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla, but you should drive both and see how you feel about them because you may feel like you will need more space. The next sizes up in their vehicle lines are the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry-- I have not driven a modern Accord but the modern Camry is a few inches wider than the Corolla and has a very soft, floaty, drives-like-a-boat suspension that I dislike. Also, once you get into the Accord/Camry size vehicles the efficiency isn't as high as you might like.
You could also look at the Scion xB, which has a lot of room, but if you hate the boxy look that's that, and many people do hate it.
You'll need to drive the Prius to decide whether you a) think you can fit 2 kids and one golden in it, or b) want it enough to get one until you need a larger vehicle. I don't know anything about the other hybrids, but I can hook you up with an experienced Prius owner in San Luis Obispo if you need tips.
Use edmunds.com for detailed reviews and ratings of cars. Buy a Consumer Reports online subscription for their used car rating data, or borrow someone else's login if you can. I would read up on the models above, and then get Edmunds to tell you what other cars are in the same classes, so that you can get an idea about whether you want to look at any other makes of car-- I'm a pretty fierce Honda/Toyota/Scion partisan because I believe Toyota engineers their cars to last 10 years with no trouble, and I think Honda does too but I'm told they engineer them closer to the part tolerances. But don't take my word for it, read Consumer Reports.
Once you've read those sources, you'll know how much to expect to pay-- Edmunds has articles that give up the dirt about how car sales really work.
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digitalemur.livejournal.com at 04:58pm on 07/05/2008![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I believe the Toyota Echo, the Toyota Yaris, the Scion Xa, and the Honda Fit will be too small for your needs, at least once you have kid #2. I think you can make it work with the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla, but you should drive both and see how you feel about them because you may feel like you will need more space. The next sizes up in their vehicle lines are the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry-- I have not driven a modern Accord but the modern Camry is a few inches wider than the Corolla and has a very soft, floaty, drives-like-a-boat suspension that I dislike. Also, once you get into the Accord/Camry size vehicles the efficiency isn't as high as you might like.
You could also look at the Scion xB, which has a lot of room, but if you hate the boxy look that's that, and many people do hate it.
You'll need to drive the Prius to decide whether you a) think you can fit 2 kids and one golden in it, or b) want it enough to get one until you need a larger vehicle. I don't know anything about the other hybrids, but I can hook you up with an experienced Prius owner in San Luis Obispo if you need tips.
Use edmunds.com for detailed reviews and ratings of cars. Buy a Consumer Reports online subscription for their used car rating data, or borrow someone else's login if you can. I would read up on the models above, and then get Edmunds to tell you what other cars are in the same classes, so that you can get an idea about whether you want to look at any other makes of car-- I'm a pretty fierce Honda/Toyota/Scion partisan because I believe Toyota engineers their cars to last 10 years with no trouble, and I think Honda does too but I'm told they engineer them closer to the part tolerances. But don't take my word for it, read Consumer Reports.
Once you've read those sources, you'll know how much to expect to pay-- Edmunds has articles that give up the dirt about how car sales really work.