Looking for suggestions for our next family car (my wife’s personal car). Currently have a 2020 Mazda CX5 Signature that it feels we have outgrown after having a baby (I’m also 6’6”) and trying to go on a couple road trips and finding the rear seats and the cargo area too small for our desires. My wife loves the car otherwise and basically has said she “needs” all the same features (though I think there’s some wiggle room), including:
heated and ventilated front seats and preferably heated rear seats (we’re in Vermont and want a car with remote start and all the heating bells and whistles)
HUD
AWD
nice interior finishes and general feel of luxury (leather not required)
not too big feeling (e.g. BMW X5 and Mazda CX90 feel too big for her)
not too slow (good highway passing power)
We’re also pretty environmentally conscious and would like a fuel efficient vehicle (I.e. a hybrid or EV), though we would never buy a Tesla due to terrible quality.
We would like to keep the total cost to max $60k, though I’d prefer under $50k. We have an order on a Cadillac Lyriq, but we finally got to demo one and were underwhelmed with quality and space. We usually finance cars with big down payments, but we would consider a lease if there is a great deal available. Also willing to pick up car from any NE state. (I flew to Philly for my car…).
Currently considering Kia Sportage and Sorrento hybrid, Hyundai Tucson and Santa Fe hybrid, Mazda CX-50, and Toyota Highlander hybrid. All in top trims.
I have an SF Hybrid Limited and would recommend it. It has all the bells and whistles like you mentioned (nav, remote app functionality, heated rear, ventilated, semi-autonomous driving, semi luxurious). It’s plenty big and decently fuel-efficient. Right now I am averaging 34 mpg. I paid 42k + tax out the door for it. It’s my pleb car but pretty great so far.
I found the Tucson design to be a little too edgy and the NVH to be less than the SF. Didn’t test drive any of the Kia stuff.
CX-50 does not have a hybrid, and the Highlander in a similar spec is in the 50s.
The problem with these posts: you’re saying the CX-5 is too small but the CX9(0) - moving into the bext segment is the logical step if you need more room.
I suggest you both start test driving cars until you Goldilocks it: iX/X5e, MDX/RDX, Q3/5/eTron SUV, Both Palurides, GV60/70/90, GX60/80, XC60/90 Recharge, and at least a dozen different Lexus. Carnival/Odyssey/Sienna could check most of these boxes.
You can test drive together but I know couples who find it less stressful to test drive cars separately until one really really likes it.
You’re probably looking for the true mid-size class. Hyundai Santa Fe, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Honda Passport, Subaru Outback, etc. You could also add the Kia Sorento to that list as well.
As a Vermont person, for the winter, the standard Vermont car is of course the Volvo XC90/XC60, Subaru, or Tacoma.
Family has 3 newish SPA Volvos with the 19 XC90 and V90 both past 70k miles. We have had zero issues only routine maintenance. We use a Volvo mechanic, which there are multiple of in VT. It’s also better to do 5k oil changes vs the 10k.
We have Snow tires for winter and we can get up unplowed dirt driveway in 12+ inches, we do have air suspension though. They have been excellent cars for outdoor people.
I wouldn’t do a recharge but I would absolutely do a B6. You can CPO it if you buy a demo or lease and then buy out giving you 5k unlimited Mile warranty.
If baby space and trunk space are a concern, I’d begin by looking at trunk volume for these cars. Some ‘larger’ SUVs have deceptively small trunks. For instance, the XC60 looks to have a dramatically smaller trunk than your current CX5. Heck, some small sedans have the same size trunk as the XC60. I also know, from experience, that I had difficulty fitting an infant car seat in the rear of an XC60 when we considered one several years ago.
You really have a lot of requirements and, as @jeisensc appropriately pointed out, some of them are contradictory. You aren’t going to get everything you want, especially if you don’t want an X5 sized vehicle. One thing I’ve done in the past: make a list of potential vehicles, comparing any contender vehicle’s length, width, and cargo volume, with your current car. It’ll help you eliminate some right off the bat. Then go to dealerships with the car seat and see how it fits. I suspect you will narrow your list a fair amount just doing those two things.
Even a gas XC60 is way outside your preferred budget of $50k when fully loaded, never mind the PHEV, and at 27 highway MPG the B6 motor is hardly fuel efficient by 2015 standards.
Thanks again for the suggestions! To address a few things, I’m fully aware that I’m asking for more space interiorly but not much more space externally in combination with a lot of specific features. However, that’s what my favorite person asked for, and so I’m going to do my best to give it to her. I’ve spent a crazy amount of time on Edmunds’ comparison tool comparing our CX5 to numerous vehicles in terms of cargo space and front and rear leg space. That’s actually how I arrived at the vehicles I listed in my initial post (e.g. Tucson). I just wasn’t sure if I was missing anything. In regards to the Jeep, it’s too expensive for what it is.
I’d argue that CX-9 is the logical step up. I never drove CX-90 but I would assume CX-9 seems not as big as CX-90. Plus, it’s another Mazda meaning the same feel of the driving dynamics, interior, info system, basically, “all the same features” as the current CX-5.
Ventilated seats (don’t know if your significant other is using ventilated and cooled interchangeably) are not that common in your price range, and you haven’t listed that many cars. Would simply test drive all of them to see which you like the best.
As someone who has a CX-5 in the household, it will not be difficult to find an SUV more spacious than a CX-5 on the inside. It’s actually pretty cramped in there.
A few years back we needed a new 3 row lease and my wife also had an issue with everything we test drove feeling “too big” especially the VW Atlas. She however liked the XC90 - which we now are leasing.
I don’t care about “too big” much but I would agree that the XC felt, to me, a lot more than six inches shorter than an Atlas. So a lot of it is perception. Some cars will just feel smaller to her. Those are the ones OP needs to identify.
