Help me identify a car to buy... or maybe lease

[JoyfulMama]

Budget: $10,000.

Needs to fit:

1 5pt harness (Radian)

1 backless booster (best if it can fit 2)

Must be 2002 or newer due to LATCH.

 

My rental is a Kia Soul, which is lovely. Doesn't fit 2 backless boosters, but the kids aren't squished in the backseat.

The vehicle I am coming from is a 2005 Dodge Durango. I don't need anything that big anymore, and I'd love to have something that does much better on gas!

 

If this were you, what vehicle would you be looking at? :auto:

 

Additionally, I was told that I might be better off leasing a vehicle, but I'm not sure how leasing vs buying compares. Anyone have any thoughts on that? :bigear:

[happypamama]

Our Ford Focus (2004) meets those requirements, and it gets around 30 mpg on the highway and has a lot of trunk space. If you're not super tall, the kids should have decent foot room in the back too. We've had a backless booster, a large infant seat, and a large harnessed seat back there -- tight but doable -- so two backless boosters and a Radian should be fine. It has three shoulder belts in the back, but only LATCH connectors on the two outboard spots, so the harnessed seat in the middle is in with the seatbelt (and tether), rather than LATCH. There is no safety advantage for LATCH, if you can get a tight install with the belt. The only catch for a small car like that is that you need to see if the spots for the boostered kids have head rests for taller kids in case of an accident. We bought the Focus mostly for the gas mileage for commuting, so if it's too cramped for your kids, you might look into something in the next size up, like the Fusion (? can't remember what Ford's slightly larger sedan is), especially if you're just looking for something a little better in gas mileage than a Durango.

 

In our area, $10,000 would get you a very nice used minivan, so that might be an option too. We just bought a nice used minivan (dual sliding doors and power locks, for instance, which make my life so much easier, but not *all* the bells and whistles like automatic sliding doors) for significantly less than that. It's a 2001, but it does have 2 spots in the middle row for LATCH and can have 1 or 2 spots for LATCH in the back row, depending on what seat is being used with LATCH and where. It's getting about 19-20 mpg on the highway, fwiw, and while I need the space for lots of little bottoms, it's also nice to have it for growing legs and all the stuff we end up bringing for a long day.