My wife and I currently own 2 bikes (and a mountain bike in storage). We also have a Nissan Sentra, and a 800cc motorcycel. We also have a bike trailer that we put the baby in, and sometimes groceries / kid supplies (diapers, toys, blankets for the park etc.). I commute on the bicycle daily. My wife is at home with the child, and likes to go up to her parents a few times a week - about 35-40 miles from here. Sometimes she'll ask if I want to come up after work. I usually like to ride to the bus stop which is not even a block away, put the bike on the bus' rack and head up. If she doesn't have the trunk rack in the car I can't do this (which she never does now because the stroller is in the trunk), and the trunk rack is starting to get really annoying to take off and put on. So my options usually are to just ride home and take the motorcycle up, which is kind of a waste of gas when compared to the bus fare.

We want more kids, and the sentra won't work at all if we have more than 1 kid and try to go camping since we like to bring the bikes and trailer when we camp the car is compeltely packed full when we leave. We live in Utah and can have a good amount of snow in the winter. I don't know if this fits many of your profiles or not, but since the sentra is paid off we're looking for a car that would adapt better to our lifestyle. A wagon seems ideal, but these are the things we would like:

• -"decent" gas mileage
• -a hatch to throw stuff in the back so that we don't have to choose between the kid's stroller or something else
• -(my preference) a roof rack that's not too high up so that it' easy to put our bikes on, and other "stuff"
• -decent space in the back seats so adults can fit there somewhat comfortably with the baby seat there too
• -good safety ratings, I love my family and don't want them to get hurt in case other drivers are being stupid
• -AWD for the winter, FWD hasn't been that confidence inspiring when going up hills in the winter. This is part of the safety factor.
• -(my preference) Low center of gravity for better handling. This is part of the safety factor
• -(her preference) "Decent" power. I used to have a turbo 2.0 AWD car when we were first married that I had modified a bit (bigger turbo and what not). Way fun car to drive before a stupid driver ran into it, and she wants something that has the "fun" factor too.
• -(her preference) Automatic transmission

Again, to me it seems like wagons would be best but there really aren't that many to choose from. To save a bit o' cash I'm looking for cars that are slightly used. Something without a CVT would make me feel more confident it would last a while. Anyway, here's some cars that have come up:

• -Subaru outback 2.5, and outback 2.5 XT (turbo) : great except seems not-so-roomy in backseats
• -Dodge Magnum : heavy
• -Dodge journey : not many befenifts over a subaru it seems
• -Mitsubishi Outlander : more room, but a bit taller. Can turn on and off AWD though.
• -Honda CRV : taller, whimpy motor
• -Toyota RAV4 : taller, kinda ugly and in-laws have one. Good power though on V6.

In the furutre we may want a minivan if we have a litter of kids but that would be far down the road. For those with cars and kids, what are you driving?

I LOVE my A3 2.0T.
I do mostly city driving and average 23mpg, but it gets somewhere around 30 on the hwy.
I ordered it with the roof rails and then got a Thule rack. Or you can just get audi's version of the thule rack that clamps to the door frame.
You can pick up slightly used ones for cheap.
Bigger backseat than the A4.
Quattro is coming out for 2009 but it's $$$.
The DSG tranny is the best "auto" ever!

We're looking to pick up a used Hyundai Santa Fe towards the end of the year. Will probably be our only vehical along with my bike. It's been called a tall station wagon by some magazines and gets decent gas milage.

That A3 is beautiful. I've been looking for wagons too (don't want a minivan, and the Grand Prix isn't bike friendly at all). I may put a hitch on my car or its replacement if I get a sedan, and use the wife's minivan for hauling things....but here's what I've been looking at:

Santa Fe - good marks from Consumer Reports, but gas mileage may be weak.

RAV4 - highly rated by CR

New Subaru Forester (I know you want used) - top rated by CR, and fixes Subaru's back seat room issue. The current Outback and prev gen Foresters have really cramped back seats.

If you can find a 2006 or 2007 Chevy Malibu Maxx.....that might be interesting. It's built on the Saab 9-3 platform, has HUGE back seat room (wheelbase is 6 inches longer than the standard Malibu), and it's a GM, so the first two years of depreciation will make it affordable....and CR's rating has been at least reasonable. It's FWD only, but has traction control. If your roads at least get plowed well, it will have no issues. I've driven my FWD Grand Prix in all sorts of snowy conditions without any problems.

I'd stay away from the Chryslers (Pacifica and Journey) unless you found a real steal. Reliability hasn't been great.

Saab and Volvo (9-3 and V50) have AWD wagons, but they'll cost a bit more to keep on the road.

VW has the Passat wagon available in an AWD version. Cheaper than the A3, but a bit roomier. CR doesn't have great marks on reliability, though.

VW also has a new Jetta Sportwagen out now....it's available in the 2.0T version (like the A3), as well as a clean diesel (may not be available yet, though).

Something like this?

4 Cyl-Auto 2-wheel drive....one of the worlds most durable and reliable...Bar None!

Edit: a three to five Y.O. version runs about $7000 to $12,000

Honda Element looks like one you've overlooked. Work great with an outdoor lifestyle/kids.

Keep in mind with a hitch mount for bikes, any hatchback/SUV hatch becomes about useless with the bikes loaded unless it's a swingaway rack.

RAV4 won't go fast downhill with a tailwind, regardless of what CR thinks of them.

Audi's are pretty, but still crappy VW engineering.

Subaru's are pretty durable.

-Roger

I wouldn't write off FWD. If you live in snow country, get a set of dedicated snow tires. Modern traction control systems, coupled with modern snow tires (such as Bridgestone Blizzaks just to name a brand) are VERY SAFE. Especially when combined with a lower center of gravity in a car based vehicle.

I for one choose my SAAB 9-5 Sportwagon with snows, over my in-laws Isuzu Rodeo (AWD), for driving in the snow. That might open up your choices a bit more. FWIW, SAABs drop in value like a stone. I purchased mine "used certified" with a 6 year (from original purchase) 100K mile bumper-to-bumper warranty for less than 1/2 the original price.

Get a minivan. Seriously. You can remove the rear two rows if necessary, and fit multiple bikes inside.

Avoid Mitsubishi like the plauge. I own one and it's a piece of junk. Everyone I know that has a Mitsbushi has had many reliability issues.... just sayin'...

From your list, personally, i'd probably go with the Subaru.

Passat wagon 4-motion.
Subaru Forester
OR i like the Outback

A small minivan is a good option. Like the Mazda 5 or Kia Rondo. Or the Buick Redezvous.

I've got a Toyota Sienna and it's great for cargo. We've got 3 kids, so we fill it up pretty good. I can fit in 3 bikes in the back, if I'm careful.

We have an 02 Passat wagon, bought w/ ~16k miles on it. 1.8T 5-spd. I think the default is now 2.0T 6-spd (we borrowed one last summer, that was a rocket). Love it. Hated our 98 Impreza by the way, no zip or even just plain power and bad gas mileage (possibly blame both on extra weight from AWD). And a funny artsy shape to back door opening that prevented us from using ALL the wayback space. If shopping again, would look for the passat diesel (presuming it's the TDI like they're putting in the golf/jetta, if not turbo, then probably not...) But our 4 cyl turbo still good for >30mpg (35 if all freeway)

A neighbor has the same 02 Passat as us (except the red that I prefer to our blue). My wife and I are close enough in size/shape, we don't reset the seat or mirrors when we switch drivers. But our neighbors, one is >6', the other ~5'5" and the passat accomodates both. Can move the seat up/down as well as back/front a lot. At the time, 02, the Passat was the same as the Audi except for the body design, I don't know if that's still the case.

Back when we had the Impreza, we had friends w/ a legacy and a forester, the forester was the only of the 3 that could hold 3 carseats (and then only if one ws rear-facing) (which seems odd 'cause I thought the forester was on the impreza frame but whatever). The passat could definitely hold 3 carseats if one was rearfacing, and we've had it hold 3 boosters and 2 boosters plus 1 toddler seat (our normal load is just 2 boosters).

My parents have a Mazda 5 and while it is rather ugly, it's a great car. It's really a large wagon, but they get close to 30 mpg overall and it has almost as much space inside as a minivan. It's decently quick too. I think they're also rather inexpensive and have been getting good reliability ratings.

I used to have an element. The utility was great. But man were those suicide rear doors a PITA!
Plus they were a moving brick... not the most aerodynamic/fuel efficient.
And boring to drive like almost any japanese car other than an infinity g37 or something like that.

Sounds like the OP wants a fun to drive, great handling, utilitarian vehicle with decent power and gas mileage. Sounds like a german car to me. Bmw wagon, passat wagon (although we did not have good luck with our passat), Audi A3 or A4 Avant or A4 Allroad.... This is our 4th Audi and we've had countless new cars. There's a reason we keep coming back to them.

If I couldn't afford the A3, I'd probably have the Mazda Speed 3. I keep hearing awesome things about that car. My sister-in-laws mazda is pretty junky but it's about 6 years old and I hear they've gotten pretty good.

I have a VW Jetta TDI wagon. I have a set of winter tires which gives it good handling on snow and ice (which we get here in Maine).
It seats 5, although not 5 big people, You can put adults in the back, but it would be best if they were closer in size to Carlos Sastre than to Kobe Bryant.
There is a decent amount of cargo space in the back.
Rear seats fold down to give large rear cargo capacity.
I have a thule rack on the roof which carries 3 bikes, or 2 bikes and a tule box for more cargo space.
Low center of gravity.
I get 38mpg in the city, 48 on the highway (50 if I watch my speed).

Have to second the Element recommendation. No carpet, tons of room, and the rear seats fold up to the side, creating enough room for two bikes to fit. They fit with both wheels on, to boot.

Used Audi A4 wagon (Avant).

Wow guys, thank you so much for the reccomendations!

I hadn't thought about the 2009 Forester, we'll have to check that out along with the other idea's brought up. I don't know why, but I keep pushing against the C-RV and RAV4 even though I know they're good cars.

We'll start test driving these suggestions and see what works for us. Again, thanks again for all the great input.

Unfortunately everthing has a context and the CRV and Rav4 are 20-year old co-ed cars (at least that's my context for them, I'm a 24 year old former college student and new a lot of sorority girls with those cars). There's just something about them that make them hard to take seriously, even though my ex had one (CRV) and she got some amazing use and utility out of it. My mother has a '05 Outback, and those things really stick to the road. On the downside, the transmissions are POS and shift funny, and they really don't get great mileage because of the AWD system.

When I was a kid my dad had a 4-cyl, 2wd pickup like the one posed above. It was a tank and got mileage like a small car as long as you kept the cap on the back.... he's a sculptor so he needs to drive something like that and really beat the heck out of it.

I'm currently a big fan of crossovers. Have you checked out the new version of the Taurus that is SUV-like? Its not anyone's first thought but they're supposed to be great. I also drove a minivan in high school and college. I know they're boring, but we took so many camping/skiing/kayaking/biking trips in that Quest that it was everyone's favorite car, and it had a TV!

If I owned a car right now it'd be an A3. But I live somewhere that makes car ownership a PITA so I'm bike-only until my next city. I love bike commuting, but I love cars too. Good Luck!

You mean the new Ford Flex? They do look interesting.

-Roger

I don't know what the current Passat model is like, but the previous one ( 02 etc as others have said ) has ridiculous amount of room available. Its also available in Diesel.

Passat wagon TDI

Legacy GT wagon [2006+]
roof rack for a ski/board/gear box
accessory hitch mount folding bike rack [Saris makes a nice one]
Hakka RSI winter tires

I currently have a [modified] 2002 Subaru WRX wagon, so I know what you mean about getting a vehicle with some oomph. The Legacy wagon rides very nicely and handles well. It weighs a wee bit less than the Outback, which is always good. The best part is that you can easily do an STI swap with the new '09. Okay, maybe not the best part, but they're insanely easy to fix and can handle a lot of abuse. If I wasn't going to get a Subaru, I would look at an A3 with Quattro and the bigger engine, but I'd definitely get an extended warranty. S4/S6 wagons would be sweet, but they suck gas like nobody's business.

Yep. Before I went car free I had 2 saabs. Both suitable for what you're looking for. I had an '02 Aero wagon and I also had a '91 900 SPG. Both great for biking, camping, all around performance/economy and winter performance. And yes they do drop in value quite a bit. I bought the Aero new for 60k and sold it last fall for 10k (with 125k kms) The SPG held it's value better, but once they hit a certain age they tend to stabilize in price.

That or a 60's stationwagon