Topic: Looking For an SUV - Acura RDX Elite vs. Lexus NX Luxury or F Sport 2 vs. ???

[carcrazed]

The other thing to consider is how messy your kids and wife are going to be. The interior of the MDX gets pretty destroyed with all sorts of garbage and mud and whatever else gets dragged in there so we'll plan to drive it to the ground or until the kids are old enough to no longer destroy a fine vehicle. Hopefully that comes in another 2-3 years and we'll be shopping for some sort of luxury mid-size SUV I imagine.

I had strict policy about food and drinks in my car when the kid was little...as in none allowed in my car.

That's the policy of my car. The MDX is the wife's.

I tried that rule when we got the MDX.. it didn't last long as it was our only vehicle and hungry kids crying and driving safely don't go together very well.

The cargo area behind the second row of NX and X1 are pretty similar. One of those larger strollers will take up 40~50 percent of that space very easily.

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Maybe it's just me, but if I was a young couple thinking of having kids in a few years, the last thing I would be doing is buying a brand new ~60k luxury SUV/CUV.  The likelihood of you keeping it for 6+ years is low with so many life changes coming your way, and there are just many more practical ways of spending (saving) that kind of money.

When we bought our Altima, we knew it wouldn't suit our purposes forever.  But we bought it used, and we bought it cheap ($12k).  When we traded it in after 2 years for the van, we didn't lose that much money on it, precisely because it was a cheap buy to begin with.  So it didn't really matter that we bought the wrong vehicle to begin with.

Buying a vehicle that could potentially be wrong after a couple of years, and spending $60k on it, just seems like complete foolhardiness.

[valuator]

Maybe it's just me, but if I was a young couple thinking of having kids in a few years, the last thing I would be doing is buying a brand new ~60k luxury SUV/CUV.  The likelihood of you keeping it for 6+ years is low with so many life changes coming your way, and there are just many more practical ways of spending (saving) that kind of money.

When we bought our Altima, we knew it wouldn't suit our purposes forever.  But we bought it used, and we bought it cheap ($12k).  When we traded it in after 2 years for the van, we didn't lose that much money on it, precisely because it was a cheap buy to begin with.  So it didn't really matter that we bought the wrong vehicle to begin with.

Buying a vehicle that could potentially be wrong after a couple of years, and spending $60k on it, just seems like complete foolhardiness.

Or maybe it was the vehicle they liked to drive, in that price range, whatever life brought them later in terms of kids.  Probably a better idea than a $60k sports car at the time.

[Fobroader]

Wouldn't something like this be better for kids?? They can't bother you while driving and you can just pressure wash whatever filth/excrement they leave about out??

[Noto]

I mean, hilarious, but you have to be careful about jokes made on the interwebs...some folk are dumb enough to believe you're being serious and then try it out.

...kinda like how I believed that I could do seasonal wheel changeovers. 

[Fobroader]

I mean, hilarious, but you have to be careful about jokes made on the interwebs...some folk are dumb enough to believe you're being serious and then try it out.

...kinda like how I believed that I could do seasonal wheel changeovers. 

What, a couple of ratchet straps and there, safety first.

[EV-Light]

Maybe it's just me, but if I was a young couple thinking of having kids in a few years, the last thing I would be doing is buying a brand new ~60k luxury SUV/CUV.  The likelihood of you keeping it for 6+ years is low with so many life changes coming your way, and there are just many more practical ways of spending (saving) that kind of money.

When we bought our Altima, we knew it wouldn't suit our purposes forever.  But we bought it used, and we bought it cheap ($12k).  When we traded it in after 2 years for the van, we didn't lose that much money on it, precisely because it was a cheap buy to begin with.  So it didn't really matter that we bought the wrong vehicle to begin with.

Buying a vehicle that could potentially be wrong after a couple of years, and spending $60k on it, just seems like complete foolhardiness.

Good point...the NX is way too small for a young family with an active life style.


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[rrocket]

hungry kids crying and driving safely don't go together very well.

Hungry kids?  How long is the drive?

I'v not known many kids to starve to death or become dehydrated on a ~1 hr car ride.

YMMV.

[carcrazed]

We last used our personal stroller in 2007-2008 or so. In the intervening time, friends and family have continued to have kids. And strollers haven't quadrupled in size or anything. So it's not like I'm out of the loop. And having pushed strollers from back then until present day, not once did I think a stroller was hard to push...regardless of type. I mean...it's a tiny person you're pushing, not several hundred pounds of mulch or something. So we had a very reasonably sized stroller for pushing a small human.

Wait a second.  How can you be so discerning of automotive ergonomics and yet so unaware of other ergonomics?

We had a cheap umbrella stroller I used to take the little one to her first swimming lessons (the stroller would fold up and fit in the locker...).  Sure it got the job done but that stroller was horrible.  At 6'2", I had to hunch over to push it.  And if the wheels turned 90 degrees you had to really give it a shove to get it going.  I am typically sensory oblivious - so much so that I once ran a marathon with a rock in my shoe thinking the pooling blood was just a blister - and even I hated that stroller.

Our other stroller was an Uppababy Vista (I think).  Much better to manoeuvre but, ya, it took up a lot of space in the back of the MDX...

+1.
We decided on the City Select over Vista because of the multiple seat configurations and price, but Vista was a very close second.
My brother just got a used Vista for a decent price. They got so much more expensive over the past few years!

To the OP, if you don't mind losing a bunch of $$ on trading it your NX soon after you have a kid, then go for it!
Heck, you might not have a kid for four to five years and may even get a larger second car when/if the baby comes.

[draghon]

hungry kids crying and driving safely don't go together very well.

Hungry kids?  How long is the drive?

I'v not known many kids to starve to death or become dehydrated on a ~1 hr car ride.

YMMV.

But would you rather listen to whining/crying during the trip or vacuum a few crumbs out later?

[Fobroader]

hungry kids crying and driving safely don't go together very well.

Hungry kids?  How long is the drive?

I'v not known many kids to starve to death or become dehydrated on a ~1 hr car ride.

YMMV.

But would you rather listen to whining/crying during the trip or vacuum a few crumbs out later?

Really hard to hear whining/crying from the open bed of a pickup 

[Great_Big_Abyss]

hungry kids crying and driving safely don't go together very well.

Hungry kids?  How long is the drive?

I'v not known many kids to starve to death or become dehydrated on a ~1 hr car ride.

YMMV.

But would you rather listen to whining/crying during the trip or vacuum a few crumbs out later?

Kids are ALWAYS effing hungry or thirsty.  It's always SOMETHING!!!

[ktm525]

We last used our personal stroller in 2007-2008 or so. In the intervening time, friends and family have continued to have kids. And strollers haven't quadrupled in size or anything. So it's not like I'm out of the loop. And having pushed strollers from back then until present day, not once did I think a stroller was hard to push...regardless of type. I mean...it's a tiny person you're pushing, not several hundred pounds of mulch or something. So we had a very reasonably sized stroller for pushing a small human.

Wait a second.  How can you be so discerning of automotive ergonomics and yet so unaware of other ergonomics?

We had a cheap umbrella stroller I used to take the little one to her first swimming lessons (the stroller would fold up and fit in the locker...).  Sure it got the job done but that stroller was horrible.  At 6'2", I had to hunch over to push it.  And if the wheels turned 90 degrees you had to really give it a shove to get it going.  I am typically sensory oblivious - so much so that I once ran a marathon with a rock in my shoe thinking the pooling blood was just a blister - and even I hated that stroller.

Our other stroller was an Uppababy Vista (I think).  Much better to manoeuvre but, ya, it took up a lot of space in the back of the MDX...

I made my wife push it lol.  In reality we just minimized the use of a lot of these things. I always seemed to have a kid up on my shoulders or I made them walk. I am still amazed when I see parents pushing 3-4 year olds around in strollers.

[rrocket]

There's no point of discussing this with Ron. He's completely out of touch on this topic.

Yea, our  healthy 13 year old somehow survived all these years without requiring a huge SUV and constantly being fed during small trips. Just like my 3 siblings and I. And probably most of you here.

But yes, IQ and I are completely out of touch.

[carcrazed]

There's no point of discussing this with Ron. He's completely out of touch on this topic.

Yea, our  healthy 13 year old somehow survived all these years without requiring a huge SUV and constantly being fed during small trips. Just like my 3 siblings and I. And probably most of you here.

But yes, IQ and I are completely out of touch.

I'm talking about 30 minutes to 2 hour trips. I pushed the no food rule too much once, and my daughter threw up because she was crying so much. 
I only got the MDX when we were expecting a second kid and I wanted to be able to put the large stroller, my large golf bag, and a folding push cart without stacking one on top of another. No amount of packing skills can achieve that in a sedan's trunk.  My wife was fully against a wagon and a minivan at the time, still is now.

Where's the OP anyway??

[rrocket]

There's no point of discussing this with Ron. He's completely out of touch on this topic.

Yea, our  healthy 13 year old somehow survived all these years without requiring a huge SUV and constantly being fed during small trips. Just like my 3 siblings and I. And probably most of you here.

But yes, IQ and I are completely out of touch.

I'm talking about 30 minutes to 2 hour trips. I pushed the no food rule too much once, and my daughter threw up because she was crying so much. 
I only got the MDX when we were expecting a second kid and I wanted to be able to put the large stroller, my large golf bag, and a folding push cart without stacking one on top of another. No amount of packing skills can achieve that in a sedan's trunk.  My wife was fully against a wagon and a minivan at the time, still is now.

Where's the OP anyway??

Our daily commute is 45 minutes each way...and that extends to 1 hour plus if the usual stops and distractions of daily life needed to be taken.

Very early on, the ground rules were set by us, not the kid.  As was the case when we grew up, there were certain rooms in the house were NO food was allowed (bathrooms, bedrooms, living room, etc). Only dry food was allowed in the tv or play rooms. All wet foods or beverages needed to be taken at the kitchen table. Period. The automobile was merely an extension of the "no food" areas of the house. This made sense since my folks had 4 kids to deal with. So it made sense to us as adults too.  Since we did it this way from day one, it was completely normal for the kid. Just like he didn't cry for not being able to eat in the bathtub, he didn't cry for not being able to eat in the car for the commute. It was normal to him.

 From day one, IQ also talked at normal volume and made normal noises (including vacuuming and other household chores) when the baby slept; whereas other people we knew tip toed and whispered at home with a baby. Visiting guests were also told not to whisper or be quiet while the kid slept. He immediately learned to sleep through these everyday noises, as again....it was normal to him. He'd even sleep right through booming thunderstorms. Even babies adapt and learn very, very quickly if your rules are in place from day one.

As far as the trunk space goes? Certainly if you intend to bring or feel like you need a load of stuff frequently or have a large family, then you might have different needs. But for us, over the last 13 years, it was never an issue. The usual items needed for daily use (or even a get away) easily fit in our sedans or coupes.

Like I said, we're pretty practical. IQ's a nurse, so if she thought something truly critical needed to be brought along for a day out with the kid..it came. And at no point did we ever think we needed anything more vehicle-wise than what we had.

YMMV.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program!

Yea...what happened to the OP? LOL

[dirtyjeffer]

while my wife and I don't have any kids, I have to agree with rrocket...I have a couple of friends who raised their kids the same way and the difference in the various children's behaviour is very noticeable...I think structure/ground rules are critically important.

in my morning commute, the traffic is horrendous, even sometimes in my subdivision...the reason??...the parents dropping their kids off at high school...the school is maybe 1.5 kms away, but they don't want their kids to walk to school, so the roads are littered with tons of cars so their little princes and princesses don't have to walk 15 minutes to school...recently, the school board did a review of their bus service and kicked about 40% of kids off the route...what had happened, over the years, is more and more kids were being bussed to school, despite living relatively close to it...the school board did an audit (in an effort to control increasing costs) and discovered their were too many kids being picked up...I don't remember the exact figures, but it was something like 3km+ for the kids who get picked up...under that, you walk...they were picking up kids that were 1km away...of course, the outrage from the parents ensued.

[carcrazed]

There's no point of discussing this with Ron. He's completely out of touch on this topic.

Yea, our  healthy 13 year old somehow survived all these years without requiring a huge SUV and constantly being fed during small trips. Just like my 3 siblings and I. And probably most of you here.

But yes, IQ and I are completely out of touch.

I'm talking about 30 minutes to 2 hour trips. I pushed the no food rule too much once, and my daughter threw up because she was crying so much. 
I only got the MDX when we were expecting a second kid and I wanted to be able to put the large stroller, my large golf bag, and a folding push cart without stacking one on top of another. No amount of packing skills can achieve that in a sedan's trunk.  My wife was fully against a wagon and a minivan at the time, still is now.

Where's the OP anyway??

Our daily commute is 45 minutes each way...and that extends to 1 hour plus if the usual stops and distractions of daily life needed to be taken.

Very early on, the ground rules were set by us, not the kid.  As was the case when we grew up, there were certain rooms in the house were NO food was allowed (bathrooms, bedrooms, living room, etc). Only dry food was allowed in the tv or play rooms. All wet foods or beverages needed to be taken at the kitchen table. Period. The automobile was merely an extension of the "no food" areas of the house. This made sense since my folks had 4 kids to deal with. So it made sense to us as adults too.  Since we did it this way from day one, it was completely normal for the kid. Just like he didn't cry for not being able to eat in the bathtub, he didn't cry for not being able to eat in the car for the commute. It was normal to him.

 From day one, IQ also talked at normal volume and made normal noises (including vacuuming and other household chores) when the baby slept; whereas other people we knew tip toed and whispered at home with a baby. Visiting guests were also told not to whisper or be quiet while the kid slept. He immediately learned to sleep through these everyday noises, as again....it was normal to him. He'd even sleep right through booming thunderstorms. Even babies adapt and learn very, very quickly if your rules are in place from day one.

As far as the trunk space goes? Certainly if you intend to bring or feel like you need a load of stuff frequently or have a large family, then you might have different needs. But for us, over the last 13 years, it was never an issue. The usual items needed for daily use (or even a get away) easily fit in our sedans or coupes.

Like I said, we're pretty practical. IQ's a nurse, so if she thought something truly critical needed to be brought along for a day out with the kid..it came. And at no point did we ever think we needed anything more vehicle-wise than what we had.

YMMV.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program!

Yea...what happened to the OP? LOL

Yep, different needs for different people. I like the sleep training you guys did. The food rule exists in our home; we'll think about putting it in place for the car in just a couple more years.