Topic: Car for young Ottawa family?

[lebowski]

Hey guys, sorry for delayed reply here: thanks again for all the feedback. Will pass on the suggestions for Escape and the Mazda5. The '5 does seem like a great mini-minivan.

[johngenx]

For a young family, I'd keep the budget small and think hard about the Impreza, Corolla or Civic/other compacts.  They're inexpensive, retain value like crazy, cost little to operate, and these days, a Corolla is certainly "family sized."  My personal list would be...

1. Impreza - hatch body, AWD, strong resale, good build quality.
2. Corolla - great value, trunk is a big box that's easy to use, stunning resale, fantastic reliability.
3. "The rest of the compacts" - Mazda 3, Civic, etc.

[Ron]

I second the Mazda 5. It's really, really hard to overlook the daily, practical value of a (mini) mini-van when you have kids; a sedan just wouldn't be an option. Recent used models are very inexpensive, giving very good value, even certified ones are not that much more expensive for long term piece of mind. They are dead reliable, cheap to operate and maintain, and pretty fun to drive on top of everything else.

[whaddaiknow]

Crosstrek is the answer for a young active family with 1 child in Ottawa.