For those w/ kids, is a wagon/minivan/crossover a must? Can a midsize sedan suffice?

[Proprioceptive]

Just give up now and get a damn Sienna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4

Swagger Wagon biatch!

THAT was AWESOME. My wife is going to love that.

 

[Proprioceptive]

I give you huge kudos for find those narrow seats. We looked for a long long time when we made our first purchase (7 years ago) and couldn't find anything that narrow.

So, now being corrected - pretty much any of your normal car seats (aside from that one manufacturer - and I sure wish I knew about them 6-7 years ago!) will not fit 3 wide.

I also want to agree with your comment about rear-facing. Rear facing as long as you can, and then front facing with a 5 point harness as long as you can. We searched for a long time to get maximum weight on the 5 point harness seats front facing because it's also much safer.

Gotta keep those kids safe!

We looked for quite a while online searching car seat website forums and such trying to find something that would be narrow but safe. Eventually we found those.

Now you can, in fact fit other car seats three across in a midsize and even in some (on rare occasion) compact sedans... pretty much the Corolla and Elantra, but in order to get it to work, you have to stagger FF,RF,FF or RF,FF,RF. It's tricky, and definitely a HUGE PITA to accomplish, but it is certainly doable. My wife and I managed to fit three across on several occasions in our '10 Corolla. I wouldn't recommend it if you want to keep your sanity, though. But then again, if it's what you have to work with, then you just have to deal.

 

[Bignate603]

No need for them to be in the same car? Do you bring your spouse when you're on a shopping errand or dropping the kids off at school? If you're going on a family vacation, then just rent a vehicle.. Makes more sense to own a vehicle for 90% of what you do and rent for the rest of the time. Or...you could take two vehicles for the vacation so that one accident won't wipe out an entire family..

So you never expect a family to all go somewhere together besides going on vacation? I don't know what kind of family you grew up in, but in mine we were all in the car together at least once a week. We did day trips to places all the time. Having to drive two cars multiple times a week and renting a car more than once a month will be much more expensive than just getting a vehicle that fits everyone.

Of course, if you expect your family to never actually do things together then go ahead and get a vehicle that's too small.

 

[obamanation]

So you never expect a family to all go somewhere together besides going on vacation? I don't know what kind of family you grew up in, but in mine we were all in the car together at least once a week. We did day trips to places all the time. Having to drive two cars multiple times a week and renting a car more than once a month will be much more expensive than just getting a vehicle that fits everyone.

Of course, if you expect your family to never actually do things together then go ahead and get a vehicle that's too small.

One can do day trips just fine in a subcompact car believe it or not. If one is so inclined to bring the entire contents of their house with them when they go somewhere, then they should just bring two vehicles.

It's still better to drive two Prius than one Sienna..

 

[rh71]

had a 328i loaner and decided to try 2 carseats in it. It was not fun. Kids are nearly 2 years old and walking but they can't climb in so we have to carry them into the seats and they barely have head clearance when doing that. Not to mention we're bending over the whole time doing their belts and putting things in place. We did this for 3 days. Never again. Once you go bigger, you don't go back.

I actually bring 2 highchairs (fully assembled) along with all other gear over to my parents on weekends with the SUV. In my opinion, don't go for the absolute minimal need when choosing a car... you're not buying one every year.

 

[obamanation]

had a 328i loaner and decided to try 2 carseats in it. It was not fun. Kids are nearly 2 years old and walking but they can't climb in so we have to carry them into the seats and they barely have head clearance when doing that. Not to mention we're bending over the whole time doing their belts and putting things in place. We did this for 3 days. Never again. Once you go bigger, you don't go back.

I'm assuming you used a 328i sedan, not a coupe, right? PLEASE don't tell me that you're complaining about the installation of the car seat itself because that's a load of shit. As for complaining about putting your kid inside of the car, well I don't see why it'd be difficult considering that the car would appear to have plenty of headroom. Maybe you're just out of shape? I dunno but I do know putting kids in a car seat really isn't all that difficult, car, minivan or suv..

 

[rh71]

I'm assuming you used a 328i sedan, not a coupe, right? PLEASE don't tell me that you're complaining about the installation of the car seat itself because that's a load of shit. As for complaining about putting your kid inside of the car, well I don't see why it'd be difficult considering that the car would appear to have plenty of headroom. Maybe you're just out of shape? I dunno but I do know putting kids in a car seat really isn't all that difficult, car, minivan or suv..

it was the sedan and since car seats are sitting on top of the regular seat, there is little room to contort yourself & the 30lb kid through the door opening and sit his butt on top of the seat. Contrast that to the opening of a minivan or SUV at standing height. That is a huge complaint when you have 2 kids to do, multiple times a day if I owned that thing. Let me tell you something else, I already have to make 3 or 4 trips back and forth to the car to load/unload. Path of least resistance please.

 

[Proprioceptive]

it was the sedan and since car seats are sitting on top of the regular seat, there is little room to contort yourself & the 30lb kid through the door opening and sit his butt on top of the seat. Contrast that to the opening of a minivan or SUV at standing height. That is a huge complaint when you have 2 kids to do, multiple times a day if I owned that thing. Let me tell you something else, I already have to make 3 or 4 trips back and forth to the car to load/unload. Path of least resistance please.

Wow, seriously? I'm 6'1 and didn't have any trouble or problems or "discomfort" loading my two kids in their car seats in my Toyota Corolla... which is about the same size, if not a little smaller. The only time I could think of having to "contort" my body was when I was installing the car seat itself, trying to make sure it was tight. And these were rear facing too. But eh, I guess one man's annoyance is another's non-issue.

 

[Bignate603]

One can do day trips just fine in a subcompact car believe it or not. If one is so inclined to bring the entire contents of their house with them when they go somewhere, then they should just bring two vehicles.

It's still better to drive two Prius than one Sienna..

You have some very odd ideas of how families actually act.

You seriously think that a normal family is going to want to drive two separate cars? Have you ever had to deal with multiple kids? I don't think you have much experience with kids. It's significantly easier to have both parents there, one can wrangle the kids while the other does other things (pumps gas, orders food, looks at a map, etc). Sure, you can do it alone, but it is much nicer to be together. Anyways, who wants to go and do something with their family only to spend a good chunk of it separated from them while they're driving?

As for bringing stuff with them, you could easily need more space than a subcompact with 2 or 3 kids without going nuts on things you need to bring. A stroller and diaper bag take up a good chunk of a subcompact's trunk. If you're trying to bring anything else like a reasonably sized cooler you're going to start having trouble fitting it all.

And no, it's not better to drive two priuses than one Sienna if you go by the EPA numbers unless you are doing only city driving. The Sienna gets 26 mpg on the highway, for two priuses to burn less fuel they'd each have to get 52 mpg or better. A 2011 Prius gets 48 mpg. For most people longer trips are going to be mostly highway driving so they'd see some benefit with the Sienna.

 

[Sid59]

two kids - 9 year, who's not heavy enough to sit in the front seats and a 4 month with a rear facing seat.
I have a mazda3 hatch, we all fit fine with lots of extra space in the hatch for bags, baby crap, playpens, stollers.
She has a mazda5, she loves it, i love it. As others mentioned, sliding doors and huge lifting gate is great on the back and the ease in grabbing or placing the baby is sweet. When the baby is sleeping, we take her out in her car seat, easy with sliding doors.

Mazda5 could use more juice, the true test will be a road trip. At times, i wish the US version of the Mazda5 had motored/automatic doors but it's so inexpensive, it's worth a trade off. I woulda paid more in the GT trim if it included automatic open/close doors.

 

[rh71]

Wow, seriously? I'm 6'1 and didn't have any trouble or problems or "discomfort" loading my two kids in their car seats in my Toyota Corolla... which is about the same size, if not a little smaller. The only time I could think of having to "contort" my body was when I was installing the car seat itself, trying to make sure it was tight. And these were rear facing too. But eh, I guess one man's annoyance is another's non-issue.

Yes, seriously. When I hit his head on the top of the door opening shifting him inward it became a bit noticeable. Every subsequent time I had to be extra careful and slow when I don't have to think twice in a taller vehicle - you tell me if it's an issue.

BTW, rear-facing means his head is at the tallest part of the opening... not the semi-fetal position I had to put him in just to duck in there and on top of the seat. Having to describe this in detail makes it seem like a big deal... you can live with it, if you've never had to before though, why would you want to ever again?

Mazda5 could use more juice, the true test will be a road trip. At times, i wish the US version of the Mazda5 had motored/automatic doors but it's so inexpensive, it's worth a trade off. I woulda paid more in the GT trim if it included automatic open/close doors.

We also looked at the Mazda5... I know it's a small minivan but we needed a bit more room for that 3rd row to be worthwhile. And yes, a bit more juice. I drive my dad's MPV when we need 7 seats and even that thing needed more.

 

[obamanation]

You have some very odd ideas of how families actually act.

You seriously think that a normal family is going to want to drive two separate cars? Have you ever had to deal with multiple kids? I don't think you have much experience with kids. It's significantly easier to have both parents there, one can wrangle the kids while the other does other things (pumps gas, orders food, looks at a map, etc). Sure, you can do it alone, but it is much nicer to be together. Anyways, who wants to go and do something with their family only to spend a good chunk of it separated from them while they're driving?

As for bringing stuff with them, you could easily need more space than a subcompact with 2 or 3 kids without going nuts on things you need to bring. A stroller and diaper bag take up a good chunk of a subcompact's trunk. If you're trying to bring anything else like a reasonably sized cooler you're going to start having trouble fitting it all.

And no, it's not better to drive two priuses than one Sienna if you go by the EPA numbers unless you are doing only city driving. The Sienna gets 26 mpg on the highway, for two priuses to burn less fuel they'd each have to get 52 mpg or better. A 2011 Prius gets 48 mpg. For most people longer trips are going to be mostly highway driving so they'd see some benefit with the Sienna.

But the thing is, most trips people take in their cars are not long highway hauls but short trips instead. If there are only two vehicles, a minivan and car and two drivers, the minivan is going to be used all of the time, and it's going to on average get significantly worse mileage than using two cars.

For example, if one does one major trip a month on the highway (12 major trips a year), they can either use one Sienna which will get 26MPG PURE highway or two Prius which will be the equivalent of 24MPG. Great, so the Sienna theoretically wins in this scenario... However, what about the 353 other trips people take in their minivans that get far worse than 26MPG? A minivan idling in traffic because mommy or daddy is on their way to work is going to get far worse mileage than even what the city mileage would have you believe especially if you live in a congested area like a lot of people do. The Prius will get at least 50MPG in this scenario and the Sienna will see something like 14 or 15MPG instead.

Overall, even if you use two Prius vehicles over one minivan for family trips, you'll still come out ahead using the two Prius than using the one Sienna. The problem a lot of people have is they focus so much on the one off scenarios and not the thing they do every day which is commuting to work or going to the grocery store. I'm perfectly fine with families with two drivers having three vehicles, one minivan for those trips and two commuter cars. But to use the minivan like a regular car even though it isn't called for is just frustrating to say the least. The size of the average family 50 years ago is much smaller than that of today's family yet the vehicles today are significantly larger than that of 50 years ago. We have made no progress in improving fuel efficiency because idiots feel they should be able to drive a monstrosity while having the performance of a car. Without the CAFE rules, we'd probably have people commuting 15 miles to work in a motorcoach while lobbying congress to invade more countries to feed their drug habit (in this case, oil).

 

[DivideBYZero]

Good friend of mine has two kids. He drives a 996 Carrera 4.

 

[obamanation]

Yes, seriously. When I hit his head on the top of the door opening shifting him inward it became a bit noticeable. Every subsequent time I had to be extra careful and slow when I don't have to think twice in a taller vehicle - you tell me if it's an issue.

BTW, rear-facing means his head is at the tallest part of the opening... not the semi-fetal position I had to put him in just to duck in there and on top of the seat. Having to describe this in detail makes it seem like a big deal... you can live with it, if you've never had to before though, why would you want to ever again?

Sounds like to me the biggest problem wasn't the room inside of the car but the entry way into the car.. I guess because the 3 series is seen as a kid's car (young adults) or a yuppie's car, they figure that there isn't a need for accommodating young families with infants but instead fully grown people who are more than capable of getting inside of a car with their own free will. Maybe that's why Proprioceptive didn't have this issue since the corolla is seen as a budget family car and so was designed to be more accommodating to people of all backgrounds. Also... another unforeseen issue is that YOU could just so happen to have a crappy car seat.

I think this is an issue of comparing apples to oranges because while the 3 series is a sedan, it isn't a "family" sedan. BMW in making this car paid no mind to those installing a car seat much like Lotus doesn't pay mind to people who are overly large or have mobility problems. (Lotus Elise for example)

 

[DivideBYZero]

Sounds like to me the biggest problem wasn't the room inside of the car but the entry way into the car.. I guess because the 3 series is seen as a kid's car (young adults) or a yuppie's car, they figure that there isn't a need for accommodating young families with infants but instead fully grown people who are more than capable of getting inside of a car with their own free will. Maybe that's why Proprioceptive didn't have this issue since the corolla is seen as a budget family car and so was designed to be more accommodating to people of all backgrounds. Also... another unforeseen issue is that YOU could just so happen to have a crappy car seat.

I think this is an issue of comparing apples to oranges because while the 3 series is a sedan, it isn't a "family" sedan. BMW in making this car paid no mind to those installing a car seat much like Lotus doesn't pay mind to people who are overly large or have mobility problems. (Lotus Elise for example)

Odd, even my M3 has ISOFIX seat mounts. The 3 series most certainly has been designed for use with a family.

 

[vi edit]

All I hear is a of hot air flapping...well you could do this...or you could do that...or it's not that big of a deal...blah blah blah.

I've got a sedan'ish car (Malibu Maxx) and had a van. I don't care what other people say. Every time I was taking my child somewhere I took the van because it was simply easier to use. No worries about getting in and out of tigh spots with an infant carrier. No worries about doors getting away from you with the wind when loading. It carried the stroller easier. Ect.

Is it necessary. No I can do it with a sedan. Hell I could do it with a coupe. Would I rather do it that way? Absolutely not. A van is simply the ultimate family mobile.

Re: Mazda5 power. It's downright peppy around town. It has no shortage of power up to 45MPH. It starts to run out of steam after that. Never once did I feel like I was short on power or fearing for my life on highway merges. And I did take it through a somewhat mountainous area (Black Hills of SD) and never found it straining too hard. I simply used the auto-stick when needed and locked it into 3rd gear. Much like I'd do with a manual tranmission. It pulled almost 32MPG on the way home at speeds of 75MPH and it would routinely pull 25MPG in town. It was a exceptional little car with a deceptive amount of room in it.

 

[vi edit]

And I'm sorry to say but most people don't care about saving gas. They only care about saving money. Having three cars to save gas doesn't save money. You have the upfront costs to buy, extra registration fees, insurance, parking, and maintenance to cover. Any savings made by owing a Prius are immediately lost once you go and rent a car or pay to own a third.

 

[Elfear]

But the thing is, most trips people take in their cars are not long highway hauls but short trips instead. If there are only two vehicles, a minivan and car and two drivers, the minivan is going to be used all of the time, and it's going to on average get significantly worse mileage than using two cars.

For example, if one does one major trip a month on the highway (12 major trips a year), they can either use one Sienna which will get 26MPG PURE highway or two Prius which will be the equivalent of 24MPG. Great, so the Sienna theoretically wins in this scenario... However, what about the 353 other trips people take in their minivans that get far worse than 26MPG? A minivan idling in traffic because mommy or daddy is on their way to work is going to get far worse mileage than even what the city mileage would have you believe especially if you live in a congested area like a lot of people do. The Prius will get at least 50MPG in this scenario and the Sienna will see something like 14 or 15MPG instead.

Overall, even if you use two Prius vehicles over one minivan for family trips, you'll still come out ahead using the two Prius than using the one Sienna. The problem a lot of people have is they focus so much on the one off scenarios and not the thing they do every day which is commuting to work or going to the grocery store. I'm perfectly fine with families with two drivers having three vehicles, one minivan for those trips and two commuter cars. But to use the minivan like a regular car even though it isn't called for is just frustrating to say the least. The size of the average family 50 years ago is much smaller than that of today's family yet the vehicles today are significantly larger than that of 50 years ago. We have made no progress in improving fuel efficiency because idiots feel they should be able to drive a monstrosity while having the performance of a car. Without the CAFE rules, we'd probably have people commuting 15 miles to work in a motorcoach while lobbying congress to invade more countries to feed their drug habit (in this case, oil).

Did you read anything he said about being TOGETHER as a family? Why would I want to tool around town without my spouse and half my kids? Families get so little time together anyway why decrease it even more by driving two vehicles around.

Everyone gets that you want people to be more conservative in their gas consumption but you also have to be realistic about things. Sometimes convenience trumps a little gas savings. Not everyone wants to drive a Prius even if they didn't need more room.

Yes, seriously. When I hit his head on the top of the door opening shifting him inward it became a bit noticeable. Every subsequent time I had to be extra careful and slow when I don't have to think twice in a taller vehicle - you tell me if it's an issue.

BTW, rear-facing means his head is at the tallest part of the opening... not the semi-fetal position I had to put him in just to duck in there and on top of the seat. Having to describe this in detail makes it seem like a big deal... you can live with it, if you've never had to before though, why would you want to ever again?

I completely agree. I hated trying to get my kids in our small 4-door Corolla. All hunched over trying to see around the doorframe to snap the car seat in. My back loved me when I got a minivan.

 

[Kirby]

But the thing is, most trips people take in their cars are not long highway hauls but short trips instead. If there are only two vehicles, a minivan and car and two drivers, the minivan is going to be used all of the time, and it's going to on average get significantly worse mileage than using two cars.

For example, if one does one major trip a month on the highway (12 major trips a year), they can either use one Sienna which will get 26MPG PURE highway or two Prius which will be the equivalent of 24MPG. Great, so the Sienna theoretically wins in this scenario... However, what about the 353 other trips people take in their minivans that get far worse than 26MPG? A minivan idling in traffic because mommy or daddy is on their way to work is going to get far worse mileage than even what the city mileage would have you believe especially if you live in a congested area like a lot of people do. The Prius will get at least 50MPG in this scenario and the Sienna will see something like 14 or 15MPG instead.

Overall, even if you use two Prius vehicles over one minivan for family trips, you'll still come out ahead using the two Prius than using the one Sienna. The problem a lot of people have is they focus so much on the one off scenarios and not the thing they do every day which is commuting to work or going to the grocery store. I'm perfectly fine with families with two drivers having three vehicles, one minivan for those trips and two commuter cars. But to use the minivan like a regular car even though it isn't called for is just frustrating to say the least. The size of the average family 50 years ago is much smaller than that of today's family yet the vehicles today are significantly larger than that of 50 years ago. We have made no progress in improving fuel efficiency because idiots feel they should be able to drive a monstrosity while having the performance of a car. Without the CAFE rules, we'd probably have people commuting 15 miles to work in a motorcoach while lobbying congress to invade more countries to feed their drug habit (in this case, oil).

lmfao! are you serious?

"I'm so environmentally conscious that I drive, not one, but two Priuses."

 

[PricklyPete]

Did fleabag re-register as obamanation or did I miss something?

 

[obamanation]

Odd, even my M3 has ISOFIX seat mounts. The 3 series most certainly has been designed for use with a family.

It's just speculation on my part and I feel it's fairly reasonable conclusion that the opening of one car will be different enough from another to make the usage of a car seat easy or difficult. Every car is different, I was just trying to rationalize why the 3 series would be difficult but not the corolla.

Did you read anything he said about being TOGETHER as a family? Why would I want to tool around town without my spouse and half my kids? Families get so little time together anyway why decrease it even more by driving two vehicles around.

Everyone gets that you want people to be more conservative in their gas consumption but you also have to be realistic about things. Sometimes convenience trumps a little gas savings. Not everyone wants to drive a Prius even if they didn't need more room.

I don't see the appeal of cramming a bunch of people into one vehicle, I really don't.. The destination is what counts, not how many damn people you can fit into a car. Having a lot of things and people in a car doesn't make for a trip unless your whole journey is about traveling across the country. If your trip is to grandma's house 100 miles away, then I don't see the point.

When I was a child I had the opportunity to attend many camps, when the camps I attended went places, on the aggregate of all the camps, about 3/4 of the time, the campers would be split up and went into multiple vehicles and a 1/4 of the time we'd go on a full sized school bus. What YOU'RE saying is somehow, the trips we'd go on (in the camp) would be so much better if we were all crammed into a BUS instead of several smaller vehicles. I have to tell you, this is not the case. To drive home the point further, when my whole family had to attend certain events (like weddings), since we didn't have a large vehicle that could cram everyone into, we'd go in separate cars.

So, when I think back on all the trips I've gone on whether they were in people haulers (like a bus or 15 passenger van) or in cars, I found that the trip was far more pleasant for everyone involved when the number of people (ESPECIALLY CHILDREN) is kept to a minimum. Part of the reason for this is because each child gets more time to talk with the adult where the adult doesn't have to censor themselves for an entire group of people. One can get a lot more "face time" (so to speak) when there aren't a bunch of people crowding out each other in the conversation. There are certain things people won't say in front of an audience of 50 or even 8 people but will say when there are 3 or 4 people.

People take large people carriers not because they're pleasant, but because they're economical. However, they're only economical when they're being fully utilized. It's hard to fully utilize an 8 passenger minivan all the time. That is why mommy and daddy each owning a Prius makes more sense than mommy owning a Sienna and daddy owning a Prius.

lmfao! are you serious?

"I'm so environmentally conscious that I drive, not one, but two Priuses."

Two Prius > One Prius and One Sienna

Also your quote doesn't make any sense since a single person can only drive one vehicle at a time..

 

[Jzero]

Odd, even my M3 has ISOFIX seat mounts. The 3 series most certainly has been designed for use with a family.

ISOFIX/LATCH have been required in the US since Sept. 2002. Their existence doesn't imply that any actual consideration was given to getting a child seat/child in and out.

 

[desy]

OMG just clueless
Well if you can have two vehicles I went with a minivan and a small car, a Versa and it is the way to go
W two kids you could get by with a good sized Midsize but really, ingress and egress w/sliding doors and high doors are the best not to mention dual climate controls, entertainment systems etc , just wonderful
I'm considering the 5 for my next car, or just keeping the Windstar and get another sub compact and have three for when I need it , because its pretty much depreciated out.

 

[theeedude]

Keep your Mazda 3, duh.

 

[Bignate603]

I don't see the appeal of cramming a bunch of people into one vehicle, I really don't.. The destination is what counts, not how many damn people you can fit into a car. Having a lot of things and people in a car doesn't make for a trip unless your whole journey is about traveling across the country. If your trip is to grandma's house 100 miles away, then I don't see the point.

When I was a child I had the opportunity to attend many camps, when the camps I attended went places, on the aggregate of all the camps, about 3/4 of the time, the campers would be split up and went into multiple vehicles and a 1/4 of the time we'd go on a full sized school bus. What YOU'RE saying is somehow, the trips we'd go on (in the camp) would be so much better if we were all crammed into a BUS instead of several smaller vehicles. I have to tell you, this is not the case. To drive home the point further, when my whole family had to attend certain events (like weddings), since we didn't have a large vehicle that could cram everyone into, we'd go in separate cars.

So, when I think back on all the trips I've gone on whether they were in people haulers (like a bus or 15 passenger van) or in cars, I found that the trip was far more pleasant for everyone involved when the number of people (ESPECIALLY CHILDREN) is kept to a minimum. Part of the reason for this is because each child gets more time to talk with the adult where the adult doesn't have to censor themselves for an entire group of people. One can get a lot more "face time" (so to speak) when there aren't a bunch of people crowding out each other in the conversation. There are certain things people won't say in front of an audience of 50 or even 8 people but will say when there are 3 or 4 people.

People take large people carriers not because they're pleasant, but because they're economical. However, they're only economical when they're being fully utilized. It's hard to fully utilize an 8 passenger minivan all the time. That is why mommy and daddy each owning a Prius makes more sense than mommy owning a Sienna and daddy owning a Prius.

3 or 4 kids in a minivan with their families doesn't equal 40 something kids that you barely know in a bus. Your comparison doesn't hold true. You mentioned that it's more interesting to be in small groups, it's not like your typical family has a dozen people in it. You're talking about 2 adults and 3 or 4 kids. Maybe sometimes they'll have an extra kid or two if they bring along one of their children's friends. Either way, you're not talking about a huge group.

Also, when you are doing something to spend time with your family you actually want to spend time with your family. For many things the driving time is a significant chunk of the time. Splitting up the family kind of defeats the purpose.

You also completely ignored the points I made that it is very helpful to have two parents together when traveling with multiple kids. Trying to deal with multiple kids alone can be significantly harder and would make the whole trip less pleasant.

As for the Prius being more economical, it's already hard to make a case for the prius being cheaper than a normal economy car when you factor in the increased purchase cost. A Sienna starts only about $2k more than a prius, but if a family chooses to get a small car and a minivan they can spend significantly less on their vehicles than it would cost to buy two Priuses. If you're buying used the benefit would most likely be even better, the resale cost of Priuses tends to be high and minivans don't tend to have the highest resale value. Insurance costs on minivans also tend to be low.

Saving gas isn't the only way to save money.