We Have A Kiddo On The Way And Can't Borrow Cars Forever! What Should We Buy?

Cami and her husband live in Boston; they are expecting their first child soon and have been borrowing a car from her parents, but that is not a good long term solution. They are looking for a family crossover for under $40,000. What car should they buy?

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Here is the scenario.

My husband and I are expecting our first kid later this year. We've been borrowing a car from my parents on weekends but that isn't a sustainable option forever. Our usage will be 80% weekend trips with 20% errands and other short trips Neither of us will be driving to work and neither of us are capable of taking care of maintenance so it needs to be reliable and have a good dealer service network.

Needs to be an SUV – I don't feel comfortable sitting down low and with Boston roads and winters 4 wheel or AWD would be helpful. We have a golden retriever who loves to ride with us in the car. We need space for a growing family. We don't want a minivan. The car will be street parked in Boston

I love the new Lexus GX but it's way out of my budget as we are looking to spend no more than $40,00

Quick Facts:

Budget: no more than $40,000

Location: Boston, MA

Daily Driver: Yes

Wants: Reliable, good for the family, AWD

Doesn't want: Expensive to maintain

First of all, congratulations on the little one; though technically, with the dog in the house, this is "kid number two." Let's review the key points: you live in New England, you want something reliable with all-wheel drive, and you have a Golden Retriever. There could not be a better case for a Subaru. 

While the Outback would be the more stereotypical choice and would probably be just big enough, I am going to go with an often overlooked three-row option with the Ascent. Subaru's mid-size SUV was a big deal when it first launched, especially with its 19 cupholders. The Ascent is very spacious and naturally comes equipped with all the safety tech you expect from Subaru. The MPGs are not awesome, especially considering the car is powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder, but you are fighting physics with any car this size.

The model has faded into the background with most buyers opting for Highlanders and Pilots. However, because this isn't the default choice for most three-row shoppers, you can take advantage of a great value in the used market, since the Ascent depreciates a bit faster than its Honda and Toyota competition. Here is a 2024 Ascent Touring with under 14,000 miles at the top of your budget. This car originally retailed for about $50,000.

Oh hey, good news — I actually used to live in Boston and knew multiple couples who gave in and bought a car when they had their first kid. The bad news is, you definitely won't want what they went with, because the first bought a Chevrolet Spark, and the second got a Honda Civic. Turns out, you don't need a Ford Excursion just because you had a single kid.

That said, having seen how rarely these more-convenient carshare substitutes get used, I think we should go a slightly different direction anyway. I say get an EV. Specifically, the Chevrolet Equinox EV. You can definitely buy one new with your $40,000 budget, but I suspect you're going to want to lease. Even if you're generally against leasing, a lot of times, it's the better option with EVs.

Even with AWD, the Equinox EV offers more than 300 miles of range for those weekend road trips to Portland or the Cape. But if you get busy and end up letting it sit for several months, it should still be fine, since there's no gas or engine to worry about. And since Boston is only like 10 square miles total, I wouldn't be surprised if you only have to charge it maybe once a month for non-road trip reasons. And compared to a lot of new SUVs today, it's a lot smaller and easier to park on those crowded Boston/Somerville/Cambridge/Malden streets. Not that anyone has any reason to go to Malden.

I have some good news for you: Most of the automotive market right now is targeted at drivers who want a tall seating position and need an SUV to fit a kid and a dog. You have a wealth of options here, and you've already heard a few good ones in this blog alone. But I'm here to hone in on something that I think my coworkers missed — you like the Lexus GX, which means you want something nice. Allow me to present the Mazda CX-50.

Mazda may not have the same brand cachet as Lexus within the luxury market, but the company still builds some truly nice interiors — the driver's seat of a Mazda is as good a place as any to spend all those hours in Boston traffic in. The CX-50 has all the room your golden retriever could want, the all-wheel-drive you're looking for (though you should still get winter tires), and all that within a package that's not absurd to street park in the city.

Here's one within your budget in red, but you can take your time and find the color and spec you want. These are everywhere in the Boston area, so find one that fits your needs. Boston traffic doesn't exactly move fast, so get the car you won't mind spending some real time in.