Alternatives to Driving an Excursion

[Anonymous]

DH has gotten a bug that we need an Excursion. It's HUGE. Like, BUS HUGE. It gets 11 miles to the gallon, but DH wants a diesel which is slightly better. I just don't like it. We have three children, one of which is school age and plays sports. What other vehicles could I suggest to him that might work for our growing family that aren't the size of a small house? Or if you have an Excursion please tell me what you love about it, maybe you can change my mind! TIA!

[Anonymous]

chevy traverse. seats 8, good gas mileage.

[Anonymous]

Honda Pilot, seats 8, much smaller than an Excursion.

[Anonymous]

How about the fact that we just had the hottest summer, worldwide, in recorded history?

Tell him to be responsible. You can fit a family with three or four kids and/or pets and/or most sports equipment in a minivan that gets over 20 mpg. Still not great, but a whole lot better than an Excursion.

I know people have different sizes of families, but Excursions are just irresponsible, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about the fact that we just had the hottest summer, worldwide, in recorded history?

Tell him to be responsible. You can fit a family with three or four kids and/or pets and/or most sports equipment in a minivan that gets over 20 mpg. Still not great, but a whole lot better than an Excursion.

I know people have different sizes of families, but Excursions are just irresponsible, IMO.

Thank you for scolding me. Did I mention he was looking at diesel? We have two car seats and a booster therefore cannot fit much into the vehicle we have now, let alone drive another adult. As I stated, I do not want an Excursion but lecturing my husband on the environment really won't get me anywhere. He's a grown man, not a child and I'm not going to shame him into not buying the truck, I want alternative that make sense.

I understand the environment issues but it's not an argument I am going to take up with my husband.

[Anonymous]

Well, your options are:

-- Minivan
-- Any of the many SUVs with a third row (e.g., Pilot, Highlander, Acadia, Traverse, Volvo XC-90, etc.)
-- A larger truck-based SUV that is perhaps a bit smaller than the Excursion (e.g., Yukon, Sequoia, Suburban)
-- A large station wagon that can fit two car seat and a booster seat (maybe Volvo XC-70, Mazda 5)

[Anonymous]

LOVE my Acadia. Excursions are for people with, like, 8 kids.

[Anonymous]

PP here, who posted about the environment.

Sorry to sound scolding, but we all have to start growing up and taking responsibility for some of these decisions, and he should be taking this into consideration. Let's face it, he's not concerned about all the space you need with three kids, he just wants to drive a big old truck.

He should be ashamed to buy a truck that is way more than he needs and contributes to the degradation of our environment. If that sounds scolding, so be it.

Some things we can't control but here's one that we CAN control because it's absolutely unnecessary to drive such a behemoth, especially if you only have five kids in your family.

And we haven't even begun to talk about what happens to people in smaller vehicles if your husband gets into an accident. And even if he's the best driver in the world, he still could.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, PP here, meant three kids in your family.

[Anonymous]

I just sent him the Acadia, Pilot and Traverse links to look at. I am all for a minivan. I never wanted one but recently drove a friend's and I loved it. My older child plays football and lacrosse and DH coaches so there is always a ton of stuff to schlep around. Chairs, picnic baskets, bags of equipment. As my younger two get older the amount of extras we need will just increase. I'm not happy about needing a larger vehicle but I guess it comes with having a more kids. I was happy with our car when we only had two but the more we travel and get out on the weekends it is painfully clear we need something larger.

[Anonymous]

How about a Mazda 5?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here, who posted about the environment.

Sorry to sound scolding, but we all have to start growing up and taking responsibility for some of these decisions, and he should be taking this into consideration. Let's face it, he's not concerned about all the space you need with three kids, he just wants to drive a big old truck.

He should be ashamed to buy a truck that is way more than he needs and contributes to the degradation of our environment. If that sounds scolding, so be it.

Some things we can't control but here's one that we CAN control because it's absolutely unnecessary to drive such a behemoth, especially if you only have five kids in your family.

And we haven't even begun to talk about what happens to people in smaller vehicles if your husband gets into an accident. And even if he's the best driver in the world, he still could.

I understand your concern. I do, but I can't scold and shame my husband into not buying something. Why would I want to start an argument with him when I can just as easily suggest alternatives to the big ole' truck?

And he wouldn't be driving it at all, I would be which is why I don't want it. He has his dream car, a cadillac cts-v so I am certain he won't be driving the truck. It's a vehicle for me, not him. I think he's just trying to make our family comfortable and get us the space we need. His intentions are good.

[Anonymous]

OK, but you don't have to scold and shame him, just say that you want to take the mileage into consideration, and it's leading you towards xyz

I'm sure his intentions are good, but we have to start thinking about things like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about a Mazda 5?

Our mechanic nixed Mazda so DH won't look at them. Our mechanic said he's seen too many issues with the Mazda 5 and the Mazda mpv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, but you don't have to scold and shame him, just say that you want to take the mileage into consideration, and it's leading you towards xyz

I'm sure his intentions are good, but we have to start thinking about things like this.

You are totally right and I just did that. I told him that 11 miles to the gallon was ridiculous and that I'd prefer something more efficient. He's now looking at Suburbans 15 miles per gallon! Ugh, I am going to send some links to the other vehicles.