Daily drive for short trips with small kids NOT in car seats?
 

So it's new car time for me. I've been all over the place, looking first at the Ford Maverick, then some of the Subaru SUVs, then other manufacturers SUVs, but I think I want something fun!

This would be my daily driver, about 70 miles a day M-F, mostly highway, but then also my run around town and evening drives car.

Only possible problem is the kids. While there are 5 of us, at any given time I've only got 4 of us at most. That's when I'm dropping all 3 kids off at school before work. Any other time we use the wifes minivan for people transporting.

I've seen lots of stuff about babies and small kids in car seats and how they will or won't fit, but I'm not really finding anything about kids that are either in booster seats or just old enough to be out of booster seats.

The oldest is 13, so she can sit up front no problem. The boys are 8 and 7, so out of booster seats very soon. They would sit in the back. I'm 5'11 so not too tall. Even with that is it going to be an uncomfortable ride for those 10 mintues from the house to the school?

Up to this point the closest I've had to a fun vehicle was a 95 Ram 4x4 that had the Cummins built to about 400hp and a manual I swapped in to it. Right now I'm in a stock 95 Ram 2500 2wd Cummins. Talk about slow! Everything else was a 95 Ranger, 05 Cavalier, 95 LeBaron, 92 Corolla, 01 Taurus, and a 99 Caravan. Cavalier was a manual so it was at least some what entertaining.

Other car I'm considering is a base Mustang Ecoboost, but that's because my father in law works for Ford so I can get A plan pricing.

I'm 5'11" as well, and my kids are 10, 8 and 4. The 8 years old sits behind me in a booster, and when I'm driving with just the 10 years old she sits behind me as well (the passenger side rear has a child seat for the 4 years old). This works fine for up to a 20 minute drive. For longer trips we use the minivan.

I think that you would be fine for a few years, but once your boys start really growing it would be a squeeze. Still, it depends on how tolerant they are in the car - if it's a short drive that's done infrequently they should be fine. I can fit behind myself, with just a lack of foot room and head room making it less than ideal.

Hopefully in a couple years they are riding the bus instead of getting dropped off. Right now mom isn't comfortable with all 3 being home alone in the morning waiting for the bus while we head to work.

THIS^
Not too bad when they are small just don't try to drive across th country or anything.
As they get taller it get's more and more uncomfortable until you reach a point that even a few minutes is almost unbearable.
Also be prepared for the "Timmy's crushing my legs" battles to start even before it becomes awkward.

I'm really hoping by the time they don't fit I won't be transporting them daily.

Hell when I think about whether a 4 person car would work for a family of 5 I have to remind myself for YEARS my dad had that 95 Lebaron convertible, and we were a family of 9. Family hauler was a E series van, and we understood that whoever decided to ride with mom and dad in the convertible wasn't going to have a very comfortable ride in the back. On that car not only was there no leg room, but the back seats were straight up and down, no lean to them at all.

For a few years of my life my parents, two sisters and I rode around in an old beat up 641/2 Mustang with no floor. We actually rode across the country 3 summers in a row with the thing. Couldn't even put your feet down so the three of in the back seat fought for foot space on the tranny tunnel. The 86 would have been pure luxury!

I’ve driven my mother and younger sibling on 30 minute trips more times than I can count. Granted I’m 6’3 so nothing with legs is sitting behind me, but my sibling is 5’10 and my mother is 5’7. She sits up front with the seat pushed forward and has more leg room than an economy flight at Spirit (which I know isn’t saying much) and he just sits in the back with his backpack in the seat behind me. If you want to make it work you can but prepare for the atmosphere of the ride to feel very cramped. Everyone, even the ones in the back, are still like a foot or 2 away from you and that’s very different from the chauffeur-esque experience you can have in an SUV where you have to yell for the ones in the back to hear you.

Subaru has you covered!

Its actually not all that bad in the back to be honest.
You do sit low and with your knees up so there isnt a whole lot of wiggle room.
And unless your kids are taller than you there shouldnt be any issues adjusting the front seats to accomodate without being squished.

Now i dunno if they changed much of the seat design between first and second gen but the passenger front seat is very low to the floor without height adjustment so you might actually only be able to slide your toes underneath but not any further, but it depends on the size of the passenger's feet/shoes. The drivers side however has height adjustment so you actually could raise it enough for feet to slide underneath.

If it has to be a fun daily you're better off with a hot hatch-
GTI, Veloster etc.
GTI will seat 4 no problem and is fun enough as a daily.

I've told friends who immediately need a 3 row crossover once their first baby is born that my mom drove my brother and I around in a 77 LeSabre coupe year-round til I was 8 (and my brother 15) and never once had a problem with convenience, space or lack of awd.

Granted, the LeSabre was a huge, slow boat but the point remains.

But with that said, I wouldn't want to deal with anyone, any age in the back seat of the brz. It might be do-able but it would make me hate the car, for sure.

So obviously the back is smaller, but those saying they wouldn't want to deal with it because it's cramped for the rear passengers, or because them getting out is annoying because the lack of rear doors?

Because my current truck has no rear doors so have to get out currently to remove them.

i see you're in indiana, where at?

i'm up in lake county. if you're local, i don't mind meeting up somewhere for you to try the car for space in a little more relaxed environment than a dealer lot. yes, 1st gen/2nd gen differences, but the interior is pretty much the same.

i also previously had a '94 lebaron. to draw on your past experience, this car is pretty much the same in terms of space.

Cramped for rear passengers, cramped for the front passengers because they have to adjust for the rear passengers and it's very hard to get out of, even for a coupe.

I had an 05 Accord Coupe and you could simply flip the front seatback forward and get into the back. There was a usable floor. That isn't possible with the BRZ and there's no usable floor back there. The front seats are right up against the edge of the back seat.