So you want a seven-seat car that does better than 30 mpg

It's only reasonable: you have a large family to move. Or a family of musicians that play large and delicate instruments. Or you regularly have grandparents in the car, or a few friends. You end up with a minivan or an SUV / crossover: but those tend to eat fuel in a big way. Gas prices have been down fron their peak earlier this spring, but they're still high. I've heard so many moms say, with a sigh, that they would gladly give up their gas hog, if only they could find a gas sipper that offers enough space.

The good news: they are out there! I have spent much of this month looking into gas-sipping cars for larger families, and the exercise has been eye-opening. There are quite a few cars now that offer seats for seven passengers, and have fuel economy over 30 mpg. It's easy to find them.

The bad news: while it's easy enough to find them, it's hard to buy them. In the US, that is. For they are sold all over the planet, except in the US. So maybe it's time for us to start asking for those gas sipping family cars.

Photo by Robert Scoble via Wikipedia Commons

To whet your appetite:  how about a 7-seat Toyota Prius? The US version of the Prius v has five seats, but in Japan (where it's called the Prius-α) and in Europe (where it will be offered this summer as the Prius+), this wagon version of the familiar Prius comes with seven seats. It's outfitted with lithium ion batteries instead of the nickel-metal hydride batteries offered in the US, with a similar fuel efficiency: 44 mpg.

The Toyota Sienna, a typical mommy van, gets about 22 mpg. But the Toyota Estima Hybrid minivan gets a quoted 42 mpg. But hybrid is not the only road to increased fuel efficiency.

The Mazda 5 is popular in the US for its versatile seating configuration: it has six seats, and the ones in the back two rows can be folded down completely for cargo hauling. It does 21/28 mpg (cty/hwy). Japanese version: "6+One" seating, about 30 mpg est. Europe: "6+One" seating, 39 mpg from a diesel engine.

The Nissan Quest minivan is used by many moms (19/24 mpg cty/hwy). You can't buy it in Europe: there Nissan offers the NV200 Combi, which can give you anything from seven seats plus a bit of storage in the back (enough for a cello), to two seats and a cavernous cargo space. Its diesel engine gets a quoted 45 mpg.

Kia offers its Sorento crossover in both the US and the UK, but in the US it has a 2.4L gasoline engine (175HP, 23 mpg average) whereas in the UK it comes with a 2.2L diesel engine (194HP, 32 mpg average). Diesel engines pack power. But if 32 mpg is not high enough for you, you might buy the Kia Carens: it's just a bit smaller than the Sorento, but comes with a smaller, 1.6L diesel engine that does 41 mpg in real life.

The Volkswagen Routan is really made by Chrysler. Let us not speak of its V6 engine. The real gems are Volkswagen's Multivan, the direct descendant of the VW camper made (in)famous by the hippies (33 mpg). If you don't need a living room on wheels, you might opt for the Sharan (quoted at 43 mpg).

In case you've started thinking that the overseas carmakers are the only ones tossing us the largest and largest-engined models, I've compared seven-seat cars made by Ford, three for the US and three for the UK market. This side of the Atlantic, they're all longer than 5 meters (197in) and do less than 30mpg. On the UK side they're all less than 5 meters in length, and do either 32 mpg with a 1.6L Ecoboost gasoline engine or 35 mpg with a 1.6L diesel engine.

Are you mad yet? Don't get mad: get going and ask your friendly dealer to make his company's best sippers available to you. Gas sippers don't have to be more expensive than the models you're familiar with. It is possible to save at the purchase as well as at the pump.

 

Cross-posted at BlogHer

 

 

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Nissan 7-seat people carriers

When in 1588 the Spanish Armada set sail with the intent to invade England, the fleet consisted of 151 ships carrying 8000 sailors and 18,000 soldiers, plus 2500 guns. They were entirely wind powered, so until the guns were fired, their emissions (CO2 and soot) were zero.

The Invincible Armada

The Nissan Armada, a bit smaller than a Spanish galleon but still enormous, carries 7 people (and hopefully no guns). This boat uses its 5.6L V8 engine to navigate American roads at the rate of 13 mpg in the city, and 19 mpg on the highway. Until my recent visit to Nissan's USA website I thought that such engines had gone the way of the Spanish galleons that met their watery end on the coast of Cornwall.

Compared to that, Nissan's Pathfinder is a mere sloop of war, sharing the same platform with the Armada but with a body that is 15" shorter. Still, it has a 4.0L V6 engine that gets just 15/22 mpg (cty/hwy).

For moving up to seven people, America's Nissan option with the highest fuel economy is the Quest, a family minivan whose 3.5L V6 engine does 19/24 mpg (cty/hwy).

If you are looking for a Nissan people carrier that does better than the anemic 24mpg, you have to look overseas. Nissan's Japanese website shows seven entries in the Minivan/Wagon category, as well as four boxy MPVs. I found this website much harder to navigate than other Japanese carmakers', so I went instead to Nissan's UK website for the gas-sipping alternatives.

There is, of course, no sign of the Armada. After all, the English have successfully repelled the Armada from their shores more than 400 years ago, and there should be no reason why they can't do so now.

They don't have the Quest, either. In fact, nothing with more than four cylinders. Nissan's largest consumer option in the UK is the Pathfinder, but with a European twist: it comes with a 2.5L diesel engine (28mpg quoted average). Even its most basic trim is a lot more expensive than the other UK options.

One of those alternatives is the NV200 Combi. Shorter than the Quest by more than two feet, this is a versatile minivan: you can fold down the five seats in the back to get a cavernous cargo space. The NV200 runs on a 1.5L diesel engine with a quoted fuel economy of 45 mpg. That, and its modest price tag, is something a family can live with.

Photo by M 93
via Wikimedia Commons

Then there is the Qashqai+2, the slightly enlongated version of the Qashqai crossover, also with space for seven. This one has a regular gasoline engine whose 35mpg is still reasonably high. Besides more power under the hood, it also features more creature comforts than the NV200 Combi.

So here is proof that there are cars that accommodate up to seven passengers, and still do better than 30mpg.

 

Nissan seven-seat vehicles, USA and UK, sorted by length

USA	UK
	Qashqai+2 crossover Acenta 2WD 1.6L 4-cyl 115HP man L=(178.8in) 4541mm £ 19,695 154gCO2/km (35mpg)
Pathfinder SUV SE 2x4 4.0L V6 266HP auto L=192.3in (4884mm) $ 29,290 15/22 mpg (cty/hwy)	Pathfinder Acenta 4x4 (diesel) 2.5L dCi 188HP man L=(189.5in) 4813mm £ 32,445 224 gCO2/km (28mpg)
Quest minivan S 3.5L V6 260HP auto L=200.8in (5100mm) $ 25,990 19/24 mpg (cty/hwy)	NV200 Combi S (diesel) 1.5L dCi 89HP man L=(173.2in) 4400mm £ 17,293 138gCO2/km (45mpg)
Armada SV 2WD SUV 5.6L V8 317HP auto L=207.7in (5276mm) $ 39,870 13/19 mpg (cty/hwy)

 

Review: Kia Sorento, Kia Carens

For families that need more than five seats in a car, here is an option with flexibility: the Kia Sorento is a two- to seven-seater crossover that is nearly two feet shorter than the standard minivan: easy to park, and with real-life average fuel efficiency up to 32 mpg: easy on the family budget.

 

The seating is in a 2-3-2 arrangement, with the second row foldable in a 60-40 configuration, and the two third-row seats foldable independently, handy for transporting long narrow things. Even with the third row up, you can still stow a cello way in the back (just).

 

As usual (this is getting to be boring), the US version comes with the largest engines: your "choices" are between a 2.4L, 191 HP gasoline GDI injection engine rated at 22/32 mpg (cty/hwy), and a 3.5L V6 that gets a fuel efficiency as measly as 18/24 mpg for the all-wheel drive version. All US offerings have automatic transmission, tacking about $1000 onto the price tag (plus the additional cost of gas, about 10% higher than for the manual transmission).

In the South Korean home market, Kia offers this car with a choice of two gasoline engines: a 2.0L E-VGT (35mpg) and a 2.2L E-VGT (33mpg). (These MPG numbers are overstated, but only slightly: for comparison, on Toyota's Korean website the Camry is quoted as having a fuel efficiency of 30mpg, whereas it is rated at 28mpg by the US EPA). As far as I can tell both versions have automatic transmission (while looking at the Korean script is amusing, I couldn't recognise anything except the roman-script "USB" option for one of the trims).

In the UK, it's just diesels on the menu. You can buy the basic trim of the Sorento (imaginatively named "1") as a five-seater with a 2.0L, 148HP diesel engine. 7-seat Sorentos are available with a 2.2L, 194HP engine, also running on diesel: enough power to get your family out on a nice camping trip in the Lake District. There are rails for a roof rack where you can stow extra gear, and if you bring a caravan or trailer you can tow up to 2500kg (5500lbs).There is choice of manual or auto transmission, and two- or all-wheel drive. The table below shows stats for a 7-seater with two-wheel drive and manual transmission. Real drivers report an average fuel economy of 32mpg for this version: I would settle for that if I had to move more than five people often enough.

 

Photo by Mick via Wikimedia Commons

However, for the UK even the Sorento is sort of a large MPV. If you need the third row seats only occasionally, and are looking for savings both in the purchase price and in the operating cost, you might well consider the Kia Carens. It's six inches shorter overall than the Sorento, so with the third row in use you won't have that much storage space left.

It comes with either a 1.6L, 133HP gasoline engine or a 1.6L, 126HP diesel engine; both are available with manual transmission only. The diesel version gets a road-proven and very sweet 41mpg fuel economy. If that weren't enough inspiration to learn to drive with a stick, the price tag for the 7-seat Carens is £ 9,000 less than for the Sorento. That kind of money would pay for driving lessons, plus quite a few camping trips, even if you might not want to take it up the steepest roads in the Lake District - or the Rockies - with a trailer in tow. Certainly it would do very well for moving your children, their gear and a few friends around most towns.

Both the Sorento and the Carens come with Kia's 10-year, 100,000 mile warranty, a welcome relief in a world where warranties have shrunk to mostly 3 years and 30,000 miles.

 

Kia Sorento (US, UK); Kia Carens (UK)

	Sorento 2.4 I4 A/T US	Sorento 2.2 CRDi UK	Carens 1.6L CRDi UK
Type	LX	KX-1	2
Year	2013	2012	2012
Emissions rating		EURO5 "H"	EURO5 "F"
MSRP	$ 23,150	£ 25,005 ($ 38,844)	£ 16,000 ($ 24,700)
CelloMom Rating
Fuel Economy:
City/Hwy quoted	22 / 32 mpg	28 / 44 mpg	36 / 45 mpg
Avg. quoted	25 mpg	36mpg 171 g CO2/km	41 mpg 146 g CO2/km
Avg. actual	23 mpg	32 mpg	41 mpg
Engine	2.4L GDI	2.2 CRDi	1.6L CRDi
Power	175 HP @6300rpm 169 lbs-ft @3750rpm	194 HP @3800rpm 422Nm (311 lbft) @2000-2500rpm	126 HP @4000 rpm 260Nm @1900-2750rpm
Transmission	6-spd Auto CVVT	6-spd Manual	6-spd Manual
Fuel	Reg. unleaded	Diesel	Diesel
Length, mm(in)	183.5 in	4685 mm	4545 mm
Width, mm(in)	74.2 in	1885 mm	1820 mm
Height, mm(in)	68.3 in	1745 mm	1700 m
Weight, kg(lbs)	3845 lbs	1830 - 1915 kg	1605 - 1715 kg
Trunk volume, liters(cuft)	9.1 / 37.0 / 72.5 cuft	111 - 1525 L	74 - 2106L
Turning radius	35.7 ft c-c	5.4 m	5.4 m
Top speed		182 kph (113 mph)	179 kph (111 mph)