Im shopping for a car and since Im planning on starting a family, I hope and expect to have a babby this year and another one shortly thereafter.
I love the Tiguan and so does the wife, but I have reservations about the small size of it. I have a feeling that its one of those things where a larger car just makes life easier but I dont know.
What do you drive and do you like it or hate it? Reasons for your love or hate for the car? Thanks!
I bought my wife a Toyota Sienna she loves it and I appreciate it as well. Comfortable, roomy, functional, rides great, good gas mileage, and durable. Had the first one 13 years, just sold it and purchased another one. My kids are getting older and it still works great for shuffling them and there friends around. I know a lot of people won't drive mini vans just because they are mini vans, but in my opinion it is the vehicle to have when you are raising kids. Good luck, brother!
thank you!
If you guys can talk about how many kids you have and their ages that would help too.
3 kids.... Bought the van the day my 2nd child was born. Now they are 16, 13, and 10. Lots of moving parts and places to be. Take a lot of other kids places too. It is fabulous for vacation and travel.
2 kids still in car seats and drive a 2010 Honda Pilot, the minivan for the man who is not quite ready to admit he needs one.
Pro:
1) Width. It's wide enough that the wife can ride fairly comfortably in the back with 2 car seats on either side of her.
2) Seats 8 with a decent 3rd row seat that's easy to put up and down. Plus flexible seating/storage as the 2nd and 3rd rows have split backs that can be raised or lowered into different seating and storage configurations.
3) AWD and decent ground clearance for bad weather.
4) Great storage capacity in its big boxy body. Especially with the 3rd row seat lowered you will have a ton of space in the back for all the babby crap you'll be lugging around.
5) A few nice engineering touches, such as the sunglasses case on the roof lowers partway to reveal a convex mirror that let's you see the entire 2nd row and keep an eye on the kiddies (Honda knows their market for this car and it ain't the off road crowd).
6) Back up camera for the win when parallel parking.
7) Drives on standard gas, which saves you money. Previous car was a very used Mercedes SUV. Paying for premium on a low mpg car sucks.
Con:
1) Big and boxy and minivan-esque. Not particularly attractive. No way to pretend you are driving anyrhing but a suburban kid-mobile. That's if you care about such things. I don't.
2) Not great gas mileage. Get 12 or 13mpg in town and I'll be lucky to average 22mpg on a long highway drive.
3) Relatively small gas tank for a large low-mpg vehicle. I think it's 20 or 21 gallon tank.
4) 2nd row bench seat makes 3rd row access difficult with car seats. The 2nd row bench is both a Pro and a Con. It gives you an extra seat (8 seater vs 7), but if you have multiple car seats in the 2nd row you will have to detach 1 to fold the seat down and access the 3rd row. A 2nd row with 2 captains chairs makes for nice easy access through the middle to the way back. This is really personal preference and if you will be using that 3rd row often. We like the bench seat as it allows the wife to sit right next to the small baby and worse comes to worse she can lean over and stick a total in the kid's mouth while we are moving or stuck in traffic. But there are definitely times when taking that car seat out to get to the 3rd row is a pain. Some friends of our will only buy cars with 2nd row captains chairs.
5) The interior materials present as a little cheap looking and feeling for a reasonably expensive car. We bought ours as a 3 year old certified pre-owned, and paid about $20k. But new these can run $35, maybe close to 40k. Honda also cheaped on the accessories. We have the 2nd highest trim level on a 2010 car that cost $35k brand new. No integrated bluetooth to make calls through the car speakers. No USB jack for an ipod. There is a line-in jack but I still have to control my ipod manually, not through the car. Those options were only available on the very highest trim level. Now Honda may have fixed this in the past few years and made these features standard on lower trim levels, not sure.
6) Not fast and zippy, if you care. I wasn't looking for fast and zippy, so not a big deal for me, but this is a big car with a medium powered V6. Don't expect to merge quickly onto the highway. Leave yourself some room.
I do love my car and it's been very useful. But then again this is the first car I ever bought from a dealership and the first car I've ever driven in the same decade as it was made, so take my love with a grain of salt.
Sorry for the FRAT. Hope it helps. 
Stupid auto correct. A sentence in CON #4 should have read:
"... and worse comes to worse she can lean over and stick a TIT in the kid's mouth while we are moving or stuck in traffic."
Two under 6 and have had both an suv and a 4dr sedan. Currently have the car and it works just fine. Kinder on the wallet.
Camry btw.
I wouldn't be wary of the Tiguan because of its size, I'd be more worried because it's a Volkswagen. They have a notoriously low reliability score.
Personally, I hate American cars so I tend to buy Japanese. I have a Honda Odyssey that's really great for kids. Yeah, it's a minivan. But I'm secure enough in my manhood that I really don't give a shit. Yes SUVs look cooler but I tell you what, it's so much easier with sliding doors in a parking lot, especially when you're trying to get infant carriers in and out.
That being said, I think there are some decent American minivans out there. And they certainly aren't going to cost as much as a Honda or a Toyota.
Word of advice for any car that you get, skip the navigation package. They add these at quite a high price and with the advent of GPS smartphones you really don't need that anymore. Not to mention they're expensive as hell for updates. Honda charges like $120 for a GPS update disc. That's my only regret with the Odyssey. 
We almost went minivan. Sliding doors would be great. Ended up with the Pilot SUV for the AWD and ground clearance. I park on the street in Queens NYC and frequently drive to my family in New England. Parking on poorly plowed snowy streets, it's really helpful to have an AWD car that I can slam over a snow bank and into a spot.
The only Japanese minivan with AWD was the Toyota Sienna, and it was a little pricey. We got a good deal on our Pilot.
WE have 4 kids and until last week had a minivan (now totaled) and an SUV.
The minivan is essential if you have multiple kids and travel alot. The SUV just doesnt have enough room to store things once all the seats are used up. Hell space even gets tight sometimes in our minivan, but we will be minivan until the day the kids can all drive themselves.
thanks for the input guys. It helps alot
BigEyedFish -Good luck man. Parenthood is awesome. Tiring, but awesome.
thanks for the input guys. It helps alot
Sienna and Odyssey are clean if you plan on having a few kids. I really love the Ford Flex, it's so smooth and seats 7. I'm 6ft3 and fit in the third row like a champ.
I don't know what I was typing that my phone auto corrected to the word "porn." Mayne my phone knows I just like that word.
shes off the tiguan kick for the moment and on the subaru bandwagon (thankfully).
BigEyedFish -
shes off the tiguan kick for the moment and on the subaru bandwagon (thankfully).
MUCH better choice than VW, IMO. You take care of that car and it will damn near last forever. I've heard there's a very low supply of used Subarus because people keep them so long.
I hate that I love our Odyssey, but it's the perfect car for having young kids. I fought getting it, but I'm glad she held firm on getting it (even though I'll never admit it to her). The doors, seating, ride, mileage entertainment system, fit & finish. Automatic doors are HUGE when you have an infant in a carrier with a stroller. We got it right before our daughter was born; she's 8 next month & our son will be 5 in March and we've never regretted it.
Minivan will make your life easier for the next 8 years or so. Trust me, while your kids are in car seats and can't buckle themselves in a minivan makes everyday life so much easier. We have a Honda Odyssey and a car and every time I have to put the kids in the car its a huge pain in the ass.
I agree with the concerns about the Volkswagen brand. While it isn't luxury exactly, the upkeep is far more expensive than Toyota or Honda. My wife and I recently went through the same process as you and considered a TIguan, but eventually settled on a Toyota Highlander.
We have been happy two years later. I subscribe to the Dave Ramsey way of purchasing a car. No leasing, pay cash. This allowed me to negotiate a great price for our Highlander, $17,000. The fellow was asking 22,000, and on the car lot they were $27,000.
Truth be told, there is nothing luxury about a Highlander. Since I'm not a car guy it doesn't bother me too much but I got used to a BMW and Mercedes when I spent money firvalously in my 20's.
IF money wasn't a concern to me, I would have waited and opted to buy a 4-6 year old 4Runner. However, they are tough to find decently priced with low miles.