best suvs for families - Generation Z Gadgets
Soccer parents seen idling SUVs to stay warm in 59F weather Because of how we use our EV we mostly charge at home and do short sessions (~15-20 mins) most of the time if away from home. Its not a burden. That big nap session was early on in our EV ownership, below freezing - and I was juggling helping our then first semester Univ student and my parents with my mother's dementia.
Understanding the Context
I was tuckered ... Best fuel efficient used SUVs? I just did a quick search on fueleconomy.gov (which regrettably doesn't have filtering by number of seats) and came up with the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon hybrid as being the most fuel efficient 7+ (it seats 8) seat vehicle with an EPA rating of 21/22 mpg city/hwy. I only looked at the SUV and minivan categories for model years 2006-2008.
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Key Insights
Unfortunately they ... If you don't need seating for five or six, disregard all minivans and large SUVs. If you don't need to tow a trailer or haul hundreds of pounds of materials/objects, disregard all trucks. If you don't need 4 wheel drive, leather interior, a V6 or V8 engine, large vehicle size, etc. disregard all those.
Final Thoughts
Minivans/SUVs with excellent rear air conditioning? Our 2013 Dodge Grande Caravan gets plenty cold in the way back. There are several vents for each row than can swivel around to just about any position. And when the kids are older, they can control the setting themselves if you switch the controls up front to a "rear control" setting, if that makes sense. And I live in Texas. Compact SUVs from the past couple years can get MPGs into the 30s, and in many other respects (weight, price, etc) are also comparable to mid-size sedans.
Now, how anyone sane justifies an Escalade, I still do not know (they scare me, honestly). Maybe someone can enlighten. But a CRV or a Rav4 or a Subaru? In Institute studies, ESC has been found to reduce fatal single-vehicle crash risk by 49 percent and fatal multiple-vehicle crash risk by 20 percent for cars and SUVs.