My wife also has a RAV4. Bought it new last year. It's the only vehicle that we could find that has a theoretical 7-person seat capacity, 4WD, top-notch safety rating, and 25+ mpg. And unlike most vehicles, you can put a child seat in the middle of the backseat and still seat 2 adults comfortably next to it. Our RAV4 has the 2.5L 4-cylinder gas engine which is economical, though somewhat underpowered, but good enough for normal driving. A turbodiesel engine would make it perfect.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL