Help me spend money!

I'm contemplating selling my Mazdaspeed3. My wife and I have another kid due in a couple of weeks and I've just discovered that my son only sort of fits in the seat behind me (I'm 6'5"). There is no way the baby seat will fit on the driver's side. Priorities for a new car would be:

1. Safe
2. Fun!-I like my MS3, but wouldn't mind going with something AWD or rear wheel drive. I'm biased towards light, good handling cars. One of my gripes about the MS3 is that it is heavy. If my former 1971 Datsun 510 met criteria #1 I'd buy another in a heartbeat. Doesn't have to be fast, just really fun to drive. Will mostly be street driven with the occasional autocross.
3. Fuel efficient-I drive for work and put about 30,000 miles on my MS3 last year. I'd also like to offset some of the additional gas I'll be using with the 1971 Bronco my wife got me for Christmas.
4. Reliable

I don't care much about comfort and prefer something fairly simple and cheap. A used car is preferred. Budget is $15-20k or less. What do you all think?

WRX fits all of those with the possible exception of fuel efficient. If it is too small, Legacy Spec B.
I find plenty of room in the back of an E30, but I have really short legs and they are getting old. The safety and reliability might not be up to snuff for you, if it is even big enough.
Acura Integra? Could be fun, I know a guy who loves his as a DD/autocrosser.
Nissan Maxima's can be pretty fun, but probably a little on the heavy side. Might also want to investigate Altima's.
Mazda5 is an interesting one, but it won't be as much fun as your speed3.

Where do you live? Do you have to be concerned about snow/salt/rust?

Also, you might want to check out this article: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/win-sunday-carpool-monday/

I doubt a reverse carseat will fit in the rear of an E30, but I haven't tried. Same with WRX. The Turbobrick has to have the seat pretty far forward, and that's a roomy backseat.

I'm in Colorado, so snow is an issue. Not a big one though, and I generally have a dedicated set of snow wheels and tires to run in the winter. Salt isn't heavily used here and cars don't rust due to the really dry climate. Thanks for the suggestions so far, please keep them coming!

In reply to tuna55:

My daughter's rear facing seat fit better in my E30 than my wife's impreza wagon!

Maybe all you need to do is adjust your seating position . Remember, parenthood is all about personal sacrifice.

Seriously, finding a car that has room for two child seats is tough business, especially with the criteria you've laid out. Maybe its time for a "toy" (Miata, cough, cough) and a "sensible" car such as a minivan.

I'll probably get flamed, but Mrs. Mini bought a Versa Hatchback. Seating comfort, headroom, legroom, front and rear, is amazing. It's relatively fun w/the six speed, so the 1.6 doesn't feel anemic. Getting the 1.8 might do a bit better performance wise. Gas mileage is very good(33-34 combined). I bought a set of used Nismo 17" wheels and decent rubber and the transformation in handling HUGE. The aftermarket support for this model isn't great, but it is a daily driver and does everything we want and more. Oh yeah, it is adequately equipped w/ air, cruise, tilt,power windows & locks, and decent cd and audio system, and the best part-well under 13K out the door.

Scion xB?

ZOO wrote: Seriously, finding a car that has room for two child seats is tough business, especially with the criteria you've laid out. Maybe its time for a "toy" (Miata, cough, cough) and a "sensible" car such as a minivan.

This. The siren song of the minivan is calling. Resistance is futile. :)

tuna55 wrote: I doubt a reverse carseat will fit in the rear of an E30,

Sure will.

Fits in an E36 M3 too.

WRX is too small for you.

I'm 6'1" and I can't put a car seat behind the driver's seat. And it's tight enough in the back that the three year old is getting to be too big for the center position.

I have a tall friend who said that he has trouble getting his two kids in the back of his 2005 Legacy.

A WRX will be even smaller on the inside than a MS3, and the Legacy won't be much better.

Go test drive a Mazda5 with a manual trans!

Mazda5 would be an excellent choice, as would a Forester XT. Larger than the Legacy, piles of room, and if you acquire one of the manual ones, you're basically buying Subarus version of a turbobrick.

Legacy GT and be done with it. Not super light but fun and AWD should do it.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

tuna55 wrote: I doubt a reverse carseat will fit in the rear of an E30,

Sure will. Fits in an E36 M3 too.

How far back are the front eats at the time? I seriously have a tough time with the reverse seat behind me in either the Cruiser or the Brick.

tuna55 wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

tuna55 wrote: I doubt a reverse carseat will fit in the rear of an E30,

Sure will. Fits in an E36 M3 too.

How far back are the front eats at the time? I seriously have a tough time with the reverse seat behind me in either the Cruiser or the Brick.

You know what, let's just solve this with a "Please try out the car with carseats before you buy it, you might be surprised"

In reply to tuna55:

That's what we had to do. I also brought along the strollers and diaper bag after we had our second kid, because even if the seats fit, all of the accouterments can really cut into the available cargo space. Keep in mind you don't have to fully latch the seats into anything you're trying out, just position it behind the seat and try to find a driving position you can live with. Any salesperson that gives you grief about testing out the car in this manner doesn't need your business.

You can fit a rear facing child seat behind the driver's seat in a Forester XT (I have a 2004) and still put the seat back quite a bit. As a bonus, the cargo area can fit all of your baby junk. If you get the steel dog divider (known in my house as a Chaos Grid) and use bungee cords, you can hold the strollers in a semi-upright position and still have a lot of cargo room left on the floor. You do lose the ability to use the cargo cover. Highly tinted windows can ameliorate this.

Brett_Murphy wrote: you can hold the strollers in a semi-upright position

OP, FYI, strollers are gigantic. The cute double strollers that your wife is going to make you get? That thing will take up the entire back of a PT cruiser with no room for anything else at all. If she is going to get one of these (first kid is under 2, it's happening) make sure to take it with you.

IS300

/thread

We didn't have trouble with a rear facing seat in the middle of the E30, but two car seats can pose a problem. I don't think an IS300 would be much better depending on the height of the driver and passenger. When it comes to buying a stroller, my (small car loving) wife and I made it a pre-requisite that it had to fold up to a reasonable size. (We just borrowed a stroller in Perth that actually WOULDN'T FIT in the trunk of a Legacy!)

ZOO wrote: Maybe all you need to do is adjust your seating position . Remember, parenthood is all about personal sacrifice. Seriously, finding a car that has room for two child seats is tough business, especially with the criteria you've laid out. Maybe its time for a "toy" (Miata, cough, cough) and a "sensible" car such as a minivan.

I agree......

...... ok I kinda agree, but turbo vans are full of win. I might be a little biased.

tuna55 wrote:

Brett_Murphy wrote: you can hold the strollers in a semi-upright position

OP, FYI, strollers are gigantic. The cute double strollers that your wife is going to make you get? That thing will take up the entire back of a PT cruiser with no room for anything else at all. If she is going to get one of these (first kid is under 2, it's happening) make sure to take it with you.

Just say no to strollers. Cumbersome, time consuming, and expensive. My kids walked; or rode in the backpack thingy. But mostly they walked. No stroller is so liberating.

ZOO wrote:

tuna55 wrote:

Brett_Murphy wrote: you can hold the strollers in a semi-upright position

OP, FYI, strollers are gigantic. The cute double strollers that your wife is going to make you get? That thing will take up the entire back of a PT cruiser with no room for anything else at all. If she is going to get one of these (first kid is under 2, it's happening) make sure to take it with you.

Just say no to strollers. Cumbersome, time consuming, and expensive. My kids walked; or rode in the backpack thingy. But mostly they walked. No stroller is so liberating.

Don't be like those parents with their 5 year olds riding around in strollers. At 2, you may still need one in case of kid-breakdown, but yeah. Those little crappy $15 strollers are the way to go for little ones that are too big to be in a pouch and too little to walk long distances.

What about a Jetta or Passat Wagon? Manual transmissions are available as are decent suspension packages and AWD in the Passat. You may give up some reliability for room and features, but anything will be a compromise in some way.

Or buy the AWD minivan and simply swap the MS3 for my MR2! I'll do an even trade, just for you.