My 16 Outlander has a spare tire. The Rogue does not. I compared these 2 cars pretty thoroughly before I bought the Outlander for the wife. There are benefits to both, but the Mits was better for us. And btw, you can fit 3 car seats in almost any car, if you have the right car seats. Radian car seats fit in almost anything. I have them in my "regular", 2 row car, 3 across. On to the Outlander/Rogue debate. I narrowed it down to these two because of the small footprints of the cars. No other 3 row car has such a small footprint. Small size and 3 rows were the 2 non-negotiable features for us and that's why we were down to these two. We need it for city driving/parking and my wife just likes smaller cars for ease of driving.

Between the two, the Rogue has better gas mileage, which we wanted, but the 3rd row was smaller than the Outlander. It's also a bigger brand in the US which helps for service and parts, factory or after market. It also had the option of the 360 degree camera, awesome for parking challenged drivers like my wife. We opted for the Outlander because of the V6 option, which we got. The gas mileage is sub 20's for hills in the city, and that sucks. But the pluses were pretty good. 5/10 warranty, bigger 3rd row, better AWD (SAWC), tow capacity (even the 4 cyl), spare tire, bunch of little features included. All of the pluses are available in the 4 cyl, with better gas mileage too. Appearance wise, the Rogue looks pretty bland and conservative IMO. I'm not in love with the Outlander looks, but it does look a little less plain. Cool thing about the Outlander is that it has so much international cred. Every country I go to has Outlanders more commonly than in the US. That's not really a plus or minus, just kind of cool.

Back to the 3rd row discussion. I have 3 young kids as well, oldest is 5. 3 car seats will fit across, depending on the brand. We keep one of the seats up in the 3rd row for the oldest to sit in a booster. Kids start sitting in boosters at 3 or 4 depending on size so you will quickly be in a booster without having to worry about it fitting, if you get the right boosters, but they are generally narrower than car seats. An adult can sit between the 2 car seats in the 2nd row. Yes, small SUV's like this have child size 3rd rows. I never understood why this mattered to people for this size car. If you are hauling 7 adults and luggage, you have a big family, and you need a full size SUV or "mini" van. I compared all dimensions of all 3 row vehicles, and there is nothing mini about minivans. They are gargantuan and compare with Suburbans. 3rd rows in small SUV/crossovers are for carpooling or short distance drives in a "pinch" as a previous poster called it. If you are regularly hauling teenage boys or adults, you need a bigger vehicle. I crawled into the 3rd row to try it out. I won't do it regularly if ever. I am 5'11" and my head wouldn't fit. The legroom was bearable for an in town drive, not for distance. So a smaller person, like my wife could sit back there for an hour or so. Again, how often will we need to transport 7 adult males in the Outlander? I don't ever see that happening. This 3rd row can last my family more than 10 years if I wanted. I'm sure my needs will change in that time. Maybe one of my kids will play club basketball after a growth spurt requiring me to carpool 6 tall kids around every weekend. I'll have bigger problems then.

As far as car seat latches, only 2 seats in the second row have them. The 3rd row does not, but this does not prevent you from using car seats. The seat belts lock if needed so that you can use them to tether the car seats. I have a booster in the back, so I'm not using the locking feature on the rear seat belt. They definitely work because I've tried them. I also attach the 3 car seats in my other car with the seat belts and not the latches. I would recommend if a child is still in car seat phase, to leave them in the 2nd row anyway for their safety. This car works nicely for a family of 5 (or more).

 

The only thing i don't agree with is that minivans are gargantuan, and a suburban is a solid 2 feet longer than a toyota sienna. Whereas a toyota sienna is 15 inches longer than an outlander. So it's basically in the middle.

But the minivan is based on a car platform, so it turns tight like a car, making them very easy to drive and park. If you live in the suburbs, like most minivan drivers do, then you'll have no problems driving around and parking in parking lots. My mother is 60 years old, she has no trouble driving her minivan.

However, if you live in the city and parallel park all the time, i would get the shortest vehicle possible. Certainly makes things easier, but personally i haven't had to parallel park in years, so it really depends on your situation.

However, all of that is moot because the OP doesn't want to spend $41k on an AWD sienna.

 

The 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander gives you the best bang for your buck.

 

I definitely agree with that. You can get an SEL on truecar for $25k which has leather seats and after sitting in all of the competition in the same class, i was pretty impressed with the outlander interior, especially after i've owned a subaru for 6 years which have crappy interiors.

My 2008 wrx premium was loud due to a lack of insulation and the sound system sucked, i had to replace everything with an aftermarket system, it was that terrible. I bought it brand new and was so focused on how fun it was to drive, i didn't realize how terrible the rest of the car was.

 

We are a family of 4. We had an XL7 (a mid-size 7-passenger SUV) and an older CR-V before we bought the 2016 Outlander. My original plan was using the Outlander to replace the CR-V, and getting a new mid-size 7-passenger SUV (e.g. Pilot) to replace the XL7. But, my wife tried the 3rd row in Outlander and said she's OK. And considering we only had about 3 long distance road trips with more than 5 people (grandparents were visiting) in last 9 years, we believe this Outlander is good enough for us and we do not have to buy another bigger 7-passenger SUV.

 

Point taken, a little exaggerated on the gargantuan term. The Chevy Tahoe is less than 4 inches longer and about 2 inches wider, so it's closer in size to the Tahoe/Yukon. I just remember when minivans were the smaller version of full size American vans. Not really mini anymore. You don't realize until you drive one. Btw, they don't drive like cars even though they may be on a car platform. Power is not lacking in the V6 models, but they roll like buses and large SUV's. All moot like you said. I was just shocked when I went looking for cars and didn't realize how they have evolved. Depends on your perspective it they evolved in a good or bad way. They don't look that big on the road, but they are pretty big.

 

I'm used to driving alot of 1500 and 2500 trucks at work. They don't turn for crap and i have to do alot of 5-6 point turns in parking lots. Trust me, minivans turn just as well as cars do. As for handling, yes, they are designed to be as soft as possible for road trips, they're meant to be highway bombers. Although the sienna does have an SE version which handles decently well, but not in AWD.

 

Hey all, just wanted to update the thread.

We did end up test driving an Outlander SE and then test drove the Nissan Rogue.

After a ton of back and forth, debate, etc we ended up getting the Rogue instead. 2016 Nissan Rogue SE with the 3rd row.

The Rogue felt like a better fit for us and we enjoyed the test drive a lot more than we did with the Outlander. Both seemed to have comparable space/storage, so ultimately it came down to personal preference with seats/interior feel, and driving experience.

Hopefully it was the right choice!

It's a pretty big leap for us to leave Subaru and go for Nissan (or any other car, for that matter). MPG has been good so far, tracking about 28 to 29mpg average, but we've only driven it about 100 miles. I figure it'll take 2k miles or so before getting consistent and reliable mpg numbers, but hoping for 30+mpg in the future.

Anyway, thank you all for the replies, car shopping is stressful!

Here's a picture, for those curious:

 

Not sure if you'll see this, but enjoy your new ride. Like I said, I had the same debate and there are definitely pros and cons for each. It comes down to a person's needs.

 

enjoy but I can't believe they have 3rd row in a Nissan rogue!