I WAS a not so young dad once, nagkasya naman kami sa sedan (lancer mx) until i had 2 kids already. May kasama pang yaya at aunty sa kotse yan. And my cousin still uses his 2005 vios and he has 3 kids (ages 17, 13 & 6) naglo-long drive pa since they have been to pagudpud, bicol and aurora in their vios. Kasya yang family ng friend mo sa vios lalo na yung bago ngayon kasi mas maluwang ang leg room sa likod. 5 adults and a baby? Kasya pa din yun lang e kandong na si baby, i would not recommend not having the baby in a proper baby carrier in the car. Iwanan na lang nya yung isang adult, bigyan na lang ng pamasahe hehehe!

Stroller? Depende sa stroller na dala nya. Yun lang nga syempre baka malaki yung stroller nila baka nga hindi kasya sa sedan or hatch. E di bili ng roof luggage box, problem solved! Meron naman alternative roof luggage box na mura lang, lalo na kung 2nd hand mo bibilhin.

2nd hand suv? Pwede pero dapat sigurado siya na hindi binaha. Para na lang siya kumuha ng malaking bato na ipupukpok sa ulo nya kung flooded unit ang malas na makuha nya. For me, unless he is 100% sure of the vehicle, i'd stay away from 2nd hand.

Vios for me. Or lancer.

3rd choice is jazz or accent.

Pwede mazda 3, medyo magastos lang sa gas. Yojin3 free maintenance is great, and as far as my recent experience goes mazda warranty is very very good. I just brought my bt50 for diagnosis last wednesday and they processed everything without any hassle, palit turbocharger. Magkano vgt turbo, 150-200k? Wala man lang kahit konting hirap sa warranty claim ko, i did not even need to go to the casa to file the claim sila na nagprocess.

Since need nila ng automatic then NO to ford ecosport DCT. Mga ford dct owners na din nagsasabi to stay away from those dct models. E dct ang a/t tranny ng ecosport e. Ecosport specs looks nice but the dct is proven to be problematic on earlier ford cars with dct. You would not want your friend to be a guinea pig, do you?