Lexus

Four days down the Southern California coast in a Lexus RX 450h — San Diego to Torrey Pines, then inland to Temecula wine country, then Laguna Beach — and we filled the tank once. That’s 32 miles to the gallon with two kids, two car seats and everything two kids require piled in behind them. The second row power-folds and reclines, so the luggage and the seats never had to fight over the space. Ours was the F Sport Black Line special edition in a blue called Grecian Water, one of a thousand built and one of only 250 hybrids. Best of all was the 15-speaker Mark Levinson stereo running satellite radio: everybody got their own soundtrack, and nobody had to hear Baby Shark on repeat.