if you want your kids to hate you, trade the Sienna for the Jetta
Otherwise . . .
A wagon is plenty big enough to handle a family of 5, even the soccer equipment. I’ve no experience with the make/model you’re thinking about, it’s rated reliability and safety, how well its price holds up over time, but I see no reason why you require a mini-van. Sedans are more fun to drive, handle much better than mini-vans, don’t lean so much in turns, and have a much more comfy feeling in the suspension, especially over bumps in the road. Why suffer with all that jostling? I’m with you, go for the sedan style.
You’re obviously sick of being seen in a minivan. Perhaps you’re even catching a bit of flak from your friends about it, and you’re desperate for something a bit “sportier.”
Sorry dad. Take if from the father of three grown boys, the first long trip in that VW will be pure hell, and the missus will be ready to strangle you for making such a dumb move. You really will wish you had that room back.
Keep the van and wait until the kiddos are grown and gone (Something that will happen a LOT faster than you think it will.) before you get something smaller and (What you really want) sportier.
Oh, the answer to the intitial question it “YES.”
@GeorgeSanJose - Sorry, a compact car with some storage is not gonna handle 5 for any trip. Not well, at least. It is TIGHT in that back seat for 3. For 30 minutes. Maybe.
Especially when those three people are kids who will be getting on each other’s nerves within the first 30 minutes of the trip. “Daaaaaaaaaaaad, Jimmy’s PICKING on me!!!”
Compared to a minivan any compact car will be a tight squeeze for five people on a long trip. It’s not just the people you’re hauling but all their stuff as well. Being able to spread out a little on our long trips in the minivan and not have luggage piled on top of people made the trip all the better. We made do with a compact rental (Similar size to a Ford Focus hatchback)in the UK with the five of us and moving a fairly short distance with suitcases on the laps of the backseat passengers wasn’t all that fun even for a 30-60 minute drive to the next B&B. Thankfully the cousin in the middle seat comes from a family of six and was used to cramming into a vehicle. You can downsize the vehicle after some of the kids start driving or go a way to college. You have the right sort of vehicle for your needs. A Jetta TDI would work as a second around town or shorter trip car but from my experience the minivan is a much more comfortable way to transport a bunch of people cross country.
I think putting any non-midget in that third row constitutes cruel and unusual punishment
I guess I am crazy for the opposite reason your wife thinks you are crazy. I have owned four minivans in the last 22 years. Our only child was in college when we bought the first minivan. I frequently have people with musical instruments with me. In fact, just this evening, I drove and returned to a rehearsal 15 miles from here with 3 other people, two French horns, a tuba and a trumpet. Last December, I made a trip in the minivan with five other people, a cello, violin, viola, French Horn, flute, clarinet and a box of musical parts for the rest of the orchestra to a concert site 50 miles from here. There is no way all of us with our instruments would fit in a sedan or station wagon or SUV. Our other vehicle is a Toyota 4Runner. The 4Runner has proved itself in the 12" snowfall we had here in the Midwest last week. There are cars that obviously get better mileage than either of our vehicles. However, I’ll gladly trade the comfort and utility of our vehicles for the lower gas mileage. I like sitting up in a vehicle. There are times when I am the only one in the minivan. However, I don’t want to buy and insure a third vehicle and the savings of gasoline for a small car would not make the car feasible. I would think for the OP the extra room in a minivan with a family would be worthwhile.
I’ve served my sentence in driving cars that got good economy for the times–my 1965 Rambler Classic with the 6 cylinder engine and overdrive, my 1971 Maverick and my 1985 Ford Tempo. Heck, my 2011 Sienna gets as good a mileage as I got with my 1965 Rambler.
Yeah, think of the children.
Didn’t have space issues–only one sibling growing up–in the '78 Volare. It did come equipped with the 8-track, for which the parents onlt ever bought two tapes: something by Linda Ronstat, and the Eagle’s greatest hits album…the one with the bird skull in the cover.
I think there is a statutory maximum number of times anyone should have to listen to “Witchy Woman” in one’s lifespan. I think I hit that limit around '82.
Short answer to the original question - Yes.
I happen to like “Witchy Woman” . . . but I only listen to it every great once in awhile, when it happens to be playing on some radio station
And I’ve never forced anybody to listen to any specific music . . .
As a matter of fact, my parents only listened to news while driving. But it obviously rubbed off on me, because I listen to my local npr station while driving. Sometimes that’s the only news I get.
Todays station wagons are nothing like those of old. When we were building a house I bought a 67 Buick Vista Cruiser wagon (or maybe that was the Olds version). It was the mid-size but I could still fit 6 adults in the two seats, a 4x8 sheet of plywood in the back, etc. I got a whole house worth of cabinets in two trips in the thing using the luggage rack. It really was more like the current minivan. Everyone should have one or a trailer.
I continue to agree w/the OP, switching from a mini-van to a “sport wagon” sedan is a good idea. The VW version mentioned by the OP is top ranked by Consumer Reports New Car Guide (with the manual transmission configuration), and gets over 40 mpg on the highway. There’s a photo in the link below, take a look. Seems plenty roomy to me. If the family wants to go on a long 3 week car vacation across the USA with all three kids, sure, it might be cramped for that, but they can rent a mini-van for infrequent car-vacations like that. For 99% of the time, for me anyway, the sedan style wagon would just be a more pleasant driving experience.
Volkswagen Sportwagen TDI
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Volkswagen_Jetta-SportWagen/
How many kids do you have GeorgeSanJose?
A Jetta is about Golf/Rabbit sized. I know of no compact that fits 3 across comfortably.
After four pages of comments, the majority opinion is:
Bad idea.
George, a big traditional wagon like we had when I was a kid could easily seat three across, even adults, but the Jetta wagon is just a compact VW Golf with a longer tail end. It’s quite a narrow car (narrower than the current US Jetta), and the rear seat is shaped for two. The middle passenger would be perched on a hard raised section with shoulders overlapping the other two. The back seat could be used by three skinny kids, though in these days of required booster seats even that isn’t very practical.
The closest car to a traditional large station wagon is the Ford Flex, which could conceivably seat three across. For people who just can’t see themselves driving a minivan, it might do. It’s advertised as a crossover, but is lower than most, more like a car.
@thesamemountainbike: “Crazy: definition: a word boring people use to describe fun people.” –That’s not the definition we use at my work; ours is a bit different 
I vote for getting a second car. Eventually your oldest is going to be driving too and you will need one.
I am lucky that our three are in their 30s now, but I do have some thoughts that fit this subject because our three were and still are just a few years appart in age.
I had the pleasure of riding those long trips and longer with teenagers, but I have blocked from my memory those events as well as I can, until someone like you , just had to bring them back.
Here’s what I would do. The kids are small enough to cram the three into the backseat of a wagon, or even smaller. In these next few years put a little money away for those trips as they get into their teenage years.
When that day comes, explain to your kids and wife how uncomfortable the trip will be with 5 in the car. Then the day of the trip…as they head out the driverway…they can drop you at the airport and you can use your savings to have a pieceful flight. they can pick you up later and you will feel so refreshed, especially if there is a nice tavern for you to wait at until they pick you up.
Gosh I’m so smart!!!