Larger car other than minivan?

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> School age children

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amother

Maroon

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 12:54 am

so we're BH expecting our third kid and it's gonna mean 3 kids in car seats. we've gotten by with a sedan until now. Any options that anyone recommends could work for us besides a standard minivan?

busydev

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 1:06 am

SUV?

justforfun87

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 1:36 am

Honda Pilot, most crossover SUVs do not fit three carseats. Welcome to the dark side...just get a minivan.

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 5:40 am

Station wagon?

busydev

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 9:21 am

cm wrote:

Station wagon?

Don't make them anymore. Haven't for years.

A big SUV like a suburban, not a half sized crossover.

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 9:31 am

Ooc, what's wrong with a minivan?

Maya

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 9:32 am

A Suburban style.
Suburban, Tahoe, Ford Explorer, Lincoln Navigator, Cadillac Escalade, Infiniti QX80 (I think) etc.

Last edited by Maya on Mon, Feb 22 2016, 9:35 am; edited 1 time in total

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 9:33 am

https://www.cars.com/articles/.....eats/

mha3484

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 9:33 am

We have a Volvo SUV. I love it! I have one car seat, an older child in the built in booster it comes with and can can easily get a second car seat in. The third row has two seats that fold up and down. It's the opposite of a van (no crawling to the back to buckle the kids in yet).

perquacky

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 1:42 pm

Most standard SUVs don't have enough legroom in the 3rd row for adults or for growing teenagers. You'd have to go with a very large SUV like the Explorer or the Expedition. But they're expensive and they're gas guzzlers.
We did the research a few months ago when we needed to replace our old minivan and wanted to get something "cooler." We ended up with another minivan and we've very happy we made that choice.

amother

Maroon

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 9:43 pm

Thanks everyone. Maybe we do just have to go with a minvan. poster above, what do you mean by the "dark side"?

Anyone have a Mazda 5?? Is that like a smaller minivan?

gibberish

Mon, Feb 22 2016, 10:10 pm

amother wrote:

so we're BH expecting our third kid and it's gonna mean 3 kids in car seats. we've gotten by with a sedan until now. Any options that anyone recommends could work for us besides a standard minivan?

BTW - depending on the models of your car and car seats, you may be able to fit 3 car seats in the back row. May not be the most roomy, but it can be done!

busydev

Tue, Feb 23 2016, 12:03 am

amother wrote:

Thanks everyone. Maybe we do just have to go with a minvan. poster above, what do you mean by the "dark side"?

Anyone have a Mazda 5?? Is that like a smaller minivan?

basically except it has 6 seats instead of 7
http://www.caranddriver.com/mazda/mazda-5

and yes there are for sure sedans that can fit 3 across (you may need a new car seat or two thats thinner) I had 3 across till I got my minivan so I could join carpools.

nylon

Tue, Feb 23 2016, 12:44 am

Mazda5 was discontinued. It's a size that's popular in Europe but not here. With 3 kids in it you'd have no cargo room.

The large SUVs use so much gas (suburban, etc). The only wagons now are smaller like the Subaru, no good for three across (Subaru specifically is known for backseats that are difficult for car seats). Maybe the Volvo. But at that point you may as well get a minivan.

self-actualization

Tue, Feb 23 2016, 11:45 am

What she means by "dark side" is that people have a hard time psychologically transferring their self image from "cool, hip, young couple" to "stodgy old couple with a bunch of screaming kids in a minivan with crushed Cheerios and spilled juice boxes"

We also considered all options and then bought a Honda Odyssey and we love it.

HonesttoGod

Tue, Feb 23 2016, 2:47 pm

gibberish wrote:

BTW - depending on the models of your car and car seats, you may be able to fit 3 car seats in the back row. May not be the most roomy, but it can be done!

Check out thecarseatlady.com she has excellent reviews about which cars fit what.

greenfire

Tue, Feb 23 2016, 2:55 pm

there's all kinds of bigger vans out there ... the question is can you afford them - can you drive/park them & will they eat up enough gas to starve the kids you fit in one

you can always get a school bus [like my father did before the partridge family]

http://www.nissancommercialveh.....okAkw

http://www.leftlanenews.com/ne.....nter/

ruchelbuckle

Tue, Feb 23 2016, 3:04 pm

amother wrote:

Thanks everyone. Maybe we do just have to go with a minvan. poster above, what do you mean by the "dark side"?

Anyone have a Mazda 5?? Is that like a smaller minivan?

We were going to buy a Mazda5 this past summer. Although they are currently discounted, a guy at the dealership told me that they are probably going to be brought back with mazdas "skyactive" technology (not 100% what that is even....). They are still readily available.

Anyway, we have an extremely narrow driveway and not a large family, so the Mazda5 made sense for us. However, for our area, the insurance rates on that particular car are sky high. Not sure why. We don't do a lot of traveling that would require extensive cargo space, so it would have been fine. Depends on your lifestyle. You can get a roof rack on them (some trim lines have them standard, the dealership told me they can be added to any model).

shatzileh

Tue, Feb 23 2016, 3:36 pm

I fit 3 in a sedan, in case it's something you're willing to try. We did booster, convertible carseat, Graco Snugride. There are entire forums online devoted to this very topic Smile

amother

Lime

Tue, Feb 23 2016, 4:33 pm

I have a kia sorento. Third row so can f it a car seat. Also look into the Ford explorer

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