3 car seats in a SUV

Out of curiosity I glanced at some Siennas and those MF-ers are expensive. Made the decision to cross minivans off the list easy. Is it the same window motor issue the Tundras have?

 

My dad told me how they had no problems with the kids under four years old in some lates 70s sedan. But they probably just threw my sister and me in the back on some phone books and buckled us in.

 

the key to this is picking the RIGHT seats. I literally had 11 seats delivered when #3 came. It's ultimately what made me get a truck. Had a 7 series bMW and it was not 3 seat friendly even though the back seat was huge. The right combo of seats is the key to the equation. My wifes MDX is TIGHT with two of the narrowest high back boosters and a very narrow infant seat. It's a royal PITA. Probably upgrading her to a suburban in the next 1-2 weeks.

 

Let me throw my .02 here. How old are your kids? We have a honda odessey that i truly love. I have 3 kids myself. 7,3,and 2. The 2nd row has 3 seats. So i removed the middlde seat made 2 captain chairs wich my 2 and 3 year old sit on(car seats of course) my 7 year old gets in walks 2 the back seat and sits in his booster. The 3rd row is a 70/30 split. So my 7rd old booster is on the single seat and if we need room for cargo we fold down the 2 remaining seats and we have plenty of room. One thing i dont ever worry about is my kids hitting any1 elses car as the rear doors slide oviously so i open them with them remote all the time and close. They are all capable ofclimbing in and sitting in their chair alone now.i just buckle them up and we are off.

 

I’ll have dig into the Durango a little bit. Also, thanks for the link. I’ll have do read a little deeper into tonight

 

My oldest will be 3 when my new one comes, which limits our options a little. When I glanced at Odesseys I didn’t see AWD as an option, and the siennas it was only in higher ($$) trims

 

Another member provided a link of narrow and seats and even which ones fit in which vehicles.

Have you thought about leasing until the car seat situation changes? I have never looked into leasing before and don’t know crap about how it works out financially, but I am thinking about as a means to help solve a short term problem.

 

I poked my head around a 2017 Pilot EX today and it was pretty spacious, but probably the blandest interior in a newer car I’ve ever seen. I feel like it was on par with an airport shuttle (I read that they’ve updated the 19s interior).

I’d like to get a highlander with captains seats, but getting them requires a spendy trim level. Also, after looking at a Hyundai Santa FE (pre 2018) with captains chairs (1in smaller shoulder room according to Consumer reports), it would be tough to get around the car seats in the second row to access the back, but may be one of the better options. My wife and I also talked about letting the oldest get back to the third row, and then buckling him in from the back.

 

Anyone have experience leasing a vehicle? I may start a new thread on the topic, but just curious how it works out financially.

My car seat issue will be less of a problem when my kids are a little older, so we’ll have more options with vehicle choices. Also, my wife starts a new job where she’ll be driving 70 miles round trip 3 days a week (may only be for a year or two) so it may better to put those miles on something I don’t own until she possibly transfers closer to our house.

I don’t know how the financial comparison would work. Need something safe (obviously) with decent MPGs, and reliable with size for 3 car seats, but don’t want to spend a lot of money on something when it may only serve its purpose for a couple years. Not that all those traits will stop being important, but there will be more wiggle room in the future.

 

The mileage might be a deal breaker on the lease, you're at almost 11k/year without any other driving. Most leases are usually 10/12k per year.

 

Wait. You got buckles? I just got the phone book thrown at me.

 

I was thinking that, since my commute is only 35 miles round trip, we would swap cars periodically if the miles got close. Her current commute is about 25 Miles 2x per week and she put less than 5k on her this last year, and that’s with us using it as the primary kid hauler since I currently have a double cab.

 

Our issue was the switches in both front doors. Not sure why both went dead, but after the fix they've been fine.

My wife likes the van, it just doesn't fit me. I'm not small (6'4" 350) so it would probably fit most people better.

 

I've never been a fan of leasing, and don't really mind buying outright.