cars for twins in the city?

Here's our situation: expecting twins, our first kids, and I currently drive a pickup truck. Clearly, that won't work... We had already been considering new cars in expectation of starting a family - not to mention getting a more reasonable city car (we live in Brooklyn). The Nissan Cube was high on the list. But now, with the still hard to believe news of twins, the calculus is a little different suddenly.

One thing I've been trying to determine is, which cars can you actually fit two car seats side by side in the 2nd row and still leave room for an extra (adult) passenger? My wife's mother will be visiting often from out of town (out of the country in fact) and we'd love to be able to shuttle her and the kids out to my parents (an hour's drive) easily. From reading posts here, it seems the foolproof strategy is to just bring the car seats to physically test them in each car. But I don't want to buy the seats just yet - so I was hoping others could at least help me narrow down the options. Our first choice would be a wagon (Passat? V70? Would love a Jetta TDI just for the mpg alone), maybe a smaller crossover. We're still trying to stick to our original downsizing plan for getting around the city, squeezing into parking spaces and whatnot. At the same time, we are not staunchly anti-minivan, FWIW. In fact, I've read enough "I never wanted a minivan, but now that I have one I don't know how I lived without it" posts to seriously think we maybe should just jump to that conclusion. Although I have to say I'm still mystified as to how it's any easier to get extra passengers in a minivan, if the 2nd row seats are already occupied with car seats... doesn't that make it hard/impossible to access the 3rd row? The Mazda5 in many ways seems ideal, but I don't see how anyone gets past the 2nd row in that car with rear-facing infant seats blocking the way.

Anyhow, we're just starting out trying to solve this puzzle (5 more months to go), but any experienced insight would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance...

Even though you aren't needing 3 seats in one row (you want 2 seats + one adult), take a look at this 3-across thread (very long) as it will show you which seats seem to puzzle well in different cars.
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=33226

There are some seats that are pretty wide and don't like to puzzle well, but if you choose the right seats, I am guessing you can pick almost any vehicle that fits your needs.

I too live in Brooklyn. I have just one kid but have had 2 seats in my car or friends cars many times. I would recommend a bigger wagon for both passenger and cargo space. I've had 2 Boulevards both RFing next to eachother (center and passenger outboard) in a friend's Passat and there is definitely still room for an adult.

Same goes for a Volvo, although I'd go with the XC70 if you are parking on the street. My car until a few months ago was a 96 Subaru Legacy wagon and the AWD was AMAZING for getting over the massive snow banks created by the plows (they stick around forever and with AWD you can get into and out of spaces other cars can't so you can park more easily). If you park in a garage, it probably won't matter as much. The bigger Volvo wagons have the widest back seats I think I've ever seen in a car.

If you are going for a new car, check out the new 2010 Outbacks. They also have new wide back seats. The old Outbacks do not.

I would recommend getting a bigger wagon over a small SUV (like a CRV) just because there is more front to back room and more trunk space and all of those are important for having 2 RF car seats and twin gear. I have, however, put 2 RFingseats side by side in a 2007 & 2009 CRV just fine (but you have to have the back seat slid very far back so there is little trunk space). If you are tall it likely won't work b/c the way to fit 2 side by side is to do one installed with latch in the center (the center latch is slightly off center) and one behind the driver. With this set up I've put in a Snugride 35 and a True Fit RFing. Also a Snugride 35 and a Boulevard. Also a Boulevard and a EFTA, all RFing. The downside of this is that there is little leg room for a tall driver (me and/or my 5'8" friend can drive easily, but my 6'2" husband would be in there like a sardine and totally, totally uncomfortable and possibly dangerously close to the airbag).

We just bought an 07 Subaru Tribeca which we LOVE. I'd totally recommend it. You can do 2 seats side by side and still have room for a grandmother in the back seat plus there is plenty of leg room. We bought a 7 passenger, but those back seats are really only for kids and they don't have side curtain air bags, so I'd not use them unless necessary or just for brief rides. However, a 7 passenger also has rear air vents and a few other things the 5 passenger doesn't offer, so we went with it.

If you are interested in crossovers also check out the Pilot, as it has a wider back seat than the Tribeca. My aunt has one and we've had lots and lots of different seats in there between my son and my cousins' kids.

A larger crossover (like a Tribeca or a Pilot) uses more gas than a Passat wagon would, but isn't any harder to park (it looks huge but it isn't any bigger front to back, so it still fits in remarkably small spaces).

Congrats on the twins!

Thanks for all the suggestions and real world experience... glad you brought up the height issue. I'm 6'5" so now I realize that it's not just width we'll need in a back seat, but also length. Totally forgot about this, coming from a pickup...

Sounds like the wagons are pretty roomy though. Any experience with a Jetta wagon? I'd love to do right by the environment as well and get the TDI, but it looks smaller than a Passat, so maybe it'll be too tight for all of us. I've also started looking into the Toyota Highlander Hybrid (for the same green-ish reason) - it looks to be comparable size-wise to the Pilot or Tribeca... anybody have any luck with that vehicle and side by side car seats?

thanks again...

Of all the options you've thrown out, I'd hands down go with the Highlander Hybrid. If you are 6'5", you need SPACE with 2 rear facing car seats. My husband doesn't fit in a Jetta comfortably without car seats, but you will be squished like a sardine with them (and so will your rear passenger).

I really wanted to do right by the environment too, but we couldn't stand to be squashed into a car anymore (most of our driving is a 6-7 hour trip to my home town and it was miserable with all of us squashed and a dream now). A big wagon works well, a little one doesn't. HOWEVER, because you are so tall, I'd really go highlander. The drawback of the wagon is that the rear seat doesn't slide back like it does in a crossover. This made a WORLD of difference in our car.

When you get your seats, get narrow seats. For infant seats look at the Chicco Keyfit. And when the time comes for convertibles, look for 2 seats that puzzle well together/sit nicely next to each other (for instance you might have more room doing a Radian and a Boulevard than you would 2 radians...drive to Buy Buy Baby or Babies R Us on Long Island or in Jersey and check them out in your car).

I would probably go for a passat over a jetta because of the size difference. We test drove a jetta wagon before buying a passat wagon and in the jetta we had a rf britax roundabout behind the driver and it was tight. At 5'9" the driver was not tall and the roundabout was at 30 degrees upright and it was still really tight. I think it would be possible to get two seats side by side in the jetta but you would want something narrow like a coccoro perhaps.
In the passat wagon we got instead there is much more space for the driver to move back even with a rf seat there. Also we can put two seats side by side more readily in the passat so there is not a seat behind the driver. It's just bigger all around but still gets decent gas mileage.

Thanks again, everyone, for the recommendations. Shame about the Jetta... I was just in a Jetta TDi taxi (!) for the first time the other day and there seemed like a lot of room in the back seat. But then I saw a wagon on the street and it suddenly looked much smaller. And really low... another thing I thought might drive me crazy is having to duck into a low door constantly - reckon I'd hit my head countless times.

So no votes for a minivan then?

Oh, I would go minivan Find an 2004-2010 sienna, 8 passenger. You could put both babies side by side in the infant seats, and then convertibles, plus have a full grown adult beside them. With room. Without having to use the 3rd row.

And, just curious, where in Brooklyn? We lived in Gravesend, still have family there, in Sheepshead bay, and Bensonhurst (and other areas)

We have an attraction to minivans if only because it would be like a rolling closet - especially the way you describe all that room! But we do park on the street, so I always fantasize about having a smaller car to fit in all those tiny spaces I have to give up on in my truck. At this point, I think we'll have to start test-driving. But at least I've got a starting idea about which wagons might work for 2 infants and an adult (Passat, XC70, Outback), which SUVs (Pilot, Highlander) and then of course we'll consider the minivan alternative - which at least can't be any bigger than my current transportation. We live in the Italian section of Williamsburg, by the way...

thanks again for everyone's help

So what did you ended up getting?
i am in the same boat and also in brooklyn
i am also looking at xc70 or pilot