Question Looking at Forester, Rav4, or CRV - need two seats to fit in back comfortably

ophelia1920

New member
I was only looking at mini SUV's, not a full size one. We already have full size and it only gets 16mpg :mad: I originally wanted a minivan instead of SUV, but DH's ego got in the way.

Can you tell me what type of sedans you are thinking of?

Reasons I am consdering mini SUV over a sedan:

-AWD/4WD (I live in MN)
-it sits up higher. If I have to put the infant seat on the side instead of in the middle, I at least feel a little safer if the whole vehicle is sitting up higher. I mostly worry about other cars smashing into the side and right into the kids :(
 
ADS

Traquy

New member
I looked pretty close at the newer CRV and a friend of mine had one of the older ones ('99 I think) and they are very nice. She loved hers and was pretty upset when she wrecked it. That said, I also test drove a Honda Element and I ended up buying one. They are VERY safe, AWD and I usually get around 23-25mpg (not small sedan good, but not bad for an SUV).

Anyway, I just love my car and recommend it to anyone I can :) The best part, in my life anyway, is that there is no carpet. None. I take the rubber floor mat out of the back and hose it off. I can't even understand why anyone would want carpet in a car now that I don't have it, especially with kids. ;) As I am writing this though I realize that it was a huge PITA rear facing so with several more years of it ahead of you that might not be great.

My mother in law has a Ford Escape and I have installed my car seats in it several times and it was a breeze (Marathon and Scenera) and it's a very nice car.
 

kalohabreeze

New member
I love my CRv it's an 04 and I have a radian xtsl on the back passenger and the britax frontier 85 on the back driver's side and there is plenty of room for me to sit back there too and possibly fit a third infant seat if I needed to .

Plus I never have had any problems with my CRV and the crash ratings at least on my were 5 stars all around cept roll over which was a 4 I think.

:thumbsup:if I didn't have to carry around my FIL all the time with kids and then dh on the weekends I wouldn't even look at a Van because I love my CRV so much.
 

kalohabreeze

New member
I looked pretty close at the newer CRV and a friend of mine had one of the older ones ('99 I think) and they are very nice. She loved hers and was pretty upset when she wrecked it. That said, I also test drove a Honda Element and I ended up buying one. They are VERY safe, AWD and I usually get around 23-25mpg (not small sedan good, but not bad for an SUV).

Anyway, I just love my car and recommend it to anyone I can :) The best part, in my life anyway, is that there is no carpet. None. I take the rubber floor mat out of the back and hose it off. I can't even understand why anyone would want carpet in a car now that I don't have it, especially with kids. ;) As I am writing this though I realize that it was a huge PITA rear facing so with several more years of it ahead of you that might not be great.

My mother in law has a Ford Escape and I have installed my car seats in it several times and it was a breeze (Marathon and Scenera) and it's a very nice car.

LOVE the ALL WEATHER MATS any car I get will have those!
 

Athena

Well-known member
Thanks! I had not looked at the other Subaru's because I figured they were even less room than the Forester. I'll have to find out.

Foresters are deceptive. People think they are larger because they are a bit taller, when (at least a few years ago) they are one of Subaru's smallest vehicles. :)

Maybe I'm being picky, but aren't you looking at SUVs even tho you said they're gas guzzlers?

My understanding is that the Foresters were classified as a wagon just a few years ago and when we bought ours, they were smaller and got better gas mileage than the outback wagons. However, MPG in the mid 20s (maybe a little better on the new ones) is not exactly impressive so I get your point. It was hard for me to move down to such low MPGs, but I also felt we needed the AWD for the harsh winters.

I was only looking at mini SUV's, not a full size one. We already have full size and it only gets 16mpg :mad:

16? :eek: I hope you can find something better than that.

I have a 2007 Forester and I doubt you'd be happy with it. Like others have pointed out, you cannot fit another passenger with two car seats back there and the car seats will have to go outboard. Rear facing car seats cut into front seat space, doable for an average to short female, but a problem if you're taller than that. Forget using a RF radian in there. Bottom line, it's not a car I'd recommend to others with kids.
 

ophelia1920

New member
Thanks! I definitely cannot afford an Element because they are all newer. I'm looking in the $6-8,000 range and I'm lucky if I will even be able to do over 7000.

I looked at a Car Safety Guide (I think it is put out by the gov't agency that does the crash tests/Jack Gillis author) and it gave the 2010 Escape a 6 and the CRV a 10 with 10 being the best. So hopefully I can look at both within the next week.

I also just bought a Graco Snugfit 35 for the upcoming baby.
 

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