Need ideas for van and seats for a sudden family growth

metatliveevent

New member
I'm feeling very overwhelmed and need some help.

As I've mentioned before, we are foster parents and we also have my now-9-yo stepson.

We currently have a placement that's a newborn, but it's possible we will soon be getting more children to go with the newborn. I don't have sizes/height/weight, but all the kids are on the small side (except the uber tall 9 year old).
The kids will be (from oldest to youngest) 9,3,2,1,0. The 9 year old is in a Britax Parkway and the 0 year old (newborn) is in a Graco Snugride.

Now to the question:

What minivan would you recommend that we buy? Our budget is tiny due to buying a great "deal" and then it ended up needing salvaged (only after we sunk about half what we paid for the car into it for repairs on top of all the money we spent to get the van). We're going to have to sell our current car, salvage the crappy van and wipe out our emergency fund in order to get a decent van for us.

Our budget is around $3k. I know that means a mid 1990s van, so give it your best shot. I know, I know, no LATCH and we'll probably have to take it somewhere to get tethers installed.

Also, can you let me know what seats you have for kids that are 1,2,3?? I'm new so please refrain from using abbreviations until you have first identified the seat. Thanks :)

ETA: I've found a couple of 2000 Ford Windstars in our area that are very close to our price range. Someone on here raved about that vehicle and said that it had LATCH and tethers. Any ideas on that??
 
Last edited:
ADS

Judi

CPST/Firefighter
If you get a 2000 Windstar or newer you would have latch and lots of tethers, even one on the front passenger seat.
 

christineka

New member
I have a friend with a windstar. It doesn't look very big to me. With all those people, you may need cargo space as well. I had an 1997 Ford Aerostar, which I sold for $1500 over a year ago. It worked fine at the time. It seated 5 car seats pretty comfortably- the 3 person bench is 52 inches wide. The two person bench is really wide as well. We also had an extra 3 person bench and could put that in in place of the 2 person, though it was harder to get in with the 3 person bench. We had the extended version, so tons of cargo room. The chevy astro seats 8 and has a lot of room as well. I don't think those are very costly either.

If you are looking for lower cost seats, probably cosco sceneras would be good for the 0-3 year olds. I know you can fit 3 rear-facing sceneras along the 3 person bench of the ford aerostar. I used to have my rear-facing kids in the 3rd row and it was really easy- easier than putting them in the middle row.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
I was going to suggest the Chevy Astro 8-passenger also. I've actually got one sitting in my back yard that just needs a new battery if you're anywhere near Idaho. :D Anyway, the 8-pass. models have lots of room for both the kids and hauling cargo (like strollers).

If the 1-3 year olds are small enough, you could rear-face them and avoid dealing with the top-tether issue for a little while.
 

metatliveevent

New member
Hmmm....sounds tempting to buy your Astro. However, we live on the other side of the country. :)

We have decided to just suck it up and live without AC in Texas for a few more weeks and make do with the 1996 Ford Windstar. If we can get through the winter, saving money each month and sell the Windstar for a little bit, then we'll have enough to really expand our search.

Thanks all for the suggestions.
 

mamakc

Active member
My dad owns a 2000 Windstar. I've always liked it. He has the quad seating & has 5 tether anchors and 4 full sets of LATCH. The captains chairs have long rigid belt stalks so I've found some compatibility issues, but no issues on the back bench. I'm not sure how wide the 3rd row seat is.
 

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