Best car for multiple rear-facing seats??

My husband's car is on it's last legs and we have been thinking about buying a new (either truly new or slightly used) car. We have only 1 little one right now (9 months) but we are planning on having more in the next few years (3 little ones is our plan).

What cars are recommended for easy installs of multiple rear-facing seats (even with the front seats pushed back pretty far)?

We have found already that we would have a tough time even squeezing 2 such seats in my car (2002 subaru outback). We are looking at lower to mid priced cars and would prefer overall safety and decent gas mileage. Any suggestions?

Thanks!!

Full sized sedans can usually handle a 3 across. Impalas have wide and deep back seats along with a huge trunk. I don't really have experience with other full size sedans, but you can browse the 3 across thread for cars that work and from there you can research price, safety and gas mileage. Here is the successful three across thread.

I my 08 Chevy Malibu, which is a midsize, and from the 3 across thread I know I can fit 3. There's also a nice big trunk and I'm happy with the 25 mpg average!

Impala's rock! Mine is old enough to not have advanced air bags (2004) so I can (carefully) get a Radian behind the drivers seat that is ALL the way back! Once the angle adjusters come out, im guessing it'll be even easier. I've routinely had 2 RF'ing and 1 FF'ing child in there for well over a year now, with very few issues, and before that it was 1 RF'ing and 1 FF'ing for years.

Ford Fusions are pretty good with 3 seats! My in laws have one and sometimes have all 3 grandkids in there.

My husband drives a Buick park avenue and I can fit a britax marathan and two britax roundabout 40s RF or the Marathon one roundabout and a infant seat and base all RF with no problems

Well, in a joking way, what i want to say is "you spelled "VAN" wrong" I would never recommend that anyone planning on having 3 young children at once have a car over a van. It really doesn't matter how much you hate vans, for whatever reasons you might have, 3 young kids in carseats, with diaper bags, strollers, backpacks, etc..... Plus, there will be times when gramma (or your bff, etc, whoever) will be over, and you will all want to ride somewhere together. Or, once the kids are a tad olde,r they will have friends...if you have a 5 seater car and 3 kids, even something as seemingly mundane as going over to a friends house to pick up a friend for a playdate or sleepover, becomes IMPOSSIBLE..you have no seat for them. Carpool to school? nope, no seat!!

It's one thing to have a car and have a 3rd kid unexpectedly...or to have one as a secondary vehicle, or to use one at grammas house once in a while, etc. But to have it as your everyday, primary and/or only vehicle? To deliberately buy a car when you have a choice? It's a matter of preference of course but...I think its hard to understand the difference until you've lived it. BTDT, now drive the minivan

I rented a Camry recently. It was ENORMOUS inside and had a huge trunk. You could easily have multiple RF seats there. My center installed SR 35 with base didn't come close to the drivers seat pushed pretty much all the way back. I could probably have put it right behind the driver. I also was able to do 3 across with a Maestro, SR35, and HB Turbo...i'm sure many other combos could work.

We have been happy with our Ford Fusion (that we bought for our primary car when I was 3 months pregnant with #3 ) It can be a bit tricky as kids get older and more out of harnessed seats and into boosters. But 99% of the time we have plenty of space. We do live in an area where kids take the bus to and from school though, so there are not many times I would need to take an extra kid.

That being said we are looking to buy a SUVs/Crossovers this spring. It would be nice to be able to take one car when family is visiting and stuff (once or twice a year) and there are times it would be nice to separate the kids like last night when our rear facing 2 year old thought it was funny to kick her brother and sister in the face. Also, we need a higher towing capacity for the boat that Dh doesn't have yet, but thinks he is getting.

I should add I was able to get 2 rearfacing seats in my Fusion fairly easily but have never tried three.

Ok, I am going to open this up then. Maybe CAR is not the only way to go. I appreciate the suggestions for cars...and at the same time I am understanding that for some with 3 kids there is no way around a bigger car eventually...and since we are considering buying maybe now is the time to consider that?

If we were to go bigger... I do not think I am ready for a van... might be able to tolerate an SUV better. Any suggestions about SUVs that are good for car multiple car seats (and not too pricey, not too fuel inefficient)? Is it even worth stepping up to an SUV? Or do you not gain much more than a car in terms of seating/car seats?

Well, you do gain more in terms of seating with a SUV/crossover with a third row but you do tend to give up cargo room when the third row is in use.

We are looking at getting a 2012 Honda Pilot and it will give us plenty of seating (more than enough actually) cargo room with the third row up is limited. Some of the other vehicles we looked at had even less space. Vans and large SUV are pretty much your only option for seating and space with 3+ kids. The Ford Flex was a lot roomier than most of the crossovers we looked at though.

With 3 kids, *I*, personally, can't imagine a vehicle other then a minivan. But I'm big on space, fuel efficiency, and convienence.

Admittedly, I do not like SUVs. I don't like the gas guzzling, the higher center of gravity, the lack of cargo space, the flat cargo area (cargo in minivans tends to run deep, which does a better job at keeping projectiles housed), the lack of leg room in general (especially in 3rd rows), and...I just don't like traditional rear doors.

We made a 2,000 mile round trip road trip this summer in my minivan. We're a family of 5 with a toddler, so we had a pack n play, stroller, and several pieces of luggage. Not only did it all fit in my cargo area (with all 3 rows up), but it didn't even reach the top of the 3rd row seatback. Power sliding doors are heavenly. Think of how many door dings you avoid.

elyrayday said:

Ok, I am going to open this up then. Maybe CAR is not the only way to go. I appreciate the suggestions for cars...and at the same time I am understanding that for some with 3 kids there is no way around a bigger car eventually...and since we are considering buying maybe now is the time to consider that?

If we were to go bigger... I do not think I am ready for a van... might be able to tolerate an SUV better. Any suggestions about SUVs that are good for car multiple car seats (and not too pricey, not too fuel inefficient)? Is it even worth stepping up to an SUV? Or do you not gain much more than a car in terms of seating/car seats?

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Honestly, I'd get the car before the SUV...but the van would be my first pick! SUV's have MUCH worse gas mileage than cars and really, once you have that third seat up for more passenger room, you lose all cargo space, and even the gained passenger space can be a pain, because its difficult to get people and kids in/out of that third row, have to really plan who goes where in the second row to allow access to the third row. Not to mention, if you're like most parents of multiple small children and carry a stroller with you, in a small SUV you're typically not going to be able to pick up friends/others spur of the moment...because if you have the stroller along, especially if its a double, (which I do all the time), you're not going to have room to put up that 3rd row seat.

I'd encourage you to look at vans...and test drive them with an open mind. My hubby is (well, was) a mini-van hater, and SWORE he'd never drive a mini-van, and I was on the fence about them, much prefering the thought of an SUV to a mini-van. But really, once you get in the van, you really forget you're driving a van...they handle just like the larger sedan cars, and they have just as many (and sometimes more!) features and options as the cars.

Not to mention being able to have your cake and eat it too, so to speak...I have plenty of room for extra spur of the moment passengers AND have enough cargo room that I could go grocery shopping for my family with said passengers along and still have my double stroller along as well (and I get way better gas mileage than an SUV that would hold the same amount of people, without cargo room).

After my hubby test drove vans and SUV's (I made him put the kids in/out all by himself each time, so he really got a feel for how hard/easy it was in each vehicle) he quickly agreed w/ me that van was the way to go.

So...in short, I'd never be caught dead buying a small SUV (like Durango) with more than one kid, I love my Impala for being able to haul around 3 kids and still have plenty of storage room in the trunk...but my hands down favorite of the options is my 8 passenger Sienna.

Just saying...stay away from Suzuki. Terrible when it comes to room! I couldn't even fit one RF in there. We have a Grand Vitara. It claims to have 3 across in the back but I couldn't even fit a briefcase between the two seats.
My grandpa drives a Chevy Tahoe that I love! It's so comfortable and seems to have a lot of room. It handles so nice and is a super quiet drive.
My sister drives a Toyota Highlander. They usually keep the third row down and can fit a twin size bunk bed in it. I think that's a nice idea because 90% of the time you won't need to haul extra people around but when you do you have a third row. She likes it but it would be a squish to fit three across the first seat.
Ideally a van is the way to go. Unfortunately. I really don't want a van.

Hmmm sounds like vans are gaining some points...although I can not imagine myself driving. Maybe once we test drive some.

So are vans actually more fuel efficient than SUVs?

One thing that got me is the point about having the kids along, plus stroller, and needing space still for groceries.

Someone said Sienna are nice vans. Any others come highly recommended? If I am going to test drive, might as well start with the best so I don't get fully turned off by the whole van idea before it is given a fair shot.

We really liked the Honda Odyssey. We test drive a 2011. I think that would be our choice if we changed our minds or if we decided to sell the Fusion and buy two new vehicles.

We didn't like the 2011 Sienna much even though we really wanted to since it has a trim with AWD which is important to DH.

I LOVE my 2007 Honda Odyssey! I have two RF car seats in the second row captains chairs at the moment. And personally, I think it's a lot of fun to drive (although admittedly, I am NOT an SUV person).

We want three kids and are looking at the honda pilot. It has the choice of either cargo space or hauling extra people, not both at once really (although the cargo with the third row up is still far better than our beetle, which is our only car right now!) but that works perfectly for me. If I had the option I'd do the old school volvo wagon with jump seats in back, but you can't get that newer than 2006 so I'd be concerned about it lasting for us longer-term. Given that we managed to fit everything the four of us needed for a 10 day trip in our beetle I'm not worried that the pilot will have too little storage for our purposes. Based on what I've read on edmunds the pilot and odyssey have almost identical gas mileage. Far less than I'm used to, but not vastly different from each other. And I just like the look of the pilot enough better for that to be the deciding factor for me.

We want three kids and are looking at the honda pilot. It has the choice of either cargo space or hauling extra people, not both at once really

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In a minivan you can haul extra people AND have the cargo space. At the same time. Not only that, but you're able to keep your projectiles managed in a much safer way in the cargo of a minivan vs. the cargo of an SUV. I have 4 adult camp chairs and 2 strollers in the cargo of my minivan and it doesn't even reach the bottom of the 3rd row seatback (where 3rd row butts would be sitting on the other side), it's all below seat level. That's how deep the cargo area is. My friend can't even get 2 camp chairs and 1 stroller in the cargo of her Sequoia without it nearly reaching the bottom of her 3rd row headrests. That's a lot of cargo loading into a seatback in a crash.

I love my Sienna - just wish I could sell the car that was replaced by the Sienna.

Anyway, it drives super smooth. I love the cargo space. We have the third row up. My City Mini strollers fits wonderfully laying flat. I can fit groceries around it.

With 3 kids - you need room. There's no point being crammed when you could have nice space.

elyrayday said:

Hmmm sounds like vans are gaining some points...although I can not imagine myself driving. Maybe once we test drive some.

So are vans actually more fuel efficient than SUVs?

One thing that got me is the point about having the kids along, plus stroller, and needing space still for groceries.

Someone said Sienna are nice vans. Any others come highly recommended? If I am going to test drive, might as well start with the best so I don't get fully turned off by the whole van idea before it is given a fair shot.

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The Sienna and Odyssey are often highly recommended. My 2008 Sienna gets almost as good of gas mileage as my Impala -- Impala averages 23 mpg, Sienna averages 20-21 mpg. For an SUV that holds 8, I'd be looking at a maximum of 16 mpg, and that might be being generous.

I'd recommend first deciding whether you want brand new, or used, followed closely by if you want 7 passenger or 8 passenger...as that can narrow the choices for you.

If you need the 8th seat, the 2004-2010 Siennas are preferred over the Odysseys of the same years, whereas in 2011 the Odysseys are preferred over the Siennas. In 2011 both vans redesigned the 8th seat...the Odyssey's became more useable while the Sienna's became much less useable.

If you're just looking for 7 seats, it seems to mostly be personal preference.

I was driving a 2000 Ford Windstar, which holds 7...and replaced it with the 8 passenger Sienna for a few reasons:

- With 3 kids, the 7 passenger was starting to get cramped...we only had room for 1 extra passenger at a time. (3rd row center had lap only belt, no headrest and was extremely narrow...basically could only put a Radian there). In newer vans this might not be an issue though.

- Fourth child is currently on the way...but had been in the plans for a bit in the future, so I counted on that when buying (since I drive a vehicle a minimum of 6 years before getting another one) -- plus in 6 years, I'll have 3 kids in school, which means more transporting of friends, both of which added up to the need for the 8th seat.

- I like being able to put all three kids across the middle row (for now lol) with no problem when I need to, like for long trips or other times when I don't want someone in the back row for some reason.

livsmum said:

I love my Sienna - just wish I could sell the car that was replaced by the Sienna.

Anyway, it drives super smooth. I love the cargo space. We have the third row up. My City Mini strollers fits wonderfully laying flat. I can fit groceries around it.

With 3 kids - you need room. There's no point being crammed when you could have nice space.

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My Sienna drives super smooth too...in fact, my mother in law had to use it to haul grandkids and couldn't stop commenting on how nice it was to drive. I have my 3rd row up, most of the time anyways, and I have my Baby Trend Sit n Stand double folded in the back and can get groceries around it. If I'm making a big grocery run I typically stow the 2/3 part of the seat and put the stroller against the side wall and still have plenty of room for groceries.