Car Shopping - Need to fit many seats

I have 6 kids and need to fit 6 seats. lol. We're in the market for a used vehicle. We obviously can only go with 8 passenger vehicles. We're currently in a 15 passenger van and want to go with a small SUV - like an 8 passenger Durango or Pilot or something... I also like the Sequoia.

I imagine I'll need all Radian seats (current seats are mostly near expiry)and probably a booster for the oldest.

10 year old - he's asleep so I don't know his actual measurements

8 year old - 46 lb and 44"

7 year old - 40 lb and 43"

5 year old - 35 lb. and 40"

3 year old - I don't know his measurements either (he's asleep) but he's petite - still RF

2 year old - 26 lb. and 32"


Is it possible to fit 6 kids into a smaller 8 passenger SUV? Basically - what vehicles can fit 3 Radians across in both middle and back rows?

Three across the 3rd row Pilot is not fun...

In your situation I'd go:

2nd row driver: rf Radian with Angle Adjuster - 3yo
2nd row middle: rf Radian with Angle Adjuster - 2yo
2nd row passenger: latched Clek Ozzi - 10yo.

You can still tilt/slide the 2nd row pass seat with an Ozzi latched. This means easy access to the 3rd row.

However, that leaves your 8, 7, and 5yo in the 3rd...

You cannot get three Radians across the 3rd row.. unless one was rf, and it would need to be the middle one, which means your 3rd row drivers side kid would have a heck of a time getting to his seat (past a rf Radian)..

I have done Graco Turbobooster 3rd row passenger, ff Radian middle with Radian pulled away from seat bite and ff recline pulled down, and ff Graco MyRide 3rd row driver.. but is rank the install about a 9 in difficulty, and buckling the TurboBooster was not easy... You could likely do Radian / Radian / ff MyRide, but that won't get you very long (would your 5yo fit a MyRide? Or maybe your 3yo could go ff back there?)...

How bout this: is your 10yo close to 5-stepping? Knowing that would help lots.


Oh, and Durango is a 7 pass these days. Two in the 3rd row and either two or three in the 2nd row (bench vs captains chairs). IIRC - I could be imagining things.


I don't know much about Sequoia. Sorry.

I agree 6 kids in a Pilot is not a lot of fun. Is your 10 year old fairly tall or on the smaller side? My average to tall 9.5 year old is pretty close to 5 stepping in the the third row of my Pilot and several of her friends fit with just the seatbelt. When and if the 10 year old 5 steps it will make things a bit easier.

I did a forward facing Radian, rear facing Graco MyRide (center) and a Harmony youth booster in my third row. It was hard to get to the third row driver's side with the rear facing seat, but doable. The second row is much easier for 3 across and with a booster in the second row passenger side you can still slide the seat forward for easy access to the third row.

I am not familiar with how the Sequoia is with carseats and seating positions, but it will give you more cargo room than the Pilot will.

I was told the 8 passenger suburbans are VERY carseat friendly... Not exactly a little suv tho...

soph's mom said:

I was told the 8 passenger suburbans are VERY carseat friendly... Not exactly a little suv tho...

Click to expand...

Yeah, I love mine, and I have one radian and two 5 steppers in the 3rd row, and it's still tight. IDK if I could get 3 radians back there or not. I tried once to get the radian in the middle and my truefit on the side RFing, and there was not enough room for the TF.