Crossover/2-row SUV recommendations for leg room?

newmomma

New member
tl;dr - please recommend a crossover to fit 2 rear-facing kids with ample leg room for front passenger and driver.

I'm currently pregnant with our first baby, and we're buying a car for the first time. We'll start with an infant bucket seat (tbd), then go to a rear-facing convertible as long as possible (~4 years).

We're looking at a crossover/2-row SUV so that we have cargo space but can still drive it in the city. My biggest concern is leg room, as my husband and I are both tall (6'4" and 5'10"). When I watch videos of car seat installations, it appears the front seats are moved up a LOT to get that 1-inch of clearance.

If we put the infant seat in the middle back seat, will it potentially touch both of the front seats? We could solve the problem by putting baby behind the passenger seat so that my husband has more leg room in the driver's seat, but what happens when we have another child? We'll probably have an infant and a 2-year-old rear-facing at the same time in the next few years, so we need to figure out a way to accommodate both the seat and a tall driver.

Our budget is about $20,000, so we're looking at a used version of these IIHS top safety picks:

2016-2017 Fiat 500X
2017 Jeep Compass
2015-2017 Honda CR-V
2016-2017 Mazda CX-3
2015-2017 Mazda CX-5
2015 Ford Edge
2015-2016 Buick Encore
2015-2016 Chevrolet Equinox
2015 Ford Flex
2015-2017 Subaru Forester
2015-2017 Toyota Highlander
2015-2017 Nissan Murano
2015-2017 Mitsubishi Outlander
2015 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport
2015-2017 Toyota RAV4
2015-2017 Nissan Rogue
2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
2016-2017 Kia Sorento
2017 Kia Sportage
2015-2016 GMC Terrain
2015 Chevrolet Trax
2016-2017 Hyundai Tucson

Thank you in advance for your help! As someone who doesn't have a car, carseat, or baby, it's pretty overwhelming to have to sort out all 3 at once!
 
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SavsMom

New member
Being tall I’d cross off several from your list. Top contenders that I’m familiar with on your list would be:

Nissan Rouge (its 2nd row seats slide fore and aft to allow for more rear passenger space)

Nissan Murano

Ford Edge

Toyota Highlander

Kia Sorento

Hyundai Santa Fe (go non sport as the sport model is smaller)
 

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