Used vehicle 4 carseats ahh?

Momto3Divaz

New member
:confused: I have a Ford Focus now and its payed for soo Im keeping that, but we are in the market for a bigger vehicle and all new carseats. 5yr old is getting a Parkway (although I like the Radians better and would like to keep her harnessed), my 4 yr old is going for a Radian, as well as my 7 month old. Now my fiance is in talks with his sons grandmother to take over custody he just turned 2 yrs old and he found out it was his son this spring and its looking promising. Hes a very petite 2 yr old Im guessing but hes probably a little over 20 pounds can easily still wear size 18-24 months (my 7 month old is 19 pounds and wears size 18 mo hes just not much bigger than her it seems). We have checked out some mini vans :eek: okay i know its not the looks and after reading the forums theres many moms who feel in love with their van :whistle: I like the cross overs personally and right now we can not afford brand new we are going for used. I really like the Mazda5 but after reading on here my choice of Radians will not work :( What to do? Also we would like it to be as great on gas as possible ;) Heres what I like in vehicles and if I have to I will overcome my dislike of mini vans and just go for it but we need to keep the ranges closer to $10,000 and under if at all possible:

Buick Renedevouz <-My Mom has one I like it :)
Mazda5 <- :cool: its just cool looking
Honda Pilot <-:cool: niiiiccceeee
Chevy ?

those are really the only ones I can think of right now. I have not purchased any of the new carseats yet because I havents decided on the fabric :whistle:
 
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ThreeBeans

New member
From my personal experience:

If you have more than 2 in carseats, you want a mini, not a crossover/suv. It's just too difficult to get kids in and out of the third row without that nice wide door access you get with a van.
 

MandiRN

New member
I have an 04 Pilot :love: and I can tell you that getting into the 3rd row seats is hard without any car seats installed so it'll be dang near impossible with car seats installed. It has a 60/40 split 2nd row seat, so you'd have to have two seats on the 60% side which could be hard to do. DD's MA takes up a good amount of space and having 2 passengers with her in the second row is tight. All of the crossovers are nice but if you need to use the 3rd row regularly, I'd go minivan. Check out the Odyssey! Lots of people love their Ody's around here. GL! ~M
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
The Mazda 5 will work just fine if you get 2 Regents for the rear row instead of Radians. They will both fit back there, and there are upper TAs in all four rear seating positions. Then, when the two older kids outgrow the Regents, they can go into boosters in the center row and you can move the two younger kids to the Regents (or their convertibles) in the third row.

The Mazda5 is a crossover but it has sliding doors so the access to the third row is pretty good. The center row seats have LATCH, so you can move them forward for access to the rear row even with carseats in them, although with RF seats in them that might not give you much room anyway.

Another option would be to have the RF seats in the rear row and put the kids in through the cargo hatch - this would be fairly easy because the vehicle is low and the cargo area is very tiny.

Keep in mind you'll have NO storage. You could probably fit one umbrella stroller in the cargo area, but anything else will not fit. It's like a shoebox back there. Here's a picture:
IMG_1060.jpg

Sorry, the pic is a bit dark, but that booster takes up the entire depth of the cargo space. To give you an idea of what I can fit back there - three brown paper bags of groceries - and nothing else. Four kids' backpacks, piled precariously so that they fall out when you open the back - and nothing else. My laptop computer will not fit in there lying flat - it has to lean against the seatback.

Also, the Mazda5's came out in '06, so I'm not sure you're going to find one in the 10K price range.

Lastly, the ONLY reason I got the Mazda5 instead of a Kia Sedona is gas mileage, so if that's not at the top of your priorities list, I'd suggest a van instead (the Kia Sedona specifically, as it has excellent crash ratings and four LATCH positions with easy carseat installations, including the Radian).
 

Melanie

New member
just piping in on driving a van...I had the hardest time buying my van. I traded from a big cool truck to a "mom-mobile". I am now so glad I went with a van....so many things are more convenient with a van. The slidding doors are great in parking lots. I also love that I can put the bigger kids in and let them walk to their seats while I buckle in the baby.
 

Momto3Divaz

New member
just piping in on driving a van...I had the hardest time buying my van. I traded from a big cool truck to a "mom-mobile". I am now so glad I went with a van....so many things are more convenient with a van. The slidding doors are great in parking lots. I also love that I can put the bigger kids in and let them walk to their seats while I buckle in the baby.

lol@the term mom-mobile. decisions decisions!! All thats in my trunk now is things that dont need to be back there lol and 1 umbrella stroller i carry my infant in a sling that fits in my bag.... ahhhhhh on to check out mini vans......are there any cool ones? :p
 

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