This thread is becoming very informative. It's nice to hear real opinions of how the diff vehicles drive and how roomy they are/aren't.
The Acura MDX is out- out of our price range. I like to buy new, or almost new. I see lots of Mazda CX9's around, never knew they had a 3 row option. Not even being able to use boosters in the back wouldn't work though. If we got a Pilot, it would be the new 09. I really want to check one out IRL. My brother has an 06, and yeah, no cargo room with the 3rd row up. The photos on the Honda website do look like there's more room in the new ones, and like theres a cargo lid over the floor. I'm curious how deep it is.
We've checked out the GM crossovers. Liked them, but didn't love them. If they improve fuel efficiency that would make me look again though. Dh didn't like how you can't see well out the small back window. I didn't notice, because I'm so short that I really have to stand up in the van to back up. I guess I'm used to not being able to see well out of any vehicle without maneuvering myself around a lot.
It seems like some crossovers/SUV's have 3 rows, but can't be used for 3 across situations. Doesn't the new Highlander have a tiny middle seat in the second row? And the new Chevy will have 2 seats in each row? I'd rather keep all three kids in the 2nd row, and have the third row available for carpooling emergencies. BUT, I do want a decent third row just in case we have another child. Not in the plans at all right now, but we could change our mind or have a surprise. Then again, maybe I should just buy something with 2 rows (this is what dh wants, I'm not sure I could downsize that much), save money on the vehicle and gas, and just get something bigger later on if I needed to or wanted to. Aaahhhh, too many options!
Kimberly