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Hello all. My husband and I do not have children yet but plan to start our family in the very near future (TTC in the next few months). I currently have an '03 VW New Beetle and I need to trade it in for something that I feel more safe driving in the winter weather here in southern New England, especially with a baby. We live on a bit of a hill and our driveway is relatively steep and many times I've been unable to get my car up it in the snow. My husband has an '01 Toyota Camry that we will be keeping for at least another few years.
We find ourselves in the very unusual (for us) position of shopping for a car that will hopefully need to accommodate kids in the near future, but we do not have any kids yet nor is one on the way. Therefore I have NO car seat that I can try to install for test drives, and of course when I ask the car salesmen they all say that car seats will install easily due to LATCH. It appears that car seat friendliness is a different beast than merely having a seating position that is suitable for a car seat.
We're looking for a small/midsize crossover with AWD that seats 5. We plan to have at least 2 children, hopefully 3. Car seat compatability is a consideration since I'll likely be doing daycare dropoff/pickup and this vehicle will also be our "family" car (allowing DH to keep the Camry running as his commuting vehicle as long as possible). We will be keeping this car a minimum of 6-7 years.
We've narrowed it down to two vehicles:
2010 Chevrolet Equinox 1LT
2010 Subaru Forester 2.5X Premium
I really like both vehicles as the driver. When pricing them with the options we want, the price difference isn't substantial enough to make the choice for us. (The Ford Escape, Toyota Rav4, and Honda CR-V have been ruled out after a test drive.)
I did a quick search here and found that Subarus are apparently horrid for car seat installation. Of the many Subaru drivers who I know IRL, none has any children, so I can't easily ask a friend. Reviews of the new Equinox elsewhere online indicated no trouble with 2 car seats, and I imagine three is do-able (with the right combination of course). Threads on the Forester here are not nearly as positive.
Thoughts?
We find ourselves in the very unusual (for us) position of shopping for a car that will hopefully need to accommodate kids in the near future, but we do not have any kids yet nor is one on the way. Therefore I have NO car seat that I can try to install for test drives, and of course when I ask the car salesmen they all say that car seats will install easily due to LATCH. It appears that car seat friendliness is a different beast than merely having a seating position that is suitable for a car seat.
We're looking for a small/midsize crossover with AWD that seats 5. We plan to have at least 2 children, hopefully 3. Car seat compatability is a consideration since I'll likely be doing daycare dropoff/pickup and this vehicle will also be our "family" car (allowing DH to keep the Camry running as his commuting vehicle as long as possible). We will be keeping this car a minimum of 6-7 years.
We've narrowed it down to two vehicles:
2010 Chevrolet Equinox 1LT
2010 Subaru Forester 2.5X Premium
I really like both vehicles as the driver. When pricing them with the options we want, the price difference isn't substantial enough to make the choice for us. (The Ford Escape, Toyota Rav4, and Honda CR-V have been ruled out after a test drive.)
I did a quick search here and found that Subarus are apparently horrid for car seat installation. Of the many Subaru drivers who I know IRL, none has any children, so I can't easily ask a friend. Reviews of the new Equinox elsewhere online indicated no trouble with 2 car seats, and I imagine three is do-able (with the right combination of course). Threads on the Forester here are not nearly as positive.
Thoughts?