Car advice

Glacierbob

New member
I have a 5 year old forward facing, a 2 year old rear facing, and a baby on the way this December.

looking to upgrade vehicles to accommodate three across in a pickup or large sedan, or a minivan.

I am partial to the hybrid or ev option due to the amount of driving that I do.

considering the Pacifica hybrid, mustang Mach e, f150 lightning, or a Honda Accord /Camry sedan, or maybe even a Tesla.
Priorities are
1. Car seats fitting
2. Price
3. Mileage

any suggestions? I have 6 months till 3rd baby gets here.
 
ADS

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
I have a 5 year old forward facing, a 2 year old rear facing, and a baby on the way this December.

looking to upgrade vehicles to accommodate three across in a pickup or large sedan, or a minivan.

I am partial to the hybrid or ev option due to the amount of driving that I do.

considering the Pacifica hybrid, mustang Mach e, f150 lightning, or a Honda Accord /Camry sedan, or maybe even a Tesla.
Priorities are
1. Car seats fitting
2. Price
3. Mileage

any suggestions? I have 6 months till 3rd baby gets here.

In general, for 3 young kids in back, you will be much happier with a wider vehicle. It will be easier to fit 3-across car seats and boosters and leave more room for your oldest to buckle. On that measure, I think you will find an F150 Crew cab and Pacifica Hybrid to be the friendliest of those you listed.

Have you considered a Sienna (all hybrid in 2021)? The XSE trim is pretty sharp and also reasonably priced for the mileage and plenty of room for 3 kids and cargo.

I think you will find compact SUVs like Mach E and Model Y and midsize sedans like Camry and Accord to be far less flexible for 3 kids, especially if you have a long road trip or need to bring a friend or grandparent along. That said, I just bought a compact SUV and considered Mach-E and Y among others, but my kids are older now. 3-across is workable with careful selection of car seats but no room for an extra person of course. A Highlander Hybrid would be a bit more flexible for an SUV.
 

Glacierbob

New member
Very helpful. This is where I was leaning as well. I figure the Pacifica hybrid Weill be cheapest out the door price. Some say the reliability is in question though. The hybrid plug-in either is the best or worst of the ICE and EV worlds depending upon how you look at it.
To be fair the f150 lightening has the X factor that could be really good and versatile or a flop.
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Very helpful. This is where I was leaning as well. I figure the Pacifica hybrid Weill be cheapest out the door price. Some say the reliability is in question though. The hybrid plug-in either is the best or worst of the ICE and EV worlds depending upon how you look at it.
To be fair the f150 lightening has the X factor that could be really good and versatile or a flop.

Plug-in is ideal in most areas where charging infrastructure is limited to interstate stops in larger cities, especially if your daily commute is within the EV range. If you're in California or the Northeast where chargers are more common, I'd probably go with an EV. Yeah, having two powertrains seems redundant, but being able to do most of your driving EV and then have a range extender that allows you to roadtrip 500+ miles and refuel in 5 minutes is essential in some areas.

The F150 Lariat is pretty sweet looking on paper, but also $$$ when you add the extended range option and upgraded copilot 360 suite. If I hadn't just taken delivery of a plug-in myself, I think the F150 would be a contender for me as well if it fit into our garage.
 

MelodyoftheForest

Active member
We have a Pacifica Hybrid and it is so nice to be able to stay on battery power when running errands, etc. It gets good mileage at a distance too. I would suggest a battery tender, as we discovered recently that if you just run on electric most of the time, the starter battery doesn't get charged! We have one kid and two dogs, and enjoy the versatility. The captain's chairs have removable head restraints, which is super helpful, but the seat belt geometry can make some installs difficult. Lower anchors work well for us, though. There are fixed head restraints outboard in the 3rd row, but they can be up or down when installing a seat. If you won't have more than one FF harnessed kid in the 3rd row, or might put kids in backless boosters there, you shouldn't run into too many issues.
 

Glacierbob

New member
What is a battery tender? What kind of mpg have you had?

how was the charger at home install process?

Any issues with reliability for the vehicle?
 

MelodyoftheForest

Active member
A battery tender is something you plug into the wall and attach to the starter battery (not sure if that's the right name, the battery like gas cars have) that charges it without having to drive around using gas.

Mileage after the battery runs out is probably in the low 30s.

We don't have a fast charger yet, we are getting an electrical upgrade soon that will allow for one to be installed. We plug it in the regular outlet with the included charging cord and it charges fully overnight (it lists 14 hours from empty to full charge).

The only time it's broken down in the 2 years we've had it is when the starter battery died. Hence the battery tender! We've taken it on a number of 1-2 day road trips with no issues. We've even had hotels allow us to plug it in overnight, which is nice!
 

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