Is there a holy grail of SUV's?

smiley74

New member
Does anything exist that is
-friendly for multiple car seats and booster use (has removable headrests, decent belt positions, etc.)
-has storage room because the 3rd row will always be in use (like i can lay a jogging stroller behind the 3rd row kind of room and not a sad 15 inches of room which barely holds groceries)
-isn't gigantically tall to have parking garage issues (so no Suburban, Escalade, Yukon types)
-All wheel drive


Price not a factor.
 
ADS

bubbaray

New member
If you need a third row with cargo room, you are pretty much looking at Suburbans/Yukon XL or the Ford equivalent. Or a van with AWD like the Sienna
 

MamaChirpy

New member
Yep. Suburban/Yukon XL
Or a Ford Expedition EL (extended length).

That's all I'm afraid.

I've never had trouble in parking garages and I've driven one or the other of these for years.


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aeormsby

New member
We just got a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder, before we had a Saturn Outlook (same as the GMC Acadia, Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave). The Saturn had a bit more room behind the 3rd row. No more strollers for us bu I did have a larger stroller when we first got the Saturn. Our test was if our full size cooler fit behind the 3rd row for when we take trips with our parents. The Saturn could fit all the way to the side so we could fit a rubbermaid bin next to it, in the Pathfinder if fits in the center but not all the way to the side (so slightly less space). The Saturn was OK for carseats, tons of room in the 2nd row, but fixed headrest (that could technically be removed semi-permanently in the 2nd row) and no headrests in the center spots (8-passenger). The Nissan has removable headrests in the 2nd row, and headrests in all seating positions (7-passenger). Our Saturn did terrible in any amount of snow, it was FWD, not sure how much better the AWD versions are. Nissan does great with on-demand 4WD (we were test-driving after 8" of snow). When I was comparing sizes of vehicles (we also weren't interested in the large gas-guzzling SUV's) the Mazda CX-9 was a comparable size (on paper) to the Saturn, but I wasn't in love with the safety ratings so we didn't look at any.

My kids are in boosters and practically 5-stepping at this point so I don't even have any seats to try in the new vehicle. One thing I love is the ease of flipping the 2nd row forward to get to the 3rd row, in some vehicles the seat portion didn't flip and it was a tight squeeze to get to the back. Both the Saturn and the Nissan flip the seat portion to slid forward. Both of them also have adjustable 2nd rows which is nice to give more room to the 3rd row if you need it, or keep more room in the 2nd row if you're not using the 3rd row.

Not sure if that helps, but I thought I'd share since we were doing research recently. I didn't look at any higher-priced luxury vehicles (other than the MDX which was surprisingly tiny in comparison).
 

laurengt

Active member
Yep. Suburban/Yukon XL
Or a Ford Expedition EL (extended length).

That's all I'm afraid.

I've never had trouble in parking garages and I've driven one or the other of these for years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't have much helpful to add except that I drive a Tahoe for work and the antenna on top does touch the top of some parking structures. Just the antenna, not roof.


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