If You Have 3 Kids in Carseats, What Car Do You Drive?

Honda Odyssey. Love it!! We looked at soooo many vehicles and nothing could handle the 3 carseats comfortably AND provide a lot of cargo room. I had to have both.

Soon to be three kiddos - one in baby seat and two in boosters. I drive an Acadia. 1 kid in the third row (son who chose this) and older daughter behind passenger seat and baby behind me.

We have 6 kids (his, mine and ours) ranging from 4-12. One in a car seat, 2 in booster seats. I drive a Honda Odyssey. We used to have a Ford E350 (12 seat van) which I despised with all my being, but I also used to do in home daycare and had to pick our kids up from school, etc. with daycare kids in tow. Now that I'm working outside the home and need a commuter van that doesn't get 8 mpg, I have the Honda and love it.

Lots of options.

7 year-old high back booster (or harnessed), 4 year-old harnessed, and 2-year-old rear-facing...you'll fit a lot of cars. Just don't get a small car, of course.

My kids are 7, 5 and 4 and I thank my stars daily for our Toyota Highlander. I love it with the kids in there or by myself. There is lots of room for kids in back seat and stuff in way back. We travel TONS and its so comfy and great. I took luggage and three bikes in it on our last road trip. They're not cheap (highest ratings for safety) but we shopped online for a used one out-of-state and got a great deal. If I had one regret, it would be I didn't entertain the slightly bigger SUV with an extra seat in back-we sometimes wish we could fit some friends in, but overall, LOVE THE CAR~

The 7 year old should be a in booster seat or on his own - depending upon height and weight.

The 2 & 4 year old can be in the middle seat...

I would consider a Suburban. They are roomy cars...my husband calls it a land yacht - but it fits 9 people comfortable with a TON of gear too...

If you are looking for new cars - figure out what you want and need....room/space, gas mileage, space for friends and family....then start trying the cars on for size!!

what I found that as my boys got older? I needed MORE space - so I stuck with the minivan - even though I really wanted a Suburban!! My husband is NOT comfortable driving that big of a vehicle! LOL!

When my third was born my other 2 were in car seats/boosters. One has since grown out of needing boosters, he's 12 and around 5 feet tall now.
We use the Sunshine Kids Radian car seats and Monterey high back boosters and was able to put all 3 in the middle row of our Toyota Sienna Mini van. I wanted my trunk and only use the third row when we have extra passengers or if the kids occasionally need to be separated.
We can not fit all 3 kids in the back seat of my husband's Honda Civic. When all 3 needed seats it was completely impossible. Even now with one of them not needing a booster it was an uncomfortably tight squeeze when the minivan had something break and we didn't have it for a couple days while it got fixed.

When my 4 kids were younger, we went through 2 suburbans. They were very comfortable and I liked the roominess.

With kids that age, I'd stick to a minivan. It's so much easier. In an SUV, the third row is a lot harder to access. Minivans make it easy to get back there and easier to take friends along if you're carpooling.

Usually I only have 2 seats, but occasionally we do have three if a friend is. Visiting. Anyhoo, I have a GMC Yukon and I love it.

I think you just need to get another van. We often take my friends van when we go do a mom's day out. We shop, eat out, maybe go to a movie, etc...and there are always more than 1 or 2 additional people.

I don't understand why you'd put all your carseats in the car so you and a friend can go do something anyway....You don't need a car that will hold carseats, they need to stay in the van. You need a vehicle that has a 3rd row so you can do all the carseats and hold passengers.

Gasoline issues:

We just got another van even though I wanted a crossover or medium size SUV. I looked at a bunch! I found a perfect 2004 or 2005 pure white Suburban with less than 150K on it. Perfect inside with every bell and whistle plus a DVD player with a great sound system. My cousin has it for sale in Florida. He was even willing to drive it to me and fly home.

BUT I suddenly realized that those larger motors use twice as much gasoline as a van that is made to get good gas mileage. There was no way I was going to be able to drive that and afford the gasoline. So we got the van. It's newer and just as nice. BUT it gets nearly double what the Suburban would have given me.

We also looked at a newer Saturn, a wonderful crossover, that had the needed 3rd row. It was really nice and better on gas mileage. But it was a tiny bit narrower than what I wanted, I am not a small person and would like a wider big person seat...

We drive the Ford Fusion & the Honda Pilot - The Fusion is quite roomy and fits three car seats well. The Pilot is awesome and seats 8 people. I love both of our cars!

Honda Odyssey. It's still in good shape so with a quick clean out, it's usually suitable for going out with my friends. My husband has an Infiniti sedan and I actually prefer my Odyssey. My youngest is 7 and I imagine that I'll be in a minivan for at least another 10 years and that's fine by me!

I have the GMC Acadia with the captains chairs in the middle row making easy access to the rear row. Rear facing seats in the middle row force you to crawl under the car seats to get to the back row. However, once they are forward facing even adults can get easily into the rear row. Downside is my double stroller takes up my entire trunk. Upside, it the trunk holds a lot without the stroller. (Note: I have one of the biggest double strollers on the market) Also it gets really reasonable gas mileage. All and all I like it a lot. We've had it almost 2 years and no problems minus needing new tires, but the car itself is 5 years old.

Honda Pilot. Lo e it

I have 2 in carseats, 2 in booster and one more on the way in January. I drive a big, old, 15 passenger van.

We have a 4 yo, a 2 yo and a 7 wk old, so three full-sized car seats.
I drive a Yukon XL. I have room for 2 adults in the third row next to my daughter's Britax Frontier, room for an adult next to the boys in the second row and room for the big BOB double stroller and groceries in the back.
My hubby drives a Traverse. He has room for one adult in the third row, one in the second and the smaller umbrella double in the back.
Both cars are great, perfect for our family as is plus the one more we want to complete our family in the future.