Looking for a Famly Vehicle That Needs to Hold 3 Carseats... No Minivans Please.

Based solely on gas mileage:

Toyota Highlander Hybrid
Toyota Sienna
Kia Sorento
Honda Odyssey
Mitsubishi Outlander
Ford Explorer
Ford Flex

We have a Volvo XC90. The 3rd row is pretty tight for adults, but for kids and you can get 3 car seats across in the middle row

I have a GMC Acadia and love it!! Mine seats 8, but I know they also come with captain seats in the middle. Very roomy. I have a friend with a Buick Enclave that is an upgraded version of my Acadia.

I see so many moms with SUVs trying to have the comforts of a minivan without the stigma. Your going to have a big expensive vehichle with none of the luxury a minivan can offer. I have a Chrysler Town and Country and it rocks. With its stow and go seats, automatic side doors and hatch with keychain control, auto start, 2 dvd players, heated leather seats, power seats and windows, power hook-ups for every possible electronic in all 3 rows, and ample trunk storage, there is no other option for a mom in my opinion. We have had a pilot, a ridge line, a jimmy, and one that the name escapes me. It had three rows, but like most suvs, you basically had to climb over the second row to get to it. That's ridiculous. We leased a few of these for a year or two until we knew what to commit to. It killed me to go with the minivan. Before kids, I had a sporty little eclipse. As soon as these kids are older, I'll trade this minivan in for something sexier so fast their heads will spin! (when they can climb and cram over a bunch of seats by themselves.) I'm sorry I'm not helping with your actual question, but I couldn't resist giving my 2 cents on the minivan. FYI the payments and gas milage are comprable to most SUVs.

Don't discount the virtues of a large sedan in your search. My sturdy toyota camry can fit an infant car seat, a big convertible seat and a booster with 5-point harness in the middle... gets amazing mileage and has a HUGE trunk. Just a thought. :)

The Mazda5 is a very cool alternative to a minivan that still looks really sporty. It has a third row that you access past the second row captain's chairs...sliding side doors...it's affordable and gets incredible mileage. Check it out.

Love my GMC Acadia. I have 3 carseats (5 yr old, 4 yr old and 2 yr old) and there's still room for an extra booster for a friend or a couple extra grown ups.

i love my suburban..it has flex fuel, 3rd row seat, center captains chairs, and plenty of room in the trunk for strollers, luggage, and groceries..and really the gas isnt that bad if you take care of it and do the required oil changes and tune ups!

Check out the Ford Flex -- you can get 2 captain seats in the 2nd row without a console between. We LOVE ours.

LOVE LOVE LOVE my GMC Acadia :)

I hate mini-vans.
I will never own one.
SUV's have many luxuries, in fact for me, they have more....depending on how often you need to tow, go off road, etc. Minivans, in my exeperiences, do not hold up with rough travel as well as SUV's or Trucks.

I love the ford explorer (SUV). Seats 7, 17 MPG city, and comfortable. A lot of people make fun of fords, saying they constantly break down and all. I just laugh because all of my fords hold up better then any other car my friends and family have had. And I am not gentle with my cars.

I also like the ford flex (cross over). Seats 6 or 7 (depending on the option you get), 17 MPG city, comfortable, and it has a ton of super cool nifty gadgets/features. I think I just like it because of all the cool features. =)

GM Acadia (cross over). Seats 8, 17 MPG, and comfortable, heard good things about it from the GM techs I know.

Good Luck! =)

I have a GMC Acadia and have for 2 years now and LOVE it. Gets about 24mpg on the highway and about 17 around town. Not so bad for a crossover SUV. It is also front wheel drive, so less slipping. I have the one with captains chairs so on road trips (which we take a lot of), I can easily climb back and tend to children. There are cup holders everywhere and we think plenty of storage. Also with the third row up, I am able to put my double stroller in the back, which was a test when we were looking at vehicles. Also for road trips we fold down the bigger side of the 3rd row for more luggage space and everyone still has plenty of room. My only downfall is I wish we did not get black interior with small children. It shows EVERYTHING. That doesn't compromise the car overall though, so hope this helps! Other SUVs that are VERY similar to the Acadia are the Saturn Outlook and the Buick Enclave!

Congrats on all your babies!

I LOVE my Ford Flex.....looks like a mini cooper on steroids. I have had it for 2 yrs now and still love it. I am a sales rep so I needed the large space in the back and it can hold 6 football players comfortably. I have the 6 seat configuration with frig/freezer in mid console....great for my kids snacks and I would want if I was still pumping. It is the best compromise from not being in a minivan and having a luxury sedan feel. Have fun picking out your new vehicle.

My son just had twins and they have two other kids in car seats already. They have a Chevy Traverse with the 4 captains chairs and love it. I have ridden in it as well and it rides great.

Good Luck!

My friend has the GMC Acadia and loves it. She has 3 kids.

I felt the same way. We have a Toyota Camry, which we love and it does fit 3 carseats but it's a TIGHT squeeze. My oldest is in a booster and he had a really hard time buckling himself in, so we needed more space because we just had our 3rd baby 2 wks ago. We bought a Toyota Sequoia and we LOVE it. Gas mileage is not great, but that's the case with all the larger SUV's. Easily fits 3 carseats in one seat, but if you want one in the 3rd row, the middle seat splits and one side folds up so you have easy access to the back row. Several friends and family have Chevy Tahoe's, which are similar and also great. We just went with Toyota because we've had such good experiences with our Camry.

From my husband who works in the insurance business, the Insurance Institute for Highway safety basically says if you're concerned about safety, "Get the biggest vehicle you can afford to drive". He wants me to get a Toyota Sequoia or Ford Expedition EL. Personally, I wouldn't mind getting a Buick Enclave/GMC Acadia/Chevy Traverse. Either way, any of the above-mentioned vehicles have adult-sized seating room in the 3rd row seats so you have room for kids as they get older, and all of them have the option of either All-wheel-drive or 4-wheel drive. You can also drop the 3rd row seats in any of them for a choice of additional cargo room or additional seating.

We have a chevy traverse with the second row captain's chairs and we love it

Our Ford Taurus fits 3 car seats very comfortably...We had our 4 yr old in her booster and infant twins in their carriers all in the back seat. No problem at all...even road to Florida like that w/ no complaints from anyone. It even has the 3rd seat in the front so as to make it a 6 passenger if needbe.

We LOVE our Expedition! You can seat 7 or 8. With 4 captain chairs you can walk through, with the two bench seats, the ends fold up out of the way. We are on our 3rd one.

LOL, when we found out we were expecting child #3 (with two 4th grader already) I felt the same way you do about Mini Vans. I was leading a Girl Scout troop and needed some thing that would hold my troupe AND their gear, plus something easy to get a car seat in and out of. We went with a Dodge Durango. LOVED it! I drove my 2000 Durango until my Teenage son totaled it in a wreak (no scratch on him!). I got about 9 years out of it and I couldn't tell you how many miles.

Now with the older two out of the house, I only have my 7 yr old. I now drive a Chevy Trailblazer.

Hope this helps!

I am totally on-board with you....our family is in the market for a new vehicle as we speak. We test drove the Chevy Traverse and LOVED IT! I have one requirment when it comes to three row seating and that's captain's chairs for the middle row. This is a great car, safe and roomy and if you get the standard package it's really not that much more than a mini-van.

Just because I am a loyal GM person...I would check out the Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia or the Buick Enclave. I've drove all 3 and all 3 rock! But, I have a Saturn Vue, because the bigger crossover was to much for me, I only have 1 child and don't need all the extra room. Also, I am not a car person.

We just had the same problem. Bought the new sequoia and LOVE it. All three of the second row seats have latch, and easily fit 2 covertible car seats and one infant or three converible seats. Also all 3 of the 2 row seats can drop and move forward creating a pass through to the third row which has a 40/60 drop too. We love it! Couldn't be happier!

Love our GMC Yukon. Lots of space in back, 3rd row, heat & ac controls for each section.
My husband loves it because he drives the family to work and likes how it handles like a car. I drive it every now and then and to my surprise it is easy to drive, but with his 6'1 height vs my 5'6 petite frame; it was hard for me to park and it looks like it's swallowing me up. So I drive my VW passat and on family outings with our toddler and our teenage daughter with her friends it is great to have the Yukon. Love it would never trade it.

my best friend has a gm acadia and seats 8 comfortably. its a crossover i believe

I too do not like minivans and will never have one :). We have a Chrysler Aspen it seats 7 and has plenty of room for 3 carseats. We only have one right now but we take our 2 nieces sometimes and they both have boosters and there is plenty of room. New they are pretty spendy but if you do your research you can find a nice used one for half the cost and low miles. We found ours on autotrader.com. My daycare provider also has a GMC Acadia and she sometimes drops kids off to parents on Mondays and they all fit pretty good in her car as well. Good luck in your search! :)

We just bought a GMC Acadia and love it. You should bring a car seat base with you when looking for a new vehicle though. If you are fitting three in the back, the middle seat belt lock isn't always centered well and you may not be able to get three in the back due to the lock.

You could also check into narrow car seats. Sunshine Kids Radian car seats are narrow. My friend owns an older Honda Accord and has a set of 1 yo twins and a 3 yo little girl. These work perfectly in the back of her car and in the back of her Ford Explorer.

We just addressed this very issue. Wound up with the Volvo XC90. Love it! The other contenders were the GMC Acadia and the Buick Enclave. Both have 2nd row captains chair for easy access to the third row(the Volvo does not, it has a 2nd row bench and 3rd row captains seats). Very nice. The new Toyota Highlander also added captains seats in their second rowing this year. The Highlander is also available in a Hybrid model incase you are looking to be green. Good luck!

Absolutely love my Jeep Commander.

I only have 2 little ones but we have a dodge durango with the 3rd row seating and love it! It fits both carseats and a grown up can fit in between them plus the back row is a normal seat with plenty of leg room which can seat 3 people. Plus it's a pretty heavy duty vehicle, we were recently in a wreck on a major highway and my daughter never even woke up!

i have to laugh. i have the same feelings as you do about minivans. i almost got stuck getting one in 2008. my hubby even took me to 'test drive' it. thank god i did because i hated it.
anyways not sure if this is what you need but i have always has either nissan or infinity. i am getting myself a 4runner this time around because i need the third row. again, not how that works for the 3rd carseat but it does have the 3rd row, which is what i need

I have 5 kiddos 3 in car seats. Had a chevy suburban with all 3 car seats in the 3rd row but it was pain because in that model you needed two hands to release the latch for the 2nd row seat. So my husband bought me a Yukon Denali XL about two months ago and I LOVE it! I cAn release the 2nd row with one hand (while holding a baby) and then I am able to sit the kids on the folded down 2nd row, then I get in and sit there too (plenty of room) and I can easily buckle them all in.
Not so great on the gas....but for us it was worth it to have the other conveniences. Good luck with your decision.

I have a 2004 Ford Explorer. It has over 200, 000 miles on it and I have not had any problems with it.

We will be ready for a new car soon and I'm looking in to the Acadia.

We have 3 kids in the back. Same ages as yours, sort of. Any car is fine, just not a really small one. Go mid-size if you can, or bigger. You will probably have to get 2 Sunshine Kids Radian XT seats, and the any newborn seat should be OK. The Sunshine Kids seats were over $200 each, but at least we didn't need a van. 3 in a row. Very easy overall.
The toddlers just climb in. The Radian carseats are really, really low. Super! And keep the newborn on one side so you have easy access. Probably put the 3-year-old in the middle to protect the baby from the toddler.

We have a '07 Honda Pilot and never thought we would need three "spots" so soon but come February, I'll let you know how things work out.

I think we will be fine though because we help out one of our friends twice a week and pick up her 4YO who attends 1/2 day pre-K. Right now, we have each of the "older" girls - my 3YO and her friend - in the outer seats. The 4YO is in a booster seat and uses a regular seatbelt. Our daughter is in a 5 point harness carseat and will most likely stay in that as long as possible since that is what the doctor recommends. Our 15m old son is in the center and still in a 5-point, rear-facing carseat.

Until the baby becomes more independent, I think we will move our 3YO to the rear 3rd seat and put the 15m old into an outside seat and of course, the infant carrier will be in the middle. We are thinking this is the best arrangement since we have found that during the first 3 to 6 months (typically prior to the move to a rear-facing convertable carseat) there are times when one of us need to sit near the baby or just be in the back (i.e. in a parking lot to nurse). If I need to access the rear seat in the 3rd row to help my daughter, I can access it easily through the hatch back.

Using that third row is not too hard - when we travel with extended family, my SIL who has downs usually climbs in and has no trouble at all.

Just my two cents.
~C.

Both my sister and a dear friend have fairly new Chevy Tahoes. One with 2 solid rows of seats and the other with the first split and the back solid. Both love, love, love their vehicles. I do believe they have a hybrid version available which may work well if you do a whole lot of driving.

I have a Buick Enclave, which has bucket seats in the 2nd row and a pass through to the 3rd row which has 3 seats. In the 3rd row you can fold down the 1-seat side or the 2-seat side. You might like the extra room of folding down the 2-seat side and still seating you big guy back there in the single seat. My gas mileage is fine and I like the rear sun roof that has a shade that opens for extra light in the rear. Congrats on your new arrival...and your new car!

Honda Pilot hands down.

Honda Pilot. We got rid of the mercedes when our 3rd came along. Couldn't figure out how we managed all these years without the room and space of the pilot.

I have a Chrysler Aspen and I love it. It is a mid-size luxury SUV. The deluxe version of the bigger Durango. I sat in a Durango after sitting in an Aspen and I said no, lol! I have heard of many problems with the Durangos also. I've had no problems with my Aspen, and it is soooo pretty. I have 4 of our own kids total that regularly ride with us (14, 11, 6, and 2), and I carpool some kids regularly also. :)
I've also rode very comfortably in the 3rd row on several occassions, as well as my mother.
My mom has the full size SUV Nissan Armada. I love it! So does she! She wanted room to haul all the grandkids when she has them.

I have a Ford Freestyle and love it. I am able to climb from the passenger seat all the way to the back (you know we all have to do it sometimes:).
They don't make them anymore, but there are many of them out there. I like all the extras that ours has. Keep on test driving until you find your car!

I too don't want a minivan. I'm loving the look of the GMC Acadia. I have a Chevy Tahoe, and my husband has a GMC Yukon and I can't wait to get out of them. I am 5'10" and it breaks my back getting the infant carrier in and out of them. AND, it will depend on the ease of the seatbelts as to whether your 3 year old will be able to get in and out without help. My 6 year old still needs help in my truck, but not in my husbands.

I LOVE my GMC Acadia. I always joke that I should write GMC to be in a commerical becuase I'm always trying to sell the darn thing anyway! Coming back from my inlaws from Thanksgiving we had 3 adults, 3 kids - 4mths, 18mths and 3 years AND our black lab PLUS luggage!! Love my Acadia!!