I run an in-home child care and am in the market for a new vehicle. For the first time since opening our family child care home, I will be transporting children on a regular basis beginning next fall. Mostly I will need it for bringing children to and from preschool/kindergarten but I am also looking forward to using it for field trips around town.
Anyhow...I am looking for suggestions as to makes/models of vehicles that will comfortablly hold 5-7 car seats/booster seats. (5 is my minimum but I would consider it a bonus if I could fit up to 7.) Mini vans are the first thing that come to mind...but I am really starting from scratch here and open to suggestions. Something that gets good mileage would be a bonus. Most of the time I won't be driving it over 10-15 miles at a time, though. I just need something safe, comfortable, and reliable to get me around town with a bunch of little ones. Room for a stroller and maybe some gear (diaper bags, books, cooler) would be good too. Oh....and to complicate things, I don't have a ton of money to put towards this. I will definitely invest what I can, but will be looking at used vehicles.
I look forward to reading your suggestions! Thanks, in advance! :o)
Hi L.,
I too am in the market for a similar vehicle so I'd be interested in the advice you get. Any way you can share what you receive?
A.
I would think that some sort of full sized van would be right for you. Perhaps a used one from a car dealership...or a used transport van from a shuttle company might give you a good deal. Like you said..you just need it for a few miles a day.
I thing I WILL say...I am an avid Peoples Court fan...PLEASE get a mechanic to look at ANY used car before purchase. As Marilyn Millian says...a hundred bucks for a mechanic could save you thousands and possibly a law suit down the road.
Good Luck!!! I will be wishing a good deal for you!!!!
I love my odyssey. I have an '03. I would love to get a new one. I wouldnt trade my '03 for the world. I would just be in heaven with two...or if i was given a free newer one I wouldnt argue:) We looked at SUVs and mini vans when expanding. IMHO I was not a fan of the thrd row seating. I was a pain in the tush to get back and forth. I also for longer trips take out one of the singleton seats that move in and out like a breeze. That way we can pull over and enjoy a car picnic or stop and let the kids stretch their legs and they dont have to get out, say if we were somewhere just pulled off to the side and getting out wasnt a great idea. It also makes for a great camper for mini camp outs!! you can leave the slider open and hang out the side and do some star gazing. I know you can do that with most any type of mini or suv or crossover but I am a honda girl!!
These are just a few things we do that includes the much needed vechile in our family. We would be no where with out her but walking.
You MUST check out the new Odyessey-only vehicle out there that holds 3 FULL SIZED car seats in the center row. And the middle seat pulls up to be closer to the driver. Also there is a cooler built in. And you have the MV convenience of seat configuration. To me this is the perfect family car. Sadly for you though it is a bit pricey. The older model odyesseys are good too-just not able to fit the three huge carseats in the middle row. The middle seat is tiny.
I would suggest a 12 passenger van.
I have many children myself, and they are close together so we have had 7 in car seats before, and actually still do now! Mini vans and Suburbans seat no more than 8-unless you get a Suburban with a front bench (which will seat 9), but in that case you would have a car seat in the front-not sure if you are comfortable with that....we never have been. We did the suburban when we had only 5 children, and honestly it was SUCH a pain to get in to the back to buckle kids in! We had gone from a Chevy Astro minivan to the Suburban, and ended up selling the suburban and going back to the Astro before we upsized to the 12 passenger. The Astro fit 6 car seats easily.
We chose a 12 passenger Chevy Express when we upsized. After driving the 15 passenger vans, the 12 felt much smaller, just like driving a Suburban, not like driving a bus the way the 15 did. Also in the 15 the back bench is right against the door so there is no cargo room unless you remove the back bench.
It will be least expensive to find a used 15 passenger van and remove the bench because there are more of them out there than 12 passengers. If you can find an 8 passenger Astro they are great and get better gas mileage than the bigger vans, but they stopped making them some time ago so it will be older.
We have found that the best place to find vans is at government surplus auctions.
Even though most mini-vans say 7 passenger, that does not mean they fit more than 2 carseats in a row. I think you really need to look into a full size van. Like Catey B said, you'd be looking at 8, 12 or 15 passenger. You might talk to car rental places, dealerships, etc (places that are looking to sell vans that are 2 years old.) Defintely talk to them about how many carseats will realistically fit. Those benches that will fit 3 adults will usually only fit 2 carseats, even boosters.
Also, you might think you only need to put 5 carseats into it now, but think realistically about how life might change. Just don't want you to buy a vehicle and a year or two later wish you had purchased a larger vehicle.
You are going to laugh but my husband and I have considered a limo to transport kids. We only have 4 kids but the second even two of them bring a friend we can't seat them all in our Pathfinder (seats 5 kids total). We found several limos on Craig's List, one even looking to trade - funny huh? Needless to say and in all reality we are actually checking out conversion vans, they seat 6 in the back and you can find them at great prices used. As far as minivans, I really like the Toyota because it seats 8 (includes front seats) and has storage underneath for all the extra stuff you have to haul, but it's way too expensive. The best value we have found is the Town and Country, my husband rents them for work trips (he does some general contracting out of town a lot). He is able to fit his guys in there plus a ton of tools and it is VERY comfortable and gets great gas mileage. You will have to look at an older one though if you want to keep your prices down.
Good luck.
We have a mini van and can only fit four car seats in a 7 passenger vehicle. Since our number of safety seat riders is likely to increase, we have looked around for something that isn't a full sized van that can hold at least two full-sized car seats and two or three boosters. The Chevy Suburban is one we are planning on checking (we have friends with 7 kids close together in age who chose that over a full sized van, so we know it must hold a good number of booster/car seats). Honestly, though, your choice of fuel efficient vehicles is pretty limited once you start needing the people moving capacity.
My daughter has a Buick Rendevous, with a 3rd seat. The 3rd seat folds down completely in the back. She can get 3 carseats in the 2nd seat. I recommend checking it out. One cool thing about Buick is it is considered an older person car so the insurance isn't as much as a young Mom car.
Gas milage isn't great about 20-25 mpg but other than that a great car.
just a suggestion to take along 3 car seats while you are shopping. that way you will know if you can safely and comfortably fit 3 of them in the back. I would think a mid-size or full size transport van would be your best bet for that many carseats.
We love our Toyota Sienna. We have the 8 seater option, so we can do up to 3 car seats in either the 2nd or the 3rd row. We've never had an issue with a car seat being too big, either. Our 2nd son had a huge seat, too, and we were able to put it any where. It gets good gas mileage, too. I don't keep up with it, but our lifetime total is 24.6 m/g, and that includes many hours of idling while nursing two infants on extended road trips in either too hot or too cold weather. Have fun shopping!
I have a Ford Windstart minivan and I can only get 4 car seats in it. The back seat has seat belts for 3 but it is impossible to fit 3 car seats in that row. If you need to fit 5 car seats I would think you would need to look at something that is wider than a minivan such as a suburban which has seating for 6 in the back.
As a cc provider myself, we invested in a 99 Ford Expedition. I was able to fit 3 car seats in the 2nd and 3rd rows. The middle car seat in the 3rd row had to be skinnier than the other two car seats to fit. (I took a tape measure to the store and measured the carseat width to find the smallest one) We had the 99 Expedition for 3 years when we upgraded to a 05 Expedition due to the extra towing capacity it had for our camper we bought. My husband measured the 3rd row seats of many vehicles when we were looking to find out which one had the most room. He found it was the Expedition. We didn't want an Excursion, Suburban or the other model that similar to the Suburban, as they were too big to fit into our garage. I took my car seats to the dealership to install them in the Expedition before we purchased the newer model, just to make sure they fit! I am able to fit a stroller in the back, either my 2 seater or the single stroller.
