3rd Trimester

If you have 3rd row SUV or minivan ...

What do you recommend?  Baby #3 will be here in a couple of days and we have not decided what direction to go with our main vehicle.  We have a Toyota Camry that does not fit three carseats in the back because of the design of the seat.  My husband has a newer Ford truck and that is more than spacious for the seats, but obviously doesn't have the cargo space if we go shopping, etc.  We want to have something by the time I go back to work .. so what do you have that you would recommend?

thanks!

Re: If you have 3rd row SUV or minivan ...

  • My DH and I were just talking about 3rd row cars today. His favorite are the Sienna or the Honda Piolet. He's in the auto industry and does not typically see problems with either of these vehicles.
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  • We just got a Toyota Sienne LE a few days ago....so far we LOVE it! Nothing fancy, just a few basic features like the power sliding doors (LOVE!), backup cam, DVD player, etc. We plan on having it for a long time, and I'm so glad we went the minivan route.
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  • I have a Chrysler Town & Country and I love it. So far, we have only used the back row of seats for when we are visiting family, because right now there are only 3 of us, but it has plenty of cargo room, with the seats up or down and it is really comfortable.  We would like to have at least 3 kids and plan on keeping the van for as long as we can!
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  • We have a 2011 Sienna LE and love it. I have not used it with the 3rd row for child seating, but it is an awesome car. They made a lot of upgrades for the 2011 model. There is only 1 usable tether anchor in the 3rd row if this is important to you. Also, you can only fit 2 car seats in the middle row, even if you have the middle seat installed. Just FYI. Works for us!
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  • I love our town and country.  We got ours with all the amenities for less than the base models of the Sienna's or Honda's.  And believe me, the amenities are worth a lot.  I have a 5yo and 2yo and having 2 DVD players is a huge bonus.  So are the heated seats in the winter.  I like that ds is going to be able to make the back seat all his own.  
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  • DH just got a Dodge Durango. It's a rather spacious 7 seater. I would never consider a minivan. I'm allergic to those things.
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  • definitely a mini-van!  We have a Pilot and an Odyssey.  I assume you'll have the third row up with all the car seats and it's very hard to access that row plus the trunk isn't that big with the 3rd row up.  The Odyssey is much more spacious!! 
  • I have a Toyota Highlander with third row seat.  I've never used the third row seat because we're expecting our first, but...It has one. I love my highlander though :)
  • Another Sienna owner here.  We're actually on our 3rd Toyota van (in 11 years....)  We have a philosophy of only buying the body style before the current new one, if that makes sense.  Saves a ton of money.  We also tend to buy around 100,000 miles and go cheap because we've always been able to easily get 250,000 miles out of them without any major repairs.  Our current van is a 1999, fully loaded, leather, etc.  We've had it 4 years, I think.  It currently has 170,000 miles on it and we figure we can get another 4 or 5 years out of it.  (I'm a SAHM so these are the sacrifices we make :)

    Personally, I wouldn't buy an SUV with young children because of the swinging doors.  I HATE driving my kiddos around in our other car (a Toyota Matrix) because I worry so much about them swinging the door open too far and wacking other cars.  Seems like a minor thing, but I LOVE having sliding doors... with a 6, 5, and 3 year old, it's just one less thing to worry about. 

  • We have a ford expedition.  We traded my husbands car in, and he did not want to be driving a van around. We test drove a bunch of different vehicles and loved the used ford expedition we found. We got a great deal on it - it has a 3rd row of seats that fold down and tons of room.
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  • We have a Honda Pilot and LOVE it. I don't know about others (am sure lots of SUVs have the 3rd row seat option). My sister has a mini van and loves it, but that's not my style :)
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  • We just bought a Volkswagen Touareg. This is my second VW and honestly the best cars I've owned. I love it! While it doesn't have a third row, it has a surprisingly large backseat. The Routan is VW's minivan and has a nice interior... but DH and I did not want a minivan so that wasn't even an option.
    Married 02.06.10
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  • if you look at interior designs of vehicles there are many people who can fit 3 car seats in the back. it depends on the car seats too. 
  • I wasn't ready for a mini-van (first kid, 24 years old!) but, i definitely wanted something that we wouldn't have to upgrade in the next few years.

    We went with a Mazda CX-9 and LOVE it. The third row seats normal sized adults too. You don't have to be a toddler to fit back there. It has great safety ratings and we are extremely happy with our purchase. 
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  • We have a Chevy Traverse.  It has a lot of leg room in the third row, which is one reason we choose it and I also didn't want to get a mini van.  The only downside is that the back area (trunk area) is small when the third row is up.  Other than that I like everyhting else about it. 
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  • We have a Chrysler Pacifica. I have been very happy with it for the last 2 years. That said, I am nervous about it with baby #3 coming. My 5 year old will sit in the third row because he can buckle himself in. I hope he is comfortable back there. The leg room is minimal. If I had to do it all over again- I would've gotten a minivan. The Pacifica is great for 2 kids, but might not cut it for 3. We shall see.... GL!
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  • I would go with a van. I drive a 7 passenger Subaru Tribeca and I wouldn't put a car seat in the third row (I don't even think it's recommended). My sister has a GMC Yukon and three kids (9 mo twins and a 2.5 yo). She has to crawl through the back hatch to put her oldest in her car seat. Such a mess - and she has zero space to store things.
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  • We have a GMC Yukon with a third row. I like it, though when the third row is down there is not a lot of room for anything else behind it. If you have more than 2 kids I would get the XL version instead of the regular Yukon. I'm the same way as some of the other PP's I just don't see myself in a minivan.....though I know they are very practical!
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  • I have a Cadillac Escalade ESV--so it's got the 3 rows, but then the cargo area in the back is the extended version.  I love it and I love it being higher up to help save my back :)
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  • You can't beat a mini-van for the accessibility to the third row (for buckling in kids), the features (sliding doors - come on, those things are awesome!), potential stow 'n go for extra storage, and cargo space.       We have 3 kids and a Dodge Grand Caravan.   I recommend that whatever you get, get bucket seats in the second row - it makes it so easy to get to the third row.    It's also handy having the space in the middle to change diapers on the road (while the vehicle is stopped, of course).  We paid about the same as a base model of Honda or Toyota mini-van, but ours is loaded.  

    I cried the day we ordered it, because I was one of those who thought I would NEVER drive a mini-van.    But, I'm reformed and revolutionizing cool. 

  • We just traded our Chevy Equinox in last week for a Town and Country minivan.  We looked at the Traverse but didn't like the small amount of space in the back with the third row of seats in use.  (We are a GM family and get the GM discount on new vehicles but we went with the Town and Country because we liked it the best... even without the discount since we bought a used model.)   This van is pretty awesome and I've never been one to care about cars or what people think of my car, but it is pretty amazing.  Ours has leather and heated seats, the dual sliding doors, built in GPS, and even the lift gate is remote controlled from my key fob.  LOVE IT!
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  • I love, LOVE the Chevy Traverse!

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  • We have a Toyota Camry and bought a 2011 Honda Odyssey end of last year. I was debating between a suv and mini and decided to go the mini van route because mini van's are not higher off the ground therefore more spacious inside. The mini van's sliding door is good like pp said vs the swinging door. We got the DVD player but didn't get the navigation system.  The Odyssey has 5 places where you can put full size car seats, 3 in the middle and 2 in the back.
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  • I have a buick rendezvous, and It's wonderful. From the sound of your post you would have to see if all three carseats would fit in the second row seat though, you really only have cargo space if the third row seat is folded.
  • We bought a used van (2003 Ford Windstar...I don't even know if they make them anymore!) and I'd say it has enough room for a 3rd row carseat. I wouldn't try to get the rear-facing back there, but there'd be room.

    One thing that you have to consider is, if you have a double-stroller, a lot of vans won't have enough 'trunk' space to fit it unless the 3rd row is stowed, which you obviously can't do if you're using it. I have a friend who never considered this, and she has a lot of trouble with it, and wishes she had have bought an extended version of her minivan instead. The Ford Windstar is big enough for our double without doing anything to the 3rd row.

  • We just bought a 2011 Honda Odyessey and we absolutely love it! The power doors and trunk are amazing and it is sooo easy to get in and out of it.  It drives really well also.  We plan on having it for a while so we went ahead and got leather, sunroof, backup camera, dvd player, etc. I would definitely recommend a van!
  • imageHollygirl7:

    We bought a used van (2003 Ford Windstar...I don't even know if they make them anymore!) and I'd say it has enough room for a 3rd row carseat. I wouldn't try to get the rear-facing back there, but there'd be room.

    One thing that you have to consider is, if you have a double-stroller, a lot of vans won't have enough 'trunk' space to fit it unless the 3rd row is stowed, which you obviously can't do if you're using it. I have a friend who never considered this, and she has a lot of trouble with it, and wishes she had have bought an extended version of her minivan instead. The Ford Windstar is big enough for our double without doing anything to the 3rd row.

    I like our mini-van Dodge Grand Caravan) because it fits our double stroller plus cargo space.      Our third row fits DD#1's carseat and then part of the bench folds down.    That's wear the double stroller goes and the rest of the trunk has loads of room for cargo - it's also a deep trunk...... So, OP if you have a double stroller, try to find a vehicle where the third row can be split.....

  • imagellamakins:
    We have a 2011 Sienna LE and love it. I have not used it with the 3rd row for child seating, but it is an awesome car. They made a lot of upgrades for the 2011 model. There is only 1 usable tether anchor in the 3rd row if this is important to you. Also, you can only fit 2 car seats in the middle row, even if you have the middle seat installed. Just FYI. Works for us!

    Really?  I have a sienna and can easily fit three Britax carsets in my middle row... hmmm

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    Ezra - 12.1.11 ASD
  • imageNewMrs52106:
    We have a Honda Pilot and LOVE it. I don't know about others (am sure lots of SUVs have the 3rd row seat option). My sister has a mini van and loves it, but that's not my style :)

    This.  We love our honda pilot too!

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