2nd Trimester
Zippydoo
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Anyone here on 2nd child and need to buy a new vehicle?
Zippydoo
member
I have a Saturn Ion here and the back seat is so scrunchy and there is no way we can place 2 car seats back there, so we have to buy a new vehicle. I want an SUV. We like Suburu Forresters and Hyundai Tuscon and Santa Fe's. Any recommendations?
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Re: Anyone here on 2nd child and need to buy a new vehicle?
We needed to do this as well! We drove a Hyundai Santa Fe along with ALLOT of other crossover's. The Santa Fe was our favorite and it had great reviews and quality checks. If my first son was more of an average size we would have gone for it in a heart beat. We ended up with something bigger since my son is 13 and 6'3" and still growing! A dodge Grand Caravan which I love!
Happy shopping!
You don't *have* to buy a new vehicle, you *want* to buy a new vehicle.
Plenty of people fit two carseats in cars that size and smaller.
You probably can fit two seat in your car if you buy the right seats (diono radian and clek foonf are the narrowest, lowest profile seats on the market and also have among the tallest shells, which translates to longevity since kids outgrow seats for height long before weight). I had two rear facing in my VW beetle for a long time then one FF one RF until this summer (actually there still are seats for each in it). We didn't get a bigger/second car until this summer, when my kids were 5 and 3 and we're expecting #3 (and a beetle only has four seatbelts, so we're officially outgrowing it... it's our second car now).
The smaller SUVs are all actually the same as a sedan as far as passenger space, so you'll get a bit more storage (they're the same as a sedan but with a wagon-style back and raised up to not look like that) but you will not gain passenger space trading up to one of those. When they were new the CRV was built on a civic platform and the rav4 was a corolla. Not positive if it's still the truth (if not they may be built on mid-size sedan platforms now), but it's a myth that those cars offer more passenger space than sedans. They're cute cars, nothing wrong with them, but they are no bigger than a sedan.
No..... but we're on our 6th child and have to buy a new vehicle. LOL
We have a Chrysler Town & Country right now which only seats 7. 2 captain chairs in front, 2 in back, and a bench in the back. We're totally maxed out.
We're getting an 8 passenger GMC Acadia after the first of the year.
We bought an Acadia back in November and love it- we're only on #2 right now so it was a want of mine
not a need but it's great for carting around lots of people and stuff. It still has a good amount of storage in the back behind the 3rd seat where I've noticed with a lot of cars you either get the seating or the storage, not both; I didn't realize (until the salesman told me) that Acadia's are bigger than Tahoe's.
My mom passed her Subaru Forrester (this was her 2nd one) on to me with 70,000 miles. I LOVE IT!!!! We have a 75 pound dog and travel quite a bit. It's going to be tight with 2 kids and the dog, but it will still work. If we didn't have the dog, this would be a fabulous car for a family of 4. I love my car so much, we're going to get the luggage container for the top of the car so we can continue to keep the car.
There aren't many used Forresters out there because everyone keeps them for so long! They are the best! My mom upgraded to the the new Subaru Outback which is a little bit bigger. That would be the ideal size for us, but I think a Forrester would work for 2 parents and 2 kids. My BFF has one too and has 2 kids.
Only on my first, but we just bought a new car for baby; I owned an old 2 door SUV, not practical.
We were looking at the Ford Escape and Hyundai Tuscon. Ended up getting a Hyundai Santa Fe. So far I love it!. I liked the Tuscon, but it wasn't as spacious as i was used to. We got a 2 year old vehicle with all the bells and whistles.
good luck!
I like the Forresters and CRVs so far in my search. But, the CRV and other small SUVs are going to give you the same amount of backseat room as an Ion, pretty much. Good luck on your search.
I have a Tucson and we are looking into turning in earlier for a bigger model. The infant carsear will make it hard for my H to sit comfortabley when we visit family and other long drives. I also won't be able to hope back there like I did with DS. So, although I love my car, I wouldn't recommend for 2 plus. It's doable, but if you can go a bit bigger I'd say do that! GL!
Married: 05/14/2011
DS Was Born: 02/10/2013
EDD: 10/19/2015
Katie Talks About...
If OP wants a new car- great, don't give her a hard time about IF she should get one... I drove a Honda Civic until DD was 2, DH couldn't ride in my car if she was in the car because the carseat was too big in the back. We used DH's truck as our family car but he drives it back and forth to construction worksites and it's filthy. We couldn't have put two carseats in the backseat of the Honda and have DH ride with us (he's 6'-5" and could barely ride in the car with the seat all the way back). People automatically jump to assumptions that they know the whole situation- if OP thinks it won't work for her then it won't, end of story. OP's post was for car recommendations, not for people to tell her she doesn't need a new car...
BTW- I drove either a Tuscon or a Santa Fe for about three months last year as a rental (work relocation) and it was nice. (I can't remember which one, it only had one set of rear seats). Plenty of room for the three of us and all of our gear, the weekly airport visits with all the luggage, stroller, etc. that you need for an 18 month old.
Well Said! It's not like the original poster asked for your advice on if she should get a new car...
I asked a similar question on Parenting yesterday...maybe you can get some ideas here!
https://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/69539100.aspx
Preach! The hormones on the bump wow me sometimes. All they want to do is hate, hate, hate.
Preach! The hormones on the bump wow me sometimes. All they want to do is hate, hate, hate.
Picking up our new SUV tomorrow. I am getting rid of my Jeep Grand Cherokee for the New Dodge Durango. We needed to get rid of my Jeep because we are moving out of the country and my Leasing company wouldn't allow us to take it with us.
I wanted a 3 row suv for a few reasons:1. just incase we decide to have a third while we are out of the country 2. because I like to sit in the back and take care of my LO on long car rides..soon to be 2 babies 3. I don't nurse in public and there will be room for me to nurse in the back even with 2 car seats.
I looked at the honda pilot, gmc arcadia, buick enclave, and the durango. I liked the pilot until I saw how much easier it would be to access the third row with captains chairs in the second row. The pilot doesn't offer 2nd row captains chairs. Liked how you can fold down the 3rd row seat 40/60 in the arcadia and enclave and get captains chairs. The durango has the captains chairs but the 3rd row only folds 50/50. In the end I picked the durango because I could get captains chairs and more bells and whistles for my money.
I have a Honda Civic right now, and with a toddler and an infant, it's going to be cramped. FI had rented a Santa Fe when his car was in the shop, and we LOVED IT! When it's time to get a new car, we are definitely getting a Santa Fe.
For what it's worth we love our Subaru Forester! It's a great car!
We travel a lot and didn't want to cram all of our stuff in a small trunk, so we bought a Dodge Grand Caravan. We absolutely love it. We won't need to upgrade our car again unless something crazy happens and kid #3 is triplets or something. lol
Mini van haters gonna hate. ;-)
Ginny DX 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
Charlie DX Specific Antibody Deficiency & ASD
Yes, a pregnant woman can't POSSIBLY have an actual strong opinion - it must just be hormones! Tee hee, we women are so silly with our preggo hormones and all!
I just roll my eyes at the attitude that OMG I HAVE to have a giant SUV that takes up tons of space because I can't possibly have anything less than 10 feet of leg room inside my car, and I need to be able to put tons of crap in it. You don't *need* a giant car, you just want one. Own it.
Trying to find room to place groceries and other things with a stroller in the trunk and besides the car seat is very scrunchy and when you are tall it doesn't help either. I have sat in the back seat before next to the car seat, not very comfortable. I couldn't imagine with another baby.