Moms of 3- minivan vs SUV

BabyBurns

I need help! Right now I drive a Ford Fusion. I know I'll need something with more room (I'm due with #3 in September.) My husband drives a Volvo SUV and offered to trade me. While I love the SUV, I wonder if the kiddos will be crowded going 3 across. I think the features of a minivan would be perfect (sliding doors, for one!)

I'd like to hear your experiences and opinions on this. Thanks in advance!

new+tothis

I have a Honda Pilot. It has a third row but it's pretty tight back there and when it is up there's virtually no cargo room. I have DS and a baby on the way. I would TOTALLY go for a minivan if I were in your shoes. I are considering a third but it will be tight. They'll be 3 across in the 2nd row. For 2 the Pilot is perfect - for 3 or more I'd go minivan all the way.

I chose a Pilot because it has a higher ground clearance than I was seeing in most of the minivans. I live in a rural area where it snows. A lot. And there are dirt roads, flooded roads, snow banks, etc. that make a higher clearance necessary. If it weren't for that I probably would have opted for a minivan.

lightgetsin

Minivan for sure.

Notwifezilla7

Minivan 

It's easy for the bigger kids to get in and out. 

EnglishMajor03

We have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and all three car seats fit back there.  There is no third row so we have a full trunk.  The car seats themselves are tight but each car seat is spacious for the child sitting in it, so having a tight squeeze wasn't really a concern.  We even have a 2002 VW Jetta that we fit all three car seats in when the jeep is being worked on.

penguingrrl

I chose a pilot when #3 was on the way. Any time I've been in a minivan I've thought shlepping into the 3rd row to buckle someone was a pain and with 3 kids I would always have to use the 3rd row. I have all 3 kids across the middle row of my pilot and am very happy with that set up because I have the entire trunk (which is huge with the 3rd row down). When we have friends or cousins it's really easy to rearrange and put up the 3rd row and put kids back there.

jensriot

Hav=Fath said:

I think people with more than 2 kids who don't own a minivan are nuts. I drive a Nissan Quest and loooooooooove it, minivans are just so smart! They can climb in & out independently, you can open all the back doors with the remote, you can lay the seats flat and haul some seriously long stuff in there! 

Hav, I want a Quest soooo bad. I get to keep my puny Mazda 5 a little longer though, sigh.

eaglesfan700

I don't have 3 yet, but all three of our seats fit across in my Chevy Trailblazer.  

We will get a new car with a 3rd row, probably next year.  It will not be a minivan.  It will be either an SUV or a crossover

alake

van!!  I am the soccer mom

MrsSparklesMcGee

I only have 1, but we have a Honda Pilot and think it would be plenty big for 3. I am anti-minivan though... ETA - prior to the Pilot, we briefly had the Volvo SUV and I HATED it. Not even enough room for my one to RF with my tall husband.

littlelamb99

Get another Beetle, BB.

Mom2Mack1

I love my minivan but I only have 2 LO's.  I agree with Penguin that it is a pain to climb to the back row to buckle & unbuckle LO's.  I've only done this a few time when friends or family traveled with us, and that was enough.

lightgetsin

As far as buckling kids in the back row, I put my older two who are able to buckle themselves in the last row and the younger ones in the front. My older kids have been able to buckle since they were 5, or earlier so realistically, are you planning to have 3 kids under age 5? If not, I don't think it's an issue.

penguingrrl

I always check everyone's belts even though the older two buckle themselves. 99% of the time it's perfect but once or twice I've caught twisted seatbelts or someone who hadn't pulled the seatbelt tight enough across their lap, so I know I'll be checking for a while yet.

outnumbered

We have a minivan.  My older two have no problems buckling themselves and have been doing it properly since they have been about 4.  When the kids were small I actually liked being able to buckle the kids from the inside of the vehicle especially when it was raining.  If it had been a problem our Odyssey's seats can have various positions.  We removed the middle seat from the second row so it was two captains seat instead of a bench.  

We had a Pilot before our minivan and it would have been fine, but I prefer the minivan.

NicoleWI

Minivan! We got an Odyssey last year and love it. I can put all three kids in the second row for now. Later we'll move one to the back. Automatic doors are awesome. The bigger kids can climb in and out on their own. The seats easily fold down or up in the back. Backup cam was a must for me. Get the rubbery floor mats, too.

Angela814

I love our minivan. The sliding doors are priceless. We have 2 rear facing and can't fit a rfing seat behind the driver, so we just took out that seat for now. DD1 is in a HBB in the 3rd row and can buckle herself in. (I do a quick visual check to make sure the belt is okay, although it's not needed 99% of the time.) DD3 is in the infant seat on the 3rd row. I step into the van to get the seat in. DD2 is rfing behind the passenger seat.

In DH's SUV, we have 3 across. HBB behind driver, infant seat in the middle, rfing convertible behind the passenger. DH can lift the infant seat over the HBB, but I have to take the booster out, put baby in, and then put the booster back.

mandymack

KateB1984 said:

I'm glad we went for a minivan. It's nice to be able to haul all three kids and still have room for the stroller and even suitcases in the back.

We have a swivel-and-go 2nd row, so I turned one chair backwards, and sit there to buckle the boys into the back row.

Power sliding doors are fantastic with 3 kids. You don't have to let go of their hands in a busy parking lot until they're inside the van because you just press the button.

@kateb1984 - SHUT UP! Chairs that turn around? Can you drive like that?!? COOL! Which minivan is this, by the way... I may need to rethink my decision

Arnegard

We have a van & a suburban. I love my suburban. I loved the van when they were little. I have my older two in the back & my LO in the middle. 3 In one row & they fight.

lexusolsen

I have only one kiddo but I have a dodge grand caravan that we bought when I was doing daycare. It's not bad for a minivan. It has stow and go storage so the back five seats fold ino the floor. When I had two daycare kids and my LO I actually put the seat behind the driver down so I could easily climb into the back to get to the daycare kids. Plus it made it very easy to change diapers or apply sunscreen.

hokiemel7

I have a Toyota Sienna and LOVE it. My life has been so much easier since purchasing the van back in May 2013. From what I've heard from most moms that I speak to, is that you don't realize how much you love the van features until you're using them every day.   

AimeeL85

TobeMrsShavers said:

KateB1984 said:

I'm glad we went for a minivan. It's nice to be able to haul all three kids and still have room for the stroller and even suitcases in the back.

We have a swivel-and-go 2nd row, so I turned one chair backwards, and sit there to buckle the boys into the back row.

Power sliding doors are fantastic with 3 kids. You don't have to let go of their hands in a busy parking lot until they're inside the van because you just press the button.

@kateb1984 - SHUT UP! Chairs that turn around? Can you drive like that?!? COOL! Which minivan is this, by the way... I may need to rethink my decision

Ummm yeah I wanna know, too!  We will be purchasing a minivan in November and this sounds like a neat feature!

We drive a GMC Acadia now and it works great for 2 kids but I definitely want a minivan next because we plan to have another.  Most of my friends are against minivans because they hate how they look - I say I have no one to impress, just want to be able to get 3 kids in and out as quickly and easily as possible!

hmd

We have a Suburban. We looked at the Volvo XC90 but the third row was not easily accessible and when up, there was no trunk. Our Suburban has captain's chairs so there is an aisle back to the third row. And it still has a full trunk.

shortstuff15

Hav=Fath said:

I think people with more than 2 kids who don't own a minivan are nuts. I drive a Nissan Quest and loooooooooove it, minivans are just so smart! They can climb in & out independently, you can open all the back doors with the remote, you can lay the seats flat and haul some seriously long stuff in there! 

Aside from opening the doors with a remote, I can do all of this with my SUV.  Including my 18 month old climbing in and out independently.  I'm a fan of the SUV, but then again we couldn't do a minivan.  We had to haul a 26 ft holiday trailer so a minivan wasn't even in the picture.

mandymack

KateB1984 said:

@ToBeMrsShavers @AimeeL85

We have a Town and Country. The 2nd row captain's chairs swivel to face backwards instead of folding into the floor (you can't have both). There's actually a little table to use if both are facing backwards too! I really like the option, but you can't put any carseats or booster seats on the seats when they're turned, so the kids can't use the seats in that position until they're just in the regular seatbelts.

On long road trips, I sit facing backwards with them for part so I can read them stories or play cards with them. It's a fun feature

Wow, that's really awesome, especially for traveling, which we do a lot of road trips!

The T&C seems so luxurious!!!