If you'll have 3 car seats in a cold area

sasky

What do you drive? If you live in a climate with shitty weather, how does it handle?

The lack of AWD in mini-vans is killing me. Apparently it's only available in higher end models of the Sienna, which is likely going to be above our budget. I know many people swear by minivans and that was originally our intention, but the handling in rough weather worries me.

Despite growing up in the Boston area, I am super nervous driving in snow and slippery conditions. Even with our current AWD SUV. We also live on a hill and I've seen cars get stuck trying to get up. And we travel to the mountains a couple of times in the winter.

When we were looking at the Nissan Quest, the guy pointed us toward the Pathfinder for the AWD option. We didn't get a chance to check it out fully but it looks like it could be an option. One thing that worries me is that there's less storage. But we'd have to take a closer look at that (it was locked).

Any recommendations?

carrotcake06

We have a Subaru Forester and an Acura MDX. Both have AWD and do great in the snow.

The Subaru we bought new and the Acura we bought used off a lease. You could also look into the Honda Pilot. I can't remember if it's the pathfinder, but one of the full size SUVs has a really weird middle seat in the second row that makes putting 3 across pretty much impossible.

24karat

I drive a Dodge Caravan and it handles fine in the snow here in rural NE. Obviously it'd be nice to have AWD (in laws live at the top of one off the steepest roads in the region) but it works.

mommaoftrips

I am in Canada - have a suburban - it's amazing!

JAck5209

We have a Honda Pilot with two infant seats and a convertible car seat across the back. The current three seats fit nicely but I'm not sure what we 'll do when we need three convertibles. I don't know how we'll buckle in the middle child. I don't want to get rid of the Pilot because it handles so well in the Ohio snow and ice.

Kohler2009

I live in PA and just bought a Ford Expedition EL in January. It's a monster but I feel so safe in it during the icky weather. And we got the configuration with two buckets in the second row so the third row is ver accessible. This summer, we will have a convertible car seat behind the driver and the an infant seat in the other bucket seat and one in the third row. DH wanted me to get a mini van but the only one with AWD, like you said, is the Sienna, and while it was a nice vehicle, I am just not a mini van person.

whitehousem

JAck5209 said:

We have a Honda Pilot with two infant seats and a convertible car seat across the back. The current three seats fit nicely but I'm not sure what we 'll do when we need three convertibles. I don't know how we'll buckle in the middle child. I don't want to get rid of the Pilot because it handles so well in the Ohio snow and ice.

We just got the Pilot. It will fit three across the second row, is 4WD, and we got a good price on a lease (negotiated a lot!). We love it! We got the Diono Radian for DD (loved her Britax but this fits better with two infant seats) and those will fit three across. We went to Nissan and they tried to sell us on the Pathfinder but there was NO way three seats were going to to fit across... It's pretty small IMO.

TheDairyQueenx3

We live up near the Canadian boarder and DH has a jeep commander and all three car seats fit beautifully plus lots of room if we fold the third row down for our oldest sons hockey bag and the double stroller. We just got rid of our old suburban and are purchasing a new one this summer. Since our old one handled so well in the snow. Both drive great in the icy snow covered roads here.

mer313131

How do you guys like the 3 seats across? Is it really hard to get the middle one out ? How do you have them arranged?

mommaoftrips

mer313131 said:

How do you guys like the 3 seats across? Is it really hard to get the middle one out ? How do you have them arranged?

I have 3 across and have had no issues with the middle seat with the click-in car seat or now the convertible (my LOs are still rear facing). However, I am tall and actually appreciate not having to bend down like with a car or a van because the giant SUV is the perfect height.

mer313131

JAck5209 said:

We have a Honda Pilot with two infant seats and a convertible car seat across the back. The current three seats fit nicely but I'm not sure what we 'll do when we need three convertibles. I don't know how we'll buckle in the middle child. I don't want to get rid of the Pilot because it handles so well in the Ohio snow and ice.

@jack5209 What do you mean you're not sure how you will buckle in the third convertible? Is it awkward to get to? My first thought would be to have the twins on opposite sides RF and the oldest FF in the middle...but I have no experience.

whitehousem

I should add that we got the running boards on our Pilot specifically so I can step up on them and get kids into the second row. I'm only 5'1 so it would be really hard to get my toddler into the middle without them.

steidla

We just got an '09 Sienna AWD a few weeks ago, and I'm loving it. We have the captain's chairs positioned on one side and in the middle, so it's really easy to access the back seat. I am not an image person with cars, so I don't mind having a van.