What vehicle works well for 3 rear facing car seats?

KDR1979

So, it appears that our frozen embryo has worked! I have an ultrasound on 8/25, so I am still really early.

I got an SUV when I was pregnant with the twins. My Explorer has captain's seats in the middle and a 3rd row that can seat 2. When I was pregnant with twins, I thought this SUV would accommodate a 3rd child. THEN, I actually had kids.

I am keeping my kids rear facing. At least until 3 or 40lbs. DS's head is ~95th percentile and the pediatrician recommends that I keep him rear facing as long as possible. So, the reason we got captain's seats in the middle was so that other people/kids could access the 3rd row. Well, no one is getting to the middle of my 2nd row because of my huge rear facing car seats! You can't even recline the front passenger seats. So, now I know that there is NO way I could get a child in the 3rd row of this vehicle while they are all rear facing. Also, I usually keep the 3rd row folded down so that I can easily keep my double stroller in the trunk.

Do you have a car that you love for 3 young kids? I know that a lot of my friends love their minivans (we would have bought one while pregnant, but my dad retired from Ford, so we get a discount on Ford Vehicles and they don't make minivans ) I have another friend that loves her Suburban for her family of 6. I don't think a Suburban would fit in my standard 2 car garage!

1+tripsmom

I have 3 rear facing in my Honda Odyssey. I have an older model so the captains chairs slide over so aisle is on side of car. We have 2 Rf in captain chairs one RfF in 3 rd room behind driver and 1 FF 3rd row behind passenger which is where aisle is.

BabyKsMommy

I also have a honda odyssey. I am trying to do 3 across in my middle row but I don't know it if it will. You can google 3 across in whatever car you are interested in and see what combo or car seats will work. Or you could take out a captains chair and put 2 in the third row.

With my 3rd row up I can still fit my double stroller and lots more stuff. That's actually why I went with a van opposed to an SUV. Plus the odyssey has top tethers for all 6 seats, which you won't need now for rear facing but I'm sure they will come in handy in the future.

JodiAriel

As a car seat tech I can tell you the best vehicles for families are the Honda Odyssey and Pilots.  The have lower anchors and tethers in every seating position which will give you the ability to fit either 3 across or another arrangement.  In the Odyssey you can push the captains chairs together and have a path along the passenger door to access the 3rd row

Rxmom04

We did a lot of looking around and eventually came to the conclusion that if we wanted to fit 3 kids, 2 parents and have a bit of storage room a minivan would be our best bet. Got our Honda Odyssey yesterday and I think I'm going to love it as soon as I get used to the size difference (other vehicle is a CRV).
Edited because autocorrect stinks today.

caden

Can you remove the driver's side captain chair in your explorer to reach the 2 rear facing in the 3rd row? If not get a minivan. We get a GM discount but same problem as Ford - no van. I had a Chrysler T&C because with we know people there and that discount made a new one cheaper than a used odyssey. You can easily reach the back row with a captain chair down, in the T&C. Love that van. I almost bought an odyssey. Except for the price it was great. Having the 8th seat would be nice even if you don't do 3 across right away.

chrissynena

We have a Chevy Traverse. I'm hoping that I can fit all 3 (as soon as I started reading this I started second guessing whether they will all fit together as I haven't actually tried) in the second row, that way we will still have a third row for extra people or storage. Lol at extra people.

carrotcake06

We have an Acura MDX. It's built on the same platform as the Honda Pilot. We flipped our big one FF just before the twins were born, just after he turned 3, so I don't have any experience RF 3 across.

RF car seats can be a beast, but some are narrower than others and may allow you access to the 3rd row more easily than say, two giant Britaxes would.

lynnyrd80

We got a Honda Odyssey right after our twins were born, and we love it.  Right now we have all three in the middle row in to Chicco Keyfits and a Britax Pavilion rear facing.

mrs.peeps

We have four Diono Radian RXT carseats in our Honda Odyssey.  When we became pregnant with our second set of twins we did our research and were deciding between the Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna. After test driving both we then brought all 4 carseats with us to each dealership and played around with how we would arrange all 4 seats.  By doing that we realized that for what we needed the Odyssey was the best fit.  It might be worth your time to go to the dealership with your carseats and try fitting 3 rear-facing seats to see what works best for you.  Also, you could always rent the car/suv that you think might work for a weekend to see how it works for you.  

RayRay007

JodiAriel said:

As a car seat tech I can tell you the best vehicles for families are the Honda Odyssey and Pilots.  The have lower anchors and tethers in every seating position which will give you the ability to fit either 3 across or another arrangement.  In the Odyssey you can push the captains chairs together and have a path along the passenger door to access the 3rd row

The number of LATCH is why we went with the Odyssey over any thing else. 

We don't have the twins yet but I'm thinking I will put DD FF in the middle seat in the second row and the babies on the outboard seats. Even if DD was RF, I could put her in and help her buckle up before putting in a bucket beside her. 

On the other hand, putting babies in the outboard position isn't the ideal. So I haven't quite decided yet. 

JodiAriel

RayRay007 said:

JodiAriel said:

As a car seat tech I can tell you the best vehicles for families are the Honda Odyssey and Pilots.  The have lower anchors and tethers in every seating position which will give you the ability to fit either 3 across or another arrangement.  In the Odyssey you can push the captains chairs together and have a path along the passenger door to access the 3rd row

The number of LATCH is why we went with the Odyssey over any thing else. 

We don't have the twins yet but I'm thinking I will put DD FF in the middle seat in the second row and the babies on the outboard seats. Even if DD was RF, I could put her in and help her buckle up before putting in a bucket beside her. 

On the other hand, putting babies in the outboard position isn't the ideal. So I haven't quite decided yet. 

Putting your daughter FF in the middle is actually the best option since Radians do not fit well RF in the jumpseat.  Also you are supposed to put the least protected child in the middle so that would be your DD since she is FF.