Baby Car Thread

allie456

MH has decided on an SUV with 3 rows and we are currently test driving all of them, I think (we have teenagers as well as the twins on the way so the third row really needs to seat adult sized people).

We liked the Subaru Ascent and the Kia Telluride. The Toyota Highlander and the Ford Explorer didn't have enough room in the third row. The Honda Pilot seemed ok but the dealership we went to was a ghost town, we could not find a sales person, so tbd on that. Still want to drive the VW Atlas and the Hyundai Palisade. Any thoughts (pros/cons) on any of those?

sunshinesea22

@allie456 We’re going with the Ascent!!! It has excellent ratings from Consumer reports, awesome safety features come standard, best in class gas mileage, such a smooth ride, and it’s the most affordable of the 3 rows for a brand new car. Currently own a Subaru Impreza and Subarus are just overall excellent quality. We drove the Kia Telluride but it didn’t seem like anything special, plus they are charging extra (4K here) just because they’re selling. Sat in a highlander and it just felt much smaller than the ascent, tiny 3rd row leg space. Didn’t bother with the Honda or Hyundai because they were so much more money for all the safety features, AWD, etc to get what I wanted in the car. Also if you live anywhere that it snows, definitely get AWD. It makes a huge difference in my experience.

empiricalnarwhal

I currently drive a Nissan Frontier. The backseat is a little tight so I'm hoping that I can squeeze a car seat in there....no way to tell until we get to that step and buy one so kinda have to wait it out for a bit. If we have to get a new vehicle, we will. I really like the newer SUV's, I call them the ones with the rounded butts, because they got that curve to the rear of the vehicle lol

ruby696

@sunshinesea22 Have you driven the Ascent?? How much storage space was there behind the 3rd row?! I really would prefer a mid-sized SUV, but I can't find one with enough space in the back for a double stroller and groceries. Plus, I have a lot of experience with car accidents (professionally) and I don't want something where I have to worry about the 3rd row seats being too close to the back of the car (so dangerous!). Upgrading our car has been the biggest stressor for me of this pregnancy.

Eta: I'm hoping an Ascent or an Atlas will work, otherwise I'll be driving a Suburban. 

sunshinesea22

@ruby696 Yes I’ve done 4 different test drives over the last year and a half. 1) the back storage area in any “Midsize” 3 row suv isn’t huge, but I thought it was bigger than the Toyota Highlander, maybe 18” deep but I didn’t actually measure 2) Subaru is known for their safety, it’s my #1 priority in vehicles, so I trust that a backseat occupant would be more safe in a Subaru than maybe some of the other brands 3) if you can spare to fold at least one side of the back row down, there’s a ton of extra space. It’s a 60/40 split, so if you need to put 1 kid back there you can fold one side and have plenty of room. I felt comfortable sitting in the 3rd row, so there’s decent legroom. So far we plan to buy after the new year, do not current own the Ascent, but I’m in love. I would also get feedback from @catem07 who currently drives one.

catem07

@ruby696 We don't need to keep the third row up, and didn't look at other 3-row SUVs, so my experience with the trunk space with the 3rd row up isn't much to go on. But I think unless you are getting a suburban or expedition, there's just not a lot of trunk space in those kind of cars. Maybe I'll go outside later with some empty grocery bags and see what can be done . 

ruby696

@sunshinesea22 and @catem07 Thank you both! We'll have four carseats, so I'll have to have all the seats up. I just worry that many people with three rows don't always use them that often, so it's not as big as an issue. For us, they'll be up and used daily. I'm going to take a Friday off and start test driving soon. 

shamrocandroll

@ruby696 Can YS and YD get themselves into their seats?  I assume they'll be the ones in the 3rd row?  I have the Santa Fe with 3rd row and captains chairs in the middle row, and I can't really imagine having to crawl back there to buckle a kid in.  There's space between the chairs, but it's not a ton, and definitely not with a car seat in the way.  I think having to crawl back there miiiiiight be enough to push me to a minivan... which I'm pretty against, but I do see situations like that where they make more sense.  

ruby696

@shamrocandroll They can, but I still check them. We would definitely need to do the captains chairs, and it would still be a PITA. I just can't do a minivan though. I told the sales guy at the last dealership that I felt like I was giving up on life if I bought one - not realizing that's what he had. 😬 I'm just trying to accept that I'm going to hate driving with kids for the next couple of years, regardless of what kind of car we have.

shamrocandroll

@ruby696 Hopefully you can figure out a way to check them from the back, because man... climbing around 2 infant seats to get back there... Granted, I'm tall, but still.  I don't think I'd be physically capable, haha.

rox7777

@ruby696 I’ve been anti mini van my whole life. I didn’t even want kids before DH and I met. He had a 2 year old daughter and I kind of fell in love with the idea of kids after that. Anywho, I just got a mini van. It’s the bees freaking knees. It really is. Stow n go storage is all you need to know. I can store crap in the floor. Do I need to say more? DVD player so my kids ain’t screaming in school pick up line every afternoon. My stroller, groceries and 60lb dog fit in the trunk. I can fold all the seats down and put a full size freaking mattress in there.

and it’s not nearly as hard to park as the bus. I mean suburban. 😂

ruby696

@rox7777 Parking is a really big downside with a Suburban. I'm just really pissy because I got a new Jeep in July and I WANT MY JEEP! Not going to happen. *sigh* I just texted MH and told him Expeditions should be on the table as well. We will test drive a minivan, just to be thorough, but I just can't picture driving one.

rox7777

@ruby696 I really couldn’t picture myself driving one either. But I’m so comfy in it. So much room compared to everything else I’ve driven. Parking was a huge deal for me because we live in ATL and I spend a lot of time in parking garages.

I did test drive the expedition. But I was soooo huge. I couldn’t handle it. I made MH promise that my next vehicle is the Mercedes SUV I’ve been eyeing since I finished college. For now I’ve resigned myself to official soccer mom status. I’ll be cool  again in a decade. 

Austenista

When we got our van I feel like my life really begun. Shoutout to those sliding doors making it so much easier to park anywhere. I had a Honda Pilot before and “no regrats” for upgrading to our Pacifica. 

ruby696

This sounds really superficial, but part of my issue is the image. I'm am attorney and it's hard enough to get some men to take you seriously - the last thing I need to do is to pull up in a minivan. It shouldn't be like that, but a lot of times it is.

rox7777

@ruby696 You need a work car and a kid
car. 😂 If I go anywhere without the kids and MH is home, I take his cool corolla. Dude is about to have 4 kids and still has blacked out windows and rims. And I’m over here bee bopping around town with the wiggles blaring. 

shamrocandroll

@ruby696 Make the minivan YH's daily driver!    Isn't he in law enforcement or something similar?  Because that mental image is the best.

shamrocandroll

@ruby696

ruby696

@shamrocandroll 😂😂😂 He is dead set against a minivan, so that is never happening. Plus, his off duty vehicle is a 1999 truck that is super battered and a stick, and he loves it. It also seats six - so it's going nowhere. I can drive it, but I don't plan to.

Also, I saw a guy in a black minivan this weekend with a license plate that said DADVAN. Dude, I'm glad you've embraced it, but getting a black one and putting personalized plates on it does not make it cool!

rox7777

@ruby696 I think of my mini van like I think of leggings, ugg boots and greasy mom buns. Not cool, slightly unfortunate, but oh so freaking comfortable. 

mokay19

I wanted a minivan when I was younger... now I don’t. I get that they’re super practical and my dad is obsessed with them haha. But.... I’m team SUV now!

allie456

MH will not get a minivan (hence the SUV test drives) but I'm resigned. not until the spring though, I want to avoid that second car payment as long as I can.

@ruby696 that is a great point about the shallow storage area in the back. I drive a Mazda 5 now (they don't make them anymore, basically a mini-minivan) and we were rear ended a couple of years ago while my daughter and stepdaughter were in the third row. The car that hit us was going less than 20mph and my daughter wound up with a concussion that affected her for months. I shudder to think what would have happened if the collision had been at a greater speed.

pirateduck

I think when deciding between a minivan and an SUV you have to think about your vehicle needs other than hauling your kids (and their stuff) around.  What OTHER features are important for your lifestyle.  Do you need good gas milage, 4WD, high clearance, highway vs off-road handling, does it snow where you live, are your roads paved, do you need towing capacity, etc.??? 

catem07

@pirateduck Yeah, I think the only AWD mini-van is the Sienna. 

pirateduck

I’ve seen a lot of people mention a second car payment and also want to mention maybe one of your deciding factors should be price, what can you find used that you can buy outright and avoid a car payment when you have the huge unknown expense of another child coming up (as well as medical bills associated with pregnancy and birth).  I have only ever owned one vehicle I had to make payments on and have a financial wellness goal to never have to make car payments again.  Repairs on a used car annually are still cheaper than payments on a new car in my experience.  Why spend all that money on a vehicle you are only planning on driving a few years until the car seats go away?  I’ve considered getting a new to me car, but have a budget that would avoid a car payment and have been searching used.

rox7777

@pirateduck I have two vehicles and no car payments because it was the only way to live in a major city and remain a SAHM. However, MH is a mechanic and I can tell you if he didn’t do all the work on our cars it would cost us a small fortune. 

ruby696

@rox7777 Same. Well kind of. MH's dad was a mechanic and the boys all grew up working on cars. We've never had to take a car in for service and it's so nice. We only have one car payment, but it's probably going to be fairly big. Since we just bough the Jeep, we don't have enough equity in it for a down payment when we trade it in. 

pirateduck

@rox7777 and @ruby696 having someone trusted (and affordable) to work on cars is a blessing!  For once in my life I feel like I finally have a good mechanic who is not a ripoff and always has time in his schedule.  He's semi-retired and works out of his house which is conveniently between my house and my work.  @ruby696 You might be able to get more for your Jeep if you do a private party sale or work with an Auto Broker instead of a dealer trade in.  Even if you are still making payments you can do a private party sale.  You just have to talk to your lender first and the private party essentially has to pay off your lender and then they send the new person the title instead of you.

ruby696

@pirateduck We thought about that, but my car is pretty expensive and I don't know that it's worth going to the trouble of trying to sell it to someone who has to get financing, and then for me to pay off the balance of my loan, if there is one. I'd rather just trade it in and either pay off the balance or roll it over. There's no chance that a third party would pay enough for us to make money.

sunshinesea22

Put our deposit down and ordered our Subaru Ascent! I’m so excited!! MH is mourning the near future loss of his bachelor truck 😂 

allie456

Reviving this thread to say that I think I'm going to want to actually buy a car in February. I think I should get a minivan.

I live in the Northeast where it snows, but I'm  not in crazy mountain situations like Colorado or Vermont. The only AWD minivan is the Toyota Sienna.

Question is, how much does AWD matter? Would you only consider a car with it in this situation?

m6agua

@allie456
I live in WI and have an SUV without AWD. It was going to be like $4K more to get it and at the time I didn't think it was worth it. My reasoning was that I drive mostly highway to work and they always plow that first, it is easy to drive for conditions, and if their is ice AWD will not matter. I also don't do any off roading really so I didn't need it for that. I do go hunting and occasionally drive a little into the fields, but usually the ground is frozen and I'm driving in the driveway/lane and not on the actual field. I've had my vehicle since 2013 and I've had no issues so far.

catem07

@allie456 Do you have one car in your household with AWD? If so, I don't think it's necessary for your other car to have it. We live in Maine and have one AWD car (Subaru Ascent) and one not (Pruis V). We don't have snow tires on the Prius, but maybe we'll buy them at some point. 

m6agua

@catem07 @allie456 That is a good point. I do plan on getting snow tires for next winter and beyond, so I would always switch the tires for the 2 seasons (winter, and everything else).

bananapanda

We have a chevy traverse which I am very happy with, but lately a lot of my mom friends on FB are getting mini vans and raving about them, and I'm honestly considering it.  I just don't know if I can quite pull the trigger because I have been so against it for so long lol.  But I did trade in my brand new camaro ss for a traverse after DD1 was born so it's already a stretch for me.  On the other hand....those sliding doors...stow and go seat.....so dreamy.  I think someone mentioned it on here but I saw a pic on FB that really drove it home about putting a captain seat down in the middle and putting one kid in the back and one in the middle and then being able to be inside the car buckling them down in the winter or rain would be so nice.  And having a place to put DD1 while I'm dealing with DD2 so I don't have to worry about her running off in a parking lot....oh man, I thought this day would never come but I am so tempted lol

pirateduck

@allie456 good tires go a long way, a set of winter tires that you put on each season are worth it, with or without AWD.  Also consider AWD will usually use more gas all the time, it's not like 4WD where you can turn it on and off.  You are the best judge of how much winter driving you typically do.  If it's a snow day, do you live somewhere you'd more likely just be home anyway, or is it business as usual and you are out in it?  Just some things to think about.

shamrocandroll

@allie456 It definitely depends on your specific area.  When I lived in the Boston suburbs, I was always able to get away with just front wheel drive and all season tires.  Now I live in rural NH, where the roads aren't plowed as frequently and there are a lot more hills and windy roads.  So for me, AWD *and* snow tires are both a necessity.  These two places are only 2.5 hours apart, but it made a huge difference in my case.  I have a friend here who has the Honda Odyssey minivan with snow tires and she can generally get around in it okay, but they have a second car with AWD for the really bad days.  She's highly considering trading it in for the AWD Toyota option.  

sunshinesea22

I live in southeast PA, so winter is hit or miss here, but with my job, I have to be on the road no matter what unless it’s like state of emergency situation. I just got the Subaru Ascent, AWD comes standard and it’s the top safety/quality rated in the midsize suv group. Depending on your “must have” features, I found the Ascent to be much more affordable than any of the competition when equally equipped. Subaru is the only SUV that comes with AWD standard, no 4K extra and the starting point is the same as the competition. Also, gas mileage is best in class. We had some snow over the weekend and I was out and about with no issues while others were sliding around.

soprano19

We’re saving for an Ascent right now and you ladies are making me so antsy to actually get it!

pourmeanothermocktail

@bananapanda OK, so bear with me. My first car was a 2 seater sports car. My second was a pickup, that only lasted for 2 years (I do miss it!) but I ended up needing to commute 35 miles one way, and that was the first summer gas got past $5/gallon. My next car, stupid me, but fun, was a 2 seater convertible. Turbo. SO MUCH FREAKING FUN. My husband's car when we got together was his parents old Plymouth Voyager...it was old and smelly and falling apart and seriously not cool.

So we sold his van and bought a Chevy Cruze thinking it would be my mom car (cheap, and from family), and kept the convertible because I'd had it for years and it was paid off and I loved it. He drove it to work for 2 years, I drove it on the weekends. But the Cruze really doesn't fit rear facing convertible seats with leg room up front. So when number 2 came along with number 1 still rear facing, we had to sell my convertible (MY BABY!) and we got a Traverse. We almost always have third row up, and there's space for double stroller and some groceries at the same time. It's more space behind the third row than the Tahoe, less than suburban, but much easier to park (plus cheaper!). We live in rural-ish Northern Illinois, halfway between Chicago and nowhere. AWD was super important to me because while my town is awesome at plowing, there are cornfields in most directions out of town, and town just isn't very big. FWD doesn't cut it, as things don't close often, so you go out in the snow. 

We also did captains chairs so third row access isn't too bad at all, as long as you don't have rear facing seats in both captains chairs! Sliding doors might be nice, but not as a sacrifice to everything else. Plus I have two sun roofs, so I feel less uncool. We got it used, but super low miles, so didn't pay too much. 

Our captains chairs without a car seat in them floe almost flat against front seats, so still super easy to load if you have one empty captains seat. We're debating whether we'll remove one or just leave it folded forward when number three gets here. 

@allie456 I could do twins with my two older kids, I'd just need to put oldest in a front facing position in captains chair, and then figure out whether to put both infants in back and leave toddler in other captains or infants one in each row. Either way, it would work.