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Two Under 2
Minivans
in Two Under 2
What do you have (year, make, model) and do you love it? Why or why not?
I don't want a gigantic SUV but I do want at least three kids plus we have two 60 lb dogs.
We have a 2010 Suburu Forester right now and, since I have a tall husband, it's not going to work for us with two rear facing car seats.
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Re: Minivans
Im wondering the same thing, cept I have a strong dislike for minivans and prefer SUVs... we want 3 kids, but no dogs. I find myself having to sit beside DD in the back fairly often, so I don't want to have 3 kids in 1 row.
We've been looking at the Chevy Orlando (avail in Canada only, but seems like the best deal for the $$), Dodge Journey, and most recently, the Toyota Highlander.
I have a 2000 Toyota Sienna and I do love it. I went from a 2-door car (with an infant bucket seat--miserable) to a van with sliding doors, and it was amazing. The newer models have a lot of nice features, but our van works for what we need now. I do love the cargo space!
Before this, I had a 2002 (?) Chrysler Voyager that I also really liked. I rented a new Chrysler van (not sure of the model) and it was incredible--just because of all of the features the older vans don't have!
BFP #1 9/7/10, EDD 5/14/11, Violet born 5/27/11.
BFP #2 4/9/12, EDD 12/16/12, M/C Rory 4/24/12.
BFP #3 10/6/12, EDD 6/16/12., Matilda born 6/17/13.
What I don't love about it is that it's a minivan...I really struggled with the idea of this and I still feel a little bit of a stigma. But the pros of it totally outweighed that feeling and I'm happy with our decision. Some things I love about it so far:
power sliding doors
3rd row seats power fold with the touch of a button
backup cam/sonar sensor... I was really nervous at the idea of going from a small crossover SUV to a minivan which feels so large to me, but I find I can park it and back it up with no difficulty with these features
built in sun shades that cover the entire expanse of the side windows
Some features I know I'll appreciate in the future but don't really affect me now are items like the built in DVDs. With DS1 rear facing for close to another year, I won't be able to use that anytime soon but I know it will come in handy, as will the millions of compartments and cup holders that are all over this thing.
I also like that it drives very similarly to the two Lexus and two Toyota vehicles I've driven in the past. It's the same nav system, trim look, steering wheel, console layout, smooth drive, etc that I am familiar with I'm surprised by how much little things like this ended up mattering to me.
One thing I don't love is that it's slightly lower to the ground so I have to bend over more to change a diaper on the floor of the cargo space. But I've also found that a good alternative is that if I have the 3rd to seats up I can just climb back there with DS and sit on the bench next to him to change his diaper.
Overall, I feel like the minivan gives us tons of space, options, and little conveniences that we didn't have before and I know we will appreciate even more once DS2 arrives. We drove it to a zoo about an hour from home this weekend. We put the 3rd row seat down and with the rear door open DH, DS and my big pregnant self all climbed back there and had a big picnic with plenty of room to sprawl.
We want 3 kids too and we have 2 big dogs and honestly I just don't see how a minivan is going to fit everyone, the dogs and all their gear for trips (we take a lot of road trips) so I think we are going with a Suburban or Yukon XL.
Can someone tell me how on earth you pack a double stroller, all your stuff, PNP, etc for a trip in the back of a minivan? Maybe I am missing something.
Most minivan's have more cubic space than a suburban (I'd like to say all, but I haven't seen every minivan on the market). The suburban LOOKS bigger, but when you do the actual interior space comparison (minivans cabin space is "taller" than a suburban) you can really see the difference in capacity. I can manage to pack all 7 of us, 2 double strollers (BC city select and BJ summit) and clothes for our week vacation we take to the beach every year. If I need extra room we have one of those roof rack bags that hold a ton of stuff, but we only needed to use that once (we needed to pack groceries for the week as well, so the food got to stay in the van, and the bags got booted to the roof.
Right now we have a 2003 Honda Odyssey and we love it. We are looking at a Nissan NY (it's a 12 passenger) because right now all our "seats" are full and I'd like to have room to take friends/family with us without having to take separate cars.
I'll definitely check that out. I am open minded the conveniences of a minivan but I am a bit naive.
We just got a 2007 Honda Odyssey touring...I am beyond in love with it. We plan on having four kids and this will grow with us, it can fit up to 8. This model has a Nav, back up camera, sensors, stow and go seating and storage, automatic doors and liftgate. The trunk space is really nice and fits my city mini and graco snap and go with plenty of room.
Since the back seats fold down, you could definitely fit dogs back there.
2010 Honda Odyssey LX woot woot
love - leather seats, comfortable extra seating, ac in the back, cargo space, remote door access
don't love/hate - super weak ac system in the front (the back is super powerful and comfy, though), I have two in the middle and one in the back. With two seats upfront in any configuration I still could not fir Graco carrier in the very back. We chose this configuration based on our guilt of having 3 under 3. We could have put baby in 2nd row but we felt like that was unfair and would make our children begrudge us for having so many children. So instead I put DD in through the back... it worked but I got a lot of dirty stares in the store parking lots b/c people thought I was stashing my baby in the trunk.
Wow, that hate part is long, but truth be told: WeLOVEit!!!!! DH says "I hate walking to it in the parking lot, but I love driving away in it" plus we are warm... it has seat warmers
Have you tried taking out the captains chair on the passenger side? We put baby right behind the driver, and the two older ones on either side in the third row (when we had 4 we put the three oldest across the back). Having the seat removed made it super easy to get in and out of the back of the car (no more stashing baby in the trunk!). The kids climbed in themselves and all I had to do was buckle them in, and snap baby into the base on the other side.
For what it's worth- I don't like minivans. Not sure why, just always hated them. I'm super uncomfortable driving them just because I feel like they are massive. And I just don't like the "stigma" (lame, I know).
So when we upgraded my car to accommodate a bigger family, I went with a 2012 Chevy Traverse. The inside is kinda set up like a minivan, with two captains chairs in the middle row and a 3 person bench seat cross the back. It has a ton of cargo space in the back, even with the 3rd row up, so it comfortably seats 7 with plenty of extra space. My daughter's seat doesn't come anywhere near cramping the space for the front seats at all. The car is very comfortable for long trips- I have been in the drivers seat, front passenger and middle seats for long trips and all are easy to find a comfortable position.
The visibility is great, I don't find a lot of blind spots- not to mention the reverse sensor and camera, and they have the little curved mirrors mounted on the side mirrors to give you that extra visibility. It does not feel like a big vehicle while driving. The maneuverability is great, so parking and driving in tight spaces is no problem.
I would say that the only disadvantage that the Traverse has to a minivan is the lack of sliding doors. There are times that a car has parked too close to me and a sliding door probably would have come in handy on getting the babe back in the car, but those times are rare and not having to be uncomfortable driving a big minivan everyday is well worth the occasional issue of tight parking.
I will add that we sprung for the upgraded LTZ model to include, among other options, a DVD player that will come in handy as the kids get older and we have the leather seats (heated and cooled in the front) that are easier to keep clean with little ones.
Happy car hunting!
The traverse has 24 cubic feet of space if all the seats are installed, the Honda Odyssey has 39. If you start putting seats down the gap in storage capacity just gets larger. With all the seats folded down in the traverse you get 70 cubic feet, if you fold the third row down in the minivan you can add another 58 cubic feet, bringing the total to 97 cubic feet, AND you can still have to seats installed.
I totally get that some people don't want a minivan, I hate minivans myself, but there isn't any smaller vehicle that you can fit 7 people plus all the "stuff" that you have to pack when you go on trips. I'm sure the traverse will comfortably fit a family of 4, not so sure the 60lb dogs will fit as well.
All of this! We have a 2011 town and country and it is amazing!! As for a double stroller in the back, we stand it up and down after it is folded and bungee it to the back seat. That way we have half of the tailgate space free. Also, town and countrys have stow and go so you can store stuff in the floor if the captains chairs are up.