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August 2011 Moms
Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha
member
I survived the Auto Show!
Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha
member
Mobile Bumpers: I survived the Auto Show!
Barely, though. lol
We were there for a little over 8 hours. We loaded all 3 car seats onto our double stroller and tried them in at least a dozen cars (I'm thinking closer to 20, but I lost count). And when I say "we", I mean DH. Thank goodness for him. Seriously. I am completely beat after just walking the show, so I can only imagine what he must feel like after having to install/uninstall all 3 car seats so many times.
In case anyone is curious, our top 3 contenders as of now are the Kia Optima, the Nissan Altima, and the Toyota Camry. All 3 could easily fit all 3 car seats across the back seat AND still leave us with plenty of leg room in the front.
We drew quite a bit of attention with our strange cargo. Some people laughed and thought we were nuts, but most people thought our logic (doing this a the Auto Show vs dragging the kid sto 6 different deaslerships) made a lot of sense. One member of the staff actually came and shook DH's hand and congratulated him for being so smart. lol.
The only really annoying people were those who were trying to convince us that whatever THEY were driving was what we should buy. My "favourite" was this chick in the Mazda booth. She was all about the Mazda 5. Problem with that car is I can't have 3 kids on the 2nd row, and DD1 is too young for me to have her sit all the way back in the 3rd row. But she just kept going on and on "it's the perfect car if you have two kids". YES BUT I HAVE THREE SO HOW DOES THAT HELP ME??? A close second was this older dude who told us his grandson was 2 and in a booster seat already - and then acted like we were the crazy ones for wanting to keep our 3.5 year old in a 5-point harness.
And now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go pass out on the couch.
Farewell, nesticle, you will be missed
This discussion has been closed.
Re: I survived the Auto Show!
This.
If it is a car you're going to be keeping for a while are you concerned about having too little space? The obssession with giant family cars might be an American thing, lol!
I drive a Toyota sedan. I already told DH my next car HAS to have a third row because we keep cars a lonnnng time and it needs to accomodate three kids and eventually their friends, sports gear and other random crap. Of course, my car now looks like I LIVE in it. Whoops!
You can't go wrong with a Nissan or a Toyota both will last forever. But man are those Camry cars sexxxy!
Not this time. I feel a car is like a purse: the bigger it is, the more crap you put in it. lol. Also, I want something that will be as fuel efficient as possible. I know SUV's aren't all gas guzzlers, but you still get better mileage on a sedan.
With that said, the plan is to change one car within the next year or so, and then the other car in maybe 4 years - at that point, we will probably get a larger car. Until then, our kids (and their friends) will all likely be in car seats/boosters so we won't be really giving anyone rides. And as far as sport equipment goes, I doubt any of our kids will have that much equipment before then. And so no need for us to get a larger car now.
I will have to go back and check (we actually did video commentary on all the cars we tried because we knew we'd forget what we liked/didn't like about them all) but on top of my head, I can think of the Mazda CX-5, the Jetta, the Sukuzi Kisashi...
I will come back on tonight (the videos are in DH's phone) and let you know exactly what we didn't like about which cars.
Based on all the comments we got yesterday, I can assure you the obsession with giant family cars isn't an American thing. lol If I knew I was going to keep my car for 10 years, I'd probably go for something with a 3rd row right away, but DH and I know squat about cars, so we sell them before they start requiring too much maintenance.
Also, I must say the Camry reallllly made an impression as far as I'm concerned
Good to know! The one thing I like about Kia (and Hyundai, even though they didn't make the cut) is that they typically give you more for the same price because they simply don't enjoy the same reputation as other cars (yet).
The Sentra would definitely not work for us - I'm not sure if it would accommodate 3 car seats, but even if it did, we'd end up driving with our knees jammed in the steering wheel. No thanks! Never heard anyone complain about Nissan vs winter driving though. I think I will ask my mechanic because, well, winter driving is sort of important up here
Also, I agree that those cars last forever. Even if I don't intend to keep it forever, at least I know it'll still be worth something 6 years down the road.
Don't worry about it,that sounds like a lot of work!! Lol! But great information, thanks for sharing!
Glad you survived! I think you and your husband are geniuses for your one-stop research survey at the auto show
I think you may have mentioned this in a previous post, but I forget....what type of car seats do you have? I have an '07 Altima, and am curious about what model of seats might work in a three across scenario.
FWIW, our Altima is AMAZING. We will have owned it two years in March, and in that time, it has had zero problems. Not even so much as a check engine light! And I used to drive around 40 miles round trip per day for work, so it definitely got it's fair share of driving time the first year I had it.
We went in with 2 Radian's and a Chicco Keyfit. One of the Radian's is actually a friend's but we wanted to see what the absolute narrowest combination would allow (because then if that didn't work, we knew nothing else would).
With that said, it was clear that all 3 of our top contenders (including the Altima) would be able to accommodate wider seats as well.
We did, but I think only the Impreza was within our price range, and it didn't really work out - If I remember correctly, it fell into the "we could make it work if we already had one, but if we are going to spend that kind of money, there are other cars that will be better suited for our needs" category.
My cousin had an 1998 Outback and he just got rid of it last year. Great car for sure!
Also, I think your H is just in denial and using your DD as an excuse ;P
Thanks, good to know! We have a Britax and we're looking at getting either a Radian or a second Britax. I know two will fit for sure, but was curious about three. I was more worried that the Radian would be snug RFing, since it seems to be a taller seat.