I have one babe, one St. Bernard and one Australian Shepard Mix. Currently I drive a BMW X1. It is beautiful, fun, pretty much my dream car. BUT, I can't move all my creatures. It actually doesn't even move 2 adults plus LO very well (in order to fit the car seat in the back, the front seat has to be so far up, it is basically unusable). So if it is more then LO and I, we take the other car. And even in DH's SUV it is a tight fit. So I'm going to have to trade my car in. Plus we want to have another baby in the not too distant future, so this is only going to get harder. So am I crazy for considering a mini van? I know, they are ugly and unsexy. I find I no longer care what my car looks like. I love the idea of second row captains chairs, to reduce the chance of hyper dogs jumping into the car seat. Do you have a mini van? Am I jumping the gun?
Re: Mini Van
I used to be one of those people who said I would never drive one, I like big vehicles too much. However, the advantages others have listed are making me consider it, especially since my MIL drives one.
DD1- 2009, M/C- 2011, M/C- 2012, DD2- 2012, DD3- 2014
Lots of room for groceries, extra seats for friends, drives smoothly, and does great on gas.
Once I got it I fell in love and I'm not going back! With 3 little ones in car seats it's nice not having them all squished together.
DD1- 2009, M/C- 2011, M/C- 2012, DD2- 2012, DD3- 2014
ETA oh and we got one with captains chairs, because awesome.
DH has a new Pilot and it is pretty roomy but we rarely use the third row and when you do have it up there is minimal storage.
A few of my friends have large families - 4+ kids - and they all either drive huge SUVs (Tahoe, etc.) or minivans.
My dad is a cyclist and has an Odyssey - he can fit his bikes and all if his stuff in the back of his can when going on an out of town ride. Whenever we take a trip together we are always asking him to bring some of our stuff down because he has so much room.
Ditto!! We have two car seats and a golden retriever and the odyssey is perfect.