For our next care we will probably get a 3rd row SUV. I’d love a minivan but both the grandparents houses are on really steep inclines and one is on an unpaved road and we get lots of snow (outside Buffalo, so like several feet at a time). Anyway, I’m concerned about trunk space. Can you fit a double stroller in there? Do you have to have a roof rack for vacation (we do pack light already). I don’t think we have the budget for a Suburban—we’re looking at something like a Pilot. TIA!
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Do you mean trunk space with the third row in use or down? What will your use of the third row look like on the regular?
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I haven't seen the trunk of a Pilot but we have a Durango--which is similar price point to Pilots and there is no way it would fit a double stroller with 3rd row up. I can barely fit my groceries in there with third row in use!
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@badgermom and @trixi We’d be getting a third row SUV if we have a third kid, so we’d be using it so we could more easily fort 3 kids in the car and also so we could drive our kids friends around with us. My sister has 3 kids and her boys play hockey and somehow they would have all their gear in there and would also drive carpool.
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The pilot has a significantly smaller trunk space than the Odyssey (van.) If you folded one of the third row seats down it'd be fine, but not with both in use/up.
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I used to have a Highlander. and the trunk space was big with the 3rd row not in use but with the 3rd row, it's kind of tiny.
Also, we have 3 kids now and switched to minivan on our 2nd child bc we needed space for grandma to occasionally ride and there's no way we could have had both car seats and be able to use the 3rd row without climbing into the back of the trunk. You have to be able to fold one side to climb into the back and bc of carseats, that was impossible. It was a good call to switch bc we had a 3rd and there's no way 3 car seats can fit. Maybe when the kids are older and carseats are no longer needed...
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@Becky: Okay, gotcha. Here are my thoughts... We have a Highlander. There is a TON of trunk space with the third row down but about enough to fit my golf bag when the third row is up. Since you’ll be using the third row all the time make sure you go on car seat lady and check her latch/anchor diagrams. In my highlander there is no latch in the third row and only a top anchor in the middle. This severely limits my use of the third row during car seat years. It also means I can only put the single small seat down if I need a car seat back there limiting my trunk space. If I were you I’d also consider a Toyota Sienna. It’s a minivan with all wheel drive. I think third row suvs are great when you occasionally use the third row.
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@BadgerMom: Thanks for the feedback. @Misolee I think what you said about not being able to fold down a seat with a car seat in it would probably be our challenge. I could potentially put two FF kids in the back and a baby in the middle. By the time we have a now theoretical #3, DD2 will be able to buckle herself.
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I have a 2014 Chevy Traverse, when the 3rd row is up there isn't enough room for my biweekly grocery trip. Depending on how small your double stroller folds up to you might be able to stand it up on it's side.
ETA: The 3rd row has the top anchor on 2 seats for sure, maybe all 3; but I don't think there are anchors in the very back.
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@Becky we we had a 2012 Highlander but it did not have a middle latch. Not sure about the newer models. Which meant you could only put the carseats with latch on the sides with the doors OR you could put it in the middle but could not fold any seats down
also adding I loved that car but with 3 kids..minivan is a way to go
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A friend recently traded in her highlander for an AWD Sienna because when the third row was in use she couldn't get her double bob in the trunk, and sometimes ran out of space for groceries or costco run.
I'm team minivan. We live in Vermont, and have not had any issues getting around- including my inlaws driveway which is basically a death trap. We don't even have the AWD model of the Sienna. We just put really good snow tires on. It handles really well.
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Ugh I’d love a minivan but I’m really concerned about the snow and the clearance. Our road is usually late to get plowed so we can have a foot of snow sitting there (and then more in our driveway). I was excited the Toyota Sienna has AWD options and maybe that would work? My CRV has been awesome so I might just try to suffer through with 3 kids in there until I don’t need to fit a double stroller in the trunk anymore or use LATCH(again, I’m not even pregnant yet—I just like to plan in advance).
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@Silva: This might convince my husband a minivan is ok!
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@Becky: I mean, there are definitely some circumstances where you wouldn't be able to get around. A foot of powder would probably be okay, you could blast right through. Thick heavy snow and ice? You would definitely bottom out and get stuck.
Buffalo is a little crazier than we are in weather, but I'll be honest. I feel like there are, in an average winter, maybe 7-10 days of REALLY bad weather during commute times for us. Usually probably less. We live on a main road right now, and thats why we decided to skip AWD this time. I really don't need it most of the time, and the days I do I move things around to avoid driving anyway. My husband drives a Corolla and has never missed work for weather.
If we are going to visit my in laws and the weather is bad, we park at the bottom of their driveway (they live on a dirt road, then the driveway goes up from there and is pretty narrow so its not very forgiving). I guess for me the majority of the time I'd rather have the space and better gas mileage. We will probably need to get AWD in our next van because we are moving to the end of a dead end, private road that is pretty steep. I will need it more often then.I LOVE my Sienna, it is a car completely designed for bigger families. I will sing its praises all day long
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Maybe test drive an AWD sienna this winter? I think you'll both be surprised by the handling. It feels zippy, like you are driving a much smaller car, but the thing is a pretty powerful tank. If I don't care about my gas mileage I can fly past big trucks on the interstate, going up hills.
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Also- I"m not sure the clearance in a CRV is that much higher than a Sienna, but I could be wrong
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I don't know anything about it yet, but Subaru came out with a 3rd row SUV this year and its supposed to have good trunk space with the third row seats. Maybe something to check out?
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Don’t know how helpful this is but I watched a video of a Honda Odyssey getting around in some serious snow. I don’t know if it was all wheel drive or not but it was as impressive handling as a big suv. They also were driving off road with it. It was about a year ago and I was on YouTube looking up videos of cars handling snow and ice and four wheel drive and clicked on it. We have an MDX which is the same size as the pilot. Trunk space is small once we put our third row seats up and the third row seating is tight too.
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I drive a Tahoe and if the third row is up there’s basically no trunk space.
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I drive a Yukon and always keep the 3rd row stowed (which allows for AWESOME cargo space). With the seats up, I have less space than my old, tiny Jeep Liberty.
ETA: If my garage was bigger and we were going to have more than 2 kids, I would consider a Yukon XL, but I acknowledge that thing is ginormous!
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No. I drive an MDX and have three kids across my second row. I'd like to move one of them back to a third row, but having our third row up makes my trunk useless. As in, if I put my Yoyo in there, there's not room for much else. I can't really even fit the frame of my City Select in there, let alone a seat or two. And the third row itself is shallow - it does not leave any room for a child's legs to hang down in a FF 5-pt harness carseat.
I test drove a Honda Odessey a few weeks ago - while they no longer come with 4WD, they do have a switch that changes the tire suspension/something else for snow. I'm checking out Suburbans (or something like a Yukon XL) as well, but that will be really tight in my garage, and less convenient for loading/unloading kids, so I'm torn. Toyota Siennas do still come in 4WD, but they get (IMO) considerably lower safety ratings than Odesseys, so I'm not considering one at this point....but I wish there was another 4WD mini van option, or some sort of happy medium!
ETA: You mention two FF kids in the third row, but remember that they need to be able to buckle/unbuckle themselves safely, otherwise you'll be crawling back there, which is no small feat (unless you remove one captain chair in a Pilot, then it'd be easier). This is my connundrum now - my 6 and 4 year olds still can't unbuckle themselves completely.
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Also, what @Silva: said about minivans in general - they've got pretty good engines! I was surprised by the pickup on the one I tested. It felt more like I was sitting in a sedan (which I don't like), and usually when I borrow family members' little cars, I feel like I have to absolutely FLOOR IT to merge onto highways/get going...but the vans felt much more like my SUV and accelerated quickly.
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I wish we had a van but waiting a bit to spend the money - we have 3 kids in a mazda5 (similar space to a small suv, small third row). They are 6.5, 3.5 and 6w. It feels like a clown car half the time! I can fit my city mini single with the third row up or about 4 bags of groceries. (I almost always leave the whole row up as it just works better for getting back there). Many times I am putting something under the baby’s seat in the second row. My 6.5yo sits in the back in a booster so she can buckle herself which is the only reason it works. But I keep the passenger seat all the way forward during the week to provide space for her to get in past her ff brother and get to the back when we do school pickup line (second row is captains chairs but we can’t stop to get him out so she has to walk past his feet). So we are making it work but there’s a lot of ridiculous stuff going on. Oh and for vacation - we plan to either rent a van or drive two cars depending on cost.
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@Becky: we have the vw atlas and love it! It has a very spacious 3rd row and you can choose the option that has the 3rd row easily accessible from thr 2nd row just like a van.
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@Becky: I just want to point out, my 5 rear old still can’t buckle or unbuckle herself from the harness. I posted asking about that a few weeks ago and it seems pretty common that kids age out of a harnessed seat before they can buckle themselves in.
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@Mrsbells: I was just looking at that car last night. I think that and the Buick Enclave will be on our short list if I can’t convince my husband to go with a minivan. The Buick has a huge range in price but we usually go for basic packages anyway.
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@Becky: The Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia (though the new model year is a little shorter than the other ones for the first time), and Chevrolet Traverse are all basically the same thing with different trim packages. So a base Buick could be similar to a loaded Traverse. It all comes down to budget and preferences of course.
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@Sams Mom: @Becky: FWIW, I have two different friends who had GMC Acadias, and both traded them in for vans within 2 years because they just couldn’t fit a double stroller in the trunk if the 3rd row was up.
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