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Our minivan (Sienna) can seat 8. There's an optional seat that you can pop into the third row for an 8th person. I'm not gonna lie, it's tight... But Mr. Jacks has used it for work (which meant 8 engineers-- not huge guys, but guys nonetheless). Odessey also seats 8, but we never utilized that function in test drives.

You can fit 8 people in a Suburban. We took one on a work trip, and it wasn't too bad. We didn't have any car seats though.

@yoursilverlining: that's a good point! It's hard to pack light with little kids!

We have traveled both ways, our odessey with 4 adults and four car seats and renting 2 cars. With four full car seats it is super tight. If it's a longer ride I think 2 cars is preferable. Even when it was just Ray and I traveling with the four kids sometimes we got two economy cars and each drove one because it was significantly cheaper than renting a mini van unless you get the weekly rate and then I think the mini van was cheaper.

We've traveled with two car seats and six adults for a short road trip (3 hours) in an Expedition. It was manageable but nothing I'd recommend.

@regberadaisy: you are right, I mean the second row between those two seats. Sorry, not sleeping much these days!

We rented an 8-seater Sienna last summer for a long road trip with 3 adults and 3 carseats (1 infant, 2 Britax) and it was cozy. Maybe you all pack lighter than we do? I was pregnant at the time and we joked that we'd need a 15-passenger van to do the trip again once baby came!

I've done a road trip in my moms sienna with 8 adult females and while tight, it wasn't an issue. Drives were about 5/6 hours each way.