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Did I miss where you shared what SUV you are considering? I had a GMC Terrain when our first was born. We quickly deemed it too small and traded it in when she was a year for a GMC Acadia. We have two kids now and the Acadia is a good size for us. We also use our SUV as our primary vehicle. We take mini vacations and load up with luggage and gear.
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We are a family of a 3 plus a dog and I drive a Toyota Venza, which is basically a full size SUV but doesn't have a 3rd row. To me, it totally depends on how you're going to use it. Day to day I only drive it to work and have DS with me for half of the trip. For those days, I would do with a much smaller car, and I wish I had more of mid-size SUV (I used to have a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport and I miss it)..
On the weekends we drive my car and that's when I appreciate the extra leg room and the extra cargo space for the stroller, groceries, Ikea runs, Home Depot, etc. And then a few times a year we take road trips and that's when we actually *need* the space. My parents live 3 hours away so we go visit them every few months, we usually go on a family trip to Cape Cod at the end of the summer, and then we have random weekends away with all of us. Luggage for 3 people plus a dog and everything a baby/toddler needs really adds up.
So if you're not taking trips in your car and all you ever do is commute or run errands on the weekend, then a small SUV will be perfectly fine.
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@Chillybear: We have similar cars: Scion xB and an outback!
@Modern Daisy: we love our outback and the trunk is longer than the forester so it seems to fit more even though the insides of the cars are the same volume. We have a 2 year old and expecting another in the fall. It will be great with two kiddos and we travel a lot but we want 3, so we'll have to get a bigger car at that time but we'd trade the smaller car for that!
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@Chillybear: I have a Crosstrek now and I def don't recommened it if you plan on having 2 kids in the backseat. I have 1 FF and 1 RF and I t's tight and there is not enough cargo space. I usually have my umbrella stroller in the trunk and I have a hard time putting all my groceries back there. I'm actually looking to trade it in for the forester.
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@lavender: Thanks... I thought that too when we looked at it during the car show, I felt like it was relatively close to the size of my soul. I much preferred the Outback in person. But my husband is pretty dead set on it and his day to day driving is without the kid(s) and pretty far so he'd like something with good MPG. I have a feeling that soon after he gets the crosstrek he'll feel like we need to trade my car in for an SUV.
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@Chillybear: my DH was dead set on the Crosstrek, but I convinced him it would be too small for me, and I'm the daily driver! The forrester was pretty nice, but I didn't get to test drive it. They were super busy and we just walked next door to Honda instead, and test drove other cars from there.
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@Modern Daisy: I test drove the X3 and loooooved it. At the time I opted for a 3 series instead. Have fun!
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@youboots: Awesome! What is the 3 series? Im not familiar with it.
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We have a small SUV (Ford Escape) for our family of three, and it's completely fine. I can't imagine driving something bigger on a regular basis, but we live in the city (Seattle). Even when we have another child, we should be fine. LO is in a Clek Fllo.
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We are expecting baby 2 in a month and we just got a Tahoe. The midsized SUVs are often the same size as a sedan.
My biggest recommendation is to bring your carseat to try in the newer vehicle. Also, anything you carry regularly or often. Perhaps a stroller?
I tested out an explorer and a trailblazer and both seemed not much bigger then our sedan.
I love love love my Tahoe.
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I think a midsize will be fine. My mom-mobile is a Jeep Grand Cherokee. We've fit 4 adults and baby just fine, although DS' carseat pushes up the front passenger seat so its a little tight in legroom. We can throw our UP Cruz, diaper bag, and groceries in the trunk just fine.
To add to the travel conversation, we drove 400 miles to my parents house with the baby, his stroller, our suitcase, DH's work roller bag, DS' PNP, and ALL of his stuff in a Prius. The car was packed full for sure, but we got everything in there and other than the tight legroom in the front passenger seat (again the carseat) it was fine.
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@gingerbebe: I agree with the travel point. You don't need a big vehicle to do a road trip reasonably comfortably. We drove LO and enough stuff to live for a month down the East Coast in the Golf. It was totally fine. (ETA: The stay was for a month. The drive was only a day.)
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Sorry my advice from my brother said to get a minivan instead of an SUV. Not what you wanted to hear. Sorry. I currently have a CRV and would hate giving it up. I would get a Pathfinder or another larger SUV.... but....
I told my brother that I would not want to get a minivan if we needed it and he told me that he would get a minivan. He currently has a Dodge Durango and he said it's so much easier to have a minivan with sliding doors and and not have to load up to get into the car. He also said that getting 3 kids in and out of the car is a challenge and to dear cars near him, he might have dinged some cars. So my brother is a minivan believer. I'm not completely sold but DH offered to trade his truck in to get a minivan. Works for me since he will be the one SAH.
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@bluestriped bee: i was actually in the market for an odyssey originally because I was pregnant with #2, but after I miscarried my outlook totally changed. I spoke to my sister (who has 3 kids) who admitted that she never would have bought her odyssey if they had stopped at 2. For me, i really need a vehicle with awd and a minivan would be really annoying to park in the narrow/tiny train lot every day. So while I agree with your brother on the convenience of a van for kids, it doesn't make sense for us.
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@Modern Daisy: A lot of car dealerships offer rentals through their fleet program. I know people who have rented a Sienna from the Toyota dealership for a week at a time for vacations - it's like one long test drive for the dealership - and that's worked really well and is cheaper than a car rental place. So that might work if you have a trip. Day to day I think you will be fine in an X3.
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We have an Acura RDX, which I loved when living in the City because parking spots were always tight. Now that we're in the suburbs, with one kid and two dogs, I wish we had something a little bigger. In fact, we got a Thule box to carry extra gear. I'm not sure what your situation is, but we go up to Tahoe a lot and often take a lot of gear in addition to travel crib/stroller -- golf clubs, bikes, snowboards/skis/snowshoes, etc. so we would really utilize the extra space if we had it. With the Thule box we decided we can make the Acura RDX work until (and if) we have a third child. Then we'd have to move up to a full size SUV (we need 4-wheel drive for snow). ETA our UppaBaby Cruz and BOB each fit, but we often have to take off the BOB wheel(s) to fit additional gear in the back. DH is 6'1'' and I'm 5'3" and we have a Graco Size4Me (and had a Chicco Keyfit).
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@gingerbebe: that's really helpful! We wouldn't need to rent though, because my parents are closeby and actually have 2 suburbans (im borrowing one right now) and an expedition so we could easily borrow one if needed.
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@NorCalWayfarer: i've had a few people recommend the acura rdx actually! To be 100% honest though, the main reason I am going with BMW is because it is the closest dealership to my house. I would have to drive a lot farther to get to the acura dealer and with the baby in tow that is my biggest nightmare,lol.
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We love our Nissan Pathfinder...even though we don't use the third row all that much, the trunk space is amazing and makes road trips a breeze.
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@honeybear: I miss my golf ! We sold it last year and got a rav4. I could see so well in that thing
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@junebugsmama:
The visibility really is awesome.
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@Modern Daisy: I'm with your sister - I NEVER would have bought my odyessy if I only had two kids! The only problem with midsize SUV's (if you decide to have another soon), it's hard to fit double strollers. I've never seen the trunk space in the X3 though. Just something to consider!
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We are a family of three and just got a honda pilot, which I think is a mid size SUV. I think it would work with a second child, but we also have two dogs and regularly travel to visit family which requires us to take all our stuff with us (pnp, bouncer, our suitcases, etc) so we might need something bigger if and when we have a second.
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@Modern Daisy: Not to bring you back to the minivan discusion, I think the Sienna is the only minivan right now that offers a AWD option. I'm hoping Honda jumps on that idea soon and offers it to the Odyssey. I love my Honda and my DH has a Toyota truck and the options he has doesn't compare to my Honda.
But I totally get you on the size of a mini van, it's definitely bigger. I wouldn't want to drive one and have to park it in a small train station lot. I'm definitely still on the team SUV. Once we have these twins, I'll see if I change my tune but right now I think my CRV will work and DH's truck (with extended cab) will, too. I'm a ways away from having a third and needing to upsize our cars.
Good discussion, though. Good to know there are other options out there that aren't minivans.
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@Modern Daisy: Keep us posted on what you end up getting and how you like it! We're in the market for a mid-size SUV and are looking at the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Pathfinder, and the Toyota Highlander.
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I know you're set on AWD (which I fully support), but that doesn't mean you're stuck with an SUV. When I bought mine, I wanted a sedan with AWD. There are lots of options, and my Subaru is AMAZING in bad weather. We had to drive 90 miles in an ice storm, and there were probably 100 cars in ditches, and my car had zero problems.
The visibility really is awesome.
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