What's a good car to get for city living with newborn twins?

[Anonymous]

A used Mazda 5. Perfect city family car but unfortunately, Mazda stopped making it.

[Anonymous]

I was just coming on to suggest a used Mazda 5, but PP beat me to it. Our friends have one and I think it's brilliant -- about the size of a large sedan, but with the hatchback and sliding side doors of a minivan.

[Anonymous]

While they are small, you can use Uber/Lyft. Just get the bucket carriers that can be buckled in without the base.

[Anonymous]

we are in the city with a tiny parking space and 3 little kids and love our BMW x1

[Anonymous]

https://wellroundedny.com/best-car-seats-city/

[Anonymous]

Re pediatricians: childrens pediatricians and associates on K street or at Eastern Market. No car needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A used Mazda 5. Perfect city family car but unfortunately, Mazda stopped making it.

I love the concept of the Mazda5, but they stopped making it in part because it failed a newly introduced crash test catastrophically; Consumer Reports pulled their recommendation and published some pretty rough crash test photos, and that hit sales hard. Mazda discontinued it for the U.S. market the following year. We were car shopping that year and skipped it because of that.

[Anonymous]

I bet many sedans would work - IF you have 4 doors. I think getting kids into the backseat when you have only 2 doors is a backbreaker.... it's hard enough for me to get into the backseat alone, just myself, in 2 door cars.

My husband has a Nissan Versa Note - small car, but 4 doors. But it's nice and small to drive and park and maneuver - we love it! Now, you cannot get 2 carseats and another human in the backseat - but honestly, both parents go in front seat, babies in back - you just won't be able to do the "adult in the back" thing - but then, when ONE adult is driving ONE baby anywhere, which happens all the time, there isn't an adult in back with baby, either.

So look into something that size when you are ready for a new car.

[Anonymous]

We just got an Outback. I got used to its bigness pretty quickly. It’s a great choice if you’re looking for backseat space for two infant car seats + an adult.

[Anonymous]

Love my Honda CRV! We have two kids in Diono seats in the back and there is ample space for an adult to sit in between.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the posters who said not to worry about it - walking and stroller-ing is FAR preferable to loading babies into the car, so you might surprise yourself.

That said, now that DD is getting older I do find myself driving more than I used to, because we seek out activities outside of the city for her. But - you can get a car later, once you know what your lifestyle is going to be like. I wouldn't rush into it. You're going to be very homebound for the first few months, and you'll appreciate how easy it is to walk everywhere downtown!

Plus, baby seats are easy to put in Ubers - it's once they are in toddler seats that it gets really hard.

That said, I do love my CRV and find it to be a great balance of internal space and small/nimble enough for the city. We only have one carseat in the back but it fits with tons of room to spare so I bet you'd be fine with two.

Good luck!

[roamet]

OP here. to Anonymous at 07/06/2018 17:09

What configuration do you have your Diono? Are you using the middle seat as one? We looked at a CRV today and there is no tether for the middle seat in back of the bench.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love our Honda HR-V and have found it to be the perfect small SUV for city living.

The platform it's built on is no bigger than a regular sedan (in fact, I think it's the same as the Honda fit), so it's really easy to parallel park, but it has a lot of cabin space and a full-sized second-row that doesn't leave adults feeling cramped. I imagine 2 car seats plus a small adult would be an easy fit in the back seat.

We traded our Honda Fit for a Honda CR-V after we had a second kid. The CRV is definitely wider (easier to squeeze an adult between two car seats.)

[Anonymous]

roamet wrote:OP here. to Anonymous at 07/06/2018 17:09

What configuration do you have your Diono? Are you using the middle seat as one? We looked at a CRV today and there is no tether for the middle seat in back of the bench.

The CRV should have 3 tether anchors across the back.

We had newborn twins with 2 sedans and had no issues. +1 to it being easier to walk than drive places. As infants get older and more neck control (closer to 1), they don’t need to be as reclined, which helped with the front-to-back space issue.

I currently drive the Mini Countryman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

roamet wrote:OP here. to Anonymous at 07/06/2018 17:09

What configuration do you have your Diono? Are you using the middle seat as one? We looked at a CRV today and there is no tether for the middle seat in back of the bench.

The CRV should have 3 tether anchors across the back.

We had newborn twins with 2 sedans and had no issues. +1 to it being easier to walk than drive places. As infants get older and more neck control (closer to 1), they don’t need to be as reclined, which helped with the front-to-back space issue.

I currently drive the Mini Countryman.

Ps. When wr moved to convertible seats that don’t get removed every time (like dionos), we had to do a center and side installation so an adult didn’t have to climb over rear-facing seats.