Family vehicle with bigger kids (3 of them!)
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Anonymous
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My searches of discussions about which vehicle suits families with three children turned up discussions focusing on families with three little kids, three car seats, etc. And the crux of most of these discussions was buy a minivan. More specifically, but a Honda Odyssey.
If you have three older children, what vehicle gets your family around? Would you have made a different choice when the kids were smaller based on what you know now? Do teenagers fit in the third row of an SUV??? Are they embarrassed to be seen riding around in your minivan? (What a silly question, of course they are.) |
Anonymous
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Minivan. Everyone (plus a friend or 2) fits comfortably. We have room when we go on vacation.
Honestly, I don't care if my kids are embarrassed about the car I drive. It is safe and it gets them to all of the places they want to go. |
Anonymous
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We have a Toyota Sequoia. I currently have 2 teens and an 11 year old, but we've had a Sequoia since the youngest was born (so it fit three car seats well but now fits teens well). My middle teen likes sitting in the 3rd row on long trips. I like it for the carpooling ability and the ability to carry around a lot of sports gear. Gas mileage is not great, but I make up for that with all the carpooling we do. I really tried to downsize when we bought this car, but everything else was too small for my very tall children and couldn't carry around all the sports gear, kids and dog.
The third row is roomy enough for a tall teen (or full grown adult) and I can squeeze three back there in a pinch. |
Anonymous
| Minivan that we bought when they were small. We also have a Rav 4 but it's tight for all of us if we need to take the dogs with us. |
Anonymous
| We have mini van too and they never complain when I need to lug their hockey bags and friends places. |
Anonymous
| We have a minivan too. Four kids and lots of sports equipment and carpools. Of all the options, it's the easiest to park (for my beginning drivers especially) and most fuel efficient. |
Anonymous
| SUV. 3rd row isn't super comfortable for teens, but it does the trick to get them to school, practices, etc. |
Anonymous
| We have a Dodge Durango with captains chairs for the second rows. That cut the room down to 6 people, but the kids don't have to fold down the second row to climb into the third row. Works perfectly for us. |
Anonymous
It's not the vehicle that embarrasses teenagers, it's the driver. 
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Anonymous
Have a Toyota Sequoia too. Same as PP said - it doesn't get great gas mileage but it's very comfortable for a big family. It is roughly the same length and width as a minivan (but it is taller, and with its wide mirrors it feels wider). It drives great -- long trips are a breeze, and kids never complain (they actually look forward to car trips due to the dvd player). It's been super-reliable too. The Sequoia fits in a unique spot among SUVs -- it's much shorter than the Suburban (which is 220 inches vs the Sequoia's 205), but is bigger than the Explorer, the Land Rover LR-4, and the Mercedes GL. For example, compare the Sequoia's third row with the LR-4's or Merc GL's -- those are short-term trip seats; in contrast, the Sequoia's third row is a real chair, with lots of leg room and it reclines too (like the second row seats). The "Limited" (mid-level) trim level is great. Note, it comes with a second row of either two captain's chairs or one three-seat bench (and all three seats can move separately - they aren't attached to each other so it's a bench in name only) |
Anonymous
| Sequoia owner too with 4 teens. LOVE IT. |
Anonymous
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GMC Acadia with 2 captains chairs and a 60/40 split in the 3rd row (that seats 3).
We have 5 kids - 2 toddler and 3 teens/adults. The toddlers are in car seats in the captain's chairs and the teens/adults sit in the back row. The back row can be tight and it's REALLY tight when you try to sit three across as the center seat is very narrow. But with the car seats forward facing now, we can slide the captain's chairs up a bit and give more leg room in the back. The Acadia has a lot of space in the back too so we can fit quite a bit in there even with the 3rd row up. |
Anonymous
| Honda pilot |
Anonymous
| U-haul. Not the van one, the 18 foot truck. |
Anonymous
| U-haul. Not the van one, the 18 foot truck. |