We have two kids in a Fit. It's tight in the back -- they're both in car seats still -- but we can pretty easily fit a third kid in the middle seat in a booster, and somewhat less easily an adult in the middle back there in a pinch.

Anonymous wrote:We just got rid of our civic because we felt cramped in there with our 2 kids. I also wanted something a bit larger for safety reasons. We got a CX5 and I can sit in the back between them. No way that would happen in the civic. Have you thought about a small SUV?

Thanks everyone for sharing!

PP, around what age did your kids feel cramped in the civic?

We just got rid of our civic because we felt cramped in there with our 2 kids. I also wanted something a bit larger for safety reasons. We got a CX5 and I can sit in the back between them. No way that would happen in the civic. Have you thought about a small SUV?

Our Civic has been great for our family of 4 from the car seat stage through teens.

We have two kids and a Civic. With a RF car seat, the front passenger doesn't have much leg room. We haven't turned my 2 year old yet. But once we do I think it'd be fine for a bit. I don't know if I could get my butt between the two seats though, so I would never plan to have an extra adult. An extra kid would maybe fit, but you need a very narrow seat. Without any car seats or boosters I'm sure you can fit three tweens back there. It would not be luxurious, but fine.

civic would be more comfortable than the fit...

Don’t drive your kids around in a tin can. Get the civic at least.

Family of 4 with kids keaving soon for college. We're a one car family and that car has been a Fit. When it was time to trade in, we got another Fit. Salesperson said that's typical.
We love our car, and it served us well through all stages. Definitely not for a family of 5, but you can absolutely have a third person in the back when needed.
We've taken some longer road trips over the years, and for those we've rented an SUV, but seems silly to have that much car all the time when you don't need it.
Fit has great storage, great milege, very easy to park. (I swear I don't work for Honda!)

I have two kids, a small car (we used to have a civic), and a minivan and we use the smaller car 99% of the time, unless we have more than one guest.

I have a friend who has both and has 2 kids. She drives the Fit and DH drives the Civic. She has her 2yo RF and the 5yo FF. They have room but can't take a 3rd kid. I am not sure if they will change once they are out of car seats.

Get a safe car--not a small car.

How cramped are these cars with 2 forward facing car seats and later on bigger kids without car seats?

Is there space for 3 tweens/teens in the back (occasionally, not every day)?

Any other small cars that work for families?