Love our Odyssey. The kids can get in and out easily, no worrying about hitting the car parked next to you and it has so much space for trips. You don’t need one but I found myself loving it—we have 2 kids 5 and 2. I do find it a little hard to parallel park for whatever reason (I had a volvo wagon before).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God these discussions are so tedious.

He used our small SUV (CRV) through the first two kids, and it was fine. We got the Odyssey just before the third arrived, and it was necessary then. Maybe someone above can squeeze everyone into a Camry, but you can't do that if you want to take roadtrips and expect to bring normal luggage and baby gear.

The Pilot recommendation is dumb. It's every bit as large as the minivan, but with less interior space. Same goes for Highlander/MDX/Traverse/Envoy/the Buick...

Pilot is half foot shorter than Odyssey. That can matter for parking if in city.

Maybe if you're a woman who has trouble driving and operating large machinery.

Anonymous wrote:God these discussions are so tedious.

He used our small SUV (CRV) through the first two kids, and it was fine. We got the Odyssey just before the third arrived, and it was necessary then. Maybe someone above can squeeze everyone into a Camry, but you can't do that if you want to take roadtrips and expect to bring normal luggage and baby gear.

The Pilot recommendation is dumb. It's every bit as large as the minivan, but with less interior space. Same goes for Highlander/MDX/Traverse/Envoy/the Buick...

Pilot is half foot shorter than Odyssey. That can matter for parking if in city.

Anonymous wrote:God these discussions are so tedious.

He used our small SUV (CRV) through the first two kids, and it was fine. We got the Odyssey just before the third arrived, and it was necessary then. Maybe someone above can squeeze everyone into a Camry, but you can't do that if you want to take roadtrips and expect to bring normal luggage and baby gear.

The Pilot recommendation is dumb. It's every bit as large as the minivan, but with less interior space. Same goes for Highlander/MDX/Traverse/Envoy/the Buick...

^^Enclave! That's the useless Buick. Thanks 7:39.

God these discussions are so tedious.

He used our small SUV (CRV) through the first two kids, and it was fine. We got the Odyssey just before the third arrived, and it was necessary then. Maybe someone above can squeeze everyone into a Camry, but you can't do that if you want to take roadtrips and expect to bring normal luggage and baby gear.

The Pilot recommendation is dumb. It's every bit as large as the minivan, but with less interior space. Same goes for Highlander/MDX/Traverse/Envoy/the Buick...

Of course not. Good grief.

I adore my minivan! But no way do you need one for just two kids. I have three kids and two huge dogs so I do need the space, but I know lots of three kid families who do great with an MDX, Enclave, Traverse, etc.

Buy a minivan after kid number 4...or maybe kid number 3. No way do you need one with 2 young kids/babies, that aren't into "big equipment" sports like hockey.

We have two teens and have gotten by just fine with two sedans. We can’t do large carpools, but that hasn’t been a big issue (admittedly in part part bc few of our kids’ classmates live near us).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have 3 kids (6 and younger), works fine with our Camry.

Ditto. I've got an old Acura sedan and fit three car seats across the back

+1 on the sedan.

Our 3rd baby car was a Fiat 500 -- for commuting and when we only have 1 kid, WHat I found was the feature I like most on any car is the hatchback to get things in and out. I don't need or want all that dead space in a minivan or suv.

Anonymous wrote:We have 3 kids (6 and younger), works fine with our Camry.

Ditto. I've got an old Acura sedan and fit three car seats across the back

What about like a Honda Pilot instead? One of those three row suvs?

Anonymous wrote:We have 3 kids (6 and younger), works fine with our Camry.

+1. 2 kids are fine in a sedan-maybe you might want an SUV if you haul stuff around a lot. But a minivan? Not unless it brings you some joy to drive that mini-bus.

Are you shopping for a car anyway?

Agree with those who say wait and see if you have a third kid or until your kids are school aged and you think you'll be a carpooling family.

We traded in our SUV within a couple of weeks of having baby#3--my oldest was in first grade and having all three in one row wasn't going to work--and with an infant and a toddler in carseats it was too hard for him to get in and out of the third row. With the minivan he could easily get from back to front, my toddler wasn't poking big brother or baby sister, and I could control the doors from the driver's seat.

Now my kids are 13, 8 and 6 and the minivan is great for carpooling--my older two each have 3x/week sports practice and we only drive each once because we carpool with two other families on each team. On road trips everyone has plenty of space and the dog fits too.

I had a highlander for a month last summer and it was a pain--difficult to access the third row, absolutely no leg room back there so my oldest and his friends couldn't sit there, and with the third row in use there wasn't even room for groceries in back much less a trip to Costco or a weekend away.

We have 3 kids (6 and younger), works fine with our Camry.