Anonymous wrote:Minivan is a lifesaver for:
- carpooling (great to eavesdrop on your tweens and their friends in the car)
- long family driving vacations (you have space for every person and animal - for us a dog - and all the stuff you each bring with)
- driving elderly parents, who have an easier time in and out of the minivan because it's not so low to the ground

True enough. We have 2 kids and like having a smaller car overall, but with a 3rd row of seats option. We have a Mazda5. The third row is tight, but we can fit 6 people. That is enough for carpooling and occasional grandparent visits. If we were road tripping with 6, then a minivan would be better. And it works well enough for elderly parents; we have kids or more agile adults sit in the 3rd row.

Minivan is a lifesaver for:
- carpooling (great to eavesdrop on your tweens and their friends in the car)
- long family driving vacations (you have space for every person and animal - for us a dog - and all the stuff you each bring with)
- driving elderly parents, who have an easier time in and out of the minivan because it's not so low to the ground

Depends on your life and what your kids are like. I have one kid who wants to do lots of activities/sports and he thrives in it. It's really good for him. Carpooling is a lifesaver and I couldn't do it with a sedan.

Grew up in a household with 3 kids, and we never had anything but sedans. My parents rented a larger vehicle for a roadtrip once or twice or borrowed a minivan to drive us along with luggage to the airport when traveling back to their home country with a lot of suitcases...but otherwise NBD. So, no, I don't think a second kid requires a bigger car.

But, we did buy a minivan a few months after DC2 was born. Primary reason is that we have one or the other set of grandparents visit almost every month, plus frequent other visitors (e.g. siblings, friends, etc)...and it's nice to be able to all pile into one car when going places. It's also turned out to be useful for roadtrips etc. Not a need, but it did make things easier for us.

Need? No. Want? Yes. It’s way easier and more convenient.

We have two kids. I have always driven a four door sedan. Plenty of room for two kids. Upside/downside is I don’t do much carpool driving as I can only take one extra kid. Now my oldest is old enough to sit in the front so I can take two extra kids. Never needed or wanted anything bigger.

Anonymous wrote:A sedan is fine for the most part. For us, a minivan has been great when extended family come visit or we're carpooling with friends. Car seats usually mean you can't put anyone else in the backseat, so when grandma visits, we'd have to use two cars to go someplace if we didn't have the minivan. If you don't have those needs, a regular car is fine.

We went from our sedan to a minivan after DC #2 mainly because of extended family visits. Grandparents were frequently visiting and it was a pain to take two cars places. Once the kids were elementary school aged the van became very useful for carpooling.

Otherwise, the sedan was fine. We had plenty of space for just our family of 4.

It really depends on your lifestyle.

I work part-time and spend a lot of time shutting my own kids and many other kids to sports, school, camping, birthday parties, etc. One’s in elementary now and one’s in middle. If it weren’t for all the carpooling my kids wouldn’t get to do as much cool stuff and/or I would spend a lot more dull time in the car. But if you’re in a small family that basically drives to work, drives to daycare, drives home, period, then you don’t need anything that fits more than you four.

3rd row of seats becomes really helpful when your kids are in elementary school sports- much easier to find carpools. I drive a sedan and that aspect has been tough.

I’ve driven minivans many times for work and hate them. So cumbersome to drive. No way am I buying a vehicle solely so that I can take more kids in a carpool in a few years. We have a hatchback and rooftop cattier when needed, works just fine! We are relatively short though so car seat space was never a huge issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just bought a Jetta. I have two kids under 3, and I love it!

Wow! The new jettas are bigger than they used to be. We went with the Passat though. Got ours today!

Dont you love it? I looked at the Passat too, but got the Jetta because it just was a bit
more affordable. It’s great!

Yes!! Major upgrade from our 2001 Honda. They had a deal of $7,800 off the sticker price so we were able to jump on it. I almost traded my mdx in for an atlas with the same deal but not buying two cars at once. The Passat is for DH, but I see myself driving it a lot too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just bought a Jetta. I have two kids under 3, and I love it!

Wow! The new jettas are bigger than they used to be. We went with the Passat though. Got ours today!

Dont you love it? I looked at the Passat too, but got the Jetta because it just was a bit
more affordable. It’s great!