We have a Honda Pilot with a third row (older model) with three kids (ages 1, 5 and 7), the older two who are involved in a number of activities, and think that it works just fine for our needs.

Anonymous wrote:I have three kids and two dogs so for us the minivan is a no brainer. That being said, we routinely add an extra two kids for our sports carpools. Carpools make your life easier (less driving overall), so if your kids are sports/dance/orchestra driven and need to go a lot of places, definitely consider how many extra you might want to fit. The sliding doors are a huge plus for me too.

Age 13 minimum for front seat, ideally 4 foot 9 inches tall (for use of adult seat belt).

I'd like to add that we had a Subaru Outback when we had two kids and I thought it was way too small for our needs. (We only had one dog at the time and didn't drive him much.) It just felt super cramped with two car seats and a tall (over 6 ft) husband. Loved that vehicle with one kid though.

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 kids (ages 2 and 4--we're done) and are planning to purchase a new car soon to replace our 2002 Accord. We keep cars for a long time...

We're leaning towards getting a Subaru Outback or maybe a Forester. For various reasons I don't really want to get a mini-van--mostly because I just don't feel like we "need" all of that space to justify driving it every day (vs renting on the occasions that we do need one).

But I acknowledge that the fact that I'm not in the serious kid years yet (with extra-curricular activities) makes this decision more difficult. I wonder if I'm going to regret not having more seats as they get older. Is that one middle seat going to be enough? I just ordered a couple of Diono Radians (which are narrower seats) to better visualize how much extra room in the middle that would give us...

Would love to hear from others who have btdt. Thanks!

We have 2 kids and do not have a mini-van - We are also thinking of Subaru Outback. We have to trade in our Jetta TDI for obvious reasons.

Look, I don't really like driving large cars either, and we have two cars -- the second is a small sedan. We use the sedan for most everyday errand-running. That said, our 2011 Honda Odyssey to be one of the greatest purchases we have made for our family, and I honestly cannot imagine how we would make do without it. And it actually isn't that bad to drive, it feels just like a car when you are behind the wheel. Some of its major benefits:

1. Road trips. Going to the beach, to Acadia, to Williamsburg, to my parents' lake cottage, to boy scout camp... We take these types of trips at least four or five times a year, and for a family of four, they require a lot of luggage. We have no trouble packing as much stuff as we want -- including bikes, which alone is a huge benefit. (In fact, we also use the minivan to store the kids' bikes when they are not using them, because we don't have a garage and the shed is crowded.)

2. Extra passengers. We don't carpool very much, but the fact is, there will be occasions when you want to transport a third and maybe a fourth kid, and you will want to have the room to do that. We only have grandparents visiting us one or two times a year, but when we do, we absolutely do NOT want to have to take two cars when we are going sightseeing. Just driving around DC can be stressful for older people, and who wants to have to find TWO parking spaces near the Smithsonian on Thanksgiving week? You get the idea.

3. Sliding doors -- no worries about dings. This is an awesome feature with kids.

4. Carrying large items. Buying furniture from Ikea or supplies from Home Depot and packing it in my own car rather than having to pay for delivery. Renting chairs for a backyard birthday party and driving them to our house. None of this would be possible without the minivan. It is amazing how much they can hold. Love that.

5. Entertainment system. On a long road trip, it is heaven to be able to have the kids watch a DVD in the back with the sound piped to their headphones while my husband and I listen to the radio up front. Maybe SUVs have these too? I love that thing so much.

Anonymous wrote:I have three kids and have never driven a mini-van. The only time it became a problem was when they were all doing rec soccer and I couldn't ride share with other families. NBD now that we aren't doing soccer anymore.

What kind of car do you have? We are expecting a third and not sure what kind of car to get but definitely not a minivan. Maybe a station wagon?