2nd row capts chairs or bench in suv/minivan?

[hautemama15]

I love having the captains chairs. I used to have a 2nd and 3rd row bench seat in my last 2 minivans and this one has the captains chairs and a 60/40 split bench in the 3rd row and I absolutely love the combo!! We also have the little 8th mini seat too, but we took it out for now. We weren't using it and it gave us that "through" room, which is great!!

[brittone2]

We have an 05 Ody so we have the "plus one" seat in between the 2 regular seats. I actually use it all of the time. DS hates, hates, hates the car, and so I sometimes nurse him in the car, (yes, while both of us are buckled in...don't worry ;) ) which is a pain but far better than hearing him crying in the carseat.

When we drive back and forth to PA from NC, it is a long trip and I nurse him to sleep that way in his carseat. So I actually use the "plus one" seat quite a bit. I'm only 5'2" and pretty small though so I guess that's why I don't mind the "plus one." I know a lot of people say they don't use theirs, but ours has been a lifesaver.

[casey118]

We just bought a Nissan Armada (full size SUV) and originally wanted captain's chairs in the middle and the dealer talked us out of it. He said he had had a few customers who had purchased the captain's chairs who came back wanting the bench, but it is a really expensive conversion. His rationale is if you are getting such a big SUV it is worth it to have the extra seat (8 instead of 7). I also met a woman who drove a Lincoln Navigator (I think) with captain's chairs, and she didn't like it because she had 3 kids, and couldn't put her stoller in the car when all of her kids were with her (her stroller didn't fit in the very back with the third row up).

Anyway, we ended up buying one with a bench seat and have liked it. I think I might feel differently in a minivan where it is easier to move around, but even with the open middle in the SUV I think it would be hard to get to the back especially around carseats. Each seat in our middle bench folds independently of the others and folds flat. The third row folds in a 60/40 split which is also really nice. The drawback (as other PPs mentioned) is if you have 2 carseats in the outboard positions, it is impossible to get to the third row. We have put one carseat in the middle row and one in the back (DS can climb back there by himself, and then I reach in to buckle him up), and that is an ok solution. I think the downside of a SUV in general is you have to help the kids in or lift them up into the seats, and then climb in yourself to get them buckled. It isn't perfect but works ok.

Good luck deciding!

[mom2acrew]

Chiming in late, we will soon have 5 children so we opted for the bench to get the extra seat. The salemans tried hard to sell DH on Captain's chairs but with a car seat installed rf or ff it would have been difficult for my older children to squeeze by. Maybe not so bad with the ff seat if my son was not in the car but for doing school p/u or drop off it would have been tough. My older kids are very adept at slinding the out board 2nd row seat forward to enter/exit the 3rd row at 11 & 7. I guess it really depends on your needs and the needs of your passengers. One other thing to consider some of the older vehicles and even 2006s only have a lap belt in the 3rd row center position which does not offer adequate protection for anyone other than a child in a harnessed car seat so that may eliminate a seating position as well.

Jodi, Child Passenger Safety Technician, Mom to 3 in seats almost 4 :)

[joyful mommy]

Jodi,

Thanks for the mention about the 3rd row center position seat belt. I'll definately check on that!

Finding our preferred vehicle is taking longer than we'd expected. We may have to re-group here.

I see many people like the Oddysey and friends of our do too. Unfortunately it doesn't meet all of our needs right now. It does seem like a nice mini-van.

Thanks again to everyone who's shared their experiences here. I'll continue to check back since we're still looking now.