Will I regret a crossover?

[Simon]

This is certainly HIGHLY dependent on your area and activities though. I drive a small sedan, which is my preference now that we are out of car seats and boosters....I also would really take stock if you'd need something big enough for three adults in the back. Really, is that likely to ever happen? In my circle, someone would just drive themselves, none of us would need / want pack into a single vehicle like that to go somewhere.

The bolding is mine. I strongly suggest you ask some friends/neighbors with older kids. We seem to live in a "drive your own" area where people take their own kids to practices and sports stuff. Yes, I do drive an extra kid sometimes, but that is on average 1 x per month. I understand it may continue to change, but there is not way I could justify driving an XL SUV the rest of the time. I do sometimes drive 2 extra kids, but +my 3 its still only 5 total. Mostly we drive 1 extra adult (grandparent) and that's no problem. We bought our Pilot for towing capabilities and we can do 3 car seats or 1 adult +2 car seats across the middle and fill the trunk for camping/car trips no problem.

[hellokitty]

I vote minivan. However, if you want a third row crossover or SUV, I would make sure it is one that is a split 3rd row, you get more cargo space that way, if you only need to stick one person in the third row. I wouldn't do gm. They are going through yet another recall.

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[flashy09]

We hade a Traverse for many years and just sold it and bought a Nissan Pathfinder. I loved the traverse for space. We had the captain chairs and had no problems geting adults into the back seat when needed. We got the captain chairs because both girls were in car seats and I wanted third row access withough having to uninstall a car seat. We fit three small adults in the third row. It wouldn't be comfortable for a long drive, but fine for getting everyone to across town so we didn't have to take two cars. I really loved the space in that car overal, but had to sell it due to some mechanical problems that were just kinda flukey and don't seem to be overall a problem with the make.

I really like the new Pathfinder, the ride is much smoother than the traverse. The cargo space with the third row up is considerably smaller than the traverse and do miss that, but i'm not carrying around strollers and such anymore so it's not been a problem for us. We now have a bench seat in the second row and since DD1 is in a low back booster it isn't a problem to lift it up to get in the back seat. i really like how the seat folds forward for easy access to the third row. The majority of the time the third row is down and cargo room is ample. We mostly use the third fow for carrying extra kids around on the weekend, but we did travel with my parents and my family over memorial day weekend and all six of us fit fine even with weekend bags for everyone.

I have never regretted not having a van but honestly I'm just not a van person.

Could you fit anyone next to a carseat installed in the middle of the third row?

As far as the ride quality, did you try a new Traverse? I thought it was the smoothest of three GM crossovers even though the Buick is supposed to be. So quiet too and really nice interior - I was very surprised how fancy.

Does anyone know if two carseats (Foonf/Keyfit and then Foonf/Foonf) fit in the center and outboard in the bench version of the Traverse or Enclave? I know they do in the MDX and Gl450, which leaves the outboard seat free for third row access.

[flashy09]

I vote minivan. However, if you want a third row crossover or SUV, I would make sure it is one that is a split 3rd row, you get more cargo space that way, if you only need to stick one person in the third row. I wouldn't do gm. They are going through yet another recall.

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That does worry me! I really like the MDX and GL450 too, but they just don't have quite as much space and the GL450 is so expensive that I think I would cry every time a chocolate milk gets spilled. And I know kids don't have to eat and drink in the car, but I have said that about my living room with a cream rug and my current car so many times and it still ends up happening, lol.

Maybe the MDX is the way to go.

The minivan is super tempting, but I don't think it's as practical for my lifestyle and needs (when not driving the DD's around!). I need some ground clearance and a little higher tow capacity to have a truly useful car.

[daisysmom]

Maybe the MDX is the way to go.
I need some ground clearance and a little higher tow capacity to have a truly useful car.

I do appreciate the functionality of a minivan and my sister had two Ody's (noe has 2 crv's). I really live being up high tho so I would never not get an SUV. I do a ton of interstate driving and I have being low.

[HipMama]

So excited to see a Traverse owner on here! I was just talking to my DH about it and the space available.

Can you fit three normal sized adults in that third row? What about if there is a FF convertible in the center position - can you get two adults either side of it? Can you rear face a convertible in the third row?

My Traverse is the 7 seater (2 Captains chairs in 2nd row). You could fit 2 adults in the back row, 3 would be a real squeeze. You can FF a convertible in the back row center. It is the only position in the 3rd row that has a top tether. You could rf a seat too, but it would be a pain to get the kid in and out and it would depend on the seat size.

Ours is set up like this: RF Britax behind driver, FF Britax Frontier behind passenger, a HBB in the 3rd row drivers side with the other 1/3 seat part folded down. I keep my stroller on the folded down seat part (Bee) so I still have the cargo area for grocerys and stuff.

[Globetrotter]

It depends on your lifestyle, but we have only two kids and cannot live without our minivan! We do a ton of carpools and road trips, including camping, and the van is totally full. We also find it handy when we have guests, but an 8th (removable) seat would have been nice when we had two families of four. We have a lot of tourist attractions within two hours so we tend to drive together, and we have guests who do not drive in the U.S. so we end up taking two cars since we lack that 8th seat. I realize this is not useful for most. It's also useful to have the space when we have to haul small furniture and so on. My friend's SUV hardly has any trunk space. We carpool and the older kids have huge backpacks, so even though they have eight seats there is just enough space for their backpacks and nothing else, but they have a roof rack for long roadtrips. They cannot store large suitcases in the SUV because of the lack of space and the fact that they have a family of six. It would be okay for a smaller family.

Look around and talk to families with older kids, and also consider your situation.

[alirebco]

I have a MDX now with 2 kids and it fits our needs but we never drive other kids around. I love my car! My concern getting an XL SUV for occasional extra passengers would be the gas mileage. My gas mileage right now is about 19mpg. The newer ones are a bit better though.

The new Highlander got great reviews from Consumer Reports. It is a little longer and they have the option now to do captain's chairs in 2nd row. I would consider that for my next car if we went with the hybrid version.

[AnnieW625]

We have a similar sized Honda Pilot SUV from 2006 and we don't regret our purchase at all. We ended up with a model that has a third row and we rarely use it, but has proved useful since DD1 started kindergarten to use it for playdates, but since both DH and I work outside the home full time playdates are usually limited to weekends and involve parent pick up at our house or meeting at the movies, etc. .

Neither DH nor I grew up with a mini van (although I remember when the Dodge Caravan was still somewhat new in 1989 I wanted my parents to get one, I was 12) so we really had no strong feelings against them but then we really didn't know the benefits either, especially when we just had one kid (which is when we bought our 06 Pilot, we were upgrading from an Accord Coupe). I have always said that had we had a 3rd kid (or had DD2 been a twin) we would have gotten a mini van then, but for two kids and in our honest opinion we are just fine with a mid size SUV (and a mid size sedan, VW Passat); however we do know plenty of people with two kids who have mini vans, even some who just have 1 kid have them and are happy. I do see the benefit of a van or a larger crossover like a Ford Flex as my kids are getting older, but still not enough to sell a paid off mid size SUV or getting a second semi gas guzzling mini van or SUV when I can get way better mileage from my mid size sedan for commuting. Maybe if I didn't commute it would be a different story.

FWIW we also have a 80lb lab dog and while I know mini vans have oodles of space I do feel like we had more available space for the dog in the back of the Pilot than we would have in the mini van without having to remove a 3rd row seat, now of course one could argue that our dog would be more comfortable roaming around the van, but the Pilot has served us quite well.

[marinkitty]

I don't think you need a super-sized SUV with two kids. I JUST upsized from my Volvo XC90 (seats 7 but not a ton of room behind the third row when up and third row not particularly roomy) and it was just fine for years and years.

I live in a huge carpooling community - I often have 4-6 kids in my car. And my kids are much older than yours (plus I have 3 - 6.5, 9 and 11). I upsized primarily because of hockey carpool. The equipment is just huge and I was limited not by seats in my car but by cargo room. And I was tired of kids climbing over the second row bench to get to the third row seats. Now I have captains seats with a bench third row that is roomy and huge cargo room. But I wouldn't need it if I wasn't always hauling a ton of kids and their huge bags.

All that said, I do like driving it. We are road tripping this summer and it will be awesome to have the space. But the gas is definitely way more $$ than my Volvo SUV.