Do I Need to Buy an SUV Now That I Am Having a Second Kid?

I would take the "test it out" suggestion on the car seats before buying a new car (we put 2 car seats and a tall 12 year old in a Nissan Sentra). But if you do decide a new car is in the cards, do a LOT of research before choosing one. You don't HAVE to get a gas guzzling SUV. Don't count out a mini-van ... I love my 20 miles to the gallon in the city Toyota Sienna. Also consider a hybrid SUV if city (under 35 mph) driving is what you do the most.

We have a Ford Fusion and we were able to fit three car seats across the back. It is tight but it is much more roomier than my Focus. The key will be to use the base with the infant seat. This way you do not have to unbuckle the infant seat each and every time you get in and out of the car. With two kids you should be fine with the car you have. I wish we had a bigger car only because it is frustrating to have to take two cars whenever we go anywhere with grandma.

I would get a mini-van, then your husband could sit in the front seat because there is lots of leg room, you have room for your mother-in-law, and a couple of seats to spare (think playdates).

Well, if I was going to buy a bigger car (which I plan to do very soon), I would get a minivan and not an SUV. A minivan is a lot more versatile and easy to get the kids in and out of. It's so much more convenient, plus it drives like a car and not like a truck, so it's smoother and uses less gas.

Right now, we have a Honda Accord. My son is 5 and my daughter is 2, and they each sit by a window. The middle seat is open but, due to the widths of the car seats, there is not room for another person to sit back there. Now that my son is older, I really wish we had room to take another child somewhere, since we often want to carpool places with his friends. That is the main reason I want another car.

You can easily fit a family of four into a midsize car, but you can't take a fifth person.

I know you're going to resist this, but hear me out. We got a minivan because we do serious road trips, so we wanted the space but also good gas milage. However, I did not realize two features of minivans that were going to rock my world- rear captains chairs and automatic sliding doors. I watch my sister cramped in between two car seats in their $90,000 Lexus SUV while I can almost fully recline in my rear captains chair. Not to mention my visibility for both me and the kids is shockingly wonderful. I put one kid in the third row and one in the other captains chair (for long trips otherwise kids are in the second row and I can jump to third row if need be, as there is no third seat in the second row). I have great access to both of them this way. I also never realized what an incredible safety feature automatic sliding doors were. I can have doors open and waiting in the parking lot so my kids can get in while i load up the trunk. I don't have to hope they don't run out into the parking lot while one waits for me to open thier door, or take two toddlers down a cramped parking space to keep one safe while I load the other. And lets not even get going about door dings my kids won't cause! If your pride can take the hit, the modern mini van is really one of the best kept secrets. If your pride can't take it, make sure to get a third row in your SUV. If you all are road trippers, look into rear captains chairs- truly the only way to get stuck in the back with the kids. If you skip that middle seat in the second row, it makes it so easy to access kids in the third row. You can find this feature in some SUV's.

ETA: to add to my credibility, since having a kids in tow, we have driven a full size SUV, a compact SUV, and a Prius. Nothing compares to the minivan for comfort and convenience (unless of course you are into mountaineering in which case nothing compares to an SUV on a steep icy mountain road)

(I drive a fully loaded Sienna. Most all my mom friends drive SUV's. I know I lost some coolness factor, some have even laughed at my choice to my face. but i don't care, I love it, love it, love it, I will buy another one when the time comes)

Well I did buy an SUV, partially b/c I just wanted one, but also because I had a smallish 4 door sedan and my issue wasn't necessarily backseat space but trunk space. I carried the stroller with me pretty much every day b/c we were busy and we used it a lot. So, if I had the stroller I had a hard time fitting groceries, etc. in the trunk too. So, I ended up with a Honda Pilot (and LOVE it by the way). I think a Volvo wagon is pretty roomy but with two non drivers...hmmm, that might be tricky. I think honestly I would buy a car seat, have it installed where you want it and take it for some test drives. No one says you have to do this all before the baby comes (or you can if you want) but I do think it might be tight. Your first child won't be in a booster for a while and they aren't as bulky so if you can make it until then it might be a little easier.

I have a friend who has two kids and babysits her niece every day. She has a regular 4 door and she put two car seats and a booster across the back seat. She did it for a long time and didn't seem too phased by it. She does have a pretty big trunk so that helped, but she would have to stretch across one kid to help buckle the one in the middle.

If you don't want to change, I think you can make it work.

Shop around for seats that fit your car. One of my friends is a nanny and has a Focus. She has the twins she watches in convertible carseats in the back and will be putting an infant between them. If she can get 3 kids across in a focus, I'm sure you can figure out a station wagon. Now, you may not have a lot of room for other passengers other than Mom and Dad and the kids, but you can put the kids in the car together. Or maybe Dad needs to learn to ride up front with you.

We used a midsize car for about a year and a half after our youngest was born. It's doable.

I really wanted a minivan for a few reasons. I liked the fact that the seats were higher up and I wouldn't be bending over to get the kids in and out of the carseats. I really liked having the extra seats. In the minivan I can have 4 kids in carseats or 2 kids in carseats an 3 people in the back. My SIL and I have been able to drives somewhere with my 2 kids and her 2 kids (don't really have room for a 3rd adult because our kids are all still in carseats).

This is not a purchase you need to make. It is something you might want to think about in the future. Carseats are big, and there simply is not room for more than 4 passengers.

I see lots of 2 baby/child seats in the back seat of sedans all the time. If the seats fit then it's OK. You might not want to put them next to each other because the 2 yo may bother the baby. But I've seen them together and on opposite sides of the car.

I rode between the two baby seats when my daughter had a sedan. It was a bit cramped but still OK. Probably wouldn't work for your husband, tho.

Buy a SUV or a mini-van if you and your passengers will be more comfortable but not because having 2 seats in the back seat of a sedan isn't done. smile

I drive a Mercury Sable and I often have three children in it. I ALWAYS have two children in it, and they are both in car seats. I haven't had a problem with it. If all three were in car seats, it wouldn't work, but two is fine.

It depends on the car and the car seats. If you get narrow car seats and your car has enough space to put them next to each other then it will work. Some places let you test out whether the car seats fit in your car before you buy. Toys R Us will let you do this. You can't really test drive with it, but you can put it in your car and see if it will work.

Infant seats are pretty small. I have a small sedan and could fit two infant car seats in the back, but there was no space for another passenger. When my twins got older and I moved them to convertible car seats, I had a lot of trouble in my car. The car seats we had were so big that it was hard to fit them in rear facing and keep the driver's seat at a comfortable position. There was no way my husband could drive or sit in my car. So we mostly just used my husband's car when traveling with the kids until we turned them forward facing. It was inconvenient, but I wasn't about to go yet another set of car seats or get a new car.

My husband has a small to midsize SUV. We can fit two convertible car seats in rear-facing (and forward facing), leaving the middle spot open. But it's a tight fit for a passenger. I can fit there but my husband cannot and I have to climb in from the front seat. :-) When my mom visits and we go out, I just suffer and sit in the back for the short drive. When the seats were rear facing in the back it was actually more shoulder space so not too bad.

You could try out some seats in the Volvo and see how it works. If you do opt to buy a new car and choose SUV over minivan or other wagon, there are hybrid SUVs that might help out with the gas guzzling aspect.

Of course you can put two car seats in a car. There are also seats that will fit three across. I would NOT buy an SUV in order to have two kids. You already have a station wagon. That used to be what people got when they had 3 or more kids. Not what they switched from.

No, you don't need an SUV. We have 4 (including 2 car seats) in a subcompact car. Being able to fit the baby next to your toddler will depend on your car and your car seats. The Diono Radian is probably the narrowest and best for fitting next to other seats (people fit 3 of them side-by-side in cars). For an infant seat, I think the Chicco Keyfit is one of the narrower options, and if you use it without the base (it's perfectly safe to install it without the base, it's just less convenient), it is narrowest. You might be able to fit a Chicco next to a Diono, for instance.

If you do end up wanting another car, but want good fuel economy, look into the Prius V. It has the storage space of a small SUV, 42 mpg, and is surprisingly roomy inside. With the right car seats in the Prius, I'm sure you could fit 5, including 2 car seats.

No, I don't think you have to.

I did get a mini-van when my second came along (a LOT more convenient than an SUV), but I not only had a 2-year-old, I also had three dogs. I could hardly fit my family in my little car before Number 2 - all if the seats were already taken!

But I suspect if thing's aren't tight in your car with 1, you'll be fine with 2.

We had three kids and a midsize car, 3 carseats in a row. I would NEVER get an SUV unless I needed to seat a 4th child, and when our 4th arrived, we got a van. (The SUV's were pretty cramped, more money, and gas guzzlers).

We always put carseats next to one another to make use of the middle seat, as it's the safest spot. Even in the van, we do this.

If you put a Diono carseat in for the 2-year-old (rear-facing since he's so young; this seat rear-faced our kid until 4.5, so it's plenty tall, trust me), and an infant seat in for the baby, that will likely work. You'd have to try. Buy Buy Baby has the seats to test out.

Infant seat in the middle might be too hard to access and click into the base. And ideally, once your oldest is forward-facing, you'd want him to have the greatest protection (since once the seat is no longer rear-facing, some protection is lost), so middle would be ideal. The rear-facing seats offer so much already, that outboard would be ideal there. But again, you need to find a set up that works for you. Good luck!

You'll probably be happiest with a minivan. Then you'll have lots of seating arrangement options. And at some point, hubby might have to consider sitting in the front, at least sometimes.

well, your husband will just have to sit in the front seat. A baby car seat should never be put in the front seat--not safe. Just have one kid on one side of the car, the other one on the other side. You don't need to put the baby in the middle--especially if there is not enough room in the middle. BUT, if you have to have 5 people in the car, you don't actually need a suv. There are other options, like, for instance, a Mazda 5, which is a sports van, which is a small suv. It has three rows--the back, with can have 3 people in the back (and the seats can fold down when no in use), then, there are 2 seats in the middle, and then there are the driver seat and passanger. So, if you choose to go that route, then look into something like that.
Hope this is helpful!

I have two car seats in my midsize car. No problems. I have the middle seat empty and adults of various sizes fit between my two regular sized car seats easily.

I would not buy an SUV because of the reasons you listed.

I have 3 girls and we live in Switzerland. We still drive a station wagon and fit all 3 in the backseat. We have a company car so it was either fit in that car or buy a new one ourselves. We decided to try and save some money. It can definitely be done, especially with 2. You will all fit just fine in the station wagon. I say don't buy a new car unless you absolutely need one. Good luck and congrats on your 2nd :)

I personally really dislike minivans and I didn't want a gas guzzling SUV either so I kept my Toyota Avalon (sedan). It was tight but two car seats fit with the infant seat in the middle. Try it then you will know.