Teatopia

We have a small car and it is a pain with the 2 kids, but it is cheap and great on gas! Just helps in being able to stay home:) There are times when I get frustrated with the lack of room in the car, but it is okay for now! My MIL has a 3 row trailblazer and to be honest, those do not have much more room than a car once you put the seat up. There is less storage and the 3rd seat really isn't safe for a car seat and is SUPER uncomfortable for trips longer than a half hour!(unless you are a kid who doesn't need a carseat) I don't think the newer minivans are uncool at all! Man, they have everything!!

I drive a 200 Honda Civic & Bobby drives a 2006 Toyota Tacoma. I may be going back to work soon & we're considering getting me a Honda CRV. I'd LOVE to have a Honda Pilot but that's just not in our finances right now. My sister has a 3-row seat Trailblazer & her & her husband love it. But, that's the thing, the bigger the vehicle, the MORE gas it takes to fill them & w/gas @ the price per gallon it is now, you'd have to make lots of $$ to keep them up in gas! I haven't seen/heard about the new 3 row seat Saturn~I'll have to check out their website~just to LOOK at them ;) But yeah, I'm hoping to get a Honda CRV just because w/2 children, I have SO much to tug around when we go somewhere! I don't have anything against minivans~my sister in law has one & loves it but there again, takes too much gas to fill up. Justin wants us to get a van whenever I do get a new vehicle~so at least kids today think minivans are hip ;)

In that 1st sentence, that was supposed to be 2000 Honda Civic~I left off a 0, lol!

I just bought my mom and dad's 2001 Lexus SUV and I LOVE IT. I am now trying to sell my 2001 Land Rover. Unless you like the feeling that you are constantly going 4 wheeling, I would suggest against a Land Rover. We bought it right before I had Ava (I had a two door Honda Accord which I didn't think was practical with getting an infant seat in and out of). I liked it, it was roomy and it has two extra seats in the back, but those are not safe for children and it actually took up room in the back for the other stuff that I needed to put in there. I love the look of them, I just didn't really like driving it. The Lexus is actually pretty good on gas considering it is an SUV. Let us know what you decide!

We have a 2005 Toyota Sienna mini-van and love it. I have 2 boys but we always have someone else in the car and it holds 8 passengers. I love the flexibility of having folding seats and the power sliding doors so I don't have to worry about the kids closing them properly. No, I don't feel particularly cool when I drive it but, I'm over that. I just want to be comfortable and have adequate space for the kids, their friends, sporting equipment and the dog. I love my van!

I have one kid and pretty much the same car as you do (Honda CRV). We are already in talks that next car should be a minivan but we can't seem to find one we like other than the way out of our price range Odyssey. Would it make me feel uncool? Not really. The older the kids get (assuming we have more) the more there is to tote so...

In other thoughts...have you considered using your cart cover as a high chair cover? We do. But then I also have a booster seat in the back of my car just taking up space in case we end up at a restaurant with questionable high chairs...

I drove a yukon and sold it after kid number 2 for an upgrade. We got an expedition now. My oldest sits in the very back by himself and the two others sit in the second row. We went to Fl. last Sept. with my Mom, grandmother, and aunt. The two older boys sat in the very back, mom, aunt, and infant, in the middle, and then my grandmother and I up front. Totally comfortable. But now, the newest expedition is much larger and I'm frustrated it came out after I got mine.

As for the mini-vans...I was one of those mothers too that swore I'd never have one!!! But, they are pratical and equipted with everything, I would definitely buy one now. I really like the Oddessey and the Nissan's...not sure of the name. Also, I'm digging those new style cars that are the inbetween of a suv and a car. I think those are cute!

Oh my goodness, my friend & I were talking about this yesterday! When I was in first grade we had to cut out a picture of our dream car - I cut out a minivan (how lame for a six-year-old, right?).

One of my friends has a minivan & I LOVE it - it fits us, our husbands, & our kids with room to spare. I love SUVs but I don't think they have enough space for what I want. Plus, minivans have so many upgrades now they're definitely better than when I was younger.

My husband drove a mini van for a few years in college. The funny thing is, he has no intentions of ever driving one again. :D

We have a SUV which is more practical because we need the 4wd quite often. My husband's parents still have one, and it's always been for their 2 kids and 2 friends. :P

Go for the third row SUV. I drive a Honda Pilot and I love it! We usually have the third row down but it's great when my brother comes to visit with his two kids and we can all take one car to the beach. For an SUV that seats 8 it gets great mileage. I'm a diehard Honda fan. It would take a lot to get me to drive anything else.

J and I did some car shopping last summer, and though we didn't end up buying anything, I found myself thinking about this very issue. Most small SUVs don't seem to have anymore room than a regular sized sedan, which is what I drive (Honda Accord). It's find right now for the most part, but when we went to Panama City earlier this year I really wished we'd had more room. I can't imagine what it would have been like with another baby.

My first choice, had we bought a car last summer, was the Ford Freestyle. It's a crossover..which is like a cross between a minivan and an SUV. It has third row seating, 24 mpg highway, and it looks great. It seemed like every company was pretty much coming up with their own crossover. We liked the Pacifica too, but the salesman actually cautioned us against it b/c it has a weird blindspot thing and some engine issues. Anyway, I'd definitely drive a minivan. I remember saying just a couple of years ago that I'd never go there, but who really cares? No one's looking at me and thinking "What a nerd" b/c of the car I drive.

I used to drive a Jeep Cherokee and it was good, but when we moved in with B and I was carting 3 growing kids around, it got a little tight. I now have a Nissan Pathfinder with the 3rd row seating and TOTALLY reccommend it! We fixed the seats so that the kids are seperated b/c they always want to mess with eachother when we travel. We have one in the back and then the middle seat in the middle row is down. It works out good traveling too - our true test on space will be next month when we go to Florida!!

Depends on the number we have. Hahahah. But just thinking of all the items you mentioned we would need perhaps a mini van would be a good idea. I never thought they weren't cool. Just means you have a family. But I think being a nerd is kinda cool.

I got over my minivan issues some years ago, when I realized how comfortable they are. And I think a lot of them look pretty decent, though I must confess I also have a thing for wagons. We considered a minivan when we bought our car a few months ago. But we were able to get our Mazda5 for significantly less than what a minivan would cost. When we have the third row seats down, there's plenty of trunk space for all the kid stuff. But if we have those seats up, it puts a big dent in what gear we can carry. With one kid, it's no big deal flipping one back seat up so that my parents can join us in going somewhere. But once we have another kid (and all of their gear), anybody else will likely have to find their own ride.
Maybe in the future, we'll get a minivan. But on a day to day basis, I can do without another car.

My parents' van is really cute! :) I figure that we'll probably get one at some point. How exciting to think about you guys possibly having two children next year! hehe :)

I drive a Honda CR-V and Hubby drives a Toyota 4runner.

Right now, a Honda Element is probably my top car for practicality, since the interior is totally washable and my dog destroys everything with his fur and drool ... in lime green, of course. It also has a way big back seat and a great cargo area.

I am a minivan snob. Don't like them. Having said that ... at some point it would be really practical to get a car that can seat 8 or so ... and with that in mind, it's either a big ol' SUV or a big ol' minivan. Or I could just go all Partridge Family and get a bus. ;)

I hear you! Both my husband and I swore we'd never drive one but he's been talking about getting one! I can't believe it. I'm still standing my ground. :)
We drive a GMC Jimmy - 4 door. And I love it! It's not new and if I had a choice I'd probably get another one but it does suck gas. :( That's the only drawback for me.
The only suggestion I'd make is check how it is to get kids in and out. I don't have to do any bending to get them in and out in our vehicle but I spent a weekend getting a baby in and out of my friend's minivan and it was WAY more difficult and by the end my back was killing me. Also you don't necessarily have more cargo space unless you get an extended version or don't mind hucking things on the back seat. Anyhow, that's my 2 bits. :)

I drove a regular trailblazer for 3 years and it was fine. We had our son 5 months ago and it was still fine for one child. We JUST (this week actually) bought an Expedition, it can seat 8 and they make them now so the third row if made for adults and just as comfy. We plan to keep the 3rd row down for more storage unless we have people riding with us. It's super easy to because it's controlled by a power button. Our carseat easily fits and the second row could easily fit two seats. We got something bigger while we could for more storage and more room in the second row. The trailblazer didn't have much leg room for adults in the second row. We plan to have more kids in the next year or two so we invested.