Best Car for a Large Family

I was totally anti-minivan for a long time, but finally broke down and bought a Honda Oddysey and LOVE it. We have had it for over 2 years now, and here are the reasons I am a convert. (1) the body is a little more square looking than other minivans, slightly "cooler" look - lol, (2) the middle bucket seats slide together and apart very easily, and I (at 5' 3") can lift them in and out by myself, (3) seats 7, (4) even with the 3rd row folded up you can fit a ton of stuff (double jogging stroller, 2 little kids bikes and bags full of stuff), (5) DVD player is priceless for keeping the kids entertained, (6) double side doors that slide open, this makes getting in and out SO MUCH EASIER in parking lots, and (7) great gas mileage compared to an SUV.

My friend has a Volvo SUV, it has a third row seat and is very good on gas mileage, and even with the 3rd seats up in the back there is still plenty of room in the storage area. And it is a cute sporty looking SUV

I know you said you don't want a mini-van but I'd say its at least worth checking out a Toyota Sienna. Yes it's a "mini-van" but there are ALOT of really cool perks to having one.

I hate mini-vans but want one of these

I bought a 2006 Toyota Sienna this year for my nanny job. Yes, I bought it not my employer. Anyhow! Its a great van! It fits the needs for working with the kids and with my dance teaching position as well. There is so much space in the Toyota van's--its awesome! I store 3 big dance bags in the trunk and still have tons of room! The seats fold down too. It came in very handy for moving as well.

Go for a van and go for Toyota! Best cars ever! I owned a Matrix last year before I traded in for the van and it was a good car too. My parents have had 3 or 4 Toyota's as well. Seems you need the space with four children.

The van's aren't as bad as some people think. Very safe and easy to drive. It doesn't eat up gas either. I love how the van's have all the extra hidden spaces for storage and other things. I'm 26 and I drive my van everywhere. I think it's an awesome car! :)

Good luck!

I never wanted a minivan either. Now I can tell you, I can't imagine ever buying another car other than my Honda Odyssey. We are expecting our 4th boy now. There is a lot of room - my boys get dressed in the van after swimming without any trouble. When we first began looking, I compared trunk space both with the seats up and down and the Odyssey had the most space of any of them. We drive from NY to MD often and I've never been at a loss for space and we ALWAYS come back with more than we left with thanks to my mom. LOL I like that the second row can either be "captain seat-like", "bench seat-like", or we can add a small third seat so we can fit a total of 8 people in the van. It also has 2 glove boxes, an under seat box, and a box in the floor of the second row where you can put things. The trunk space is so deep, my husband's first comment when he saw it was, "You could put a body in there!" LOL LOVE my van.

I'm a little biased but I love my van. It's a fullsize conversion, GMC. It seats 7 very comfortably, has the tv with DVD player and a hookup for Playstation/Nintendo type gaming systems.
I have been in the Buick larger size SUV. It's nice but too small. My mom has an Astro, Chevy. She likes it, I still think it's too small. In our van the kids get their own corners. YOu can walk into the back standing up. We even put three dogs and three cats in ours. We travel quite a bit to the Chicago area.
THE downfall is gas mileage. My last tank got 12.5 mpg, that was on 95 going to Dulles and Springfield. THat was good. Sometimes when its' 101* I get a whopping 10 mpg. It is not fuel efficient. Also parking is a challenge. .I usually have to park outside. I can get it into the Metro parking at Springfield and into the garage at the Richmond Airport. DC is a nightmare so we usually take METRO.
This is all probably not very helpful, but I would buy another if this one has to be replaced.

Most 3rd row SUV's are 7 passenger...Except for the Honda Pilot which is 8! We're thinking about getting one as I have a lease that ends in August. The GMC Acadia is very big and the inside looks like a mini van. Bucket seats in the 2nd row, then you can walk right through to the back row without have to climb into or over anything.

What are your thoughts on the Ford Flex?

Kimberly,

I LOVED my mini-van (Chrysler Town & Country) but wanted to go back to an once my kids could climb in and out on their own. We are out-doorsy and like to go hiking so we needed a 4-wheel drive.

Okay - That being said, I have had a Ford Explorer w/3rd seat. It seated 8, but the 3rd seat wasn't "full-sized" so it was only comfortable for the little kids - which makes it hard because those are the ones you need to closer to.

I know have a Saturn Outlook and absolutely LOVE it! Both middle and back rows will fold flat if you need them to, even with both sets of seats up, there is ample storage space for luggage or our two big dogs! And it's good on gas.

So, there is my 2 cents worth! Good luck -
C.

I love my Honda Pilot which seats 8 people. I took my daughter and 6 of her 13/14 yr old friends out for a birthday celebration. Was still able to fit a small icechest and supplies behind the 3rd row seat. With the entire 3rd row up, you won't have a lot of room for luggage. But the seat actually folds up/down in sections. One section is just 1 seat, the other section is 2 seats. With just 1 seat opened up, it leaves you with lots of luggage room. My daughter and I were able to pick up my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and niece with all their luggage from the airport without any problem.

My Pilot is a 2006 model with almost 90,000 miles on it. All I've had to do is change the oil/fluids, buy a set of tires, new wipers, and brakes (original brakes lasted until 80,000 miles!). The interior has held up extremely well.

I have a 2005 chevy impala. I will soon be the shortest. The impala fits my four children, my husband and myself comfortably and has plenty of trunk space. My oldest two are at least 6ft tall and it's ample room for them as well. Because I have four children, I opted for a car with no middle console. They are all teenagers now and my oldest has her own six-seater car. She drives a 2005 Buick Century which also has ample room in the trunk.

My Suburban seats 8, plus has storage. Granted, it doesn't hold my entire family, but I really, really didn't want to upgrade to a 12 or 15 passenger. In reality, your family should fit into just about anything.

One thing to keep in mind is if your kids get carsick. We have an Isuzu Ascender SUV (love it!) over 100,000 miles and no troubles, seats 7. However, the "backity-back" seems to be sort of, I don't know, "sway-ish" so if I sit back there, yuck! I never noticed that in my mini-van. (And even tho I was totally anti-mini van, I'd have to admit it was more convenient than the SUV in many ways. More places to put 'stuff', easier to get in and out of...) Most of the kids don't seem to be bothered by that little sway, but I have a couple who have to ride in the middle row only. I don't know if other big SUV's have that issue or not. Our car does have lots of storage, but of course that depends on how many actual people you have in there, plus it gets about 17mpg so that's nothing to be thrilled about!

Check out the Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

My friend has a Yukon Denali--that thing is huge! Check into it. It has tons of room.

A Suburban is GREAT for large families - for road trips they get GREAT gas mileage for a big car - 25 to 27 mpg.

The room is PHENOMENAL!!! Yes, it's expensive to fill up - but over all - AWESOME!! For ride, comfort and room - Suburban is the way to go!!

You can get them in different interiors

two captains chair in the middle row
full seat in middle row
split seat in middle row

We traveled with 6 in it all over Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming and NO ONE complained about "he's touching me" or I can't see!!

Good luck!!

I loved loved loved my Acura MDX... It has 3rd row seating and very nice inside.. For being a SUV it wasn't a gas gussler.. My girlfriend has the Buick Enclave with the 3rd row and that's really nice and roomy also :0)

I have a Tahoe that seats 9! (3 in each row) I love my tahoe and the gas isn't as bad as many would think considering the size of it.

I didn't think there was anything But a minivan! ;)

Good luck!