what cars/small suvs can hold 3 car seats in the back? Honda CRV? Toyota...

[funkyjh]

...Camry? Subaru Forrester? Hey, we're looking at having 3 kids in our future, we have 2 now. It would be a 4 year old in booster, a 2 year old in toddler seat, and an infant the carrier.

At first i was looking for a toyota matrix or pontiac vibe, but i won't be able to fit 3 in the back.

we don't want another mini-van or a big suv...

The honda CRV looks like it'll work... will it?
How about the Honda Element?
Subaru Forrester/Outback?

any suggestions would be great!

thanks!
btw, we have a peg perago infant carrier and an alpha/omega elite by costco?

 

[Yarro Pilz]

Can't do the Element.
It only has four seats. There isn't a bench seat in the back; it's two separate seats.

For the CRV, it will really depend on the car seats. You MIGHT be able to do it if you squished the booster in between the other two, but then it will be really, really hard to fasten the belt. I have a CRV, and a child in a Graco booster and a child in a Graco convertible seat, and I can just barely squish in between them. And I'm small: 5' 7" and 130 pounds.

I know someone who's doing it in a Subaru right now. Same deal. They've got the booster squished in between the other seats, and they're looking for another car.

 

[ebstar80]

A Camry I would think would be a definite no. We have a Nissan Altima which is very similar and I know we couldn't fit three carseats back there. We also have a Toyota RAV-4 which is a small SUV similar to the CRV and honestly I doubt we could fit three even in that backseat. We can't fit two adults plus one carseat because the carseat (have a Britax Marathon) takes up a little more than one full seat. We decided that as much as we don't like the idea of a minivan or bigger SUV if we wanted to have three kids we would have to get something bigger.

My only suggestion if you really are against the idea of anything bigger would be to try something with a 3rd row seat like the RAV-4 or the Highlander. I'm sure that they have similar ones from other manufacturers I just happen to know Toyota since we looked at those. You could put the older kid in the 3rd row seat since at 4yo they could climb in and buckle the seat themselves. Then you would only have to deal with 2 carseats in the actual backseat. You will lose quite a bit of trunk space though just to warn you.

 

[mommyto3rugrats]

most of your small suvs are going to be a problem since they are all generally the same size. we have a mitsubishi montero that BARELY fit all 3 in the back (that was with squishing the seats together were they were overlapping on the sides) we ended up getting a crew cab truck where now they all fit..
the only thing I can recommend is maybe go to a used car lot where they have a bunch and see if they will let you try them in some of the cars. Usually the will let you if they think you are planning to buy a car!

 

[mommyto3rugrats]

most of your small suvs are going to be a problem since they are all generally the same size. we have a mitsubishi montero that BARELY fit all 3 in the back (that was with squishing the seats together were they were overlapping on the sides) we ended up getting a crew cab truck where now they all fit..
the only thing I can recommend is maybe go to a used car lot where they have a bunch and see if they will let you try them in some of the cars. Usually the will let you if they think you are planning to buy a car!