I've been looking into getting an SUV. It will be my gift when and if we find out were pregnant someday. I will need the extra room for 2 children. Now heres what i'm looking for:

The most important, back seat space. Probably the most important. DH is tall so every vehicle hes in the seat goes all the way back. So I want extra space for dangling feet as DD and someday child #2 get older.

Cargo Space- For trips and such.

Overall I *really* like the Chevy Tahoe but am not thrilled about the backseat space. I've looked in them but have never seen a carseat in them to determine how much room there is. Suburbans are nice too but a bit long. I dont want to drive a bus. But if I need to, i will

Ford Excursions seem to have a lot of room according to my friend with 3 DKs all in carseats. But I dont really like the style and I believe they are discontinuing them after the '05 model anyways.


What else? Any recommendations? I wont go for a minivan because they just do not fit my style. So share your SUV secrets!

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 10:57 am:

Well, I have the Chevy Equinox and absolutely love it. Hubby wanted me to get the Tahoe but at 5' tall I just wasn't comfortable in it. I think the most important thing is to try them all out and compare.

By Cat on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 11:20 am:

We have a Ford Expedition and a Dodge Durango. Right now I have six booster/car seats in my two back seats. They all fit, belted in and all. Also, with an infant carrier seat in the middle of the second row, the kids can still squeeze by it to get out on the passenger side. You are limited on what seats will fit in the second row (two of the three seats--some seats won't fit because of how the seatbelts are installed--the third seat will fit almost any car seat). I can put either a convertable or an infant carrier in the middle (of the second row), but not my boosters with the five point harness installed. There's no way I've found to get them tight in that spot. The down side to my Expedition that I've found is there is very little cargo room behind the third seat. The third row seat does come out, but it's heavy and you really need two people to get it in and out. Also, I've found for every day driving (without a bunch of daycare kiddos!) it really is kind of big. Remember, the Excursion is even bigger. My Expedition seats eight.

Now, dh's Durango. It seats seven quite comfortably. Car seats are harder to install because the second row seatbelts don't lock after pulling them all the way out, so you need to use locking clips. Not a big deal, but can be a pain. The major advantage to the Durango is the third row seat folds down flat. You don't have to take it out and store it in the garage AND it only takes one person (heck, my 9yo can do it). It also drives more like a car. It's not this huge thing like the Expedition sometimes seems to be. I really like it for a family car.

Dh and I have talked about me dropping a child from my enrollment. Then I'd take his Durango and we'd get rid of the Expedition and get an extended cab truck or something. Don't get me wrong, I really do like my Expedition, but it's just so big! For my brother's (who are both 6' and over 250lbs each) it'd be great! My oldest brother and his wife both love it (the other brother's never seen it). Jmo

I also have a couple friends with Surburbans (sp?). While they have more cargo room with the third row of seats in, they have a lot less leg room in the second two rows. You also have to remove the third row (it doesn't fold flat). Both my friends do love their Surburbans, though. One of them usually just leaves the third row out (she only has two kids, the other has four).

Remember, these are all older (2000 or older) SUV's. They're making a lot of improvements with the newer ones and some of the models I've mentioned my have foldable third rows by now. I'd really suggest just test driving and looking at some different ones. We test drove an Expedition that seated nine. It had a bench seat in the front! Not much good for kids with the air bags, though. Good luck on your quest. I'm sure we've got lots of SUV Driving Mama's on here! lol They'll probably pipe in when they see this.

By Mrsheidi on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 11:31 am:

We LOVE our Infinity QX4. We did a lot of research and found that they had a lot of room and were really safe. You can get one used and they last forever! (We have a 2001) The service we get on it is amazing too! We haven't needed much service at all, but when we did, they were AMAZING. They let us drive a NICE infinity for a day while it was in the shop. (It was service on the CD player, due to the previous owner being a doofus and trying to put 2 CD's in the same slot.) My cousin has one too and LOVES it. She had a Ford Explorer and it was in the shop all the time.
I'll talk with my hubby today and I'll ask him where he does all his research on cars. It's almost a hobby for him.

By My2cuties on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 11:34 am:

Not one yet, but I believe DH has talked himself into it by spring, I personally wanted a minivan (Toyota Sienna) but Dh wants to go with GMC or Chevy so we will probably get a Tahoe or Suburban, not brand new of course but a couple years old. For now we are doing just fine in our 2 door coupe with our 2 girls...lol Dh is just now wanting a SUV, instead of the car(probably has to do with the fact that he just got an s-10 pickup truck for himself..lol) Good Luck finding one that you like.

By Kaye on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 12:04 pm:

I have a friend with 3 kids that has a honda pilot and loves it. Honestly with 2 kids the need for 3rd row seating isn't really a big deal. The pilot has the third row if you ever need it, but if not you can just use it as storage space. What I will say is that you will use whatever space you have, if you get a huge car you will end up packing all that! When you kids are little in diapers, etc you do need a little extra space, but with my three kids now we can even travel in a car with trunk space being plenty, them touching each other is a whole different issue Personally I would go with a smaller SUV, just because I don't like driving or parking a boat!

By Boxzgrl on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 12:30 pm:

I don't really care for a third row but if it has it thats fine. I just plan on taking out/folding down the third row for extra cargo space until its needed. I like cargo space because DH and I take mini trips a lot and have frequent visits to the family. We want comfort as well.

Right now I have a Saturn L Series and when DH is in the car theres no room for anyone but the 3 of us. Its me and DH in the front (he's usually the passenger since its my car) and DDs carseat in the middle backseat. When DH puts his seat back he has to make sure DDs feet dont get squished because she spreads them out and lays her legs on the back of our seats. He has NO leg room whatsoever. I'm fine as far as space but i'm just ready for something bigger. DH has a Silverado and even then theres not much backseat leg room for other people who may travel with us.

By Vicki on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 01:01 pm:

You might not think that you care about the third row right now, but as you child(ren) get older and all take a friend some where, it is great having the third row!! We only have one child and have used the third row on more than one occasion!! We have the Honda Pilot and LOVE it.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 06:52 pm:

Check Consumer Reports on rollover problems, which are common with many SUVs.

By Laurazee on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 07:43 pm:

We've got the same as Mrsheidi above - Infiniti QX4, used, in great condition. It's roomy but it's not huge - so it's easy to park and more importantly it actually fits in our city garage. It's like driving a couch.

By Pamt on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 10:39 pm:

How tall is your DH?

By Boxzgrl on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 11:47 pm:

He's 6'6" and about 240ish pounds. Hard to find comfort there, huh?

By Kaye on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 12:02 am:

My dad is 6'4", I know what ya mean! I will say though Saturns are terrible small in height. You will be amazed when you look at SUV's just how much bigger/taller they are. For my dad it is the leg room factor, because you sit higher up your legs are more like being in a chair than a recliner

By Boxzgrl on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 11:13 am:

I think I still may be favoring the Tahoe. Maybe one day when we have the extra time i'll take a test drive with the carseat fully installed and see how much room there actually is. But after that i'll have to bolt out of the dealership before they start *promising* to get my out of there in my "dream" vehicle in under "x" amount of dollars, lol! Yeah, we went recently and I left without a test drive for that very reason.

By Andi on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 12:38 pm:

We also looked at buying an SUV but after doing lots of research I decided to put my Mini Van phobia to the side and look at the Oddesey and Sienna.

I decided safety was more importaint than anything else, so we are going to go this Saturday and test drive both of them.

I would say no matter what you get...an SUV or a Mini Van make sure it has Side Curtain Air Bags!!! That was one of my main concerns. We really liked the 2005 Saturn Relay but there are no Side Curtain Airbags and it's not even an option you can buy so unfortunatly that ones not an option for us.

By Breann on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 01:38 pm:

I agree that safety is a big issue. That is why we went with a minivan over an SUV too. An SUV is more my style, but for the price and the safety I sucked it up and bought a minivan instead. Oh the joys of being a mom

My husband used to drive a Saturn. They are economical, but very small. Even smaller than other 4 door cars.

Good luck on your search! Can you go to a dealership with "no haggle" pricing? Where the price is clearly marked on the vehicle. That way you don't get into the pushy "deal of a lifetime" thing.

By Melanie on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 05:16 pm:

We just got rid of one Expedition and got a new one. I just want to update one thing Cat talked about. On the new Expeditions, the third row seats fold down. She is absolutely right about how heavy and what a pain it was to remove and install the third row. But that is no longer the case in the new ones.

One other thing I like about the new Expeditions over the older ones is that all three seats in the second row have shoulder belts. The middle seat only had a lap belt in the older one. Since Peyton will soon be switching to a booster, this was a definite "must have" when we were deciding what vehicle to get.

Personally, I don't like driving "the beast". It's too big for me. I do like that the pedals can adjust up so I don't have to sit too close to the steering wheel when I drive. But otherwise, I am happy being the passenger in that car.

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 05:23 pm:

Just watch the gas-guzzling on the Tahoes. I worked with a teacher who owned one and that's one of the things she complained about. She also said it's really hard to park since it's so enormous. I've never driven one, but I'm just telling you what she told me.

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 05:45 pm:

Lots of info here:

Recommended Family Vehicles

Safety Links

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, December 16, 2004 - 04:17 pm:

More info here:

NHTSA