3 Car Seats in a Dodge Caliber or Suggestions for Another Type of Car

I guess the good news is that it is a great time to get a really good deal on a car! We have a Honda Oddessy and it is awesome. One of my good friends has a 5 year old and 1 year old twins and has the same van and it has been great for her. Now that I have my van I wouldn't trade it for anything and above all else, it is SAFE!

You might want to check out the Radian car seats (there's a model that goes up to 65 lbs and one to 80 lbs) at www.sunshinekidsbaby.com.

I don't use one of these seats personally, but am considering it for my 10-month-old son's next seat. (Or for big brother to swap for his Britax Marathon.) They are possibly the slimmest seats on the market and are supposed to fit fine 3 across in even tiny vehicles.

They're not cheap (lowest price I've seen online is about $220 for the 80-lb version) but seem to be getting really great safety reviews. And they're certainly cheaper than a whole new car! ;)

Some of the European brands make smaller car seats. You might be able to find something that would work. We have an 8 seater Toyota Sienna that we love! It does 3 car seats, no problem in the front row. We got at Autotrek for about 3,000 under invoice. After 15,000 miles it was still worth more than we had paid for it with 6 miles. We like it because we can still take friends rather than having maxed out the car. Congratulations!

I see your daughter is 4 so she would be 4.5 or 5 by the time the baby is born. Have you tried the backless buster for her? I have seen people with backless, regular toddler, and infant. Also, some infants are smaller at the base. I think my Graco is smaller then my mom's Playtex convertible one. Lastly, we can fit three in the Subrau. but I think those cars are expensive. Maybe you can find an outback used. Then you would have room for the stroller too.

We have been able to fit 4 car seats in our minivan and it even has 2 built into the seats. They are really nice with the double sliders.

We had the same problem last summer when we had our third. We decided to bite the bullet and get the minivan, even though money was tight. We mainly thought about when we had friends and family visiting, they would have to rent a car to go anywhere with us because there would be no extra seats. We got a Dodge Grand Caravan and I've been happy with it.

By the way, I'm a doula in your area. Not sure if you ever thought about using one, but if you want more information, my website is www.birthfirstdoula.vpweb.com.

I have a Kia Sedona mini van and I absolutely LOVE it! I never wanted to be a minivan Mom, but you know how much stuff these kiddos require. I got the basic model and I don't miss any of the extras. It was cheaper than most minivans and we got it at the end of the model year. It also got a 5 star safety rating for front, side and rear crashes. GL and congrats on your 3rd little surprise.

My friend fit three in the back of her Toyota Corolla. Wow, I didn't think she could do it!
It seems to me that her infant seat fit in fine, but the problem was when she needed a convertible seat. I'm afraid that she kept her son in his infant seat far too long because of it. She finally bought a convertible seat for him and when she had it installed, the doors hit the seats. So she went to the fire station to have it checked out, and they said it is definitely NOT SAFE to have the doors hit the car seats. They gave her a new convertible seat, and said it was the slimmest one on the market. It worked! Three seats fit in her tiny little Corolla.
It just happens to be the least expensive one, and the one we have been using for 4+ years. It's the Cosco Touriva/Regal Ride. I think they've renamed it the Cosco Scenera, and it runs about $50. Now my very large 2 1/2 year old rides in it, although he's about to grow out of it. I think your 2 year old could sit in one and that would give you more room.
I agree that some infant seats are slimmer, too. I don't think I know which brand is slimmer, but I am pretty sure my Evenflo Discovery was a wider one. I think that because I had to buy an Evenflo double stroller because the Graco strollers said my Evenflo car seat was too wide to fit in them. Did that make sense?

You ought to be able to buy one, take it out to the parking lot and install it and see if it fits. If it doesn't, just take it right back in the store and return it. You'll probably have to do that when your kids can stay home, though.
Good luck!

I have two regular car seats and soon to have an infant car seat in the back of our Chevy Impala. It's tight, and hard to get the shoulder seat belt onto my four year old with no room to find the seat belt, but it fits without hitting the doors. I went to WalMart with a measuring tape and found the skinniest models and just took the cup holder stuff off. My 4 year old was using the backless booster, but it is actually wider than the other ones by 4 - 5 inches. We could not safely fit all 3 in the back, so that's why I went out and bought her the toddler one. I liked being able to move her booster around, but it simply didn't fit and the other ones are so much skinnier.

before making yourself too crazy over this, go to babies-r-us, check out the infant seat you want, take it out to your car and see if it fits. we had a nanny that could get 2 5pts and our honking convertible into the backseat of her Ford focus. was it tight - oh yeah - they only went in one way in a certain order. could she do it? yes. our other nanny had a dodge intrepid and then a subaru and she got three seats into the back (her kids were almost exactly 2 yrs apart and she had 3) of both vehicles. even having to buy 3 new seats is way cheaper than any kind of new or used vehicle.
that said, we have a toyota sienna and LOVE it. with the 7-seater, we put two car seats in the middle row (captains chair), can put a booster in the rear and still put two adults in the rear. makes it so much easier to carpool, travel w/grandparents, etc. Oh, and with the rear seat folded down - we have more cargo space than a Tahoe. With the captains chairs out, its like have a pickup w/a topper - I brought home a sofa off of Craigs list a couple months ago.

HI L.,
Sounds to me you need a minivan if you want the most space and if you plan on having more children. If you're done having kids and you really want to stick with a car I recommend something like a Mercury Sable, Lincoln Town Car, Ford Taurus, Buik LaSabre, all those are large roomy sedans that will be wide enough for 3car seats of any combination. My husband has a dodge stratus and we can get 3 seats across the back but like you mentioned on your cavalier it is a really tight fit and a real pain in the butt. I know there are more sedans like I mentioned but I really prefer the Mercury. My experience with the fords are their transmissions go out pretty quickly, you want a car that will last, so go with a Dodge or Mercury or go really high end like Lincoln or Cadillac. When it comes to minivans, I prefer the Dodge Grand Caravan or the Chrystler Town and Country ES or LE, they are larger and have more cargo space than the regular caravan. I just had a plymouth Grand Voyager that lasted til 300,000 miles!!! I got my moneys worth and Plymouth is now Chrystler/Dodge.

Shop around. Take all 3 car seats into several dealerships and buckle them in, see how they fit. You don't want to buy something only to get it home and it not work for you and if the dealership has a problem with that, shop somewhere else. Good luck! Have fun!

C. C

Hi, we have a 2000 Subaru Legacy and a 2003 Subaru Outback. We are looking to sell one of them, so if you are interested, please let me know. I can fit 3 car seats in them. Two are booster seats, and an infant carrier. It's tight but it does work. There is also lots of room in the back for all of the necessities. I agree that if you decide to by a new car, check out the car seats first. Also, if given the opportunity, take it to the local fire station to make sure you have them correctly. For that, you will want to bring your two kids with to make sure they are fitted properly. If you are interested in one of the cars, please email me at ____@____.com. Thanks and good luck, K.

We had a Toyota Camry that I absolutely loved. But then we got pregnant with twins and 3 carseats was just too hard for me. So we had to look for a van. We got a used Chevy Venture. It cost 8,000, and with the trade-in we only had to pay 4,000 for it. I would go for used, unless Kia is having a sale and then I would get one of their vans. My friends have a Kia and they like it, it is smaller than a venture (less inside space), but it is still really nice.

We got our minivan when we found out we were pregnant with my son in 2007 (he was a wonderful surprise too and we weren't planning on getting a new car anytime soon). I had a Toyota Corolla and there was no way I could fit the two toddler seats and an infant seat in there. We found a used 2001 Chrysler Town and Country for less than $7000 because apparently we went during "Minivan Season" according to the dealer (I guess this is around the end of February to the beginning of April and is a great time to buy because a lot of people buy minivans during the summer so they are clearing the lots for new ones- again, this was the dealer, so I don't know). We paid it off with our taxes last year. I love it because it's SO spacious with plenty of room for the kids, extra people and the double stroller (I usually have the double in the truck and an umbrella stroller tucked by my son's seat for shorter trips) as well as plenty of room for diaper bags, groceries, etc. It gets reasonable gas mileage (I usually get 20-25 mpg). Just look around- we got an awesome deal on ours! The blue book value was about $9000.