I Want a New Car for My Family of 6, but Don't Know What to Get,any Suggestions?

I never thought I'd drive a minivan but I took the plunge a few months ago and I'm in LOVE! I have 3 kids in car seats. Trust me...whatever makes your life easier!!! We have the Toyota Sienna and I swear it so tailored to the needs of a mom. Getting all the kids in the car on a busy street always had me a little freaked and now I open the side doors before we reach the car and the kids can hop in by themselves. My double BOB stroller fits in the back with all the seats in. When I need more trunk space the back seats push down SO EASILY!!! I have the same luxuries in the drivers seat as any other fancy car too. We just got back from a 7 hour road trip and it was so pleasant in the minivan. Kids had so much room, we had so much room, everything is comfortable, navigation system, etc. Once my 3 kids are out of this young stage and I don't need the functions of a minivan anymore then I plan on getting a big SUV like you are talking about. Until then...I'm now a big fan of minivans and how it has made my life so much easier. You know all the little things matter at this stage!!! Seriously...go test drive one.

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Honestly, I would say make yourself ready for the minivan. Once you do, you'll be so happy. it's just infinitely more practical. I've got 4 kids, 4 in car seats and had the negative minivan stigma in my head. But it just fits everything. I am generally driving around town with the 4 kids/4 car seats, a great dane, a double stroller, a pack n play and I can still fit my groceries in there without moving stuff around.

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We ran into this problem when we went looking for an SUV with enough seats for 3 car seats and enough room for 3 dogs plus luggage, since we travel to see family often.

We ended up buying a minivan. A Honda Odyssey, with tons of trunk space and it also seats 8. Good luck resisting the minivan - in my experience, you won't be able to find what you want without it. But if it makes you feel any better, I love my van. I've totally become a minivan mom, and I doubt I'll be driving anything else until my kids move out. You just can't compete with all that space, and the automatic sliding doors can save your life when you're trying to balance kids and groceries!

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Suburban or Expedition. LOTS of room in the back!!

Both seat 8. Easy access to the back and car seats fit easily in the middle row.

I do admit I love my Grand Caravan for versatility - but do NOT like the maintenance issues (it's an '01). LOVE LOVE LOVE the auto sliding doors when I was carrying car seats....so much easier!

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9 years agoI had four kids, three in car seats in a Full size conversion van. It is not much larger to drive than the Escalade but there is definitely more room. It also has the same engine, mine is a GMC Savana hightop.
Now it does get 12.5 mpg which sucks, but I love my van. I still have it.
I just downsized to a Ford Flex about two weeks ago,. I find it very small. I miss driving the van.
This Christmas we put a Hoosier cabinet in the back, a 4.5 foot bookcase between the seats and had five suitcases and three kids and the two of us. We still had extra room. We drove from Chicago to DC like that. .

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I had an SUV that I loved & wanted another just like you. My neighbor is a car salesman & got me a great deal on a minivan. I didn't want the minivan, but gave in because my SUV was no longer reliable. I am a total minivan convert! I love it. It's not as sexy as an SUV, but it's spacious, versatile, easy for my kids to get in & out, & I no longer have to put notes on people's cars when my kids swing their door open (I've had to do this twice). Unexpectedly, I found it was even convenient for my 13 year old yellow lab who could no longer jump up into my SUV. As long as I have kids & a need for 6+ seating, I will have a minivan.

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"I'm not quite ready to buy a mini van, just yet" What are ya waiting for, lol.
Don't fight the stereotype, lol. Really, you need the room. The Honda Odyssey would be my pick for the mini van route.
The other choice would be the big Suburban. Good Luck.

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The thing about SUV's is that most of them are the same size as a mid-size car (passenger wise), so they only seat 4 or 5. You'd need a much larger SUV, and those are going to get very low gas mileage. Regular SUV's already have much lower gas mileage than cars and minivan's.

Most minivans will get around 20 miles per gallon and will comfortably fit 6 maybe 7 passengers. The third row can usually fit 3, but that's without car seats.

Honestly, with 4 kids I'd consider a full-size (8 passenger). It would definitely give you the room you're looking for and the flexibility for added passengers.

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we rented a 2011 GMC Yukon for a trip.. I had 3 kids in car seats, and it still had a large back capacity storage area even with both rows of seats up! It was the nicest ride for a trip!!! I would never use it though in town or unless I was hauling all the kids! my baby car seat was in the bench seat behind me, my 2 older kids in the next row back, the seats fold down on electric slides so no hassle there. We also took my nephew and niece and they had room next to the baby. We had a stroller, luggage, cooler, groceries, and bags in the way back. PLENTY ROOM!!! drives decent as well.

Edit: just to note, we have a Honda Odyssey and I LOVE it, we had some major work done on it recently but its still great for room, we have plenty of room every time we do anything with it, and its not a gas hog. We have dvd player in it as well. We rented the Yukon cause we went to Denver in the middle of winter and the family that we visited lives outside the city in the mountains where driving is hard and dangerous for a Mini Van.

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My friend has a Honda Pilot and it's super roomy, but I'm not sure about all the strollers.. I had a Acura MDX that will fit everyone, but again, the strollers. My husband had the 300, but it definitely wouldn't fit 7 people.. Suburban? My SIL has 5 kids and they all fit comfortably.. It's a GAS HOG though~

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I drive a Nissan Armada and love it, but have the same trunk issue. We also have a Yukon Denali XL - and do NOT have that issue. The Denali is very nice and roomy...it's what we take when we travel too. So many you can look into the longer SUV's. I know Expedition made one for a while, my neighbors have one of the longer ones for the same reason - 5 kids and needed trunk space.

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I would go with a Yukon XL or Suburban! Most other 7 passenger SUVs (Acadia, Traverse, XC90, etc) will have the same amount of room as your Escalade--not much when the 3rd row is up.

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I have an 05' Suburban and we LOVE it! TONS of room in the back for storage! I have7 kids that I buy groceries for, 4 of which are teenage boys and we never have problems fitting it all in!

We also go camping every year, so that's all 9 of us (we got the bench seat in front so we can seat 9) plus 1 very large dog....Seriously LOVE the Suburban!

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Minivans are dorky. And I drive one.

There is lots to be said for the cargo area. Plus I can fit 8 people. The doors are what got me to buy one. I can push a button and the doors open. they slide, so no one is slamming their door into another car.

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Maybe the Hyundai Veracruz. I have it and I love it. You get a lot of car for the money and I feel secure with the 10 yr/100k mile warranty. We have the 3rd row of seats which is pretty easy to maneuver but I don't know if it's enough storage space for you as we only have 1 child in a car seat.

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Just get a van.
Ours fits 7, plus lots of trunk space.

I just bought a Yukon XL and LOVE it! We only have two kids right now, but plan on having two more, so it was a no brainstorm for us. I like to be up high, so a mini-van was out. Plus, we rented a mini-van on vacation and could only fit my BOB dualie vertically in the back and I didn't like the idea of my shopping bags having to sit loose on the floor. The Yukon has room to put my kids' Britax Frontier and Roundabout next to each other and the BOB can sit flat in the back behind the third row with about half the cargo area still free for groceries etc.

We have an Expedition and have a family of 6. It can get a bit tight...but still, it holds 8 of us and the back seat lies totally felt when we have to go to Costco, etc. Enough room for everyone AND the double stroller, but not much else. If the Expedition EL had been out when we bought it, there would have been NO question. There are some people below that claim it has a ton of room, but I'm pretty sure they don't have 4 kids....and forget going grocery shopping if you have the kids!

We are in the midst of looking at an Excursion (all used, but keep going and going and going and much bigger inside). We are also a bit smitten with the Mercedes (previously the Dodge) Sprinter. We've test driven it and LOVE the amount of the room inside. I also love the fact that I can almost stand up in it and climb in the back...and there is only one door on the passenger side, so I don't have kids going in 5 directions. Worth checking it out. TONS of room.

Minivans feel cramped and don't offer enough space for us.

i have a conversions van, with tons of room.....i can literally walk inside my van

I have a Yukon Denali and I run into the same problem. Our next car will most likely be a Yukon XL. My SIL has a Suburban and 4 kids and there is plenty of cargo room in the back.