3 wide?

Wife is due with #3 in October. Currently we have a toyota rav4 and a Sienna Minivan. ( I hate them both, but enjoy them being paid4).

What cars are funish that allow for 3 wide in the rear with two up front. The rav4 currently won't do three wide in the back, without some major seating changes. I know an avalon will work, with special thinner seats on the side. Note that this car wouldn't be the daily convenience for the family, just an emergency transport when the van was in the shop.

Other kids are 3 and 5 and require big seats. Manual trans would be a big plus.

3 wide and M/T.....could try a Maxima. We used to put three adults wide in the back of mine with sufficient comfort. Find an 03 SE with the 6MT.

Mazda 5.

Raptor

Thunderbird SC.

How about some of the Volvos.

no trucks or suv's. Too easy and I live in the city. A lifted WJ or TJ would be nice, but I don't think the wifey would likey.

No 2 door cars.

SnowMongoose wrote:

Nice.. Well I'm not on the sex offender registry.. yet.

What about an E34 station wagon with the factory option booster seats?

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:
Please, it's got a ton of windows, you'd be exempt

It's a Dajiban! Not Pedovan!

Mazda5 won't hold 3 across (or 3 car/booster seats, period). I just went through this in March and settled for the Saturn Vue. Ecotec 2.2L, 5-speed manual, 3 LATCH/tether anchors.

The Pontiac Grand Prix will do 3 across. Auto only, but factory supercharger cures a lot.

Why not keep the Rav4 and rent a minivan from Enterprise or Hertz on the (presumably infrequent) occasions when the Sienna is in the shop?

As for fun with a big back seat… Alpina? :)

Other 3 acrossers: Charger, Magnum, 300, V70/V70R, XC90...

Is 5 year old above 40 inches/40 pounds? Switching 5 year old to backless booster may open up some options.

I think Maxima might be the answer here. EDIT: maybe Altima SE-R?

P71

What about a wagon with a way-back seat: Volvo, Taurus, Buicks? For that matter, aside from airbag concerns a backless booster seat could go in the center of a front bench seat.

If you go with a backless booster in the middle you open up a lot of options. I was in the same situation as you but had one rear facing, one front facing, and one that still needed a back on the booster. We looked at a lot of things and there wasn't anything modern that would fit all three seats across but a full size crew cab truck. I'm not suggesting that you buy one, just pointing out that car seats take upa LOT of room. They're also limiting in position if you use the LATCH anchors. It's not like putting people in where they can just scootch closer to the door. Even with the truck, my oldest couldn't buckle themselves in because they just couldn't see the seatbelt down between the seats.
I'm not saying that it can't be done, just that it's a lot harder than most people think to get three car seats across. It's much harder than fitting three adults.

I'm not familiar with car seats, so the following may be stupid suggestions:

Acura: TSX, TL
BMW: 5 series
Chrysler: 300
Dodge: Charger, Magnum
Ford: Taurus SHO (the new one)
Infiniti: G, M
Lexus: GS
Mazda: 6
Pontiac: G8
SAAB: 9-5

Italicized models available in Manual at some point in some iteration.

irish44j wrote: 3 wide and M/T.....could try a Maxima. We used to put three adults wide in the back of mine with sufficient comfort. Find an 03 SE with the 6MT.

Been looking for a family car myself, and three abreast seating in the back will make it easier for me to use a rear facing seat even though we only have two kids.

The Maxima is definitely on the list. Accords can also do this and aren't quite as boring as a Camry (which also has three abreast seating). A Mazda Protege 5 does have three belts in the back, but is pretty narrow compared to other choices. Two other "theoretically can do this, but is on the small side" option would be a VW Jetta or a second generation Dodge Neon.

I did it with a '05 Mazda6. Your oldest might be booster age soon, which would help. Its tight but we made it work (ages at the time were newborn, 4.5 year old and 6.5 year old)

why y'all always make things all complicated around here?

with a T56 swap.

You could just sell a kid.

Man, I remember crawling around the back of an Impala Kingswood wagon, hopping from the rear facing seat to the middle row. No friggin seat belts.

I miss those days before the safety nazis took over.

Not an easy thing to find I guess.

So backup plan is 4x4/camping/work on house rig with a potential small commuter car for me. It all depends on if we move out of the city in the next year or so. A suburban would not work where I live, nor would it be an appropriate commute vehicle through Seattle. I guess if I could get it cheap enough...

So 'burban + civic hatch would be the winner I guess.