3u4: must haves & minivans??

@hanspeter We will be 3u3 this summer and are also looking at minivans! We are between the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna, but I think I’m leaning toward the Sienna since they have AWD and hybrid models.
 
@bulatcitly Make sure the sienna has anchors in the back row. When we were deciding between the Odyssey and others, the Odyssey won because the 8th seat is more functional and all six back seats can have a car seat with latch and anchors.
 
@fossu I agree that the single worst thing about the Siena is the missing tether anchor in the back seat! Why, Toyota??? I only have three in car seats so we make it work but it’s definitely annoying
 
@blazewater The transmission in ours is a bit “rough” on the gear shifts. And it’s also really hard to slowly accelerate in 1st gear. It’s like you either crawl from zero, or you’re gunning the RPM way up through 2nd and 3rd gear.
 
@hanspeter We have 3 under 2 and have an VW Atlas. We like it a lot - I was adamant on not getting a minivan but SUVs like the Suburban were not in our budget. The trunk space is great - fits our double stroller well. The only catch is if we have another baby (which we want to in a couple years), I’m not sure how we would configure the car seats (we keep two seats folded down to get two kids in the third row. If we add another car seat, we could fold the seats down anymore.).
 
@daniel1986 I came to say exactly this. 3 kids under 5 and the Atlas is perfect. We chose the Execline trim so that we could have middle row captains chairs. Makes it easy for the third kid to walk through to the back row. And it's not a minivan!
 
@hanspeter We have been happy with our double stroller (baby jogger city select), but I also like to baby wear so don't mind wearing the baby if the oldest gets tired and needs to ride. For longer full family outings we've sometimes gone with the double plus the single stroller so everyone has a seat.

We got a Kia Sedona after kiddo #1 and it's been great for us. Just took everyone 2000 miles on a 2 week roadtrip (kids are now just 4, 2.5, almost 1) and we were comfy/fit well.

Congratulations! It's a lot sometimes but very very fun too :)
Pregnancy was the hardest part of having three so close together (so far, lol ask me again when baby is running in a third direction).
 
@hanspeter I had 3 under 4 and now have 4 under 7, and we love the Odyssey! Lots of space and automatic sliding doors are extremely clutch. As far as strollers go we have a Thule double joggers and it’s been enough. My oldest has walked since he was around 4 and my second as well, so now just the 2 year old and baby ride. You can bring a wagon for long outings but even at like the zoo my big two have no issues walking the full time. Congratulations on number 3!
 
@hanspeter My oldest was also 3.5 when my third was born. We went for the Odyssey and although it’s a bit like driving a tank, we love it.

Personally I don’t think you need a quad wagon. We have the double BOB jogger, and sometimes the oldest sits in the foot bed when she’s too tired to walk, but I also frequently wore the baby when she was small and strolled the bigger two. I looked into the triple Zoe but we decided against it. Baby 3 is 18 mos now and we do lots of walks with just a single stroller or no stroller at all. So save the money if you don’t think you’ll get a ton of use out of another type of conveyance. We just worked on building up the big kids stamina and making sure they knew how to stay safe while waking. Congrats!
 
@hanspeter We got a Toyota Sienna minivan when we had our third and I adore this car!! We chose the sienna because it’s one of the only minivans that does AWD. I never thought I’d be a van person we’re currently looking in to trade our other suv for another van. The 3rd row suv option wasn’t working for us because it’s hard to access the third row to get a little one strapped in to a car seat
 
@hanspeter We’re on team Honda Odyssey all the way. Unlike most SUVs (unless you go BIG) you can utilize the third row and still have storage. There are so many seat arrangements and latch/tether capabilities (before you buy a vehicle look at which seats you can actually put a car seat in). Also Hondas generally last a long time, so it’s not a big deal to find a used one in your budget.
 
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