For Carpooling - Minivan or 3Rd Row Seating?

I've had both, and carpooled with both. Even without the car seats and boosters the minivan is way easier, and it's more spacious, plus you will LOVE the sliding doors, I promise!

You're gonna be lower to the ground, better gas mileage, and less chance of rollover in a minivan - prob better resale also.

With that many people and car seats, the mini van. I sat in the back of the Dodge Durango last week and managed to get back there fine, but getting back out seemed to be a little more tricky. The access isn't great.

My friend has 4 children. She purchased an SUV with 3rd row seating and hated it. She now has a minivan and loves it. She says that the van is so much easier for child access.

I have ridden in the 3rd row of several SUVs and I can't for the life of me understand how they are allowed. In my FIL's Highlander, I had to sit sideways to fit my knees (I'm not quite 5'1"). In an accident, there is no room to not hit the seat before you. Personally, I would never go with an SUV - the minivan is far more convenient. But some people are too bothered by the "stigma" of a minivan - personally, I'll take convenience over image any day. And I love the look of my odyssey.
ETA: By the way, most third row seats in minivans store in the floor, too. Ours do.

Get a minivan. They are so much easier when you have a lot of kids in the car. We have a Honda Odyssey. The middle row has two captain's chairs and a removable center seat. We took the center seat out and kids can easily climb through to the third row. The captain's chairs can even be moved out toward the doors a bit if you want a wider space in the middle.

The third row is usually more comfortable in a van than in an SUV too. Some don't even have safety approval for a third row car seat, so if you do get an SUV, make sure you can put car seats back there.

I really think a van is the way to go. In addition to everything else, it's a nicer, smoother ride and there are more features - cupholders, extra chargers, DVD player options, etc.

The only SUV I'd get for carpooling would be an Escalade, which has a center aisle to access the 3rd row, but that's not in our budget. We opted for a minivan (although we don't carpool). We will have 2 carseats and 2 boosters when the next baby is born this fall. I can't imagine having to mess with moving the 2nd row seats to get access to that 3rd row.

Get the minivan. It really is the best decision, and you will discover just how awesome the doors are :-)

In fact, all my friends with SUVs are trading them in for minivans.

I had a pathfinder that had a 3rd row however getting into it with a young child was a big pain. Because I had 2 car seats in the 2nd row my daughter would have to climb over the seat and I had to buckle her in from the trunk! Needless to say we got rid of it and got a minivan which is SOOOO much better for hauling kids. If you need to get a SUV then get one with captain chairs in the 2nd row. Just one thing....the SUV's have a lot of wasted space so you may be able to sit the same amount of kids as a minivan but you will find a lot less room in it for other stuff (stroller, groceries, bikes, etc).

For carpooling, depends what you need. We've had 6 carseats in our van before. You can load through the trunk if need be. I require anyone until age 10-12 to be in a booster (until they 5 step for sure to fit the adult belt). And, until 5 or 6 they are in a carseat with a harness. So, there are lots of possible combos. I would think the minivan would be best, though.

We just purchased a new vehicle less than a month ago. We looked at Dodge Caravans, Trail Blazers, GMC Yukon and Acadia's as well as various other options with third row seating (was a must for me with Baby #3 on the way).

While the minivan is cheaper - overall and gas prices, I found that the main advantage they have is the sliding doors that do not open outwards and the stow and go seating. Most SUVs has autmoatic trunk doors that open and some MAY have stow and go seating - I just did not see any in our price range. (We bought used).

That being said - I love the look of what we chose - a GMC Acadia. It's stylish and sleek and doesn't have that mom-van mentality (which honestly I did not mind driving one around - just saying!). It looks very similar to the other vans we looked at inside. You should definitely test drive them all though and see what you are most comfortable in.

Will you be putting 2 or 3 kids in the back? That may be something you test out as some SUVs/Vans are slightly smaller/larger in the third row than others.

As far as 'getting into the back - the vans/SUVs that have a bench seat and not captain's chairs prove the hardest to get into the back because you have to put one seat down and have the kid/person climb into the back. Having the captains seats eliminates this - however, with our Acadia, I usually have one of the captains' seats pushed down and my son (almost 4) just climbs onto it and over it to the back when he's sitting back there. What's nice about the Acadia is that the captain's seats have three options for movement - they can be folded 1/2 down, they can be folded where both parts of the seat 'move together' and you can push it towards the driver/ passenger seat making it easier to get into the back or just sliding the seat as it is back/forward.

If you are JUST buying one for carpooling - I'd see which is the cheapest/best gas mileage/most comfortable.

I LOVE my Chevy Suburban! The 3rd row is actually a standard size row & grown adults can sit back there very comfortably! The kids who are old enough to be in boosters can just climb over the seat or you could leave one edge seat laying flat, either way will work!

I will never own another car! We will buy a new Suburban when this one dies! It has so much room, is very safe & drives like a luxury sedan! If you've ever driven an older Cadillac or Lincoln you know what I'm talking about, it's so smooth!

Love, Love it!
Totally worth the $$$!

~We looked into MiniVans when we were buying but husband & I were just NOT impressed, at all!

I was really against getting a mini van and becoming a "soccer mom," but once I started shopping around I realized that the Mini van was the way to go.

3rd row seating in SUV is not easy to get to. It flips forward and you have to climb over the second seat. As a previous person said, the Honda Odyssey has a removable center seat so that you don't have to push the seats forward to get in the back, otherwise you do. I think most vans are like that (at least the Sienna was when we test drove it).

SUV's have a much higher gas mileage compared to the vans unless you get a hybrid, but then you're paying significantly more for the car because it's a hybrid.

I know you can fold down the third row seating of the Pilot and Odyssey so that you have more space in the back. I'm not sure about the safety standards for third row in SUV's, that's something I would definitely research.

Another thing that I liked about the van compared to the SUV is that when it's raining you can shove all the kids in the car and close the doors to strap them in then you can just climb into your seat. I do that alot.

One last thing that I didn't like about SUV is that when my son was a newborn I had to lift his carseat out of the car which was harder in the truck because it was higher off the ground. It was fine for my DH who is 6'3" but I'm only 5' not sure if you'll have any carseats like that but that was hard for me. Good Luck!

Let me get this straight. You are buying a car to accommodate your neighbors kids. Are they splitting the cost with you? I have a Honda Pilot. Middle seat moves up for easy access to third. For me, I would never buy a minivan. That is just me.

I have an SUV with a third row seat and I love it. My third row stows in the floor and is automatically pulled up by pushing a button. It is great to have the seats whenever I need them but then they are not in the way when they are not needed! Also I don't have to lug seats around positioning them and pulling them in and out of the car.....what a pain!! The third row is easy to access by either pulling a second row seat up or by walking through between the seats. Love my SUV it is the third one we have bought and I will soon be buying a fourth. It is a Lincoln Navigator.

Kids in boosters can buckle and unbuckle themselves, there is NO getting to the 3rd seat. The kids go back and forth on their own. They can flip the seats themselves and you just get in and wait for them to get buckled.

I have an SUV with 3rd row seating and it's hard for an adult to climb over the folded forward 2nd row of seats to get in the back. My kids had no problem getting back there but now that they are long legged teens, it's pretty cramped to sit back there for any length of time.

My minivan was awesome for carpooling, especially having big sliding doors and extra space in the back for equipment.