Going from 3 - 4 children

[gmarie21]

We have two cars (both 5 -seaters), both paid off and each gets over 30/mpg. Child number four is due in June and while my husband and I work opposite shifts and our oldest is a tall and heavier 8 year old (about two inches shorter than my mother-in-law and probably the same weight) so can sit in the front if it is four of us (my husband or I not being there) we are thinking of buying a used 7 - 9 passenger vehicle and selling one of the cars. I am just curious as what other families have done in this situation? To me, I hate parting with two cars we know and don’t have expenses besides upkeep and the occassional repair, but every Sunday we do everything together as a family and driving two cars seems silly (and doesn’t allow us to travel as a family).

 

[SamH]

We have two cars (both 5 -seaters), both paid off and each gets over 30/mpg. Child number four is due in June and while my husband and I work opposite shifts and our oldest is a tall and heavier 8 year old (about two inches shorter than my mother-in-law and probably the same weight) so can sit in the front if it is four of us (my husband or I not being there) we are thinking of buying a used 7 - 9 passenger vehicle and selling one of the cars. I am just curious as what other families have done in this situation? To me, I hate parting with two cars we know and don’t have expenses besides upkeep and the occassional repair, but every Sunday we do everything together as a family and driving two cars seems silly (and doesn’t allow us to travel as a family).

We’ve done exactly what you are proposing. We sold one 5 passenger car and bought back a 7 passenger mini-van. Surprising enough we found a Kia Sedona with low miles that has been an excellent vehicle. I had read they were “decent” but ours has been mostly trouble free for 94,000 miles - performing much better than Caravans and Siennas owned by friends and was much cheaper in price. Power wise they are great - fuel mileage is usually in the 23 MPG with every tank of fuel with mixed driving.

 

[aemcpa]

We have two cars (both 5 -seaters), both paid off and each gets over 30/mpg. Child number four is due in June and while my husband and I work opposite shifts and our oldest is a tall and heavier 8 year old (about two inches shorter than my mother-in-law and probably the same weight) so can sit in the front if it is four of us (my husband or I not being there) we are thinking of buying a used 7 - 9 passenger vehicle and selling one of the cars. I am just curious as what other families have done in this situation? To me, I hate parting with two cars we know and don’t have expenses besides upkeep and the occassional repair, but every Sunday we do everything together as a family and driving two cars seems silly (and doesn’t allow us to travel as a family).

I know at least 20 families off the top of my head that have four or more children. Every single one of them have at least one vehicle that can hold their whole family.

 

[lifeisbeautiful]

When we were going from 3 to 4 we purchased a conversion van that would hold 9. We looked at mini vans, but 7 was only 1 away from our family of 5 plus the new baby on the way. There are some SUVs that hold 9, and we considered those as well, but we went ahead with a conversion van because we used to travel long distances frequently and it was more comfortable for us. We recently paid it off and it is nice to know that we will still have 1 spot left after baby #6 makes his/her appearance. If God were to bless us with more than 7, we could change 2 captain chairs in our van into a bench .
Mileage isn’t that great, but we don’t use it unless we need to. The 5 passenger vehicle gets more use at our home.

 

[gardenswithkids]

Finding cars to fit a family are a great example of unintended consequences. Laws designed to help protect children resulted in such added inconvient and costs to parents, that the need for new car is sometimes factored into decisions about having more children or not.

For a long time we drove two cars whenever we sent somewhere all together. Eventually we bought a 9 seater vehicle that could hold everyone, but with child #8, we outgrew that one too! We’re back to needing two cars when my older children are home and we want to go someplace all together. As the kids get older, it’s not as big of a deal as you might think to take two cars because after doing something all together, people often go off in different directions due to other obligations and activities. Even when we can all fit into one car, we sometimes still need to take two cars.

 

[VivienneJ]

My daughter and son-in-law just faced this and replaced their 5-seater (well, they haven’t found a buyer for it yet) with a mini van which can easily fit all 4 children (age range 2 months to almost 5 years), both parents and there is also a place for granny when I’m home.

One of the benefits of the van that my daughter has found is the ease of getting the little ones in and strapping them into their seats. Going anywhere in the car was so difficult before as you were always stretching across someone to strap the middle child in. She loves that they can all go places together as a family again, rather than taking two cars, just to go to church, for example.

 

[SamH]

One of the benefits of the van that my daughter has found is the ease of getting the little ones in and strapping them into their seats. Going anywhere in the car was so difficult before as you were always stretching across someone to strap the middle child in. She loves that they can all go places together as a family again, rather than taking two cars, just to go to church, for example.

The sliding doors also give a person lots of room to buckle up little ones. Reaching into the back to buckle up a third child would be a pain though.

 

[VivienneJ]

The sliding doors also give a person lots of room to buckle up little ones. Reaching into the back to buckle up a third child would be a pain though.

True, the one they have the backs of the seats in the middle row fold down, so the younger children’s seats are there, with one spare seat for an adult, and the older ones are at the back with another spare seat. DD tells me there is room for her to easily climb in and buckle the two older ones in.

It depends on how the back is laid out, and different models are available in different countries, just to confuse the issue on a world wide forum but, in principle, a van makes things easier when there are 3 children, and essential when the number rises above 3.

 

[anruari]

I’m in the UK.
I’m waiting on delivery of a Renault Grand Scenic. It’s a 7-Seater.
with 130HP it has emissions of just 115g CO2/Km. It gets about 50 - 60 MPG (Burning Diesel)
The Opel Zafira can also get great MPG of better than 45MPG, and can get close to the 60 mark on the most economical models. (105 - 110 HP, with Diesel engine)

The EU has strict penalties on car manufacturers who fail to meet certain emissions criteria averaged over their total sales. they therefore have produced a massive range of very economical cars for the european market.

I went for the Renault because:

1. It has 3 Iso-Fix points on the middle row of seats. This makes child seats far safer. It means the middle seat can have a full sized child seat, leaving allowing a 3rd passenger on that row, and access to the back seats.
2. It has far better fuel economy / emissions than any other 7 Seater on the UK market. (105g/Km on the 105HP model)

By comparison my Skoda Superb which I’m passing up was able to achieve 85MPG if driven economically. 55-60 in “normal” driving (Doing about 80mph most of the time)
and still obtaining 48 - 55 ith a roof-rack and box on the top when driving at 80.

Lots of town & city driving only dropped my MPG to about 45, and it never went below 38

By Comparison:
The Kia Sedona, Ford Galaxy and the Chrysler Grand Voyager were all simply crossed off my list due to having far too poor MPG.
As I’m a company car driver I pay tax on the car based on its fuel economy (as measured in the amount of CO2 that comes out the back per km driven).

The contenders were the Zafira, the Grand Scenic and the Peugot 5008. i also considered the C-Max and the S-Max.
The key feature was the IsoFix points issue as I currently have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. I have them in ISOFIX extended rear facing seats (keeping them facing backwards untill about 4 years old. much safer.
I needed a car that would let me get a 3rd person on the middle row with 2 big seats.
I also needed my choice of company car to not dictate my family planning schedule. My wife and I hope to have our 3rd child before this new car is taken away - so it has to cope with a both current child seats, and still take another. (the eldest will move to a Stage 2 seat, and each child can swap up a seat.)

I also need to be able to carry extra people and / or have LOADS of luggage space for work equipment, shopping, push-chair etc.

 

[28562]

We had a Pilot (has a third row) that we thought would be sufficient to drive with 4 kids, if we ever had that many. We bought it when we just had two kids though…we drove it for four years, but when number 4 arrived, it only took about a month before I was fed up with trying to fight the kids the get in and buckle the one in the middle of the middle row. I was rabidly anti mini van and not ashamed to admit it. I reluctantly went van shopping, and bought my wife a Sienna. It made it an easier pill to swallow that the van was fully loaded and pretty luxurious. Now, we have had it for a few months and I love it. I push a button and both doors open. Kids pile in or out. There is no fighting, no pushing, no stress. I swear my blood pressure has dropped since we bought it. We have so much more storage and every kid has more room. I really love having a van…but I still don’t drive it by myself unless it is dark. And I did just get the front windows tinted last week…

And don’t ever let anyone tell you a van is not a sports car! It most certainly is! It’s just that with 4 kids, we obviously are into a different sport than most people…

 

[Aggies08]

We have a family car, and a little sedan for around town/1 or 2 kids with. Family car goes if everyone is going, and DH uses the small car for work.

 

[SamH]

I’m in the UK.
I’m waiting on delivery of a Renault Grand Scenic. It’s a 7-Seater.
with 130HP it has emissions of just 115g CO2/Km. It gets about 50 - 60 MPG (Burning Diesel)
The Opel Zafira can also get great MPG of better than 45MPG, and can get close to the 60 mark on the most economical models. (105 - 110 HP, with Diesel engine)
.

None of the vehicles you recommend meet US emissions standards and are not allowed to be imported

 

[JackieMom]

We have a Suburban.

 

[ThyKingdomCome]

I can’t imagine not having a car that the whole family fits in when they’re young. Financial impossibility would be the only reason not to upgrade, in my opinion. If you keep having children at your current average rate, you will have 6 children in another 5 years. So if the continued rate of babies is somewhat likely, considering how much you don’t like to keep buying new vehicles, not only would I get something larger now, but I would definitely consider something larger than a 7-passenger minivan.

 

[PaulGH]

We bought a minivan (that seats 7, including the driver) shortly after our second child was born. We only had one vehicle at the time, so the minivan was our second vehicle, and there was no need to sell one. We decided to go ahead with the minivan in order to plan for more kids in the future, and also to have room for our dog in addition to the two kids. Now with four kids, we are very happy that we have the minivan.

If my wife and I were in your shoes, we would probably sell one of the cars and buy a used minivan. But if we couldn’t do that without financing the minivan, then we would probably wait and save up for a minivan, and get by with the two cars until then. When selling one of the cars, we would do a private sale (e.g., list it in the local newspaper’s classified ads), because you can probably get significantly more money for your car by private sale than by taking it to a used car dealer. And we would first look at private sale offers for buying a minivan, though we would go to a used car dealer if necessary – i.e., if we didn’t find the right minivan on the private sale market.

If you do a private sale (either as the buyer or the seller), make sure to look up the private sale value of the vehicle on Kelly Blue Book’s web site, to get an idea of what is a fair price. And if you are considering buying a used vehicle, especially as a private sale, be sure to have a mechanic that you trust give the vehicle a thorough inspection before you agree to buy it.

 

[PaulGH]

So if the continued rate of babies is somewhat likely, considering how much you don’t like to keep buying new vehicles, not only would I get something larger now, but I would definitely consider something larger than a 7-passenger minivan.

That’s a good point. If you think it is likely that before long you will have six or more children, you might want to consider something bigger than a minivan right now, to save upgrading again later. Or you could just get the minivan now, and then upgrade if necessary in a few years, if you don’t mind the additional hassle.

In fact, even five children would be a tight fit in our minivan, because it would mean three of them packed into the back seat. So something that seats eight or more might be helpful sooner rather than later, even if you have just one more child. Just because a minivan seats seven doesn’t necessarily mean that it can seat seven comfortably, especially for a long trip.

 

[MomaMary8]

That’s a good point. If you think it is likely that before long you will have six or more children, you might want to consider something bigger than a minivan right now, to save upgrading again later. Or you could just get the minivan now, and then upgrade if necessary in a few years, if you don’t mind the additional hassle.

In fact, even five children would be a tight fit in our minivan, because it would mean three of them packed into the back seat. So something that seats eight or more might be helpful sooner rather than later, even if you have just one more child. Just because a minivan seats seven doesn’t necessarily mean that it can seat seven comfortably, especially for a long trip.

I have to agree as well. When we were expecting #3, we needed a “new” second car and sold the oldest car and bought a used 7 passenger van. When the other car finally died we had five children (filled the mini-van) so we bought a 12 passenger van. So there was a time we had a 7 passenger van and a 12 passenger van. We used the 12 passenger van to the time of baby #8. I’m very glad we had the fore sight to buy a bit larger than we needed at the time. Both vans have since bit the dust, and we have a 15 passenger van in hopes of filling the extra seats.

One positive of buying the 9 or 12 passenger van would be you ability to car pool. As your kids get older, you will love being able to join a car pool, rather than not sharing rides because all the car seats are filled with you own kids.

 

[gmarie21]

I have to agree as well. When we were expecting #3, we needed a “new” second car and sold the oldest car and bought a used 7 passenger van. When the other car finally died we had five children (filled the mini-van) so we bought a 12 passenger van. So there was a time we had a 7 passenger van and a 12 passenger van. We used the 12 passenger van to the time of baby #8. I’m very glad we had the fore sight to buy a bit larger than we needed at the time. Both vans have since bit the dust, and we have a 15 passenger van in hopes of filling the extra seats.

One positive of buying the 9 or 12 passenger van would be you ability to car pool. As your kids get older, you will love being able to join a car pool, rather than not sharing rides because all the car seats are filled with you own kids.

we’re thinking of going the 12 passenger van route but when we have to drive as a family we have to drive far (and this is weekly) so the cost of gas is my concern. And you are right I should think more long term. My husband’s friend has a 12 passenger his wife HATES the sight of (he bought it for business but they don’t need it for their kids since their sons are in their 20s). We’re trying to negotiate a price with him within our budget but he’s not giving in. I think this is the route we will be going with though for 6 of us, a 12 passenger seems huge. But I shouldn’t complain, we would be buying it for around $6000 when it will only have about 60K miles on it.

 

[SamH]

we’re thinking of going the 12 passenger van route but when we have to drive as a family we have to drive far (and this is weekly) so the cost of gas is my concern. And you are right I should think more long term. My husband’s friend has a 12 passenger his wife HATES the sight of (he bought it for business but they don’t need it for their kids since their sons are in their 20s). We’re trying to negotiate a price with him within our budget but he’s not giving in. I think this is the route we will be going with though for 6 of us, a 12 passenger seems huge. But I shouldn’t complain, we would be buying it for around $6000 when it will only have about 60K miles on it.

That sounds like a good deal for a big full size van of any make (or year) with only 60K on it as long as its been cared for. Gas will be an issue - especially when it hits $4 a gallon this spring.

 

[anruari]

None of the vehicles you recommend meet US emissions standards and are not allowed to be imported

Trust me its not the emissions. E.U. standards are far higher than US standards on emissions. But theres loads of other differences that mean that its not worthwhile having type approval obtained for a vehicle you dont intend to market in the US.

Besides I mentioned Ford and Chrysler which are american vehicles. Opel is a name used in Europe by General Motors:another american company.

The fact all the vehicles I named run on diesel engines is a far bigger issue. I believe that’s not a widely used fuel in the US and not even all heavy goods vehicles use it. But you can now get 80mpg in a big sedan shaped car like a VW passatt and over 100mpg from some of the small cars. Those figures are unobtainable from the petrol hybrids.

The emissions issues have been dealt with using active exhaust filters.