Larger families and vehicles

[Forest-Pine]

And many of the booster seats are small and simple for the older children. Baby seats take up ~1.5 seats and toddler seats take up ~1.25 seats. Preschooler seats, depending on which one you get, can take up only 1 seat.

 

[Jennifer_J]

vz71:

So how do you guys deal with the car seat laws designed to regulate family size?

A car seat generally doubles the room a child requires, and many states now require car seats for everyone under 8.

Any thoughts?

Z

I agree with you, many states are very strict on car seat/booster seat laws. Here’s a link saferchild.org/carseat.htm.
We’re a family of 7 (5 children ages 8 and younger) who barely fit in our town and country with 2 boosters and 2 car seats–(the 8 year old is out of the booster seat now, though he doesn’t meet all of the requirements), but has to squeeze in the back row with the booster and car seat. It’s not comfy and hard to buckle. We want to get a suburban type car, but they are pricey to buy and to run. As the children get bigger or if we have another baby, we will have to get something bigger. I’m ashamed to say that one of the limiting factors to having another baby is our car situation! I remember as a child not even buckling up, let alone having a car seat! I know they are safer, but trying to get the blasted things in the car is a royal pain.
Jennifer

 

[mominne]

Hi Jennifer (by the way, this is Danielle from Holy Family AP Moms )

My eight year old isn’t in a booster anymore, either, even though he doesn’t meet all of the requirements. He is so dang skinny. I let him forgo it when he turned 8 last June, because it just seemed ridiculous to me, given his age. He probably won’t meet the weight requirement until he is 12 or 13!

Our car situation might be a limiting factor (at least for awhile) as to when we have another baby, as well. It does sound silly on the face of, it. But we are stuck in a suburban nightmare of a neighborhood and I have no family around to help me with the kids. If I don’t have a vehicle to get out and around, I will go completely insane. Going out and doing things with them in the great outdoors is my therapy.

That being said, I would LOVE an old Suburban. I had discounted it because of repairs and gas until one of the posters in this thread mentioned how much she loved hers. It seems Suburban owners love their vehicles! A Suburban would be ideal for us because we could easily go camping with it and throw a little rowboat on top to boot! Our big dog could come along with us again, too. I looked up the gas mileage for a '90 and it is definitely a hog, but if we can get one for cheap, paying for gas would be waaaayyyyy less than our van payment (and insurance) now. I see that they have some mechanical problems, too. But as long as it doesn’t have too many electronic parts (the olders ones do have less), then my husband can do most of the repairs. The safety of a Suburban is a big plus, too. We will be driving around in a tiny Neon once the van is gone and until we get something different. The small size is great for fuel, but terrifies me in the safety department.

Danielle

 

[mominne]

**I would recommend an older mini-van of about 2 - 5 years depending on what you can afford. Otherwise, you can pretty much guarantee you’ll get pregnant the day you sign the 5 year car loan papers for that sedan. **

The exception would be if you could get a sedan cheap enough that you wouldn’t have payments. In that case, get the sedan and save the payment money for the possiblity that you may need to get a larger vehicle in a year or so. Then your dh can have the paid off sedan for work and you’ll have the larger vehicle when you need it.

You are absolutely right about the pregnancy guarantee! We wouldn’t get a sedan with a loan, though… just an old one we could pay cash for. We’re tired of car payments and we’re just not gonna do it anymore! This has been a helpful thread. I’m doing some research on used vehicles now. We have to figure out what is most important to is in a vehicle. Because there definitely are trade-offs for us between utility and fuel efficiency.

Thanks everyone for the .02! Keep it coming, I’m enjoying this thread.

Danielle

 

[manualman]

Conventional wisdom says used cars cost you less.

But there is a big assumption in there that you don’t hear much about. It assumes that the used and new cars are of the same trim levels. I just cannot find base model vehicles for sale on the used market. But I find 'em at new car dealers!

We bought a new Odyssey base model minivan which cost about $3,500 less than the EX a few years back. I figure that by doing all my own meticulous maintenance I will do BETTER on buying the new LX and running it to 180,000 miles than I would buying a 3year old EX with 36,000 miles on it and only getting 144,000 miles of my own out of it.

PLUS, I have a lower chance of suffering the abuse/neglect of a previous owner, PLUS I will never need to spend money fixing the power sliding doors, power seats, alloy wheels and so on - I don’t have 'em.

Our minivan gets an honest 19 mpg in the city and 24 highway. A lot of bigger sedans don’t do a whole lot better than that.

IMO, your best bet in a big sedan for value and mileage is the Chevy Impala with the 3800 V6 engine. That engine will last you forever! (and get 30 mpg highway along the way)

 

[vz71]

Another .02

I had done some research into a fair number of minivans before getting ours. Seems that the Dodge Caravan from 1999 to 2004 models either grand or standard have bum transmissions.

Every 100,000, the transmission dies and needs a rebuild.

We still ended up getting one, Plymouth Grand Voyager, 99 model. Because even with the $1,500 spent on the transmission every 100,000 or so it seems worth it. Nothing else (and I mean nothing) breaks.

As far as the ‘small town runabout’ I stick with Honda, Toyota, and Mazda. They are all solid.

Z

 

[2shelbys]

vz71:

Another .02

I had done some research into a fair number of minivans before getting ours. Seems that the Dodge Caravan from 1999 to 2004 models either grand or standard have bum transmissions.

Every 100,000, the transmission dies and needs a rebuild.

We still ended up getting one, Plymouth Grand Voyager, 99 model. Because even with the $1,500 spent on the transmission every 100,000 or so it seems worth it. Nothing else (and I mean nothing) breaks.

As far as the ‘small town runabout’ I stick with Honda, Toyota, and Mazda. They are all solid.

Z

I’ll bet you did your research through Consumer Reports. When it comes to objectively reviewing vehicles they have about as much credibility as Michael Jackson does in the field of child care. While the 1998 through 2000 vans could experience problems if the fluid was never changed these problems were greatly diminished with proper maintenance and the problem was cured with some upgrades in the 2002 model year. You do not need to worry too much about the van you bought as long as you take care of it.

 

[SeekerJen]

Given that a sedan would be out the window should you have another, I would recommend an older mini-van of about 2 - 5 years depending on what you can afford. Otherwise, you can pretty much guarantee you’ll get pregnant the day you sign the 5 year car loan papers for that sedan.

Darn, I knew we should have tempted fate with a Mini Cooper instead of the big optimistic “family sedan”! If we’d gone with the Mini we’d probably already have one and another on the way.

Back on topic: I’m an only child and apparently can’t have kids, so I can’t offer first hand experience. However…I had many friends from large families, and either vans or station wagons seemed to be the way to go. One family (7 kids) had a big Econoline 11-passenger diesel van. They loaned it to our teen group for a retreat trip, it was great!

Whatever you end up with, make sure it has both adequate seating and storage space. As DH’s cousin (has an 18-month-old and one on the way) said after loading large stroller, diaper bag, toy bag, snacks, cooler for milk, etc. into the car trunk for a day trip, “It’s like being a sherpa.”

 

[vz71]

2shelbys:

I’ll bet you did your research through Consumer Reports…

Actually, I stopped using Consumer Reports when I caught them trying to rate purely subjective things using an absolute scale.
Also, I made a promise a long time ago never to buy a new car. Since CA rates only new cars, they do not suit my purposes.
My main research is to ask the various mechanics in the area.
My info on the transmissions came from the transmission repair shop.

Z

 

[auroraj42]

This is really interesting to me, we’re expecting out first, and I’m sure at some point we’ll have to get a bigger car for me…so I’ve been thinking a lot about this particular subject…

Just a couple of years ago we had to replace his suburban (which we loved…that truck was awesome, and held up like a tank) It had been his parents truck before he bought it from them…when he got stationed out in CA it transported ALL of his belongings all the way across the country. It got used several times to help other people move as well, and up until right before we got rid of it, had had very few problems and only needed basic maintenance (new tires, oil changes, etc.) by the time we got rid of it I think it had at least 200,000 miles on it, hard miles too…I still miss that silly truck…I felt so bad that we couldn’t repair it and keep it, because that truck was a workhorse and we drove it until it died…so we went car shopping, knowing we wanted another SUV, as we were a military family, and we knew we were going to be PCSing soon…so we wanted something that could haul us, our stuff and possibly even my car on a trailer…and we also looked into our future, we were hoping to have kids and get a dog (we got the dog shortly after our PCS, and the new truck did indeed haul us, our stuff, and my car, and our first child is arriving this May) so we knew we wanted something to do all those things, we got them in our Tahoe…which has also been an awesome vehicle for us and I am pretty sure it will continue to be…we got it used, and its a 99, but it makes my husband happy, and it even had an aftermarket custom job done so he thinks he looks cool…but to me, its his truck and our family vacation mode of transport (who wants to ride 12 hours to see our families with a laborador in a Saturn Sedan…that would be miserable).

We’re planning to drive my Saturn until it dies too, we’ll have it paid off in a couple of months (I bought it used about 5 years ago when I was just getting ready to get out of college) or we may only keep it until it is too small for us to use…but right now we’re just waiting until I have the first baby before we start thinking too far ahead…we’ve learned that my car may be small, but we can pack a lot into her and still get good mileage…

I think you get more out of a car that you maintain well, and run until its ready to give out…my car and DH’s old truck aren’t(weren’t) much to look at but they have been workhorses for us…granted I don’t haul tons of stuff in my car, not like we did with the suburban or what we do with the tahoe when we need to, but that car gets its job done and does its own fair share of the work for our family…from hauling the dog to the vet to getting the groceries…I’ll be sad when we have to get me a newer car…because I’m just so used to this one…

Good luck in whichever route you choose! (Personally, I recommend suburbans if you can find an older one in good condition that someone wants to part with and is a decent price…but I may be a bit partial)
Jamie

 

[KathleenElsie]

Seven of us here. We have two vans. One 1997 Montana and a 2002 Ford. Both purchased used. We drive our cars till they die and when we are looking for another one we take our time looking and investigating. Our two vans allow us to travel together and yet make sure no child ever sits in the front. I am small and the airbag is a danger to me even as an adult. This is what made our decision to use vans only.

 

[TOP]

We sunk our tax refund into a van this year. Thank God , all 6 of us can get to church now, legally and safely, not to mention sports this summer/fall. Tim

 

[carol_marie]

We have a Dodge Conversion van for our family of 7.

Cost of new van…$16,000

Cost to fill up…$75.00

Additional oversize fee at carwash…$10.00

Seats so far apart that we never have to
hear, “SHE’S TOUCHING ME!” … Priceless.