Not discussed here is car seat and seatbelt requirements. If you have multiple children in car seats or boosters, you’re going to have a hard time getting more than one in the backseat of a sedan.
See [1] and [2] for examples.
Note that the second link is to an Australian site, so may be using car seats that are not available in the US.
Here's a unit, not available in the US, that fits 3 kids in the back of a Fiat 500 [3]. They have a 4 seater [4] that works in a Honda Civic and similar sized cars.
[1] https://www.carmax.com/articles/cars-that-fit-three-car-seat...
[1] https://www.onlineauto.com.au/best-cars/5-seat-cars-fit-3-ch...
2. There are tons of car review sites touting three cars seats side by side. I own one of these cars. They don't actually fit. Not in real life. Think of it like the McBurger commercial on TV. In real life... bleh.
3. A big car solves many problems other than transporting three kids. Ive only put 2800 miles on my SUV this year, but:
- Ive driven six (six!) people on two >600 mi journeys.
- Ive loaded it with all the tiles and flooring needed for my remodel
- picked up 2x4s and the like
- taken my neighbors kid's to the theater with my family many times
(Personally I find minivans have more utility, but I don’t feel like I’m doing something “right” by owning one instead of an SUV).
So I really don't understand minivan love paired with SUV hate (mid sized ones anyway)
In fact the minivan would have been more practical, but environmentally indistinguishable. The minivan has the same engine my SUV has and, to my eye anyway, has a larger frontal area.
There are still 4 minivans on the US market, and really I don’t think there’s space for any others to sell successfully. The ones that exist are damn competitive for what they are, and they still don’t sell well.
Oh I don't really disagree. The Sienna and Odyssey seem like good vehicles. I'm less familiar with the remaining American(?) models.
I also don't know enough to meaningfully speculate why 3-row SUVs took over from minivans for fairly similar use cases even though they seem less effective in a lot of circumstances. Part of it is probably image--especially for some male drivers--but I lack the data to have a strong opinion.
It was pretty funny 20 years ago before this was realized- big SUVs had low range transfer cases, skid plates, lockers, air suspension, and tons of other expensive and complicated offroad hardware. The people buying and driving these had no idea what those parts were for, and only found out they had them when they would accidentally activate them on pavement and get an expensive repair bill.
Unless you're looking at an expedition or the like, they're all unibody, front wheel drive, and turbo charged inline fours. Just like a minivan.
The SUVs of old had a truck chassis, a large V6 or V8, rear wheel drive.
I can put them in the Sorrento.... But I have to buckle her into her seat belt while shes standing holding the boosted. Then I have to lift them both to get them i to position.
We want a new car. We were going to buy a Sienna hybrid. But they're ridiculously priced, unobtainium and, frankly, not that big. So Im looking at a low milage Expedition Max or convincing the wife for a Sprinter.
Maybe some people are buying SUVs because they can't wait until their new baby is walking and talking before driving them somewhere?
When I had a kid I went from a golf to a full sized SUV and was shocked to find that the usable space was barely any larger.
It was easier to pack my firstborn's stuff in it than the Golf. We got rid of it for the Sorrento when we got rear ended when my daughter was four days old. Then I decided I'd get the heaviest vehicle I could then afford - the Sorrento.
On top of that, outside the axles, you're in the automobile's crumple zone - ie it's deliberately designed to fold in itself to absorb the blow of impact.
I don't like putting my mother in law on my SUV's third row - I'm loath to put my kid