3 kids in a Prius?

My wife and I have thought about this a few times (we have a 4 and 2yo now). We decided having a third child was exponentially more difficult than 2. For example, most homes are 3 bedroom (mom/dad plus a room for each child). 2 car seats fit in any vehicle but a 3rd limits you to a select few. This of course is a problem if you were to even travel by plane as at one point in your travel you'll need to be in an automobile. Holding 3 hands in the airport instead of 2... the list goes on. So we decided to stick with 2. I know that wreaks of selfishness on our part but hey.... we try.

 

One (ex)member who used to own a Prius has three kids and he was able to fit three car seats in the back. After his Prius got totalled in an accident he switched to a Navigator, which caused quite a lengthy (and often heated) thread on this forum for a while.

We have one 2-yr old and two 12 year old twins. The baby is still in a car seat and the twins aren't too big yet so everyone fits in pretty well. When the twins get a little bigger, hopefully downscaling to a booster seat for the littlest one will do the trick. Otherwise we'll probably have to get a minivan and, hopefully by then a hybrid minivan will be available in the US.

 

Yeah, I remember that thread. I specifically remember it because I had a Navigator at the time it was going on. I personally have some of the worst fuel economy vehicles made... I'll admit it (one that gets 12mpg requires premium... and back then the Navigator got about 11 on Premium). What I do though is I only drive the other vehicles every now and then. My wife/I and kids drive the Prius almost everywhere...even on road trips. We use the gas guzzlers if we have more people in the car then the Prius can fit or are hauling something. Other than that they sit. I'll use my Jeep (about 10mpg with the large tires on it) once a month... I'll drive my SRT8 (12mpg on premium) every few weeks when I want to blow some steam and drive my truck (19 mpg around town, about 14 pulling at about 20k gross combined weight) when I'm hauling my RV a few times a year or when I have to move something large.

In fact I actually drove my dually pickup to work today. Even with dual monster batteries it almost didn't start because it's been sitting so long. Ironically I had to drive it today because at lunch I'm going to get the emissions tested on it. ...I also have some tile to pick up for the pool and figured if I was going to drive it I might as well kill two birds with one stone today.

 

Or take another approach to the problem and stop at two kids. That will save even more resources than driving a Prius.

Tom

 

One would think if 2 Doctors can't get it right, ain't nobody can!

 

I'm a bit flabbergasted by this.

I can think of a whole lot of things to sit and talk about when it comes to deciding on whether or not to bring another child into the world.

But the car that you drive as criteria for whether or not to commit to another life? I think I need to go lie down for awhile.

 

Have we crested 7 billion yet?
.
_H*

 

Well, as far as crowding into a car goes: I grew up in a family of 3 kids. One year, our family vacation consisted of driving from Illinois to the East Coast and down the Eastern seaboard, visiting all the historical sights along the way and ending in DC, thence back home to IL. I was (I think) 13 or 14 at the time, and my sisters were 10 and 6. We crammed our stuff into 2 medium suitcases, and the suitcases an ourselves into a VW Beetle. The trip lasted 3 weeks, and (needless to say) we had to find a laundromat about every 2-3 days.

It was a memorable trip, but:

My wife and I stopped at 2 kids, and I cannot imagine trying a stunt like that now!

Of course, we didn't need carseats in those days, but the point (or one of them) is this: the kids get bigger over time, and they (and all your stuff) have to fit. Can it be done? my story is an existence proof that it can. The real question is: do you want to do that for the next 15 years in only a Prius?

And I'm with the poster who said that the car shouldn't be the deciding factor here. On the other hand, I think the question is: can you raise a family of 3 kids with only a Prius as your transportation? I think you can, but do you really want to? I think if you have a third child, you may end up getting a "kidmobile" (SUV or Minivan) before they all take off to college and career. THEN you can go back to the Prius, I guess.

 

FWIW, I read your question the way you meant it.

I have zero children so I couldn't provide any input. I can verify that 2 bicycles fit easily with the rear seats down. But that won't really help you here...

 

"I have zero children so I couldn't provide any input."

WOW!! I too am faced with a 3rd child and WHY is NOYB. I stopped by here to get some help with the car seat/booster seat issue and was amazed at the self-righteous and snarky attitude of these some of these responses. Anonymity once again turns people into rude apes. "Disgusted" doesn't even begin to cover my response. I used to feel sad that some 'intelligent' people refuse to breed and left it up the the vulgar masses, but now many seem to be merely rude & insensitive & better off sterile. I hope more parents choose to show their children a Prius mentality to balance out those who rear consumerist McCows.

:focus:
For the information aspect, I found the site below to be far more useful, human, than some of the shallow "comments" here.
car-seat.org/ showthread. php?t=19774

 

Hang on a second, I think you missed the humour intended. I really don't think anyone was giving family planning advice.

I was 1 of 8 kids in my family, I only have 1 myself. We all piled into a panel van or you might think of it as a 2 door station wagon. No child seats or even seatbelts back in that old bus.

Looked like this but not shiny with no back doors and 10 sparkses inside.


Good luck finding the right boster seats and baby seats for your kids. As you can see from Evan's post, it can be done. There are also tow hitch carriers you can use to carry all the crap you need when you go away with kids.

Enjoy your medium size family.

 

a bit sensitive are we??

geeus, lighten up!!

 

I can't shed light on the car seat situation, but I have 3 boys (one 8, one 11, and one 14-yr-old who is taller than me!) and we also are considering the Prius to replace our 2002 Honda minivan. We understand that we're not going to take "everything but the kitchen sink" any longer, and frankly most of the time I am alone commuting to work, or it's me or hubby driving one child to their sporting event, etc. We're all going different directions and rarely together in the car except on the 3 mile drive to church. So I think if you want to make it work, it will...but you may have to be creative.

Good luck and ignore the rude comments here! If you don't feel that your family is "complete", it's probably not.

 

Well..I can't help with the carseats, my kids are 12, 14 and 17. But we did take them on a 14 hour trip last summer. It can be unpleasant at times as there is a neverending battle over who sits in the middle and ends up with the numb bum But we did manage and still had a good time.

Thinking back to their younger years, remember that the closer they are, the more they can get at each other...ie throw bottles or toys, crunch crackers in each other's hair, poke the sibling to wake them up, etc...We were able to separate them then (had minivan) and it was definitely worth it.

Having experience with both type vehicles, I think I would go back to the minivan if I had 3 little ones. But I love my Prius so much we have 2 (though one is currently being replaced after being totalled)...It ultimately is your decision and what works for you and makes you comfortable. And welcome to PriusChat...

 

Hey Pat ... actually, the OP (over 1/2 yr ago) & the post above yours were 'one-timers' so they may never read it, or "get it". I was kind of thrown to one side ... as much as those who so took offense, were thrown the other way. Hearing someone condone (preceived) harshness with a higher level? Whoa. Having way too many shrinks between my family & inlaws, a different thought came to mind:

hypervigilance /hy·per·vig·i·lance/ (hi?per-vij´i-lans) abnormally increased arousal, responsiveness to stimuli, and scanning of the environment for threats.

Thin skin is another way to say that we all come from different places & carry different issues. End of tangent.

 

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