Hi All,

We are not ready to move up yet but my curiosity is peaked as I see all the posts about different mini vans vs. Suburbans and not much mention of full size (12 passenger and up) vans.

We have one child large enough to sit in seat belt alone and the triplets have 6 more years of car seats/boosters. We are probably going to have at least one more baby in a little while. Not sure when, but at least after the girls are over 2.5 years, so we might have to upgrade to a bigger Runabout if the trips are still using a stroller too. We just bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with the fold and go seating in Feb. of last year. I think that we could squeeze an infant car seat in between the two convertable car seats in the rear bench row. But, we would be at the max. I just got a triple runabout yesterday (yay!) and have not tried to fit it into the van yet, so we will see if I can jam that into the rear cargo area without taking it apart. =)

DH and I were talking about it last night and wondering if the folks who post about loving their Suburban are smaller families and if they own Runabout strollers? We watched a TV special about sextuplets and saw for the first time that there are full size van models out there with rear doors on the driver side too, a feature that we have just loved in our Caravans. I know that there have been posts about other mini vans (Honda Oddesy??? not sure if I am remembering correctly) that others prefer.

Our biggest beef with mini vans has been trying to squeeze under the seat belts when the car seats or bases are buckled in place. That was a pain when all had was our 99 Caravan. In the 2005, we now fold up Katherine's seat to get at the back row and leave Emma's car seat in place behind the driver. I crawl in to buckle the two in the back and get them in/out. Then Katherines' seat is folded back into place and she can climb in and buckle up. Ugh. It makes me tired just typing about it.

Any thoughts? I'll try for some info here and then post to the main forum.


Rebecca in Western NY
DD 3/96
GGG 32w6d - 10/1/04
Emma 4# 6oz
Hannah 5#
Megan 4# 4oz

We had a Suburban, which we LOVED, but somehow outgrew. Hmmm, how did that happen? LOL As a side note, we installed a rear facing seat in the cargo area (www.littlepassengerseats.com) that bought us a bit more time before having to purchase a new vehicle. At one point, we had five in car seats . . . two in the second row and three in the third row. We kept the "flip-down" set of the second row flipped down for easy access, unless our teenage daughter was with us. My two oldest boys rode in the rear facing seat. Of course, there was NO room for any cargo (although we made several trips to their grandparents' with duffle bags shoved on the floor - at least the kids didn't need any leg room). The quad Runabout rode on the hitch.

Fast forward to our 15 passenger van. I'm not a van person, so it was hard for me to make that jump. I still don't particularly care for the van, but know that nothing else would serve us as well as it does. We opted for "center aisle seating" . . . two seats/aisle/one seat. It elimates the getting tangled in seatbelts fiasco and also allows for more separation (minimizing sibling squabbles . . . in theory, at least). By arranging the seating this way though, we actually lost one seat (so essentially, we only have a "14 passenger" van). We also had a DVD player installed, as well as a second screen for their viewing pleasure, and mom's partial sanity. This seating arrangement also allows shoulder-belt seatbelts for all the seats, with the exception of the two middle seats of the very back row. That has been great with our new assortment of boosters. I was nervous about not having a four-wheel drive for the first time, but with studded snow tires, we haven't had a problem.

We finally have room so the kids can bring friends along, we can help with the carpool and we can just move a bit. The plan is for this vehicle to get us through the majority of the kid years. Anyways, I just thought I'd throw out our experience. Like I said, I never planned to have a 15-passenger van (I've learned that life doesn't always go according to plan), but it has really worked well for us.

Good luck in your quest for a new vehicle.

Sandy.
adoptive mom to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"
Nicki (18)
Keegan (10)
Luke (9)
Chase (7)
Gage (6)
T.J. (5)
Seth (5)
Ty (5)