My sister and her husband are expecting triplets. I asked what I could do to help and was told that I needed to find them a car.

They only have two requirements, All three car seats must fit in the second row and the vehicle must have AWD or 4WD. They like Honda and Toyota and we don't have any experience with other manufacturers.

First the minivans..
I ruled out the Odyssey cuz no AWD.
I ruled out the Sierra cuz only the 7 passenger has AWD.

Moving from minivan to SUV....

I ruled out the Sequoia cuz it only comes in a V8 - gas guzzler
I am now focusing on the Honda Pilot. V6, 4WD, three across the second row, lots of room for stuff.

Anybody else have trips in a pilot or other suggestions?

Thanks
Lori

I hope more people chime in for you. We have a 2002 Ford F150 and a 2001 Chevy Malibu. The Malibu was my car and that is what we used initially. I took the car to Babies R Us to try the car seats. They let me take them out to the car to see if they all fit. I found the Eddie Bauer 3 in 1 fit in my car across the back seat. These are the ones that fit from 5 to up to around 100 pounds. The seats touch the doors but they fit. The ones we initially chose did not fit across one seat. When we rented a 2006 expedition for vacation, they did not all fit across the 3rd row (we didn't try the 2nd row). They fit better in the back seat of our F150 and it is nice because we can store everything in the bed of the truck. We primarily use the F150 now but have car seats in both cars. We too will soon be looking for another either van or SUV as I hope to expand our family beyond the triplets.

I am glad we did not have to go the route of buying a new car the first 2 years because of the expenses that are outrageous. I nursed my trio until 7 months old with formula to supplement and we kept them on formula until they were nearly 18 months old, so the formula and diapers were so expensive we never would have made it with a new car payment. Not only the expense of those two things to consider. Bottles (Bottle Bags for expressed breast milk and/or formula), lack of income if she will be on bed rest and off work for some time before and after the babies arrival, cost of medical visits (prescriptions and doctors visits) we were lucky to have only a $10 copayment for office visits, but we were going in quite often for OT and other visits the first year times 3. Every time we went in with all 3 it was $30 bucks. We were averaging over $100 a month in office visits to see opthamologists, physical and occupational therapists, pediatricians, lactation consultants etc... and my kids were exceptionally healthy at birth.

My suggestion. If they can get away with what they have already, keep it until a year or two has gone by, this way they will know if they are wanting to build their family, and they will have settled some of those baby expenses and be able to consider the cost of a new car payment again.

Christine
Mom to Grant, Kennedy & Madison (BGG)