3 row seat vehicles

mbalbritton

mbalbritton

#@$%!
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Lakeland, FL
Not for me, but my parents. They want to get a vehicle with 3 row seating so they can haul kids and grandkids around instead of taking two cars on day trips through the Mountains. Nothing too pretentious they say. And nothing as big as a Suburban or Expedition.

Preferably a couple years old. My Dad hates wasting money on showroom cars. Let someone else bite that bullet. I mentioned an X5, but that fell under the "pretentious" category.

Oh and No GM products.
 
Honda Pilot. 04 and 05 years seem to be the best, used wise.

You can probably get a decent used one for 15-16k.
 
I'm pretty much in the same boat. We are now up to 5 kids (18 year old and 14 year old step daughters, almost 4 year old daughter, 14 month old daughter, 4 week old son). The 18 year old almost never rides with us, but we regularly have 6 people in the vehicle. We have found that a mini van is about the best bet for us. We looked at seversl small SUV's and crossovers but they all require that the middle row seat has to slide forward in order to get access to the third row seat where a mini van does not. We found that the best setup is the middle row captai's chairs for getting the 4 year old and 14 month old into their car seats. One of the captain's chairs houses the seat base for the one month old and the other captain's chair is for the 14 year old when she rides with us.

We have two Dodge vans. Hers is a 2005 Caravan with the 4 banger (WAY underpowered - I will never get a 4 cyl again) and mine is a company vehicle 2009 Grand Caravan with the Stow and Go seats. I really like it because when the 14 year old doesn't ride along, I can stow her seat and it then have tons of room to move around with the babies.

I've seen quite a few Chrysler Town & Country vans with low milage in the 2007-2008 range going pretty reasonably. Nice ride, but avoids the "pretentious" label. Just have to get over the dork factor of driving a mini-van. (it's taken me a couple years to get used to it, but I'm over the dorkiness now)
 
My parents love their 05 Pilot. It's a comfy car, and they tow their 23' Airstream with it, no problem. It's not as practical as a minivan, storage-wise and ease of ingress and egress, but it's pretty nice. Suprisingly roomy in the third row, but I wouldn't want to try to put a kid in a carseat in the third row, unless they can buckle themselves. And gas mileage is pretty weak. About 18-19mpg tops.
 
In response to Mangler's post, I've known a lot of parents who said they'd never own a minivan. That is, until they got one. Now they love them. I'm a fan, as they seem to be the most efficient use of the space available for toting passengers and luggage. The Fords and Dodges seem to hold up well.

Oh, and that's a lotta kids there!
 
For the record... I get 18-19 with my V6 Grand Caravan with the AC blowing. :) It even gets out of it's own way.
 
Honda Odyssey, the third row seat will fold into the floor and when unfolded, has tons of storage for strollers etc. It'll light up the tires if you want it too and gets decent mileage.
 
Toyota sequoia? Not sure if it has a third row of seats though. They've kinda killed all the ones I can think of. Volvo wagons might have a third row that faces backwards or something like that.
 
What about the jeep commander? I've never really looked into them, but I think it fits all the stipluations.
 
Could go with the durango. There are companies out there that have third row seats for most suv's Grand cherokees are going fairly cheap and can be fitted with a 3rd seat as well. I personally like the full size SUV's like the burbs but a fullsize van would be nice as well. You could pickup a nice conversion van at a good price as well.
 
I had typed a longer reply, but must've failed to hit the post button. Anyway, I think the honda pilot is a good balance as far as not being huge, but still having a spacious third row. I am 6'-5" and can fit reasonably well back there in my mom's pilot.
 
I'll mention the Pilot, Durrango and Commander but I must admit.. I've always thought the Commander and the new Duragno body style were pretty ugly... then I looked at the Pilot and I'm starting to see a common factor amongst 3 row seat vehicles. They all seem to be ugly. :D

What about the newer Exploders?
 
I love my father Commander
Lots of power with the 4.7 and it rides great. He has a fully loaded 2wd Limited. Gets 17-20 mpg the trip he drives everyday
 
Commander, Durango (4.7 gets the best mpgs), I think the newer Explorers can be had with 3rd row, the X5 would be my choice (can't beat the CPO warranty, can be had with a 5.0 twin turbo V8, all grades of cool gadgets) , Tahoes aren't big enough to be a pain to park and drive. Volvo does have a 3rd row equipped SUV/crossover thingy but the braking, handling, and acceleration all suck majorly. The Audi/VW offerings with the third row are damn nice, but normally pricey, even used. The Lexus/Benz toys with the 3rd row aren't that great IMO, from the handles worse than my '78 F150 on bias 40's standpoint. Oddly the Sequoia drives better than anything with a Lexus badge, and would be another good choice, and the 5.7 gets decent mpg, and is pretty fun to drive.
 
I know its not a couple years old, but my neighbor has a ford flex and that thing is awesome. It rides better than anything Ive ever been in.
 
we have had a tahoe and a expedition and both fit the bill well...though I know you disqualified both.
 
Just a couple more that have not been mentioned, Toyota 4runner and the Dodge Journey. the Dodge is smaller and I think it rides on a car platform so it is nice and smooth, lots of good visibility. The 4runner has been great, my wife drives it the most but there are no complaints from either of us. Our 06' 4runner is AWD and that sometimes makes the consumer feel safer.
 
tominator said:
Just a couple more that have not been mentioned, Toyota 4runner and the Dodge Journey. the Dodge is smaller and I think it rides on a car platform so it is nice and smooth, lots of good visibility. The 4runner has been great, my wife drives it the most but there are no complaints from either of us. Our 06' 4runner is AWD and that sometimes makes the consumer feel safer.
Click to expand...

saw one this morning and was wondering if they had 3rd row. thanks!
 
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