Buying a Car for Triplets
Oh yeah, even car shopping for triplets is above and beyond the norm
With one baby, or even two, the entire car lot of four door sedans and sporty little crossovers is laid out before you to choose from. Heck, just having three kids, spread out in age, and you’re browsing most of the dealership.
So why should triplets be any different? One word, LATCH. Okay, it’s actually an acronym, but these are factory-installed steel loops. Most second row, and some third row, car seats have these hooks to securely connect infant car seat bases.
The Car Seat Lady
With great luck, I stumbled across an invaluable website by The Car Seat Lady. This site contains extensive information on child safety seat configurations in late model family vehicles. It quickly became apparent that, while lots of vehicles can safely carry three children of different ages, the list of vehicles shrinks dramatically when it comes to carrying three infants. You’re essentially left with vans, big and mini, or full size SUVs like a Suburban.
I made my case that a minivan may be their best option, but my son-in-law pushed back hard. He had bad memories of the minivans from his childhood. Ultimately, his friends convinced him the newer minivans were cool. They’d rented one for a road trip and found it very versatile and roomy.
They eventually landed on a late model Toyota Sienna minivan. This gives them LATCH points in the second row captain chairs and one LATCH point in the third row.
Grandpa’s New Ride
Finally it was time to let go of my pickup and prepare for grandpa daycare. Don’t get me wrong, the pickup had served its purpose and I was fully on board with my new role. That said, I did opt for a more age-appropriate full-size SUV.
Through an extensive search, I eventually tracked down a Toyota Sequioa with the hard-to-find second row bench seat. This allows me to install all three infant seats across the second row.
Time will tell if we made the right decision. For the record, I did humorously suggest a 15-passenger van but it’s starting to make more sense as they realize how much “stuff” travels with the babies.