# Best minivans for car seat use?



## npl (Nov 29, 2008)

Another question about car seats and car compatibility!
We are looking for our first minivan. What features should I consider for ease of use with the different kinds of car seats? Are there models that work better?
I'm peering into every model of van I see, and some have a bench in the middle, some have two captain seats. And I'm guessing that the rearmost seats will be different in the way they accommodate boosters and other car seats.
Also, one of the drivers is very tall and needs a lot of leg room, so we need lots of leg room in the middle row to accommodate the driver/passenger seat pushed all the way back and still get a rf car seat in there.
Any suggestions of good vans for us? Or ones to avoid?


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## Peony (Nov 27, 2003)

The Toyota Sienna with the 2 captain's chairs in the 2nd row has the ability to scoot a chair over towards the middle and you can move the chairs forward or back like driver/passenger chairs. I'm not sure if the Sienna with the bench, if you can move the bench. The Sienna also has the widest 3rd row of any minvan and the most tethers. There are tethers in all back seats except the 3rd row driver's side. I'm not familiar with other vans, only the one I own.


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## mommybytheWord (Mar 1, 2005)

We have a Ford Windstar. We have owned a Chevy Surburban, Dodge Caravan, and a Pontiac Montana. We just got our new van and it is by far the best for car seat install we have ever had!!! It has lach in both rows of seats and teather for rear facing seats that can be teathered. We got the one with the half bench in the middle. We had one with the two captins chairs and found them to be a hassle...

We have a Britax rear facing behind the drivers seat, next to that a Graco Natulis, in the back we have a high back booster and a backless booster for our oldest. The van has 5 stars for safety too!!!

We have never been Ford lovers but I do love our new van!!!


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## the_lissa (Oct 30, 2004)

My 01 Windstar has 5 tether spots, one for each middle or back seat.


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## RunnerDuck (Sep 12, 2003)

We have the 8 passenger Sienna which has 3 seats across the middle (they're individual seats so you can remove any one of them). All 3 middle seats have LATCH which I like. I have all 3 kids across the middle - Graco turbo, rf marathon, rf marathon.

In the back there is a single seat on the passenger side with LATCH, then 2 seats stuck together on the driver's side - middle has LATCH.

Can never quite make up my mind if I am happy or not we got the 8 passenger van. My thinking was, then no one gets the comfy captain's chair so no fighting for it - but duh, I think I would have liked having the option, they could always take turns.

My biggest regret is not getting the power door on both sides - ours only has it on one. Thought, who needs it... well now I am kinda bitter at DH for being cheap. 

I do have to say, the Chrysler/Dodge vans have Stow n Go seating which would have been a huge perk. So much easier to stash the seats rather than remove them - plush you can stick stuff down in those compartments when the seats aren't stashed. I'd say seriously consider a Dodge, with two captain's seats, not the 2/3 bench thing. The 2/3 bench thing, no one rides in luxury, which is what we have, and what I now think was a moronic move. With captains seats, both should have LATCH.

Personally the only one I would really say to avoid is the 8 seat Honda Odyssey because the middle seat of the middle row looks horrible. The thing I liked about the 8 seat Sienna was an adult could sit in the center seat (we call it b*tch ) without too much discomfort.


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## emmasmommy (Feb 26, 2004)

We have a Dodge Grand Caravan (06) with middle row captains chairs and stow and go seating. Installing carseats in the middle seats is super easy, the LATCh ancors are visible on the seat rather than hidden in the crack between the seat and seat back like some cars. The only thing we've had to do is to remove the headrests completely when installing a ff seat in order to get the back of the seat to rest against the seat back properly. The middle seats also move back so you can get more leg room behind a tall driver. I've never had to install a car seat in the rear row, but it does have LATCH for the outboard seats (we only have 2 kids, and about half the time the third row is folded down since we need the cargo space more than we need the passenger space).


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## medicmama (May 5, 2006)

ok I have a dodge caravan with the stow and go captians seats and I think it sucks royal butt for rear facing car seats

It is ok for high back boster style seats wich we had and we loved it but then had DD not even thinking it would be an issue....but it was.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

I have an 8 pass. Sienna and LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Super easy.

-Angela


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## RunnerDuck (Sep 12, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alegna* 
I have an 8 pass. Sienna and LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Super easy.

-Angela

Yes, it is easy to get the car seats in...

Something else that is kind nice... DH barfed in the car in Dec, it was easy to just bring the whole seat in the house to clean it, they pop out easy like that (the actual seat from the van, not just his car seat...) (things you never think of you want while you're taking a test drive... )

But like I said I do we'd sprung for 2 power doors...


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

We sprung for 2 power doors. It was the one add on I was willing to pay for. Worth.every.penny.

I'm only ticked that the power hatch wasn't an option. Don't know if they've changed it for this year, but on mine you couldn't get a power hatch on an 8pass...

-Angela


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

I heard that the 2009 siennas have latch in every position.







So if you're going new, that is a HUGE plus.


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## mbhf (Jan 8, 2005)

The siennas are really nice. I wanted a Sienna, but my dh preffered the Odyssey. He said it drove better. Also, I wanted leather seats and an 8 passenger, the Sienna didn't offer an 8 passenger with leather.

I love it. I wish there were 2 sets of lower anchors in the back row, as it is there is only one set. But, the one set is slightly off center which makes installing two seats side by side really easy. There are top tethers for all rear seating positions except the middle seat in the middle row. There are lower anchors on the two captains chairs in the middle row. You can move the middle row captains chairs forwards and backwards.

carseat installs are super easy in all rear seating positions with my carseats.


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## Ceili (Nov 21, 2001)

I have an 8 pass Sienna too and I love it. The middle seat second row can scoot forward and we leave ours like that so that I have an easier time reaching something back to ds. The middle bench is very roomy, I've fit 2 regents and a marathon across and a regent, a marathon, and a full grown adult back there without any trouble.


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## homebirthbaby (Aug 10, 2006)

'00 Ford Windstar with LATCH in all seating positions (only 4 usable at once though, but 5 tether anchors) with power sliding doors! LOVE IT!!!!


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *homebirthbaby* 
'00 Ford Windstar with LATCH in all seating positions (only 4 usable at once though, but 5 tether anchors) with power sliding doors! LOVE IT!!!!









Really? That was the very beginning of LATCH... and it's in all positions?

-Angela


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alegna* 







Really? That was the very beginning of LATCH... and it's in all positions?

-Angela

Yep, Ford started in 2000







LATCH is in all 5 seating positions, but like she said you can only use up to 4 at a time (you can use rear center LATCH or you can use both rear outboard LATCHes, if that makes sense, but you can never have 3 seats LATCHed in the 3rd row).

ETA: oh, and they have SIX top tether points, since the passenger front seat has a TA which is fabulous for RF seats. You can tell I love my friend's Windstar


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## TheGirls (Jan 8, 2007)

So, this is a bit OT, but we're also in the market for a minivan...

Several of you mentioned loving power sliding doors. So what's the advantage of power doors over the manual kind? I've honestly never seen the point, but I haven't gotten in a minivan since I've had a baby, so maybe I would find them useful now...

We were actually planning to avoid them because I remember disliking them as a kid. Of course, the ones I remember were on vans from the early 90's at the latest, and they opened super slow and you just had to kinda sit there and watch them open.

So, why do you love your power sliding doors, and what are modern ones like?


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## Pam_and_Abigail (Dec 2, 2002)

Ours is an 03 Dodge Caravan and car seat placement sucks. There's only one tether n the third row, and the tether strap slips n between where the seats split. Both the middle row captain seats have tether. However, ds is rf in a radian, behind the driver's seat, and when dh drives, there's barely room for the seat. There's latch in only in those same three seats too: middle capt. chairs and middle of the back row. We also use the built-in seat that is in one of the captain chairs.


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## mbhf (Jan 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TheGirls* 
So, why do you love your power sliding doors, and what are modern ones like?

They are my favorite part of my minivan. When I have a baby in the sling, a 2yo in my arms, and a 4 and 6 year old to keep up with it is so so nice to just push a button and have the doors open for me. Minivan doors are hard to open manually, my kids can't do it. Without the power doors, I would have to go around, open one door for my older kids to get to their seats, then walk back to the other side to put my 2yo in his side, then back around to the passenger side to put the baby in her seat and buckle my older kids. Or have my older two stand beside me while I buckle my 2yo. I don't have experience with this yet, ad my oldest is not very old, but I also have buttons to open the doors from my seat, which will be very handy for pick up/drop off.

They aren't as fast as opening the door yourself, that's true. but I just push the button when I'm still a few steps from the car and they're open by the time I get there. They're not _that_ slow.


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## RunnerDuck (Sep 12, 2003)

re: the power doors - yeah DH and I were also like, what's the need... so we only got it on one side.

Truthfully it's not a HUGE deal - it's just a small thing we're kicking ourselves for cheaping out over. The rear power door would be better.

One thing about it is my son loves to open it himself with the magic button. So when the babies are old enough I see squabbles over there only being one magic button.

The other thing is some times I will be in a hurry and get both babies buckled in, go to get in my seat, buckle up, and realize I left the door open. So I have to get back out and close it. Would be nice to just push a button.

It's really not THAT important, but it would be nice.

I never use the open door feature on the key clicker - I don't see the point in that. It's easier for me to grab a handle with two babies in my arms then get my keys out of my pocket and fiddle with a little button on the clicker. ANd yeah the door does open slower which is kind of annoying actually. I have my girls on the side with the manual door and I like how easy it slides open - it would be irritating to have to wait for it to slide once I grab it. It always throws me off when I try to pull open the side that is powered and I am met with resisitance and then have to watch it creep open .

One nice thing at least the Sienna has a power close assist or something like that - which means if you don't quite close it all the way it will suck itself closed the rest of the way. I thought this was dumb and didn't see the point till we rented a Dodge that didn't have this and we were CONSTANTLY leaving the door ajar. Drove me nuts until we learned to really SLAM it.

So - two power doors aren't really THAT big a deal but would be nice. Maybe actually it's nicer to have one fast, one slow. Now that I think of it... whenever I need to run out to the van for something it's almost always on the babies side, it would take more time if that side was powered.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TheGirls* 
So, this is a bit OT, but we're also in the market for a minivan...

Several of you mentioned loving power sliding doors. So what's the advantage of power doors over the manual kind? I've honestly never seen the point, but I haven't gotten in a minivan since I've had a baby, so maybe I would find them useful now...

We were actually planning to avoid them because I remember disliking them as a kid. Of course, the ones I remember were on vans from the early 90's at the latest, and they opened super slow and you just had to kinda sit there and watch them open.

So, why do you love your power sliding doors, and what are modern ones like?

Ah, the joys of power doors.

I park, push both door opening buttons (on the ceiling center console) When I get around to each door to unbuckle kids- doors are open and ready to go. Unload kids, hands full, etc, push a button and they close.

It's raining, I approach the van from the store. Laden with kids and groceries. I push the buttons on my keyring and doors open. 4.5yr old goes around to her side and gets in while I load baby. She can close her door with her foot on the button while I strap in baby- keeping it from raining in. I push my button as I come around to open her door again to tighten her carseat. I hop in the front and either she closes her door (while strapped in







She's thrilled she can reach it with her toe...







) Or I close it from the ceiling again.

Ah... power doors....

-Angela


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