luckyjune
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,687 
Location: In the rainy, rainy WA
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Post by luckyjune on Jul 13, 2023 16:02:17 GMT
When we had three kids and two large dogs at home, we drove a Honda Pilot, which seats 8. It was perfect, as it gave us room for the kids' friends to tag along. Now that everyone is grown up, we downsized to a Honda CRV. The CRV still has a fair amount of cargo space. I don't miss the third row.
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finaledition
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,896
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Post by finaledition on Jul 13, 2023 16:05:52 GMT
I have a 3rd row SUV and unless you are small, no adult (or adult size body) is going to want to sit back there. I have, but I wouldn’t if we were going more than 15 minutes.
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Post by stingfan on Jul 13, 2023 16:18:00 GMT
Dh and I had this discussion when we needed a new car 2 years ago. I was pretty firm on wanting to keep the 3rd row and he thought we didn't need it anymore. But I got the 3rd row and we have definitely used it plenty since then - both for cargo and people. We have 2 grown kids and 2 at home full-time.
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Post by loveslabradors on Jul 13, 2023 16:23:49 GMT
Agree that only you can decide if a third row is worth it. For us, it came in handy when the kids were younger and had friends in the car, but once they both had their license, I went with a smaller SUV. No regrets so far. Costco trips, multiple bags of mulch and other house stuff, etc have all been totally do-able. If we did a road trip or something with more than the 4 of us, I'd just rent a minivan. The cost savings from my smaller "daily driver" would more than pay for it.
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Post by wordyphotogbabe on Jul 13, 2023 16:23:51 GMT
My immediate family all lives in the same area so we (my mother, my sister, me, & our kids) have always gone on various day trips together. I was super surprised when my parents not only sold their second vehicle a couple years ago but the vehicle they sold was the one with a third row. We can no longer fit everyone in their vehicle so we have to go at separate times or take my third-row vehicle. Neither is a huge deal but considering my mom prefers to drive & loves to go on these trips, I couldn't figure out why they downsized when they did. There have been at least two instances when my mom has started talking about going somewhere together and I have to remind her that she only has 5 seats for 6 people.
I bought my third-row vehicle last year primarily to make sure we had room for my kids + my fiance's kids. Unfortunately, there has been some drama there and they have only been with us a couple times since. Since I work from home and don't even leave my house every day, the less-than-ideal gas mileage has been offset by that. It is nice to have the extra room in the back and be able to keep our beach chairs and umbrella in there all summer long.
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lavawalker1
Full Member
Posts: 497
Jul 9, 2021 21:41:57 GMT
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Post by lavawalker1 on Jul 13, 2023 16:27:23 GMT
We only have one kid, but bought a van with a third row for cargo space (we did a lot of tent camping and road when she was growing up)
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Post by workingclassdog on Jul 13, 2023 16:39:01 GMT
Nope not necessary. We were in the same boat years ago. We never used it. I was sorry I traded in my Honda Element for whatever it was at the time. Bigger and nicer but never needed it.
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Post by roundtwo on Jul 13, 2023 17:25:25 GMT
I just recently bought a new vehicle and was deciding whether or not to give up my third row - my kids are all grown but do come and visit which means a flight and of course they don't bring their vehicles. I was talking to one of my grown kids and she said you need to buy a vehicle that works for 95% of the time and make things for work for the other 5%. She is the logical one of our bunch but she was right. It was a big difference in price to have a vehicle with a third row for the once or twice a year visits.
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Post by epeanymous on Jul 13, 2023 18:51:53 GMT
I have six kids -- the oldest is in college but comes home for holidays/summer -- so obviously I need the third row. But when I went to replace my torched Odyssey last year, what I discovered was that the SUVs I was looking at had so much less cargo space than my Odyssey, whether the back seats were folded down or not. It's not like I'm a camper or something but it looked like it would be difficult to pack for a nice indoorsy road trip like I do often take. I ended up with an Odyssey again, and I'm happy with it (mine was used, but a 2020, as opposed to the 2010 I had before, and it handles much better FWIW).
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momto4kiddos
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,153
Jun 26, 2014 11:45:15 GMT
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Post by momto4kiddos on Jul 14, 2023 17:29:18 GMT
I downsized, but still have a third row. Exactly two weeks after I got the new vehicle I had to use the 3rd row to fit everyone. I had my parents and a few kids with me.
Does this happen often, nope. But I do like having the ability to take everyone if I need to. It's one of those things that only you can decide if it's worth it.
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Post by supersoda on Jul 14, 2023 18:32:00 GMT
I got rid of my third row with my current car about a year ago and haven’t missed it for a second—but I still have an SUV with plenty of cargo space.
Even with the third row, once the kids could drive we usually took 2 cars on the somewhat rare occasion we were all going to the same place (like a weekend trip).
I was thrilled to get out of the big SUV category. I looked at something much smaller—like a sports car—but ultimately decided I haul too much dirt and dogs for that to be practical.
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