Baby Talk for a sec!!!

[chilliwilli]

Wow...congrats! Was in your predicament recently but was only expecting one blessing and mini-van's were simply out of the question. The X7 would've been perfect for me but since it was scrapped, i tested several larger SUV's (larger than my E53 4.6iS)...if you want practical size with performance, i suggest the GL550...the 450 and Q7 4.2 are closer in performance to your 4.8i but the GL550 should definitely qualify your interest, if you're performance biased and if you can swing it. It handles great, adults can fit in every row and can actually go off-road.

[335xray]

Originally Posted by ard

You cannot "see" you or your wife in a minivan?

If I may say so, you are, frankly, clueless. Triplets will fix that. (Can I assume you've never cared for infants for any extended period of time?)

Here's the deal- with three seats in the back WHERE WOULD THE ADULT SIT? You need an adult in the middle of the kids to care for them. Not sitting in the front seats reading a magazine!

A perfect car would be one with two captains chairs mid ship, so the adult could move from the rear seat (with one kid) up to the middle to care for the two infants in the two middle seats. Or even move up to the front seat if (by rare chance) all three are asleep at once.


Congrats on the triplets. Your life is over, for a good 4-5 years.

A

ARD, you need to chill a bit. The guy just had the first of many OH SHIT moments, give him a bit of slack. He isn't clueless, just unexperienced...

Let me echo everyone's congratulations and throw my 2 cents into the pool having just had my first and so far ONLY child.

With 3 kids and 3 pumpkin seats, I would say forget about an SUV, even a suburban or MB GL (Has anyone actually sat in one before? I did at the auto show and it has less rear seat room than an X5 or my MDX. They had to do that to get the third row in...not an option for you IMHO)

Having just injured my back with my 4 month old, I would highly recommend the mini van route. Sliding doors on both sides with all the extra room will be invaluable to you and your wife. Much easier to load and unload. It is very hard for my wife to load our 4 month old little guy in his pumpkin seat into the middle of our MDX by herself. I can't imagine her trying to load 3 infants into an X5...

The captains chairs are a great suggestion. Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey (sp?) or the new MB R series are my top suggestions. Even the big Toyota Sequioa, while roomy will be very hard to load up and unload...

Congrats, sleep while you can, enjoy every minute and remember how lucky you are since there are so many out there much worse off...its easy to forget at 3 in the morning with a screaming kid (or 2 or 3...) Take lots of pics and video...

X

[cinnamonstick]

CONGRATS!!

We did IVF for both our gals....

As a mother of two now (newborn)....x5 and x3 are way too small for THREE......sorry to say. Just got my X5 Friday- three car seats may fit across the second row...but....if you could get them in there would be ZERO other room. DITTO the third row. Not safe at all...and for others to climb in the 3rd row it would be a PITA to remove the car seats each time to fold the 2nd row back for access (if you needed to transport more people than your wife and three kids).
You could try 3 car seats accross the second row but....I just dont think
it would be ideal or even reasonable. We test drove a few SUVs that were "minivan" like but still SUVs (Chevy Equinox I think)....it was not "bad" considering it was not BMW LOL! but had more room....


Best of luck!! CONGRATs!!!!! Parenthood is great---rough at first but after the adjustment it is great!

I am sorry to say. I told my Hubbie if he gets me prego by accident he is selling HIS car to get the minivan/larger SUV. Not me....

[eurogreek1]

Everyone is cracking me up! I love it. As for experience with parenthood, I don't have any. I never said I knew! I don't think anyone is ready for that. That's why there are forums like this to chat with people! Thank you all! No need to bust my balls about being clueless either. Can't believe you even said that Einstein!

Does anyone know how the R class does in the snow? It also sits pretty low! I'm leaning more towards the GL or Audi! Not sure yet though.

[JCL]

Anything will do fine in the snow if you put the proper tires on it. Many of us raised several kids, went on trips to the mountains regularly, towed trailers, and never had AWD or SUVs. We did just fine.

You seem to be focusing on the driving experience and seating position. What will begin to overtake those concerns isn't just the carrying capacity, but the loading and unloading. A higher vehicle will be very difficult for your wife to reach the car seats compared to a lower vehicle, unless she is very tall. Low is good.

Take three car seats to the dealer. Take along three ten pound bags of sugar. Load and unload them, reaching across and securing all the straps. Then imagine the centre child is crying and needs to be unbuckled while not disturbing the other two. Some of us have been through this, albeit not with triplets. Before minivans, we used station wagons, in our case a Volvo 245.

[335xray]

Originally Posted by eurogreek1

Everyone is cracking me up! I love it. As for experience with parenthood, I don't have any. I never said I knew! I don't think anyone is ready for that. That's why there are forums like this to chat with people! Thank you all! No need to bust my balls about being clueless either. Can't believe you even said that Einstein!

Does anyone know how the R class does in the snow? It also sits pretty low! I'm leaning more towards the GL or Audi! Not sure yet though.

Euro, unless the snow is physically impeding the vehicle, an R with AWD and snow tires will beat an X5 with the 20" summer tires everyday of the week and twice on Sundays after mass...get snow tires and it won't matter.

The Q7 is actually small interior volume wise compared to others and I would looks at the MB GL very closely in terms of getting car seats in it and seeing how much leg room the driver/front seat passenger has.

In my wife's MDX, unless we put the car seat in the middle (which we now do), I can not sit in front of the car seat. My wife can, but she is a little squished (She is 5'4 120#). My 3 series actually does better just the way things are shaped and positioned...

[2thdr]

I know that everybody's mileage may vary on this subject, but my two cents would be stick to the SUV, preferably a diesel for the fuel economy and longevity.

I was visiting my inlaws in British Columbia this weekend and my wife and them decided to make an impromptu trip to Calgary on Sunday. Unfortunately, the highway was closed for what was thought to be either a forest fire, or an accident. We later found out that it was an accident in which a minivan driver drove into a RV. The pic is below. All six people in the van died.

Now, the rear seat occupants were not wearing their seatbelts, so obviously I am not suggesting that this would have happened even if they were. But, I think it is important to realize that (IMHO) minivan crash safety does not quite compare to that of an SUV. I would kindly ask anyone here to chime in on this.

I had the 2007 e70 X5. Kind of liked how it handles on the 19's, it was a 3.0L si. Got rid of it because it seemed to have some first year gremlins and I longed for an M3 again. Once I was married, I got my wife a Benz GL350 (2010). Nice SUV in terms of space, but their Command System (iDrive equivalent) sucks more than a Hoover. Coupled with the fact that the sloppy ride makes you feel like you are in a boat. And yes, I know it's an SUV, but I punished my original e70 and it handled very very well.

I hope the additional opinion helps.

[FSETH]

I agree with most of the others. It is minivan time. If you just absolutely wont buy a minivan, which is really your best option, I would go with an R class. Any SUV would be a tough fit.

I remember laughing as we were following our friends and their two kids in a Toyota 4runner. We watched as the the mom kept climbing over the center console to get to the kids car seats. It looked painful. It would have been much easier in a minvan. Now, I am helping him find a three row vehicle and I have suggested the R Class as their kids are somewhat older now and don't require as much attention in the car. Although, I much prefer the looks of an SUV, the R Class really doesn't look bad for what it is and if you need to haul a bunch of people and other stuff, it may work out. I took this photo on my phone the other day to show my friend what a R Class even looks like as he had no clue. Not bad for a minivan style vehicle.

[FSETH]

Originally Posted by 2thdr

I was visiting my inlaws in British Columbia this weekend and my wife and them decided to make an impromptu trip to Calgary on Sunday. Unfortunately, the highway was closed for what was thought to be either a forest fire, or an accident. We later found out that it was an accident in which a minivan driver drove into a RV. The pic is below. All six people in the van died.

Now, the rear seat occupants were not wearing their seatbelts, so obviously I am not suggesting that this would have happened even if they were. But, I think it is important to realize that (IMHO) minivan crash safety does not quite compare to that of an SUV. I would kindly ask anyone here to chime in on this.

Actually, minivans are rated pretty well for safety. I know the IIHS rates the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey as good. It is unfair to show a photo of just one accident accident, imo. Go to IIHS-HLDI: Crash Testing*&*Highway Safety and search out makes and models. The Sienna was actually a top safety pick for 2011.

[motordavid]

I'm not sure a Hummer would have helped anyone in that situ...
Anecdotal. Physics is hard to get around: F=ma.