Baby Talk for a sec!!!
 

I just found out that my wife is expecting triplets!!! YA Crazy!!! I have an 07 4.8 without the 7 seater. Does anyone know if I can fit 3 car seats in the back? She is currently driving an X3 and I know the back seat wont hold 3. I was wondering because the X5 has a larger back seat!

Any advise would be great! I was thinking of trading in her 07 X3 and getting another 7 seater X5. What other cars do you advise me on that has BMW quality without spending a fortune?

Thanks in advance!

You can fit three seats across the center row.
 

We had an 08 with the 3rd row seat. We now have a 2011 with the 3rd row seat. NEVER used the 3rd row seat. You can fit three seats in the center row--albeit tightly...Here are some pictures of my 011 with three seats in the back:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...econd-row.html

CONGRATS ON THE TRIPLETS!!

FYI: I have a 1, 2 & 4 year old. All were in diapers simultaneously. You will average (over) 500 diapers, per-month, for at least 2.5 years. COSTCO...

thank you very much! Do you think they would fit in the X3?

Congrats, :thumbup:

My advice: go have fun with your current car. Then, trade it on a
new mini van. Then, understand your life, as you know it, is forever
changed and different. ;)
GL, mD

No. :(

I think that that would depend upon the brand of the car seat.

The Recaro's are (very) wide and I'm not sure they would fit.

as mD said, you will need a minivan... even if you fit 3 seats in 2nd row, the trunk space is not enough to carry all the necessary things which come with triplets...:)

Honda Odyssey is the closest to handling to BMW... Go test-drive Touring version (non-PAX!)

That is so funny!!! I cannot see myself let alone my wife in a mini van! I know its practical but noooooo wayyyyyy! lol.... I want to thank everyone for their advice!

I went to Baby's R Us today and they said its very possible to add 3 seats in the back to both cars. One thing they said that I would probably not do is put on in the front passenger seat. They said I would need bmw to disconnect that airbag. Never heard of that before.

Does anyone have any advice on the Audi Q7, Mercedes GL, or Acura MDX which hold 7? I really want to stay away from American like the Escalade!

I vote GL - thats cause I just got one. LOL! You'll definitely have more rear seat space/cargo if thats important. As well, the good thing with the GL is the rear seats are electronic and fold flat into the floor at the hit of a button. The Escalade does not fold flat and hence, you have to lug those out for the ample floor space. The square shape of the GL allows for a little more space than the rounded MDX / Audi and X5.

I agree that a minivan makes the most sense. Eurogreek, I know you can't see yourself in one, but try it before you decide. Honda, or Toyota. It isn't just the space to carry strollers, etc, it is the versatility of three rows with proper access. You don't just need to carry the kids, you need to feed them, change them, take grandparents along, etc. Life has just changed, embrace it.

And Ody comes with as many electronic gadgets as an X5, you'll love them too !

Get the Minivan, keep the X. Your wife can drive the van, you lead in the X. Win-win for the kids and you. Guess the wife doesn't make out so well.

Try a Land Cruiser/LX570 or a Sequioa. They will have a ton more room. As for 3 seats in an X5, good luck. It is basically fine with 3 boosters but that is even tight and impossible to secure the middle belts. Butt with convertible or infant carriers I can't see it happening. Its not wide enough and you could not get access to the middle child.

Try a Land Cruiser or LX.

I would get a new Toyota Sienna AWD fully loaded including DVD & NAV (about $40k)!!
If a minivan is totally out of the question, M-B GL450 for its room & AWD.

I like the GL but how does it perform in the snow? I live in Colorado. I really like the X in the snow so I'm hoping the GL or the Audi performs the same. I'm sure I'm going to get low balled by the dealer on a trade in for her X3. I agree with everyone that my life just took a huge turn! I'm sure it will be great. I'm just trying to plan ahead so I don't have a heart attack in a few months trying to figure this out!

I saw some more car seats tonight and I saw about 3 different brands that would def fit in both the X5/X3. As far as the strollers go, I know they would fit in the X5. The X3 would be a little tight but would work.

SHI#&%#!@T! All of this is coming to fast!!!!!

:iagree: - you will be glad you have a minivan with that much kid loading & unloading. Good luck.

:iagree:also. 3 seats might fit but.....getting 3 kids in and out of the X3 will be a task your wife will dislike very soon and all the stuff for a day out will not fit in the boot of an X3.

Minivan is your best option. Getting in and out is so much easier and you can park them all over the van in a few years when they start fighting on the road trips. You will not agree now but we talk again within a few months......;):thumbup:

We drove the Honda and its a great van.

And congratulations !!!!! (x3)

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

First of all congrats! I would like to add one more to the mix, the Mercedes R series. Has captain's chairs, a ton of room, good pricing, awd and really doesn't look bad at all. It has a really nice DVD which you WILL need. This is probably your best bet if you don't want a minivan. Check it out, you will be surprised!

Plus, you gonna need room for strollers x3, diaper bags, food/formula bags, clothes bags, toys, etc.....get something big to grow into for sure. A suburban is also something you may have to look at as well. Captain's chair, plenty of room. Good advice given here. You'll be OK, it's just the reality of it coming at one time!!! My sister has twins, trust me I know what I'm talking about......

They just gave the R a facelift and it looks really great, actually! Also, there's one more 2nd row captain chair car to consider, the GMC Acadia Danali or Buick version, the Enclave. More room behind the 3rd row than the Caddy!

Wow...congrats! Was in your predicament recently but was only expecting one blessing :D 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.

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...:yikes:) Take lots of pics and video...

X

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....

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.

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.

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...

My $0.02
 

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.

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.

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.

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

Without knowledge of actual crash ratings and passive and active safety systems on current minivans and SUVs, please DON'T GO THERE. Certain minivans are among the safest vehicles on the road and are less likely to roll over than SUVs.

Please...a huge motor home hit a minivan or vice versa. It would have decimated any passenger vehicle. They died due to no seat belts and physics, not because they passed on the X5 with adaptive drive...

X

eurogreek1...A friend sent me this when i was looking for a larger SUV...thought i'd pass it along. The ad-series is pretty funny...happy hunting :D

wow triplets, you are in for it... we have twins and it's been no picnic the past 2 years... I can only dream of handling just 1 baby. You will have no free time whatsoever. We have a nanny in their grandma and even so, I barely have time to myself. :D

One thing to keep in mind with 3 seats across the 2nd row (since you can't use 3rd row at all)... they will be rear-facing for at least 1 year and you won't be able to tend to them so well. My wife sat in the middle with our twins so it worked out ok, but it will be tough for you guys - I'm guessing there will be those mirrors you tie to the headrests back there plus a few pull-overs on the side of the road and things like that.

I would go minivan without a doubt. The Odyssey's 3rd row is remarkably large. We would've pulled the trigger had it not been for a dealer unwilling to deal during cash-for-clunkers.

EDIT>> One other thing, sliding doors is a god-send on minivans... I can't tell you how many times I've had to back out of a spot to put these little buggers in their seats in the X. There's just not a lot of room for the door to swing open enough for you to stand there and do your thing with them. Now imagine others trying that next to your X... can you say door ding? Parking far away has been the only solution.

That wasn't in dispute. Sometimes I think when we respond somewhat emotionally to a post, we can miss things. I don't think there is any connection made between their potential survival and owning an X5 with adaptive drive. You should reread the post:

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.


Having said that, I did look at the link that FSETH posted and he is completely right about the safety of minivans. Thanks for the link, FSETH.

the R class comes in 4matic and is pretty good in the snow, especially the NE this past winter. One of my brother's lives in PA and drives one.

First of all, congratulation on the triples !!! 2nd, either GL class, or x5 7 seater. I'd go for x5 cuz its just a bimmer :D

:iagree: executive membership:thumbup:

I guess I did need to chill.

I detected a bit of that first time parent attitude of "we'll just make sure we don't lose our coolness and that hip no-kids lifestyle we had just because of a pregnancy"...

Actually the link above to that commercial series is spot on- selling the idea that people in minivans still have sex and that they can be cool.

If I was having triplets, the last thing that would concern me is whether my wife 'would be caught driving a minivan, HAHAHA'. The conversation would be "what color should the van be?" and "what color vinyl seating surfaces should we get?".

I am sure that you will get salesmen selling seats and cars who will tell you "those will fit". But as an adult, and as a parent, you reach a point in your life where you recognize that that voice saying 'I want it' is overruled by the voice saying 'this is the best thing for the situation'.



GL

A

If Minivan is definitely out, how about:

Honda Pilot? They are pretty roomy and have third row seats.

Escalade's also have captains chairs in second row and are really spacious...

My advice: Forget about SUVs, no matter how large they are. You may not like it, but Mini-Van is the only way to go.

Imagine that it is pouring rain outside, or snowing heavily in a blizzard.... and imagine buckling your kids one by one... not fun, right?

Now imagine getting all your kids into the mini-van and close the doors immediately. Then take all the time you want getting them settled and all buckled up safely in the warm comfortable enclosed environment without dealing with all the rain and snow. And you can then slip into your driver's seat without getting out of the car.

So it's not just the extra room and luggage space, it's how you can use it as mobile diaper change room, or even mobile washroom if you kids are boys ;). No SUVs allow you to do that.

This would be my recommendation too.

It is not fun buckling them up in a bad weather. However, SUV are much safer than minivans, good for all seasons. THink about safety first !

My $.02

3 year lease on GL 320, R Class, QX 56, Sequoia or Expedition EL. You're not going to want to see that car after 3 years. The latter two are probably your best bets. I agree that a minivan isn't that great IMO.

My half-sister is raising 5 kids in a Sequoia and I'm pretty sure she will need to pay someone to take it from her.

Here's shots of the new redesigned 2011 R350:
2011 Mercedes-Benz R-Class - Gallery

We have already debunked that myth. Some minivans are safer than some SUV's and vice versa.

Thank you everyone!!

That is pretty nice looking! do they make an AMG version?

They made it for one year, before the facelift. Today they are VERY hard to come by.

Neighbor has a pre-facelift Brabus tuned edition...beautiful interior but the exterior is fugly, imo. Facelift didn't help much.

While I can personally attest that it IS possible to get 3 car seats in an X5, I wouldn't want to do it with triplets. When they're older and can climb in themselves, and you don't have to haul around a massive stroller, sure. :)

Just want to let everyone know that my wife lost the twins. We went to her doctor and we heard the bad news yesterday. Thank God, one little guy is hanging in there. I just want to thank everyone for all of there advise that was given to me! Thank you

My heart goes out to you and your wife. Just to share. We were told to expect triplets too. After a week, one disappeared from the sonogram. Today, we have two beautiful twins.

Prayers are w/ you, your wife, and the little guy

Sorry to hear that euro.

Sorry about your loss!

I'm very sorry to hear that. Hang in there. Everything happens for a reason.. In due time..

So sorry to hear that. Thought and prayers are with you and your family. As Trainer said, things happen for a reason even if it is very hard to see at the time. Just be thankful your wife is OK.

X

tough road with multiples - wife was on bedrest for 6 weeks after a week 30 scare. A friend lost a twin recently but was left with 1 very healthy boy though.

That's sad news......Our thoughts go out to you and your family.

thank you