Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We have a rising 1st grader and preK boys by this fall and currently drive 2011 Subaru Outback with a harnessed carseat and a booster as other carseat. Vehicle is paid off since last year, so while we're not in a rush to look for a new car. Hubby drives 2009 Toyota Camry with 80K miles on it.
My Subrau is starting to become bit cramped, as i still use a stroller for the 3 year old, and my oldest started lax last fall and restarting in his team this coming spring. Have to carry around his stick, gloves in back of seat, my groceries is starting to become get bigger, i also keep a small cooler in back to keep non perishable items in car if i have to run longer errands. Now im thinking ahead...carpooling??? i'll have abosutely no room to carpool other kids or friends. Is that a big factor for you parents in where you live?
i HATE having a car payment, and want to have another year with no car payments for now. DH wants to trade in the camry and feels value will go down once it starts hitting near or at 100K, so figures might as well bite the bullet.
what vehicle do you have to tote your family with enough room for random carpooling and bigger cargo space??
Necessary? Absolutely not. Would you like to, that's the question.
Don't do it if you don't want to. I for one will not buy a vehicle for the premise of driving someone else's kids. I'll give rides if I can but I won't buy a vehicle just to accommodate carpooling.
It's amazing to me that parents the world over get by with much smaller vehicles yet Americans justify to themselves buying ever bigger and bigger vehicles.
You absolutely don't need a new car with just 2 kids. If you need to have space for an adult to also sit in the back, change your car seats. Perhaps her 2 Radian car seats. I believe they are the narrowest car seats out there and go till 120lbs converting to a booster.
Your Pre-K boy should be getting to 4 years old soon and should be out of a stroller soon. Assuming he still needs it, get a $10 umbrella stroller that doesn't take much space. This all for the price of one month car note :-)
As an aside, I believe babies r us has their annual trade in event going on till next week and you are able to return old baby gear like car seats and get a 25% off the purchase of a new one. I'm actually going there this weekend to trade in a convertible car seat that I have manufactured in 2010 and will buy a new one.
And for all the sports gear, find a way to carry them and for the car pool, take the kids that you can. It's not required in my view to go into debt to do a car pool
My family managed with one sedan for a family of five until the oldest hit high school. We did not carpool to children's activities and limited them to those that worked for everyone. (No, this was not always popular with the kids.) I don't tell you this to portray our decision as the best path, only to let you know that it's possible. It's a nice thing not to be obligated to a car payment.
I also have two kids. I drove an XC70 and my main complaint and reason why I upgraded to an XC90 with 3rd row was because my kids friends couldn't ride with us. I also tote around sports gear and chairs to watch said sports.
My kids frequently go to movie nights at school and it's nice to carpool with their friends. Or birthday parties now that they are older. We don't invite the whole class as they have their friends they hang with and those are the friends we invite now. We were able to take our kids plus 3 friends of my son's to a hockey game for his b-day.
Necessary? Absolutely not. Would you like to, that's the question.
Don't do it if you don't want to. I for one will not buy a vehicle for the premise of driving someone else's kids. I'll give rides if I can but I won't buy a vehicle just to accommodate carpooling.
It's amazing to me that parents the world over get by with much smaller vehicles yet Americans justify to themselves buying ever bigger and bigger vehicles.
Plus I'm on Team Subaru, too .
I wouldn't want to buy a bigger vehicle just for sole reason of carpooling. It also just HAPPENS that i feel like we're starting to outgrow our Subaru at this point in our lives. We abosutely love the Subaru, IF only it were just bit bigger or have 3rd row ability, we're keeping it forever
another factor is our aging parents in law-MIL is deemed not safe to drive herself anymore since last fall, and so its all on my FIL to tote her around. They do join us by following us to places with grandkids at least 2-3 times a month, but the driving is getting to be bit much for them. ugh...hate thinking this logistics out.
I was raised in a family of 3 kids driving around a 80's Ford Taurus sedan. We did fine.
Nowadays, I chuckle when someone I know comments about needing a full size SUV for 1 kid.
Of course, I do appreciate the extra space and have some desire myself for a bigger car, but the kids are only part of it. My wife has a Honda Accord, and when we pile myself and 2 three year olds in there, it feels VERY cramped.
I'd like to get an Explorer, but that's because I need a tow vehicle as well.
Sure, you COULD stay in your current vehicle and just take your own kids where they need to go, but carpooling is part of the fun and helps them build their social circle. It's also helpful to other parents.
We had a Honda Odyssey for years that worked great with smaller kids. Once the boys began playing football we had a big Yukon that held a lot of kids and a lot of equipment.
If you can save up for another vehicle, I would try to.
It's amazing to me that parents the world over get by with much smaller vehicles yet Americans justify to themselves buying ever bigger and bigger vehicles.
1977 Chevy Nova sedan in my family's case! Huge trunk space, plus bench seating front and back meant you could fit 6 people in that car. My parents drove that car until 1988, when they passed it along to my 2nd oldest brother so he could commute to college (he would have needed his license anyway because he was studying auto tech).
It also came in handy because we had 3 people in Scouting in my family, so that meant 3 backpacks and 3 sleeping bags for each camping trip.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
.
