My next post was supposed to be on my babies' sleep patterns, but this topic seems more pressing.
I have big kids. Or long kids, or both. They're around 14-15 pounds, according to our home scale, they're not due in to the doctor for a while. They're also 24 inches long. Our car seats are rated 22 lbs and 29 inches. While new car seats aren't an emergency, at the rate they're growing, it won't be a full year before they've grown out of their current seats.
And that's a problem. Actually, that's a part of many problems:
1) My Yaris is small enough that we have to strap in the car seats each time because they don't fit with the click-in base. We bought the only car seats and stroller that fit into my Yaris, not really considering that I might have to trade the car in a year anyway. Convertable car seats won't fit while they are rear facing. The recommended age to turn them around is 2 years. We will need to put them in a bigger car.
2) We HAVE a bigger car, my husband's Passat, but it doesn't have the hooks for the click-in base, so that's not useable either, and we have quickly discovered that with double everything, it's not really great for traveling either. We could get a roof rack and storage container and retrofit the car for the hooks, but that also costs money. We've had to shell out something like $4000 in repairs this year, and the car is a 2002. We're not really sure it's worth spending more money on or not, plus I don't particularly enjoy driving it. Finding a parking spot is very difficult in Southie, and the bigger the car the bigger the challenge it is to find somewhere to park.
3) Our parking spot has been revolked. We rented an off street parking spot until the owners of the lot sold it and gave us one day notice that our spot was gone. Finding parking spots for rent is difficult. The only one on our side of town is $200 for one car $300 for two cars in a parking garage 1/2 mile from our house. While a walk might be nice in summer, think icy unkept sidewalks and a twin stroller...But if we got it at least we would know where the car was, and find a spot when needed.
4) With street parking, getting babies into a convertible car seat before they can walk to the car will mean putting the kids in a stroller, walking to the car, moving the kids into the seats, folding the stroller and putting it into the car. We might need to get a smaller stroller that has the only purpose of doing this. The stroller I have is fabulous, but it folds up pretty large when the seats are attached (we are still using bassinets and car seat adaptors so I'm not sure how large).
In other words, we're in a predicament.
I *want* a car big enough to tote everything around with me, but I also want to be able to find a parking spot on the street. The bigger the car, the more difficult it is to park. Really, we should think about moving, and we are, but it won't happen right now. We're doing all we can just to keep up with the babies, I can't imagine trying to pack and move right now, let alone visit potential houses and trying to keep our house tidy enough for a realtor to show our house.
I'm also up against my own values. Keep things simple, keep them small, don't take on too much debt. I've long been against buying a gas guzzler, especially if only one person is in the car most of the time. It's hard to look at cars that only get 21mpg city and realize that that might be the best we can do.
Minivans are WAY too big, my favorite vehicle that I've coveted for years, the Highlander Hybrid is way too big. I finally found a car that seemed like what I wanted and it has been discontinued (Ford Escape Hybrid). Very few options are available that fit our needs. All of them are priced between $25,000 and $28,000
Our short list is:
Subaru Forester, 179.5 inches long, 21mpg city, 27mpg highway, 63 cubic feet trunk space. Comes in manual transmission, not really a smooth ride, but very nice inside. I really like that it's AWD and feels like a comfortable mix between car and SUV.
Toyota Prius V (the hatchback): 181.7 inches long 44mpg city, 40mpg highway, 67.3 cubic feet trunk space. The most expensive option (and somewhat of a waste since we don't drive that much) but my favorite so far (also the longest option).
Honda CRV: 178.3 inches long, 22mpg city, 30mpg highway, 70.9 cubic feet trunk space. Also a nice option. I loved, as in *loved* loved loved my Honda Civic. But I test drove the CRV after the Toyota. I didn't like the dashboard on the 2013, but if it's still available when I go home for Thanksgiving a dealership in my parents town has a certified 2010 version which would be far less expensive, and has a nicer interior.
In comparison: My Yaris is 150.6 inches long, 29 mpg city, 35mpg highway and has 9.3 cubic feet of trunk space and my husband's Passat is 185.3 inches long, 19 mpg city, 28 mpg highway, with 15 cubic feet of storage space.
Logic says that I should just start driving my husband's car until we sell our house. The car is paid off and large enough for everything but road trips. But...I don't want to. I want a car I like. And I want a car I like without going back on my ideals. I used to *like* car shopping. Now it feels like an assault on my ideals.
3 comments:
Mid-sized sedans might be big enough for you also, not just hatchback/SUV/Crossovers. I am somewhat short-legged, but was able to have a rear-facing convertible carseat riding behind me in my Accord. (1st child got to have her carseat in the center seat, but once her brother came along we used the two sides, not the center). If you car-shop, haul the carseats into the dealership with you and try them out.
You should be able to put a carseat into a car without base hooks (I'm surprised a 2002 doesn't :( ). Check your owners manual for the car and carseats--there is typically a path to hook the car's regular seatbelt. There is a small H-shaped metal piece that you would use if you have seatbelts that can't be locked (Our asssorted carseat collections have always come with a locking clip--usually snapped somewhere underneath the carseat or base so its harder to lose when not in use).
That being said, I do love hubby's Highlander hybrid. And I am considering the Prius, Prius-V, and Prius C for my next car (no more strollers, so that compact version starts to look tempting). My Accord gets ~27 MPG on the highway but the Highlander is better gas mileage and bigger, and I'm terribly jealous of that....
There are double-umbrella-type strollers that fold up pretty small. Most of the ones I've seen need kids who can sit upright more (6months or so), but I haven't shopped in a while. Or get a single umbrella stroller (those are typically < $20 and fold really really small) and sling the other kid if you're feeling athletic enough :)
Also, again its been awhile since I've really shopped, but I swear there was at least one brand of infant carseat with the removable bases that went up to 40 pounds rear-facing (they might be just as big as a convertible). I remember giggling because my kids were so tiny by comparison (heck, Trystan is 5 and he still isn't 40 pounds).
I feel for you with the car and carseat angst, though from the other end of the spectrum.
Depending on your interpretation of the laws, my 5.5 year old should possibly still be riding in a front-facing infant seat with chest harness...except that we would not be able to handle the kindergarten drop-off and pickup procedures with one of those, because he couldn't unbuckle it without parent help, and we can't get out of the car to do it. He's been using a high-backed booster seat for the last year (rated for 30+ pounds)--it uses the car seatbelt, which he can buckle himself. His sister is 8 and still legally requires a boosterseat (until 8 years AND 80 pounds), though I've let her ride in short carpools once or twice with no booster. Very, very short rides, and very limited numbers of times...
My youngest sister still legally needed the booster at age 13 because she wasn't yet 80 pounds...(she's now driving and probably weighs 95 pounds sopping wet).
Kristi,
Ideally we would like to have one small "city car" and one much larger car for road trips.
Yes, we buckle the car seats in without the hooks (in both cars). The Yaris is just so small, that even buckled in, the smallest rear facing car seats that we could find (Maxi Cosi Mico) barely fit. I might have found a convertible car seat that will work, the Combi Corroco, but nobody caries it, so I'll have to have it shipped to me and return it if it doesn't fit.
There's a new Maxi Cosi rear facing seat that goes up to 35 lbs, but the length allowance is the same, If we bought one it would only delay the transition to a convertible by maybe 3 months...
We already have a "mid-sized sedan" with the VW Passat, but it still doesn't have enough space for road trips to upstate NY. That might change as they get a little older, or as my mother gets more gear (right now we're hauling the hammocks and travel cribs, a double stroller, cloth diapering supplies, our clothes, etc., but I'd like to be able to take their play mat and bouncer, or at least a swing, but there's just not room.
It's not that it's impossible to make a road trip with what we've got, just inconvenient (hence need vs. want). I'm really not sure what we're going to do. I prefer the Prius, but if we can get my car to work for us, I don't know in my husband will be willing to trade in his car.
Did your sister really use a booster until 13? what do you suppose really short adults do? I don't think we're going to have that problem though, these kids are going to play basketball!
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