Taco and babies/kids

Just curious if any owners out there have a baby or kid they cart around in their Taco. I have a baby on the way and was trying to figure out how in the heck I am going to fit stuff in my Taco, even with the Double Cab. The stroller is a no-go, the wife bought a Graco Quattro Tour which is like a SUV sized stroller. Its just huge. That will have to go in the bed when I get my cover on eventually. My bigger issue is the car seat. Its a Graco Safe Seat and when its setup in the back seat, the passenger seat has to be almost all the way forward for it to fit correctly I am 6'2" and my wife is 5'10". I see this as being quite uncomfortable no matter if she sits in the passenger seat or behind me next to the baby. Once the kid is big enough for the booster seat it shouldnt be an issue as far as fitting the kid. We can get around the stroller with a little foldup one, but the wife hates those and I am not thrilled with them either. I dont mind just tossing the big one in the bed once I get the cover.

My wife drives a Toy Highlander and the seat fits OK in there (still have to move the seat way up). The problem is, I telecommute from home and she works 40 mins away so I will be the stay-at-home dad. I need to be able to take the kid with me during the day if I have to run out anywhere.

 

Until the kid can fit in the booster seat just swap cars. You drive the highlander and let your wife take your taco. It will only be temporary.

 

Thats what I think it will come down too Wife will be thrilled, she loves the the Taco. Me on the other hand am not so thrilled with the Highlander. Just never been a fan of driving it. It looks like out of my 3 yr lease, the wife will be driving it for at least one of them.

 

Awwwwwwwww.. You'll be sooooooo excited about the weekend though.. So you can drive your taco! Give ya something to look forward to!

 

Oh joy! I guess we should have measured out the back seat before getting the Taco. We knew my current RX8 would have been a nightmare, so wanted something larger. The Taco was a spur of the moment deal when the crazy cheap lease deals popped up while we were getting the Highlander serviced. We both liked the way it drove and looked so picked it up. Nothing like having to give up my brand new truck so soon!

btw corey - my wife and I have a year pass at Biltmore. We love it up there and its only an hour and a half drive up if that. If this cold snap goes away we plan on heading up.

 

I would get a different car seat... sounds like yours is too big.
We have a 2.5 year old and my wife is due next week with our second boy.
We have a doublecab and the back seat has more space then my '97 saturn's back seat. I've tested both of our car seats in the truck and both fit fine in the doublecab. We have a running stroller and if we go somewhere with it I just throw it in back and strap it to the cleats...
For now we have the car seat in the middle.. but once the baby comes, each car seat will be on either side.

 

What carseats do you use? The Graco Safe Seat was the top rated seat we found on many sites for safety, comfort and ease of use. It is larger, but the kid can use it longer (Higher weight rating and size rating). It also came with the stroller as part of a Travel System, so we would need to swap out the entire setup. Dont think the wife will go for that.

Really, I am just curious. The carseat would have to be significantly smaller for it to work in the Taco due to both the height of myself and my wife. I couldnt hope to fit anything besides a booster behind me, its a little bit of a snug fit just to sit back there as a passenger.

Its funny really. I was so worried about the giant stroller fitting in the new car/suv/truck when we started shopping for something to replace my car. I never thought about the car seat not fitting. I figured if I fit in the back seat comfortably, then the car seat would fit no problem. Wrong! Between the seat and the base, it takes up a ton of room!

 

Oh cool.. frvrngn.. I live about two hours away.. in North GA ... I went to Biltmore the weekend before Easter and the tulips and blowers were just awesome! I want to go back when the roses bloom.. and then back at Christmas..

 

Sounds like a big ass baby seat....

Considering the cost of the truck vs the cost of the baby seat I'd know which way I'd go.

 

I'm curious to see how well my 5 and 8 year old sons will fit in the rear seat when I go test drive an '07 doublecab. I'm 5'9" so I usually end up with my seat 3/4 to 5/8 of the way back, and I like the seatback pretty upright.

 

You should have no problems at all. I can sit in the back seat and I am 6'2". Its just the combined seat and base is large and long that is causing the issue for me.

ScreamingTaco - the seat is large, but not much larger than other seats out there by Graco or other brands. I would never consider a smaller seat unless it was just as safe and comfortable for the baby. I dont care what a vehicle costs, my kid's needs are infinitely more valuable than making it more convenient to drive a vehicle.

 

It doesn't seem all that safe or that comfortable if the seat doesn't fit the vehicle correctly...

 

Ummm... safe and comfortable for the baby not the passenger. It does fit the vehicle correctly. I just need to move the passenger seat up enough for it to fit. Heck it would probably fit in a Mini Cooper but it wouldnt be ideal. If I had to modify the seat base or car to make it work, only then could I see your point...

By your reasoning, the vehicle is more important than the kids safety. The Tacoma costs more, so the heck with the safety of the baby lets just buy a smaller seat so we can all fit in the car together.

I guess if that was my only option - ie: we had only one car, had to always use it together, and were on a limited budget I might possibly see the option of getting a smaller seat to try and make it work. As it stands, we have two vehicles, the seat does in fact fit in either one (its just inconvenient in the Taco), and we wanted the safest possible seat for our kid. Honestly if there were another top rated seat that was significantly smaller that would work, I wouldnt have a problem at all swapping it out. As it stands so far all the other seats that are close to ours arent smaller enough in size to make any difference.

I asked LovinMyTaco what seats he uses and how tall he and his wife are and I have not heard back. I know people have car seats mounted back there. From my measurements most of the seats out there close enough in size to ours, so I dont see an easy way out yet.

The point of this thread was to see what options people were using.

 

Sorry it took me so long to respond. Work has been busy so I don't frequent the forum during lunch like I used to and with Spring trying to start I can get yard work done. Plus whenever I'm trying to catch up on the forum my wife nags me a little about getting to bed or where ever...
I'm 6' and my wife is 5'10", so you might have your seats back an inch or two more than us... I've let my wife get the car seats, I know that she wants our kids to be in the safest seat possible as I do. That being said...
Both are Greco car seats one is at least 3 years old (currently in the car) and the other we bought this last year. I think this car seat is the one we have... I can't find the model name on it anywhere so I'm not 100% sure. The newer one is in the truck and we have it in the middle seat. (my wife says its the safest place.) When baby Logan comes out of my wife ("due" date is 6 days away...) we'll move the car seat so the toddler seat and our infant car seat will each be directly behind a seat. With the car seat behind a seat it looks like it will be a little tight for his legs (I specifically looked at it today)... the car seat would fit fine but with only an inch or two for his legs... so he'll probably be kickings us more than now.
So I was wrong in my previous statement... it will be a little tight with the car seat if the car seat is directly behind a chair.
I hope this helps... again, sorry about the wait.

 

Hey no problem at all! I just wanted to know what options there were out there. I dont doubt at all that the toddler seats will fit (even with the kid kicking the back seats!). My problem is with the rear facing infant seat for our newborn. That is the one that is causing issues with space. With the large base and long, reclined seat it just wont fit unless I move the passenger seat up quite a bit.

btw - congrats on the baby! Our first is due in Sept. We cant wait

 

You know, it's funny how quick we forget.....my boys are 5 and 8 now and I've already totally forgotten about the fact that infant seats face backwards! Many of these seats won't fit all that great in anything short of a Lincoln Town Car!

 

Before we got the Tacoma... my wife drove a 3/4 ton chevy silverado extended cab long bed. it was a hard strong truck but got 11mpg. it was getting old so it was time to get something more sensible sense we don't really need to tow horses around right now... He refacing infant seat would fit in the extended cab, which is much smaller then the Tacoma's doublecab. But that rear facing infant seat is 3 years old and is smaller then the new ones out today. We were planning on using that one again with Logan, but I will have to check its crash ratings compared to the newer models...

 

Thanks for the tip. I will try mounting it in the center and see what happens. I think it might hit both seats then though! My wife really would prefer to keep driving the Highlander, so it may all work out even though it wont be "ideal".

I am planning on getting a Extang Trifecta cover in the very near future. That takes care of the stroller issue.

 

Hey,
I have one kid and we are both tall. We put the car seat in the middle of the back seat. It seems to work. You have to play a little with the adjustments, but seems good. I recommend the Britax seat with side protection, especially if you have side airbags. I think ours is the boulevard model. My friend has the Britax marathon model and loves it too. With a kid and all their stuff, you will need some type of locking bed cover. Either a canopy or a cover.