How well will an Access Cab work with car seats?

Any parents out there have any direct input as far as using an Access Cab with car seats? My wife wants to make sure that if we get a second vehicle we can have enough room to put my almost 3 year old in the car and still have room for my wife to sit up front if needed. We also (at some point) will be probably having a second kid, so I suppose it's worth asking if it's very doable to have both a forward facing and a rear-facing seat for the rare occasions when we'd all be piled in the truck. We have a Ford Explorer which will be doing the primary hauling when it's all 3 (or 4) of us. But, if something were to happen where it was out of commission for a day or two, we want to be able to make sure the Tacoma could fill in its roll.

I know a Double Cab is the better option, but in my price range, DC's are few and far between, and they usually have a boatload of miles on them. I'm currently looking at an '06 Access Cab with 140k on the clock, and I'm still balking a little about that much mileage, so a higher mileage DC isn't probably going to be in the cards for me.

Does anyone have any direct experience with using an Access Cab with 1 or more car seats? I'd love to get some input from real-world experiences.

Thanks!

 

You won't fit kids seats in the back very easily man. Best bet is to pony up the extra cash and get a double cab.

 

I can second this. I have a 2 yr old still in a rear facing Graco. It fits in my DC, but it's tight. Luckily my wife is small (5' 2") so it's not be issue. When my buddy rides with me, I have to move the car seat from the passenger side to the middle. Unfortunately, there are no LATCHES in the middle.

Toyota, why the hell are there not LATCHES for the middle seat? It's the safest place for a small child.

 

Yeah, no go on the AC and car seats. I owned a 2002 AC Tundra and even that was too small for a car seat.

 

Man... definitely not what I was hoping to hear. Really been eyeing a Tacoma for the past several months because I liked the overall off-road capability, plus they seem to pretty much run forever. From what I'm gathering, neither Access or Double Cab models are really ideal for hauling ankle-biters? Boy, that's a heart-breaker to hear.

If a Tacoma won't work for occasionally hauling kiddos, does anyone have any recommendation as to another truck model that could, but is still almost as off-road capable as the Tacoma? I've been doing a Google search, but the results are usually giving me recommendations for Wranglers or Xterras. Decent rigs, but I want a truck, not an SUV.

 

I have a double cab. Carseat fits fine in the middle. But it also depends on the size of the carseat.

 

DC is fine for car seats. AC... nope. My daughter is 10 and the DC is fine for her but for adults there isn't much room back there. I'm 6' and there is little room between the front and back seat.

 

I have an Access cab, and have had a car seat in it since my boy was born. Between an Access Cab, and a Double Cab, no question Double is the way to go if you have kids (I bought mine a couple of years before my boy arrived), but it is doable. It was toughest when he was in a rear facing seat. My wife's knees were in the dash. Now that he's in a booster seat, there's actually a decent amount of room for both of them. It's also not the most comfortable looking setup to fall asleep in, but he doesn't seem to have an issue with it.

 

What I did back many years ago when I had curtain climbers:

My wife had a Toyota Space Van, I had a single cab truck. Whenever we wanted to take the brat we took the Van. When I wanted some quiet time I took the truck. Simple.

The little wife didn't like my truck, but then again she didn't get to pick out My Vehicle for me.

 

I currently have 2 kids in car seats. The double cab works well even on road trips. It's not the most lavish of rides but it works. I personally would not change a thing regarding the purchase of a mid size truck.

 

I agree. We go to Colorado a couple times a year. We started taking my daughter with us when she was around 4 or so. Plenty of room for a car seat in the back. Went last year and she still has plenty of room behind my wife (but my wife is only 5' tall). Hell... She's got it made back there. Got her tablet mounted to he headrest with all her converted DVD's, a little padded table she can set in her lap, and her phone which has a plug in the back of the console. Shit... I should make her drive and let me sit back there. I remember when I was a kid I would lay down on the tray behind the rear seats of the car trying to get the truckers to honk as we passed by as my only form of entertainment. How I managed to make it to adulthood is beyond me?

 

I have a double cab with a rear facing peg perego behind the wife and a front facing marathon, for my 2 year old, behind me. It's a tight fit but definitely doable. As for an access cab I don't think it will cut it.

 

Double cab is definitely doable. The rear facing seats are tight and it helps if the people in the front seat aren't tall. Forward facing car seats fit well in the DC.

 

if you are set on a access cab mayb diferent style of car seat might provide more room we have a peg perego in the double cab and it takes up a lot of room and is quite tall if i was looking again i would shop around for one that fits low to the seat in the truck

 

I used the latches from both sides to put it in the middle. Now that won't probably work if you have 2 car seats, but with one it does.

 

I have a double cab and have a big car seat in mine and it's fine. I would post a pic to show it but it's in the shop, so no dice. Sorry.

But my car seat is pretty big, at least in my opinion it is, and it fits fine. It's in the middle right now, not on the side... yet.

 

How tall are you? It works fine for me, but my buddy is 6'1" and he can't fit in the passenger seat with the car seat behind it. I have to move the car seat to my side when he gets in my truck.

 

Yeah... definitely not that tall that's for sure! Which does make a difference... I'm only 5'7"

 

You really shouldn't use them that way. They are a little too far apart to use with the car seat in the middle. It puts more load on the latches and the belt. Will it probably be fine? Yup, probably. But when it comes to my kid I try to be more cautious then usual.

 

I'm only 5'8". Us short guys have an advantage!