3 car seats in 3rd gen Tacoma

Also, look to see if there's potential for pinched fingers between the seats. Not as big of a problem for older kids but babies and toddlers, yes.

 

Because unless I read it wrong, he already has a Tacoma. And if he needs to fit gardening shit and a family, a full size would be suitable. Buying another Tacoma with a 5 person family for “occasional” camping trips is OP just hanging on for dear life to “dat Tacoma lifestyle”. An odyssey will take a person and their family to camping spots. If you need to seriously off road to get to camping sites with 3 children in car seats, re evaluate everything.

 

Plan to sell the 03 Tacoma. Yes. I love that thing so I want to just get the newer one and hang on for dear life.

Once I get to a dealership again I’ll try the 3 seats and take some pics. Maybe camping and trips in general will just have to get ruled out and it just becomes my truck with the occasional HD trip with the family. I need a bed with all my house work and hobbies so I need a truck. Thanks for all the responses. I feel confident it ‘can’ work but whether it’s wise is another question. I may just have to adjust my expectations.

 

Where there's a will there is a way. I use my wifes car for main trips to grocery store, Disneyland, 2 hour trips etc. If your truck is a spare car, try it out! If my tacoma was the family hauler and we had another kid, my wife would not be happy. I'd be fine however hahaah.

Back to the OP, I think the keyfit30 may contact the driver seat and passenger seat backs because its rear facing vs. Your narrower dionos which dont have as much forward reach, because of course , they are forward facing. But heck, this is a guess!

In the end it's your truck. I knew a 4runner or full size truck would be better for a growing family but I bought a Tacoma damn it. And I am gonna make it work.

Before you buy, take all those car seats and throw them in a floor model and see If it fits. The chicco secures pretty well with the seat belts alone...

 

Those Dionos are SO narrow, you may not even need three of them to fit three carseats across the back seat.

That's what happened for us in our 4Runner. When we swapped one of our other car seats out for a Diono, it made three across fit just fine.

 

Do the car seat test at dealer and see how that works as far as space in the cab is concerned. Remember with kids that small you need things like diaper bag(s), strollers, etc. You'll need a cap or cover for the bed for sure. If you really want the truck you can use it for other things now until the kids get a lot older and then you can make it your camping truck. When our kids were smaller and before I got a truck we did a lot of camping using my wife's Pilot. It worked great we had plenty of room for stuff in the back. Good luck with your decision.

Edit: Forgot to mention that we only have 2 two kids

 

No shame in holding on for dear life! Us guys like our Tacoma's. They're a perfect vehicle for a lot of us. I can totally understand the sentiment of wanting to keep a truck bed in the family. If the car seats fit, and it's not relied on for daily use, then sure, one could say it's the perfect vehicle.

 

+1

Exactly. The Dionos are super narrow. The 4Runner has same or smaller interior hip/shoulder dimensions than the Tacoma. I’m going to try it out this week and I’ll post some pics.

 

Get the Tacoma’s bigger brother a Tundra

 

I bet 2 and a booster would fit no problem. Booster in the middle. How old are they again? Old enough to not need latch? Because if they all need latch, it won’t work. If they can use the belts then it might. It likely will if one is a booster.

 

We came the same conclusion when test fitting our kids seats. No problems fitting 2x Diono seats + a rear-facing Graco infant seat and base.

 

if you sit in them both, you’ll see the 4Runner at least has more leg room. But the Taco has good enough room. I’ve got 3 kids. Two in booster and one rear facing. You need to put the rear facing in the middle obviously. All fit great. Not as spacious as a full-size but good enough for the handful of camping outings. Kids love riding in dad’s truck. Remember, they’ll grow out of the rear seat, car seat stage.

Road trips, we’re in the wife’s van. Campfires up the canyon with a bed full of firewood, fishing, kayaking, and other fun things, we’re in the Tacoma.

 

Hate to bust up your next 12 years but dude it’s minivan time.

 

Very tight fit no matter what car seats you buy. Unless one is in a true booster seat soon then they will be crammed in. My kids will be 4 & 5 very soon and with two forward facing seats I don’t think a keyfit30 rear facing would fit between. Unless we switched the 5 year old to a booster style seat that’s more narrow.
For reference here is my wife’s Outback with two forward facing seats and my Tacoma with two forward facing seats.

 

Diono Radians are much slimmer. We had them in the wife’s Outback. Plenty of space in between for a car seat.

 

Actual experience here..

Currently have kids 5,3, and 1. All fit in the 3rd gen. I have a bigger vehicle for most family commutes, like you OP. But all five of us do fit in the truck for camping/off-road trips.

The best set up we could find:
Infant rear facing behind passenger (for ease of loading/unloading), 5 y/o in booster in center (utilizing seat belt), and 3 y/o behind driver in front facing with five point harness.

FYI, I’m 5’10” and my wife is 5’2”. I run with my seat all the way back and my wife’s seat is pretty far forward. So there’s plenty of room behind her for the infant, diaper bag, etc... Behind me is not much legroom at all, but my 3 y/o is short and she just crosses her legs or rests them on my seat. My 5 y/o in the center booster seat belts himself in, but I did have to remove his left arm rest for him to be able to access the buckle. He is tall and there isn’t really any leg room in the middle anyway, but he makes it work. Either by twisting his feet to fit them down behind each front seat, or he just rests them on the cup holder area of the center console.

Definitely not taking the truck on a long road trip, but it’s more than fine for two adults and three kids to drive a couple hours.

And yeah, like people have said, if you have three kids and a lot of cargo, you’d def need a tonneau or cap, which happens to be what I’m in the market for as we speak.

OP, if you need me to measure anything or send you pics lemme know

 

Best post so far! Nice work.

 

You're tied for first place here...

 

Oh no you di-int!

 

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