Vehicle for 3 kids?

I can see that. A lot of people wanting to relive their youth.

Those things were obscenely extravagant. 350 engine, no cargo space with the rear seats up, vague steering. They were the equivalent of the 1970s two door land barge coupes.

My high school parking was like a dealership lot for every possible color variant of the GM 1500 pick up and two-door Tahoe/Yukon twins.

This was back when you could still bring a rifle to high school and they would lock it up in the gun safe so you could go hunting after school.

 

Suggest Pathfinder, Forerunner, Pilot, Palisade with 3rd row. Thats what my grandchildren are in. Happy lots of room and way better than truck.

 

What if you had a Pacer AND a Gremlin?

 

Then you would be dead. No one could survive both! Damn, now I want to look for a Gremlin. My kid turns 16 this year and that would be the ultimate get better grades move! You get A's & B's you drive the Silverado. Anything below, its the Gremlin. Also, can I borrow the Gremlin. That's actually a cool car now.

 

Since this is the case, yeah. Why not?
when my 3 (at the time) kids were young, we had a minivan, and a Jetta. The Jetta was fine for quick runs with the kids, but when all 5 of us needed to go anywhere the minivan was used.

 

That's legit. I would drive the hell out of that. You know, until someone hits me and then I would be dead.

 

I have no issue hauling two boys - they've never complained about space back there... even on long trips.

The mini van is the right tool for the job with kids. I enjoyed the minivan while the boys were little... On long trips the boys were strapped into their seats on the 2nd row captains chairs... Mom in the 3rd row with ready access to all the rear space. - Did some long trips like that!
- LIttle kids come with a lot of gear. It seems OP is covered!

A taco would be tight with 3 child seats and all the baby gear. But doable with the bed..
Certainly doable once past the baby seat stage...

While living in the UK, I recall seeing a (very cute and happy) new mom with twins strapped in their baby seats in the rear seat of a classic mini cooper. I was in love instantly... these days most people need a bus for one kid.

 

In the UK people drive an hour and a half to Bristol and act like they have driven halfway across the globe.

 

We take long trips up to Canada with my two kids. They've never complained about space back there, either. Did a 3-week trip to Nova Scotia when they were 2 and 7.

 

A contractor from Germany was taking his family on a driving trip from Indiana to the west coast. After he returned surprise that in the US you can drive for 2 days and still not be at your destination.

 

I am a skinny guy so in my case its totally fine, but if you are a big man who wants to push front seat back, definitely not lots of space in the back.


Other than that its totally fine for little kids, you can't really put 4 adults in that truck comfort wise but for kids it should be fine. To be honest if I were you, I would go to dealership and try it out, see how backseat feels, look at it and let your family know.

 

So I stopped by the dealership on way home from work. The back is too small for 3 kids. I’m not tall, and I could maybe argue for two kids.

Otherwise, I liked the truck. The full-size trucks are so expensive.

 

The reference I used while living there was that I could drive the same distance as from Budapest to Amsterdam (a very nice drive - if you take in the sights!) and if I started in San Diego driving North, and I would still be driving within California at the end...

 

As the Russians say, "nyet."

 

I had family flying from Japan and they wanted to go down to Hollywood and they thought it’s like a 1 hr drive from the Bay Area to LA.

 

growing up my dad had a regular cab Toyota truck with a camper. My brother and I always rode in the back of the truck. We took so many cracks back there. But it worked... didn't prevent my family from doing anything.

 

You can’t drive down to the corner quick stop store for beer n smokes in less than an hour with the Cali traffic haha

 

yeah, i once met a group of people at a campground that were traveling the US. i don't remember which country they were from, but it was another EU country.

talking to them about their plans, they indicated that from the campground we were at in indiana, they were planning on visiting the grand canyon tomorrow, then a day in the big apple, and after that, spend a day at yellowstone, then a day in the smokey mountains after that. they were so happy to have found a campground location that was centrally located between all the american tourist destinations they wanted to visit.

they were quite shocked when we started telling them that getting to just the grand canyon from where they currently were was a full week of non-stop driving.

it really drove home to me how large and diverse the america's really are...

 

It was more than fine when we had 2 kids. Now with 3, even school pickup is a pain. Backpacks/lunch boxes/coats/snow pants go on the front seat. They also sit closer so any heated moment of fellowship in the back is also way louder in the taco. The taco is 3rd vehicle in our home used for getting lumber/taking out trash. Would not recommend unless you have something else you daily drive. Test drive a bunch of different vehicles and see what best fits your family needs. Good luck.