As I said in the previous post, our family minivan is in the shop. Since we can't keep three rambunctious little kids stuck in the house for two weeks, we got a rental. Unfortunately, the rental place didn't have any vans available, so they gave us their next biggest car - the Kia Sorento. At first glance it looked great. It seemed roomy and even had a third row, which I thought would be perfect for getting in all our seats. Not so. I don't love it.
After we'd dropped off the van and started to get settled into the Kia, we realized that the car seat situation was going to be a nightmare. That fabulous third row I was so excited about has no back harness attachments - meaning no forward-facing seats can fit (a booster might, but our kids aren't that big yet). And, the third row is much too close to the second row for a rear facing seat to fit (I also can't imagine anyone over the age of 12 squeezing their legs in there). So we were forced to mash all 3 seats into the middle row, which we did - barely. My 3 year old is so close to the door that he can easily unlock and open it - something he fortunately proved to us before we left the parking lot. And we're really quite nervous about what would happen to one of our babies if we were hit side-on. The doors just barely shut and touch the seat when closed. And we had to do some car seat juggling to figure out which seats would fit where with only 2 LATCH capable slots. Whew. And despite the fact that we have the front seats pushed as far back as we can (without crushing little legs), we both feel as though we're sitting right up on the dashboard when we're driving.
However, with the third row folded down, there's tons of room in the back to store gear. And the car does handle pretty well. And the man at the dealership assured me that it gets fantastic MPG for an SUV. So - if you have 2 or fewer kids and don't need to drive around extra adults, this might be a great car for you. But as for our 5 person family - it's just a little too close for comfort.
After we'd dropped off the van and started to get settled into the Kia, we realized that the car seat situation was going to be a nightmare. That fabulous third row I was so excited about has no back harness attachments - meaning no forward-facing seats can fit (a booster might, but our kids aren't that big yet). And, the third row is much too close to the second row for a rear facing seat to fit (I also can't imagine anyone over the age of 12 squeezing their legs in there). So we were forced to mash all 3 seats into the middle row, which we did - barely. My 3 year old is so close to the door that he can easily unlock and open it - something he fortunately proved to us before we left the parking lot. And we're really quite nervous about what would happen to one of our babies if we were hit side-on. The doors just barely shut and touch the seat when closed. And we had to do some car seat juggling to figure out which seats would fit where with only 2 LATCH capable slots. Whew. And despite the fact that we have the front seats pushed as far back as we can (without crushing little legs), we both feel as though we're sitting right up on the dashboard when we're driving.
However, with the third row folded down, there's tons of room in the back to store gear. And the car does handle pretty well. And the man at the dealership assured me that it gets fantastic MPG for an SUV. So - if you have 2 or fewer kids and don't need to drive around extra adults, this might be a great car for you. But as for our 5 person family - it's just a little too close for comfort.
