My wife has taken over my truck since we added our third child. She really wants a t4r of her own with a 3rd row. I've tried to steer her towards something with bucket seats in the second row to make her life easier but she is insisting that she get a 4x4 sr5 premium with the 3rd row. Will she hate life or will it work out for hauling the kids around?

The third row would be kinda pointless if you have two car seats in the middle.. unless your oldest is big enough to craw through the tail gate and strap themselves in.. but not to big that they won't fit. I have a third row and that area is tiny

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With car seats in second row it would be hard to do anything other than climb in the back from liftgate. Otherwise it's fine and my 5'2" wife fits back there, she's short and flexible though.

I bought Limited because in 2012 that was only version with 3rd row seats. I've used them maybe twice in 5 years. I'm planning to take them out to free up some space and reduce weight a bit.

Rent one for the day. Cheaper than accidental car payments.

It's not easy like my wife's Odyssey, but it works for us. Car seat in the middle/driver seat, 3 yo's booster in the 3rd driver side, 7 and 10 yo's splitting the other seats. If you have two car seats in the 2nd row it will be tough to use the 3rd row. But then we also made 2,300 miles/4 days with 6 people on a recent trip and it worked, so it's doable.

I like them about as much as the ones in the first two rows

Love our 3rd row. We have two kids in car seats. It does make it difficult to access the third but a @Jhalko mentioned we just use the liftgate. You can also fit 3 across the second row as long as you have narrow car seats (we have diono radian's). Once the oldes is old enough for a booster the third row is very useful. The 3rd row model's 2nd row does slide similar to a highlander to provide legroom for the 3rd row occupants, and if you fold down the middle 40-20-40 split it opens it up in the 3rd row like a poor 'man's captain's chair setup. My mom and mother in law prefer riding in the 3rd row instead of between 2 car seats, way more shoulder and hip room. As long as you're under 5'6" the 3rd row works well. I've ridden back there for a couple hours and I'm 5'10" and it was just fine.

Thanks for the feedback. I have a 6 and 5 year old. Both can buckle themselves in and the 6 year old per FL law can be out of a booster but she still sits in one. The baby is obviously in a baby seat so ideally would be in the middle of the second row for a while.

I went through the same dilemma however I am glad I have the 3rd row. The few times I have used it has been great. Surprisingly comfortable for the passengers. I also was able to build a platform for my fridge even with the 3rd row there. Most systems require you to remove the 3rd row to install them.


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Is there an easier way of accessing the 3rd row seats? In my 2012 Limited w/3rd row, I'd have to be 5' tall and have legs that are like 1' tall to get into the back lol... I've successfully done it once, but even when seated my head is bent down by hitting the ceiling at such an angle that in the event of an accident, severe spinal damage is guaranteed to result.

There's the little lever diddy on the passenger side 2nd row seat that cants the seat slightly forward and moves it to the forward-most position, but that leaves approximately 8" of width to squeeze in behind the 2nd row seat to gain access to the third row.

Either I'm special, my truck is special, or I'm missing something here. I'm 6' tall exactly and it's nearly impossible to get back there, and a death sentence if I had to ride back there.

Only petite girls should apply for the 3rd row... err, umm...

Ok, I'll be leaving now...

Even if you're one keeping 2 kids (or planning such, you know how that goes...) you may like the 3rd row for transporting friends. We know a family with 3 boys, the oldest is now in college, and they traded in their Sienna for... another Sienna. They transport so many kids, whether theirs or their own, that they have no need to downgrade capacity.

Coming from an Odyssey Touring our kids ages 10/8/7 are thankfully done with car seats. I hated that van for almost 10 years but it was hard to beat for multiple kids and their friends.

We miss the storage and flexibility but nothing else. My Wife insisted on a third row and now we use it sparingly as it is relatively cumbersome to access and when up takes up 95% of the cargo area. Like another said, we sometimes leave one folder down as a compromise.

That said, we love our 4R and would have been survived without the van.

3rd row is kids only (maybe also petite models...)