Love the runner but.........

[Blue Seat Lyfe]

Yes really. There's not enough room in the 3rd row for a rear facing car seat, which is what a 2yo should be in. And even if he/she is forward facing, there's still not enough room back there.

Um have you thought about buying a small car seat? I bet a new car seat is about $40,000 less expensive than a Sequoia

This is like buying a new house cause you need a new refrigerator

 

[tamerunner]

I'm *assuming* that the Sequoia would replace the 4R as the wife's DD.

This topic has been discussed before, and the only complaint I remember about the Seq is that it's huge as a DD (parking, negotiating traffic etc).

Why don't you just go put the wifey in a test drive for a couple hours (especially parallel parking, reversing, etc). (My wife is very uncomfortable parking my 4R).

Curious: Does the Seq take Reg gas?

Yes it would be her daily driver. We don't have to worry about parking garages and parallel parking where we live. Yes she will be in a extended test drive for sure before the call is made. She is comfortable enough when she drives my F350 crew cab long bed diesel when she needs to but as to whether she wants to all the time only she can say. I also understand that a more compact car seat would alleviate a little of the cramped feel but not enough to really matter. Even if it were to fit in the 3rd row then your cargo room is cut in half. I have thrown around the idea of a cheaper minivan as a main vehicle and use the runner when needed for the intended purpose, but she is completely against have a van.

 

[philsey]

..... We don't have to worry about parking garages and parallel parking where we live.

Wha? You live on Uranus?

 

[techno]

Um have you thought about buying a small car seat? I bet a new car seat is about $40,000 less expensive than a Sequoia
This is like buying a new house cause you need a new refrigerator

Yes, it's very easy to make oversimplifications isn't it? There are no 'smaller car seats' that would fit properly rear facing in the 4Runner 3rd row. You can't just order custom sizes to fit your needs, it doesn't work like that. My sons convertible seat is only 1 inch longer than the smallest on the market and it doesn't fit.

The reality is, if someone wants (or needs if you prefer) to install an infant car seat or convertible car seat in a 3rd row, with the aim of seating adults or older children in the 2nd row, then the 4runner is just not up to the job. Booster seats are ok, but even the smallest of the others just don't fit properly. And that's not even considering the extreme difficulties you would have getting your kid into a rear facing 3rd row seat and ensuring they are properly secured. As much as some people love the 4Runner to death and want to think it's the most perfect vehicle in the world for everything, there's some things it's just not good for.

If it's not raining when I get home, I'll take some pictures to demonstrate if you're still not convinced.

 

[tamerunner]

Wha? You live on Uranus?

No not quite. But we live in a small town in central NC of only about 19K. There's only 10 blocks of main street. Only when we go to Greensboro or Charlotte do we need to worry about that, and if we do I'm driving and it doesn't bother me at all.

 

[dawudih]

[MENTION=82490]tamerunner[/MENTION],
My brother leaves the smaller section of the 2nd row seat down sacrificing only one spot to allow access to the 3rd row bench on his Explorer. One kid on the 2nd row bench & one on the 3rd row, both rear facing & both easy to access with only one seat down.

 

[tamerunner]

As a small followup. We have decided to wait it out. We are going to try and downsize the carseat to make as much room as possible and then wait until the new one is here. Then we will see how the situation is and make a decision from there. We love the runner and the wife really doesn't want to give it up so we are shooting to keep it that way. Any suggestions on smallest car seats available? She is 27 months around 27 lbs and about 35" tall.