6 adults + 2 child seats in a minivan?

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Rand
2 cars would make more sense in every way except taking one vehicle.

I guess I did not provide enough detail. This would not be an 8-day road trip type of a thing. Instead, it'll just be a bunch of short day trips during the course of about a week or so, with maybe one overnight trip, if that. But I am concerned about being able to fit two strollers in with a little bit of small luggage.

Quote:
Weight capacity is 1300lb or so. how much do the 8people + luggage weigh?

About 1200-1300 lbs in our case. We are not the average American size.

 

[IndyIan]

We just did 3 kids in front facing, 1 kid in a booster seat, and 3 adults in a 8 passenger Ody. We could've squeezed a kid between the two front facing seats in the back, or a 100lb woman, but that's it.
It sounds like you have a few people in the 100-130lb range so you probably can do it if the car seats aren't huge.
Also the Ody still has ~35' cuft behind rear row, so two reasonable folding strollers and baby bags should fit as well. The overnight trip will require some reasonable packing by everyone though, no suitcases!

 

[Vikas]

what about the strollers and luggage?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
what about the strollers and luggage?

6 adults, 150 lbs each average = 900 lbs
2 infants with car seats = 70 lbs

Total: 970 lbs. That leaves 330 lbs for strollers (which are light) and luggage, before you hit the 1300 lbs limit.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Yeah, I think the biggest challenge there would be staying within the payload limit for the vehicle. Many minivans are surprisingly close to the payload limit as they sit empty. I seem to recall our 2007 Town & Country, for example, not actually being able to fill the seat belts because its 1,000# payload limit (or whatever it was) would then be exceeded.

But QP is right -- full size passenger vans are prohibitively expensive to rent.

 

[eljefino]

Don't forget insurance, my credit card gives free rental insurance for "cars" but not trucks/ vans/ suvs. Yours may be similarly stingy.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
But QP is right -- full size passenger vans are prohibitively expensive to rent.

The best I was able to find is $556/week, plus insurance for a Ford Club Wagon or similar from Avis.

I could get a minivan from Enterprise, but they can't guarantee that the one that will be available that day will have the 8-seat setup as opposed to the 7-seat setup, so it's kind of useless to me.

 

[cptbarkey]

The Sienna cannot do it, and the guy who thinks an Odyssey could do it is full of it.

 

[Pesca]

We did it more than once with the Odyssey. Could you tell us your experience?

My first experience with 8 in the Odyssey was driving to New York to take a cruise: 3 adults, 4 teenagers and a child in a child seat with luggage for about 10 days: It save us a lot of money on fuel and parking fee.

Second experience was not mine but my neighboors who took our van to go on vacations in the US with theirs friends: 4 adults and 4 kids (I would say about two kids in either booster or child seat) with luggage for about a week.

Let now hear your experience with either van and see who "is full of it"?

 

[gfh77665]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
The Sienna cannot do it, and the guy who thinks an Odyssey could do it is full of it.


WRONG.

I speak from experience. I drove a total of 8, myself and 7 older teenagers (adult sized 17 & 18 year olds) plus their luggage from South TX to North TX, and back again.

4 bags in the hatch, and 3 on the roof rack. The Odyssey did perfect.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: gfh77665
Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
The Sienna cannot do it, and the guy who thinks an Odyssey could do it is full of it.


WRONG.

I speak from experience. I drove a total of 8, myself and 7 older teenagers (adult sized 17 & 18 year olds) plus their luggage from South TX to North TX, and back again.

4 bags in the hatch, and 3 on the roof rack. The Odyssey did perfect.

I think the issue may be that two rear facing car seats may end up taking the space of three regular passenger seats, so this leaves you with 5 seats to fit 6 adults.

But if it is possible to mount one child seat in the center of the 2nd row bench and one in the center of the 3rd row bench, then theoretically it might work.

 

[Pesca]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

I think the issue may be that two rear facing car seats may end up taking the space of three regular passenger seats, so this leaves you with 5 seats to fit 6 adults.

But if it is possible to mount one child seat in the center of the 2nd row bench and one in the center of the 3rd row bench, then theoretically it might work.




It really depends of the type of child seats you have, they are not all equals: One of my daughter's child was like a Lazy boy, LOL. It took a lot of space.

It will sure be ok for the second row, but for the third row, you may need to put the skinnest ones beside it.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Pesca
It really depends of the type of child seats you have, they are not all equals: One of my daughter's child was like a Lazy boy, LOL. It took a lot of space.

Understood. They are those baby carriers (buckets) that snap into a base.

Looking at the specs, the Sienna's 3rd row bench is only 50" wide. And Odyssey has 2" less than that.


The other option would be to put two car seats in 2nd row and have an adult sit between them. I don't know what's worse.

 

[eugenem]

Which brand of infant car seat? While the infant seats are big, some of the larger convertible seats (Britax, for example) take up even more space.

To get an idea of what the 2nd and 3rd rows on the Sienna look like, take a look at:
https://www.cars.com/articles/2014/02/2014-toyota-sienna-car-seat-check/
https://www.cars.com/articles/2015/01/2015-toyota-sienna-car-seat-check/

Both of these articles show a Sienna in 7-passenger configuration. Here's a Sienna in 8-passenger configuration. (While 2011, little has changed overall from a seating perspective)
https://www.cars.com/articles/2011/11/2011-toyota-sienna-car-seat-check/

Similar article for the 2014 Odyssey
https://www.cars.com/articles/2013/09/2014-honda-odyssey-car-seat-check/

Speaking for the current generation Sienna and Odyssey - I'm guessing most rental car agencies will have the 8 passenger models in stock. The Sienna is 8 passenger on the FWD models, with the exception of Limited trim. (I doubt the rental car companies are renting Limiteds or AWD models, without charging a significant price premium) On the Odyssey, all trims except for the base LX come in 8 passenger config. (The Odyssey LX might be a common rental configuration)

 

[Quattro Pete]

Its Britax.

 

[JHZR2]

As the new owner of a minivan, I'd argue no.

All these eight passenger vehicles are a sham. Our odyssey has a great middle jumpseat in the second row to make it "8-passenger", but it's that, a jump seat. Our two year old would fit ok, heck, I've had a 26 year old ride in it already. But flanked by two shield seats, I just don't see it being that great of a fit.

And it will all come down to luggage.

Eight as you describe will probably fit with minimal luggage, but I'd hate to be the middle person in the second row..

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Its Britax.


Especially now... Our frontier 90 is fairly narrow, but most of the models are quite wide..

 

[Quattro Pete]

What about the setup i described earlier: 1 car seat in center of 2nd row and 1 in center of 3rd row? Not doable?

 

[Bandito440]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
What about the setup i described earlier: 1 car seat in center of 2nd row and 1 in center of 3rd row? Not doable?

I see your update with further information now. The child seat in the second row's middle jump seat is going to rob the passengers on either side of room. If you can fit it, that might work, but it's going to be very uncomfortable for the surrounding adults.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I think one of the newer minivan's 2nd row seats can slide sideways toward each door to give extra shoulder room, right? I want to say that's the Odyssey, but I'm not for sure.