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That is not the only reason for a big car. You have to find special forward facing child seats to put 3 wide in a Tesla model 3 rear row, then do yoga to try to

That is not the only reason for a big car. You have to find special forward facing child seats to put 3 wide in a Tesla model 3 rear row, then do yoga to try to insert the children into them. To run the child seats facing backwards as long as possible, you need to be something like 5’4” or less to be comfortable with 2 seats in the back. That’s pretty standard in the “normal” sized car market, having a SUV or a minivan makes sense considering that. I know. Sold my Tesla, now drive a Land Cruiser. A small car is just an exercise in pain when you have kids and need a car to get everywhere. If I had safe bike lanes to get the kids to school and practice and the grocery store, I’d just have an urban arrow… but I’m not contending with the aforementioned kindercrushers that aren’t looking for cyclists and risking my kids with the way our streets are designed. I would happily support changes that fix this, but this is the world we’re in as parents.

CalRobert 10mo ago
I once had a Volvo wagon with a rear-facing third row, but I don't think anything like that has been made for over 30 years. You're right though, if we hadn't moved to the Netherlands, we'd have bought something like that too, to make sure we'd win in any crash. Luckily we do, indeed, use an Urban Arrow instead. Ironically I can hold more kids on the Urban Arrow than I could in my last car - 4 small kids can ride on the bike (3 in bucket, one on a seat on the back), plus the rider of course.
- potato3732842 10mo ago
  >I once had a Volvo wagon with a rear-facing third row, but I don't think anything like that has been made for over 30 years. Trunk based 3rd rows were eliminated at the behest of the 30yr ago equivalent of people like you because they performed very poorly in rear end crashes.
  - kalleboo 10mo ago
    Mercedes Benz still makes cars with rear-facing third row seating https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYF8dEQlaEU&t=743s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYF8dEQlaEU&t=743s The death of it has more to do with the death of station wagons than safety (I imagine sitting backwards is actually MORE safe)
bombcar 10mo ago
There’s a reason minivans are “mom wagons” and it’s mainly on kid access. And even a minivan is quite large (usually SUV size without the height).

CalRobert 10mo ago

I once had a Volvo wagon with a rear-facing third row, but I don't think anything like that has been made for over 30 years. You're right though, if we hadn't moved to the Netherlands, we'd have bought something like that too, to make sure we'd win in any crash. Luckily we do, indeed, use an Urban Arrow instead. Ironically I can hold more kids on the Urban Arrow than I could in my last car - 4 small kids can ride on the bike (3 in bucket, one on a seat on the back), plus the rider of course.

potato3732842 10mo ago
>I once had a Volvo wagon with a rear-facing third row, but I don't think anything like that has been made for over 30 years. Trunk based 3rd rows were eliminated at the behest of the 30yr ago equivalent of people like you because they performed very poorly in rear end crashes.
- kalleboo 10mo ago
  Mercedes Benz still makes cars with rear-facing third row seating https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYF8dEQlaEU&t=743s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYF8dEQlaEU&t=743s The death of it has more to do with the death of station wagons than safety (I imagine sitting backwards is actually MORE safe)

bombcar 10mo ago

There’s a reason minivans are “mom wagons” and it’s mainly on kid access. And even a minivan is quite large (usually SUV size without the height).