Prius ok for 2 toddlers? 1 FF, 1 RF

With two baby seats, you will NOT have enough room to sit back there unless you're a very skinny person. For that, you will need a fullsize sedan, like the Avalon, or crossovers, like Highlander.

 

Marathons are big. I've had one roundabout FF in the middle next to an infant seat (also next to an adult passenger). That was pretty tight. No way you get three people plus two marathons.

 

'I'm assuming you;d fit both car seats on the left and right, not middle?
As the driver I would NOT want an adult sitting in that middle "seat" due to the shear nature the rear view is very limited to begin with, IMO.

 

No, there isn't enough room for two car seats and one adult in the back. You need a SUV like the Lexus RX450h.

 

The only real way to explore this is to bring your child seats to the dealer and give it a go. However, as others have said, I doubt this would be comfortable with a third person in the middle. You could either upsize, or sit in the front.

In regards to your safety question, the side impact tests showed that they were highly rated for the Prius. Of course, that is relative to what T-bones you.

 

Absolutely right. You just have to take your car seats to any dealer whose model you are considering. I agree that Prius would be cramped in the backseat, BUT the benefits of high MPG, low emissions and technology would sure be nice for those times when the kids are not in the car.

 

There's a way to fit three car seats in the back of a Prius, but it's going to be a masochist's delight to fit two car seats and an adult in the back regardless of what car seats you have.

 

I'd suggest the following:
- try your seats in the Prius to see how much more room you need to fit with tolerable comfort.
- try your seats in other vehicles and find ones that work
- do a cost calculation to find how much you'd save on gas with a Prius
- Find out whether you could find narrower child seats that would allow you to fit
- Post result on PriusChat

End result: you end up with the most efficient vehicle you can reasonably buy right now and the world becomes more informed.

 

Two toddlers fit fine. Even three kids can be squeezed in but as mentioned you can just forget right now an adult fitting between them if any degree of comfort whatsoever is of interest.

Maybe you should just sit in the front passenger seat

 

I would definitely agree. It can be done for a limited time, but going a couple of hours would be tough. But it seems that the front facing one can be swapped for a booster seat in the near future. If you keep a car for 10 or 12 years, which is definitely doable with the Prius, it would be a relatively short period of time with a less than optimal situation. Otherwise, I would have the front facing seat on the passenger side, and sit in the front passenger seat looking back at them.

 

That never occurred to me because I see so many parents in the back with babies. So at what child age does a parent move to the front seat? We never sat in the back with our kids.

 

Have you considered the Prius v when it comes out?

 

Find a different vehicle.

 

Agreed. I use to scoff/laugh at minivans until we had a couple of kids close together. They are designed for kid hauling and what I once thought were frivolous options like power sliding doors and DVD/headset systems are god sends for parents. Getting carseats loaded down with infants in/out are a breeze since the second row seating is at waist height. Yeah, I hated the mpg's and the wife didn't like the park ability but the advantages for small kids are many. It's the right tool for the job.

 

We didn't even the way back from hospital.

 

I have two 4 year olds and two car seats in the back. While it is a very workable configuration as is, there is really no room for even another child in the back.

 

We have two Britax Frontiers in our Prius, no problems. You will *not* be able to fit anyone else in the back.

 

My cousin got 2 twin girls and they have a Honda Accord and does not really work to sit in the back. First they put a car sit in, then his wife squishes in over the second base of the second car seat, and then my cousin puts in the car the other car sit in. I don't think you want to sit in the back. Only a van will do it the way you want it. In our Prius when my father in law came to visit us my wife sat in the back, where we have a car seat and a booster seat for our boys and she was ok. Don't think that in any other car other than a Van you will have an easy time sitting in the back.
Be smart and do not trade the Prius Gas mileage for few months until they will be able to seat facing forward.