I love the GX470, but with 3 caar seats including a newborn rear facing, there is no easy way to access the back seats. Did they make the GX 470 with quad seating? What would be a good way to do this. This is our second vehicle for my wife, but we need room for a 6yo, 3yo, and newborn carseats and enough room to throw in a stroller. Any ideas? Anyone do someething similar?
Thanks
Keegan

 

The GX was never offered with quad seating. I thought about this very scenario once my wife and I started talking about a 3rd. The bewborn baby seats are the biggest pain in the arss, they take up so much room. Thank goodness they are only in them for 6 months or so.

Anyway, my kids are not far off in age from yours. The 5yr is in a booster and the 2 yr old is in a typical toddler car seat. We plan to move our 2 yr old over to a booster when turns 3. His car seat also takes up a lot of room. I would try putting your newborn's seats behind the front passanger seat, the 3 yr old's car seat in the middle and the 6 yr old's booster in the 3rd row behind the driver. Thay way it's an easy flip of the seat and your 6 year old can climb right in the back and buckle himself. Depending on the type of stoller you have you should not have any problem folding your stoller and putting it behind the 3rd row or you can keep the other 3rd row seat up and lay it there. The second row seating arrangements would probably be easier if your 3 yr old was in a booster which tends to take up less room then a typical toddler car seat.

And if that does not work, there is always the minivan route! LOL

 

"Thay way it's an easy flip of the seat and your 6 year old can climb right in the back and buckle himself. Depending on the type of stoller you have you should not have any problem folding your stoller and putting it behind the 3rd row or you can keep the other 3rd row seat up and lay it there."

Ok, first a comment on the minivan note: ha ha ha, hate them, sorry, never been a fan.
Now on to the jist of the comments. Our 3 yo is very small at about 28#, so she will be in the car seat for a while. It is a Britax and uses the carseat anchors, so if that is in the middle, the 6yo can not climb through, unless I am not seeing something here. Also, I want to be able to leave the newborn seat base buckled in ALL the time so the carseat "snaps" into it easy. This makes for taking a sleepy baby in/out verys quick. I guess that's my dilema since I need two carseats straped in all the time, AND be able to get the third into the back. I probably could remove one third row seat to make room for the stroller, but don't want the 3rd row seat child to enter from the back door, lol.
Anything else, we really want to make this truck work, but don't see a way right now.

 

If it means your alternative is a minivan I am sure you will find a way to make it work!

Got it on the 3 yr old... My 2yr old son is also in a Britax, great seat, but a big/wide seat. As for the seating, the 2nd row seat behind the driver is a single jump seat so it will flip up leaving the remaining bench seat down which includes the middle. The only question is whether or not you will have enough room to put your newborn's seat and the car seat side-by-side (newborn seat behind the front passenger seat and car seat in the middle) and still retain the ability to flip up the 2nd row jump seat behind the driver so that your 6 yr old can climb in. If the Britax sticks out to far, try putting the new born's seat in the middle and 3 yr old's seat behind the front passenger seat.

BTW, and I am sure you already aware, but it's not necessary to take the 2nd 3rd row seat out as you can fold it up, but if you don't envision needing it then it probably makes sense.

Let me know if it works or what you end up doing even if it's buying a minivan. Inquiring minds and future fathers of 3 want to know!

 

LOL all the way. I don't know what you mean by "single jump seat". I know I can not fold the seat forward with the Britax in the center. we are picking up the newborn seat to see if we can fold down the seat for the 6yo climb today.
Yes,I know the seats fold up, but would give more room if gone for the normal trips. i still have my XL Denali for trips that require more room. i just know the stroller will not fit behind the 3rd row, lucky to get grocery bags behind that seat.
Thanks
Keegan

 

Well, there's another good thread on here on rooftop carriers.

 

We have a Britax Marathon for my two year old and a Graco Snugride that snaps into the base (I bet it's the same one you have) for my 4 month old. You cannot put these two seats in any combination and still use the flip-up option for the seats. What you can easily do is put the Britax behind the passenger, the Graco in the middle and put your six year olds booster in the third row. Six year olds have no problems climbing into the back and getting in...as long as you only have one of the third row seats in. This will also leave you plenty of room to put the stroller lengthwise in the back. We had the same set up in the second row, with my wife sitting behind the driver and my mother in law sitting in the single third row seat. If my mother in law can fit, your six year old can

 

LOL
THanks all, we will try some more combo's

 

Well, regretfully we took the GX470 back last night(had it on trial). Without the quad seating it will not work. the 6yo can climb into it ok, but she can not open the back door from the inside, and there is not a lot of space left over. If she could get in back between the 2nd row seats, it would work, but not like it is. I may have to get an Acadia, Outlook, or Enclave unless I want to go with a full size like my XL Denali.
Still open to suggestions!
Keegan

 

The only viable option is to ditch the infant seat base in the passenger side 2nd row. That way, you can fold that seat down for the 6 yr old to climb into the 3rd row seat through the rear passenger door. You would be stuck using the seat belt to secure the infant seat in that spot, but it's actually not a bad setup. We have a Grayco infant seat with only one base, and it's in my wife's car, so I just put the infant seat on a towel (to protect the leather) directly on the 2nd row bench and lock it in place with the seat belt. It is definitely not as convenient as snapping the infant seat in & out, but it works and actually gives more legroom to the passenger since the base causes the infant seat to sit about 4-5 inches from the 2nd row rear cushion. The seatbelt locks the infant seat to the bench, so it is just as stable as the base.

 

If it were "MY" vehicle, that might work, but this will be my wives car and she will be strapping in/out the infant and 3yo multiple times per day. That is really not a viable option until the baby is 1 1/2 or 2.
Thanks
Keegan

 

So how does everyone put in two car seats in the second row? I have a 2.5 year old who uses the britax marathon and a two week old who uses the britax infant car seat. Right now, I have the infant car seat behind the front passenger using LATCH and I have the 2.5 year old in his britax marathon in between the middle seat and seat behind the driver because of the odd placement of the LATCH.

I want to be able to use LATCH on the marathon and, but when I do this and have the car seat in between the two seats, it puts a bad lean on the seat and it leans to the left, probably because the middle seat is a bit higher than the seat behind the driver.

Can I use LATCH and just put the marathon behind the drivers seat, or will that not work? Or is there a better option to put the marathon seat? I want to keep the britax infant seat behind the passenger because it goes farther forward than the marathon seat. Anybody have any suggestions; pics would be very helpful too.

Thanks,
Josh

 

So I take it, the reason nobody has replied to my questions above, is because they've been getting very helpful photos to post here. So hopefully someone can be of some help to me and let me know how to properly use the LATCH for my Britax Marathon car seat behind the drivers seat and keep it level and not on a tilt due to the middle seat being taller than the rear left seat.

 

After playing around with the car seat options, I've found that I can put my britax marathon seat behind the drivers seat and still use LATCH (and Teathers). I don't have to keep the car seat in between seats, I just had to use the LATCH system on the side of the Marathon and directly in the center behind it. I still find it very strange that Lexus decided to put the LATCH location where they did.

 

Go look at a New Toyota Sequoa--Platnium edition they are SWEEEEET!!