2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Kids and Quad Cabs?

[Matt S]

I'm looking for some opinions on whether or not you feel the quad cab is adequate for small children. Wife is pushing for a family :--) but the thought of giving up the truck is too much. Sounds like new truck time. However, I don't really want to spend $40k for a new truck when a good used one will do. The rear facing child seat doesn't fit in my regular cab truck. I'm looking forward to your opinions on how useful the entry and exit are along with seat positioning.



Thanks.

 

[rwitt]

Matt,

I've got an '02 quad cab and with the forward facing child seat it fits fine in the back. I just move the passenger front seat forward when putting the child seat in. After its in I just leave the passenger front seat up a little to give my son in the back a little more legroom. Here in California a child has to be 6 years old or 60 lbs. to be out of a car seat and my son will be at both of those in a couple of months. Hope this helps.

Rich

 

[tazzen]

matt,



my wife has a 3 door ext cab truck and she has had her friend and baby with her and she tells me the backwards baby seat worked fine in hers. she did have to climb in to put the car seat in the middle part of the seat. just takes a couple extra minutes.





ed

 

[athompson]

You'll be fine with the QuadCab

My kids are all past the child seat stage (7,12,14), but my QuadCab has much more room than any vehicle I had while they required child seats.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I have a 3 yr old and have had my quad cab since before she was born. Rear facing seats have to be installed in the middle seat position with the console folded down but it's no problem. Forward facing seats can fit in any of the positions. We regularly have my daughter and my 75 lb Siberian Husky in the back seat with my wife and myself in the front no problem.

 

[Sregorb]

Rear facing child seat=PITA but definately do-able. Like tazzen said, just takes a couple extra min. The kind with the base that stays in the vehicle works great and can remove that delay! We had one (base) in each car and the kid and seat just plunked down in whichever vehicle we took.

Forward facing child seat and booster seat=fine with plenty of room for the little 'uns to swing the legs and kick the drivers seat hard enough to drive the parents nuts, trust me on this... .

Once their into the regular seats their actually great for the kids.



Full-time adult seating on long trips would definately be a concern for the back seat though. (IMO)



Brian

 

[Matt S]

Thanks for the replys. How would you feel about getting a little one in and out if they truck were just an extended cab instead of a quad cab? Just don't want to have to spend more than necessary but I wouldn't want it to be more trouble or next to impossible.

 

[Bill Lins]

Doable with the Club Cab but MUCH easier with the Quad.

 

[SEmerson]

I have both and a qcab is much much better for getting the baby in and out. But with older kids there is not much of a differnce.

 

[mikel]

In my QC we put the rear facing seat in the center location of the back seat, just have to leave the console down. Works out very well for us. IMHO the QC doors are a must when you are trying to load the kid, the assorted support bags, whatever non-baby stuff the wife wants to bring along and finally your stuff.



My brother has an extended cab, and I agree it's doable, but much more of a PITA.



Good Luck,

Mike

 

[tntway]

didn't have the QC when my daughter was young but now she LOVES the backseat. she has her own window and she thinks that she is King Tut.



p. s. she turned 6 on satursay

 

[Blakers]

What about a child seat in the center of a regular cab? How does it fit?



Blake

 

[Dr.Kayak]

I got rid of my Dakota because the child seat would not fit it the back. Looked at the Ford 4 door and the Ram Quad-cab. I think the quad cab is perfect for small kids. they are within reach and I have room to adjust the drivers seat back as far as I want.

 

[damon]

From my experience with any full size extra cab truck, you'll have plenty of room for the booster seats. And with my kids now at 7 and 10, there is plenty of room for long trips and lots of kid accessories back there with them. The one thing that I can say about the quad vs. extra cab, is how nice it is to be able to load oversized objects through the back 2 doors of the quad. Many things have gone into the back seat/floor of my quad that would have never fit into my old extra cab due to the angle of entry.

 

[TomGolden]

My girlfriend has 2 small kids - a 2 year old son and 5 year old daughter. I fit both of their child seats (forward facing variety) in the back seat. I put one in the middle and the other behind my girl, as I need my seat to go as far back as possible or else my legs are too cramped for long periods of driving.



Other than that, all works quite well



Tom

 

[Bob Wagner]

my kids (18 & 12) complain the seat is too thin and uncomfortable



I wouldn't like sitting there either for extended drives



Once my son was complaining that something hard under the seat was hurting his butt.



come to find out that he was feeling the PDR hitch pin that was under there :{

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Guys - do yourself a HUGE favor and check out this website - http://www.mightytite.com/ . It's a ratchet device that you put on the seat belt to tighten the car seat down much better than you could EVER do yourself. My daughter is 2 years old and there is NO WAY I would live without one (we have two actually). My brother is an ME and developed the new ISOFIX system for Ford (which is only available right now in high end cars - you just plug the seat in, it will be a standard in the future) and did a ton of crash testing. When my daughter was born I went to him for advice on how to install her car seat correctly - it took me about 20 minutes to get it in right each time!! I later found the Mighty Tite and showed it to him with her car seat installed (which took about 2 minutes to install btw). He had previously been adamant that the tether was absolutely necessary - but with the car seat ratcheted down hard there's no way to move the back of the car seat forward at all. Everyone that has a child that's young enough to use a car seat absolutely NEEDS one of these IMO - you won't regret the purchase!

 

[RichR]

It will work for now

My son now refuses to ride in the back seat of my truck. But he is 6'2"288# so I can see his point,he'll be 18 in Feburary.

RichR

 

[GTop]

We have a 3 kids. An 8 month old, a 2 year old and a 6 year old. So thats one rear facing seat,a forward facing seat and a booster seat. We have no problems at all and there's plenty of room for all 3.

 

[Matt S]

Thanks for the reply's. I tried the rear facing seat in the regular cab. It fit. But I just didn't have 2nd, 4th, or reverse. The forward facing works but not for the little ones. Looks like the quad cab may be in the future. It sure beats shelling out for the brand new ones.



Matt