Looking to buy '08 ESV, thoughts?

Info: I have an ESV platinum with a 3 yr old and a 6 month old. Captains chairs are nice during the clip in carrier stage, but a royal pain when the kids migrate to a full car seat. You absolutely have to slide the front seats forward to allow even a midget to slip passed the baby seat to enter the rear. The baby seat arm rests are the problem in recent designs as they are substantially forward and then the arch of the front seat in it's normal position squeeze it tight. If you use the easy exit function it's even tighter than where one traditionally leaves the seat.

I did not realize how tight that space was. Your Sienna probably has more room there. Had I known, I'd be in a different vehicle. Love my Esky, but it's not all that in terms of entry space.

emay said:

Info: I have an ESV platinum with a 3 yr old and a 6 month old. Captains chairs are nice during the clip in carrier stage, but a royal pain when the kids migrate to a full car seat. You absolutely have to slide the front seats forward to allow even a midget to slip passed the baby seat to enter the rear. The baby seat arm rests are the problem in recent designs as they are substantially forward and then the arch of the front seat in it's normal position squeeze it tight. If you use the easy exit function it's even tighter than where one traditionally leaves the seat.

I did not realize how tight that space was. Your Sienna probably has more room there. Had I known, I'd be in a different vehicle. Love my Esky, but it's not all that in terms of entry space.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I think the Sienna probably does have more room, and if I put captain chairs in the 2nd row, would make getting to the 3rd row easier. The wife absolutely hates the mini-van, but I like it, nice and peppy V6, that can tow both our boat or camper. It is only FWD, and she does sometimes need AWD/4WD when going up north in the snow.

@emay Do you happen to have a pic of the full car seat in the 2nd row?

We have an 09 ESV. We bought it b/c we have 3 boys, all 3 still in car seats. To answer your question, I think the captains chairs are great. The way we set it up is, the 2 and 3 yr olds are in the car seats on the far back bench seats. The 10 month old is behind the passenger in a rear facing seat. We have the auto folding chairs, so it makes entry into the back no problem, but really my boys enjoy just climbing under the baby's car seat to get to the back. They think that's cool. If I had to do it again, I would buy the ESV every time because I love the space in the back even though I like the look of the shorter escalades better.

We had two big Britax car seats in the captains chairs and it worked fine. Take your car seats with you when shopping and try them. Each seat is a different size and shape. Also, think of the long term use of the vehicle; the car seats can be a pain but it is for short term use only. Your kids will be in booster seats in no time. We went to two CLEK Oobr booster seats which had full backrests and armrests. Our kids could get around the booster seats to the back seats easily.

BTW, I second your wife's opinion about minivan's; I hate them!

I had a DeVille before my 2013 Platinum Esky because I did not want a minivan and the DeVille was the only car that would fit my enormous Valco baby double wide stroller in the trunk.


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

gibby13 said:

Thanks for the info, I think the Sienna probably does have more room, and if I put captain chairs in the 2nd row, would make getting to the 3rd row easier. The wife absolutely hates the mini-van, but I like it, nice and peppy V6, that can tow both our boat or camper. It is only FWD, and she does sometimes need AWD/4WD when going up north in the snow.

@emay Do you happen to have a pic of the full car seat in the 2nd row?

Click to expand...

I don't have one handy, but can take one. My annoyance is any trip to the rear requires me to move my driver seat nearly all the way forward. I caved and just set position 2 on the seat memory to the forward most position so I don't have to hold the forward adjuster. There's room when I do this, just annoying as it's no less than 6 times a day. I've looked at smaller seats, ours are Graco's and I like them for their safety features. So much so, they are replicated (we own a quantity of 4) in my wifes corporate car. I'm dying for the day of converting to the boosters.

I'll see about a pic tonite.

I think even Sienna will have same problem, since most of them have a seat (that is absolutely useless) in the middle of the second row that is blocking an access to third row, unless you will buy Limited trim where can have option to config the second row as you want, even with legs support.
But it will be like 55,000+ minivan. The cargo wise behind third seat is about same as ESV. Also as I was reading on Toyota forums (before we got ESV), the real hwy mpg for AWD, full loaded is about 18 to 19 mpg, so there is not so much different. The only difference city mpg, the Sienna does better around 15 to 16 mpg.
But these numbers are hard to assess, due the people whom are buying 40,000 to 50,000 minivans are not living in the city and more likely are not driving in the city.

I just bought one and I'm having nothing but problems with it. Every week something is breaking down.

What are problems? Just wondering.
It depends how vehicle maintained before you.

Wow looks sharp on the outside. From photos, make sure it has 2 sets of Keys and Fobs. Hitch Cover etc. Have them put it on a lift and take a **** look underneath for any leaks. Negotiate well and you could come out ahead. One Suggestion....... Get yourself 4 new tires, you never know how they were patched, plugged etc by prior owners. You have small children and you want this to be as safe as possible...

Thanks for the info everyone. Unfortunately that one was gone. We are at a dealer now trying to make a deal on http://atcm.co/S2PVDP/177ca364

So we ended up getting a '11 Escalade ESV Premium. Thanks everyone for the opinions on the car seats in the 2nd row. Unfortunately we do not have the new infant seats we will be using for the twins(Due in Aug) so we couldn't test them, it does look like it a tad tight fit, but for some reason my wife likes to sit closer to the steering wheel than me even though she is taller so I think the older boys will do just fine getting to the back, and if not, I know they will love to crawl under them like @tdisu19 says theirs do. Again, thanks all! The information in these forums and this post, helped me feel better about paying $35k for a used vehicle.

Congrat.