Hello,

My wife and I are contemplating picking up a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, probably an used 2006 model. We love fast cars and have admired this one since its introduction. However there's one concern: my wife is pregnant and we're having twins later this year, and were wondering how suitable it would be for baby duty? The SRT8 would have to be the primary people mover in the family, we have several other cars right now but they're all too small for the job.

Does anyone here have experience carrying infants in their SRT8? If so I'd love to hear your feedback and advice.

Things I'd be curious about would range from whether it's possible to comfortably fit 2 car seats in the back seat plus a twin stroller in the trunk (I assume there's plenty of space for these unless I'm seriously mistaken) to whether the suspension might be too stiff or the acceleration too abrupt (I know this is a silly thing to be concerned about for this type of vehicle :)) for infants to be safe/comfortable. Our other cars right now are a Subaru STI, Corvette, and Miata, so we're no stranger to stiff suspensions, but we are new to parenting (first time parents) and taking care of babies.

Any input would be greatly appreciated, I'm hoping I'm not nuts for considering the SRT8 for transporting young childern, but please do let me know if I am. Absolutely love the SRT8 but do want to be considerate to the upcoming newborns here ;)

P.S.
This is my first post here, so if I've posted in the wrong place or this has already been asked before, please be gentle, any guidance on where to direct my inquiry would be most appreciated..

Ive been using my jeep as the baby hauler since my son was born with no trouble,he loves it,falls a sleep with in 5 min of getting in,hes 6 months old now and still no issues,if your a taller guy with the baby seat behind the driver you might be snug,but im 6.2 and i had no problems.

Newfie.

My kids are 4 and 6, they use the booster style seat now (found a brand that goes down to 38", sweeet!), no problems at all. Having the 1st and 2nd stg seating for infants and toddlers shouldn't be a problem whatsoever. One thing that will be annoying, dirty shoes on the back of your front seats. Everything is dirty up here, I need liners for the back of the chairs. Besides that, the leather is easy to clean up vomit from infants heaving. Hard to keep the smell out, have some cleaners and shop towels stored inside!!!!

For day to day use the jeep might be ok, but a double stroller and diaper bag will likely fill the whole cargo area. If you were to go on a trip, there would be limited room for luggage. My wife has a minivan and that is WAY more practical for hauling the kids, the stroller, diaper bags and an order from Costco all at the same time.

I have used mine to haul our little one. The suspension is quite stiff when traveling rough roads but it doesn't wake up the little guy. A double stroller and bag will fill up the cargo area not leaving much room if any for groceries. We eventually got a GMC Acadia for the extra space and room. Jeep stays my daily driver but only used occasionally these days for hauling the family.

I Dont have infants anymore, but you should be fine, I would suggest placing a blanket on the back seat to protect it from the spills and creasing from the car seats.

I know Spencer has two car seats in the back of his jeep they fit and work just fine

My wife has a minivan .

I'm sorry to hear that.

:DI know Spencer has two car seats in the back of his jeep they fit and work just fine

I do have 2 car seats in the Jeep. I actually went from a Magnum to the Jeep when our 2nd was born so that we would have more room, plus I wanted the Jeep.

Davis is 3 and Payne just turned 1, no problems with the car seats at all. The only concern that I have is the front seat travel as the infant seats take up some room. The good thing is (hopefully it will never be tested) the Jeep is loaded with airbags. When we travel the Pathfinder always goes and the Jeep stays home :(, due to the actual cargo space and gas mileage. Never had to worry about the double stroller but I can only imagine once you get that in their with a bag or 2 you won't have any room for anything else.

In sum...I would not be concerned about getting the Jeep but if you take any long term trips (more than a couple days) the Jeep won't get it done from a cargo space area but don't worry about the car seat issue.

CONGRATS on becoming new parents...it is utterly amazing!

I carry 3 in my Jeep. 1 infant seat and 2 boosters now. Did have 2 infants and 1 booster before. Kids love it. Esp. when they're 1 and you launch it for them. My 1 year old giggled like a girl.:lol:

I run with 2 boosters & one Infant seat and have no problem (Only pain is buckling the booster seats as its a little tight but can be done)

An my kids love riding in the Jeep, they get disappointed when they hear where taking the mini van.

The Jeep is not a large SUV as others have stated. I will be taking a road trip later this summer with the Wife and my 2 yr old, I think it will be tight with all of the luggage and stroller. Better than a car, but tight. If you want/need more space, I would go with an Escalade ESV. It is no sports car, but has much more room.

For daily use the Jeep is awesome and my son will still sleep through the occasional rough road. He loves the Jeep.:D

I will warn you, if you buy the Jeep you will no longer want to drive your other cars.:D

I have only driven my WS6 once since I have owned the Jeep.:eek:

I can't believe I'm about to write this and say this but....... I dig my wife's minivan. I got her a 06 Honda Oddy Touring. If you want room..... this thing is pimp. It actually has some balls to it as well. The fastest of all the minivans. I would NOT go with an Escalade ESV. They are big, true, but suck gas like there's no tomorrow. Not to mention resale value!!

As far as the Jeep and road tripping..... We do short runs with it. Say we decide to go to Disney for the weekend. It's 2 hours roughly. Luggage and food fit pretty good. If you ride with your seat all the way back like I do, there's not much room for the kids legs with a car seat. I have to move the passenger seat up for my 6 year old b/c he complains about leg room. My 5 year old who sits behind me drives me NUTS with his feet in my back.

Is the Jeep capable of toting kids around.... sure. Not the BEST road tripper but it works. Having infants though it doens't really matter. It won't be until about the kids are 2 to where it'll matter. You've got a tough decision ahead of you. JeepTrick is right though about being a pain to buckle the kids in the boosters. I usually pull the seat to the side a bit to get in there. If the infant seat isn't in then of course it's no problem. then you just have to worry about your kids slamming the rear arm rest up and down.:lol:

I will go against the norm a little bit. My 2006, I had a hard time putting the convertible car seat in with the large headrests. I could not get it far enough back as the headrest stopped it from going further back than I would like. We ended up putting the seat in the middle.

My 2009 does not have the problem, the headrests are smaller and have no problems with two seats in there now.

I would bring your car seats along and make sure they fit good. Like everyone else, the kids love the speed and laugh when I floor it. They always ask, "Again".

Perfect, thanks for all the input, guys! It sounds like it *should* work for the most part then. I guess I'll have to check one out in person and see what I think. The front seat leg space should be okay, we're relatively small people, my wife is 5'1" (110 lbs) and I'm only 5'8" (130 lbs) myself, so I don't expect to be too cramped in front even if we have carseats in the back seat. I'm not too worried about long road trips, we can always rent a minivan for any extended vacations. As long as the SRT8 can fit the two carseats, a twin stroller, and a bag or two of groceries, we're pretty much good to go. I've got half a mind to put a Thule cargo box on the roof to increase cargo space a bit more anyhow.

Thanks for the feedback on the potential space difference between the 2006 and 2009 model as well, that's something I'll have to consider. 2006 models are going for under $30k around here, which is why they were attractive, but it looks like a brand new 2009 can be had for around $40k, so those may be worth considering. We'll probably be keeping this car for a while so I certainly wouldn't mind having a new one.

Thanks again, much appreciated!

Nothing puts the kids to sleep faster that the sound of the hemi!!!!

I can't believe I'm about to write this and say this but....... I dig my wife's minivan. I got her a 06 Honda Oddy Touring. If you want room..... this thing is pimp. It actually has some balls to it as well. The fastest of all the minivans. I would NOT go with an Escalade ESV. They are big, true, but suck gas like there's no tomorrow. Not to mention resale value!!

As far as the Jeep and road tripping..... We do short runs with it. Say we decide to go to Disney for the weekend. It's 2 hours roughly. Luggage and food fit pretty good. If you ride with your seat all the way back like I do, there's not much room for the kids legs with a car seat. I have to move the passenger seat up for my 6 year old b/c he complains about leg room. My 5 year old who sits behind me drives me NUTS with his feet in my back.

Is the Jeep capable of toting kids around.... sure. Not the BEST road tripper but it works. Having infants though it doens't really matter. It won't be until about the kids are 2 to where it'll matter. You've got a tough decision ahead of you. JeepTrick is right though about being a pain to buckle the kids in the boosters. I usually pull the seat to the side a bit to get in there. If the infant seat isn't in then of course it's no problem. then you just have to worry about your kids slamming the rear arm rest up and down.:lol:

:rofl: my wife has the 06 Honda too, great vehicle overall but defiantly not the Jeep. Has a lot of storage behind the rear seat, great for trips and I don;t give a **** if the kids make a mess in it. :rolleyes:

As far as the boosters and seat belt issue I know that you can buy seat belt extenders that might bring the latch part up higher so you don't have to bull the seat out (pointed my sister toward these) but I have yet to buy any.

I can't believe I'm about to write this and say this but....... I dig my wife's minivan. I got her a 06 Honda Oddy Touring. If you want room..... this thing is pimp. It actually has some balls to it as well. The fastest of all the minivans. I would NOT go with an Escalade ESV. They are big, true, but suck gas like there's no tomorrow. Not to mention resale value!!

As far as the Jeep and road tripping..... We do short runs with it. Say we decide to go to Disney for the weekend. It's 2 hours roughly. Luggage and food fit pretty good. If you ride with your seat all the way back like I do, there's not much room for the kids legs with a car seat. I have to move the passenger seat up for my 6 year old b/c he complains about leg room. My 5 year old who sits behind me drives me NUTS with his feet in my back.

Is the Jeep capable of toting kids around.... sure. Not the BEST road tripper but it works. Having infants though it doens't really matter. It won't be until about the kids are 2 to where it'll matter. You've got a tough decision ahead of you. JeepTrick is right though about being a pain to buckle the kids in the boosters. I usually pull the seat to the side a bit to get in there. If the infant seat isn't in then of course it's no problem. then you just have to worry about your kids slamming the rear arm rest up and down.:lol:

As long as we're all coming out together, the wife had a '03 Windstar Limited for 5 years, bloody hard to get away from the van room once you do it!!! Got such a good deal on it, plus 0%, I let Ford finance it for mo, better to leave the cash invested!! It was/is great for road trips, so much room, I have it now down in Vancouver at an apartment I bought for my mother so she/we have wheels there when we're down. The wife has a '09 Flex Limited awd now, not as much room as the van but infinitely more enjyable to drive, better power, awd, full load, 4 sunroofs, etc, hid's, 19" wheels
http://hoseclamp.smugmug.com/photos/466185045_oXzZn-M.jpg

I'll take a hemi please!!!

Thanks for the tip Trick!!

I'll tell you what Clamp. I actually dig those Ford Flex's. I think that is one cool looking familymobile. I've seen a few around me that have really caught my eye. And yes, I have a feeling I'm stuck buying my wife minivans until I can afford the S Class I want to get her when the kids are old enough not to destroy it. I always told her I was gonna buy her a Benzo b/c she would look soooo good in one. Just waiting for the day.

I have a 2 yr. old and a 10 month old....The Jeep works fine. The seats fit perfect and plenty of storage in the cargo area as long as you don't have a roll cage or nitrous bottles back there

I guess it depends on how you sit in the Jeep. I only have one car seat in mine and it had to go in the middle. It wouldn't have worked for me behind the seat.

no kids yet....but hopefully soon...

the jeep is the best performance car with room...

considered many different options...sti...evo...charger...

with a family in my future and a need for me to buy my toys the jeep was an easy close for the lady...

=)

your kids are gonna love it, but guess what, their first car will have to be an srt8 or better hehe ;) GL

Another minivan owner comes out. Hoseclamp, we still have our 03 Windstar and couldn't live without it. We train field dogs so the van rarely has any seats in it because of the 3 dog crates and all the field gear. We recently went on a 15 hour jaunt to NC and had to take the van because of all the stuff we were hauling. In truth guys the van is an excellent road trip vehicle with plenty of room for coolers, good comfort and much better gas mileage than the Jeep. But once we hit the mountains I longed for the Jeep.

We just started providing day care for our sons child and we put a seat back in the van rather than use the Jeep. It's just so much easier to haul the kid and strollers around in thevan. And since the van is equipped to carry around dead birds for training, what's a little projectile vomit from a kid.

Hal

We just started providing day care for our sons child and we put a seat back in the van rather than use the Jeep. It's just so much easier to haul the kid and strollers around in thevan. And since the van is equipped to carry around dead birds for training, what's a little projectile vomit from a kid.

Hal

Put the car seat in the Jeep. Then your grandchild will be thrilled to go for a ride in the "Jeep". I know my son loves it. Besides the leather cleans up easily.

WS6TA, our grandson is only 3 months old so as soon as he hits the car seat he's fast asleep. Don't worry, he'll get plenty of thrilling rides in the Jeep or the Grand National. By the way, my son is selling his 1999 WS6 T/A (40,000 miles) as a result of his new addition. He'd love to replace it with a Jeep but he needs something a little less costly to buy and maintain.

Hal