I get A Plan next week and was planning on getting a T6 MOM.
Now my wife is pushing back, insisting on an SUV to accommodate our car seat and stroller. Do any of those driving the S90 use it to transport infants or toddlers and if so, how manageable is it?
I’m not opposed to an SUV (we’ve looked at Outback and CX-9) but I am not finding a better deal right now than S90. I know there’s the QX60 but I don’t love Infinitis and it’d be ~100/month more. Thanks.
I haven’t had any issues doing this with any car I’ve owned. The S90 is rather large so I assume that would be the same. Like your wife, mine preferred an SUV but likes crossovers the most. We ended up needing the 3rd row the most for when grandparents visited. If not for that issue, just about any car would have worked for us.
The important feature for me was vehicle height. Too low/high can make reaching in with the kid a little uncomfortable.
There is a lot of room in the back but I haven’t tried with a car seat.
The S90 will fit a car seat better than any of those SUVS. The back seat is HUGE. The SUV may have the advantage of being higher up for loading and you get a flat trunk area which works well for changing diapers and stuff on the go.
S90 backseat is huge. It will fit 2 car seats with ease.
We fit 2 boosters and a 10 year old comfortably sat in the middle for a 250mile ride.
I’ve used 5 series and E classes and the S90 should be larger than either in the critical areas (rear seat hip and legroom, etc).
As a sports sedan and coupe person myself I would hate to get into a CUV/SUV just to fit one car seat and stroller, both of which should easily fit into a S90.
From my recent experience, midsize sedans, like S90, Accord, even 3 series … do better with car seat and stroller than compact SUVs (CX5, Q5 … this group). I have rear facing infant seat and a mid size stroller fit into an old 3 series, I can’t imagine they won’t fit in S90
Thanks everyone. It’s good to know I’m not crazy. I think her issue is having to bend down and into the rear seat area whereas with an SUV you could stay more upright and lean in.
Perhaps I’ll tell her if she wants me to drive an SUV it has to be the SQ5…
I have to second and third what everyone is saying. The car is so long and wide that most any car seat will fit - even the monster convertibles in rear facing mode. You just lose the ease of loading.
Why not take your carseat and stroller to a volvo dealer and test it out?
We did that with the CX-9 and I think seeing how easily they fit is part of why she liked it so much. It’s probably worth doing again with S90 if I’m going to win this one.
The height of SUV can be double edge knife. For a infant car seat (one with base), my wife thinks sedan height is actually easier to take the seat out with baby in it because she doesn’t have to lift the seat so high. She is 5’5". Our baby is 4.5 month now at 16lb. Seat itself is 10lb. Total of 26lb she has to lift up to QX60 height. I think after baby graduate to convertible seat, the height maybe more advantageous.
As for Q5, we test it with baby seat and stroller. Two issues with this size of SUV.
In these 2 aspects, my 3 series sedan from 2004 does better. No conincident, most of compact SUVs are like this, including CX-5, QX50, X3, Forester, even RX350. The only one that works for these two cases is CR-V
+1. A lot of stuff is very individualistic depending on seat position, car seat size and stroller size. Either the seat fits or it doesn’t. And of course if you are center mounting it or not. Personally I think the people who find it easier to put something to into a 3 series trunk versus the Q5 are insane:). But that very well could be the strollers we were using. The spaces have different sizes and depending on what you have one may work better than the other for your usage pattern.
I have no doubt you can get by with a s90. It is a pretty large car. You need to decide which is easy to load/unload. For several years I used a VW golf (much smaller car) and we had no problem with a car seat in the back and a BOB (a decent sized stroller in the back). My wife had an A4 and that also worked. You just had to tetris in the stroller a bit more. Neither one worked well when we upgraded to the double stroller:)
FWIW my sister bought a new XC90 and it literally does not fit her baby seat. Tell the dealer to take a hike.
Who’s talking about the xc90?
Almost anything will be an improvement over our current setup: a Prius C. We use a compact travel stroller and it still doesn’t fit in the trunk space. It has to go in the front passenger seat with one of us squeezed in the back next to the car seat.
As a comparison point based on some of the vehicles you’re looking at, in my driveway right now is my fiancee’s cx-9 and her sister’s S90. There’s WAY more room in the back seat of the S90, and I doubt you’re getting a stroller in the cx-9’s trunk without the 3rd row folded down. I doubt you’d have much issue with the trunk of the S90. It’s quite large.
I am, and potentially OP’s wife. If the Volvo “family SUV” doesn’t fit a baby seat, they should definitely check the S90.
That said, I think it’s crazy how big a car people require to baby. I talked my wife into a 911; the rear seats are basically kid seats.
The biggest issue will be when the baby is a few years older and finds out that if sitting in the 2nd row passengers side, they can irritate the person in front of them by moving the seat back and forth using the door mounted “limousine” controls. 
I have never been more comfortable in a 2nd row in the last 20 years than in the backseat of the s90 and that was with my teenage son driving trying to get pilot assist to work.
Ha! Fortunately you can lock that out from the driver seat.