As a motoring journalist, I frequently get asked by family and friends, ‘what car should I get?’
Normally, I’d ask them a few simple questions. What’s the budget? What will you need it for? What are your priorities? From there, we could usually narrow down their choices and come up with a couple of suggestions. It’s up to them if they want to take that advice or not.
Recently, however, a couple of friends have been asking this author what pickup they should get as they have a baby on the way. Truth be told, the idea of pickup ownership never entered my mind. Yes, modern pickup trucks are far more comfortable and safer than ever, but I still see them as utilitarians at the end of the day.
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The first words I’d usually tell them is, ‘are you sure?’, followed by ‘why not consider an SUV or an MPV?’. But now that I’m a parent, perhaps it’s best to immerse myself in the experience of using a pickup as baby transport. That way, I could better tell them if it’s a good idea or not instead of listing down theoretical pros and cons.
That, and I haven’t driven or tested a pickup since our daughter came into this world. Anyways, on with the experiment.
The pickup
For this little, er, immersion exercise, I decided to go with the Ford Ranger, specifically a two-wheel drive Wildtrak. Why, you ask? Among the models in the pickup segment, the Ranger is one of the better riding ones out there. It’s also fairly refined and light to drive, so there’s that. Having put a greater emphasis on comfort over performance for this test, I’m (probably) giving pickups the best fighting chance it can in proving these are decent baby transporters.
The reality of traveling with an infant
Parents already know this, but those with a little one on the way, brace yourselves. The idea or even the mere concept of traveling light will be a distant memory. If you think a small bag containing a couple of diapers and a few wet wipes will do, you’ll be very much mistaken.
For starters, you’ll need to pack in that child seat. That alone occupies a whole bunch of space in the back seats. Regardless of what kind of child seat you get, a simple one with no ISOFIX mounts or a 360-degree swiveling unit, it’s going to be a bulky addition to the interior. It’s for safety, of course, as you wouldn’t want to risk having your child shooting forward into the front seat’s backrest in an emergency braking situation…or worse.
The baby bag takes up even more space, and it’s something that should always be within easy reach in the car and not in the trunk. Of course, you won’t be carrying your child the whole time when you’re out on a trip, so in goes the baby carriage, too. You’d think bringing along a breast pump and a cooler would be optional, but it’s essential, especially with a newborn. Extra milk bottles are a must as you wouldn’t want to make your kid, more so an infant, go hungry/hangry. Oh, and for those of you with a maid for the baby, that’s another thing to consider.
If it sounds like I’m exaggerating, try leaving one of those at home. I guarantee you something will happen that will make you wish you brought it along.
Road trip! Sort of
A quick trip to the pediatrician is a nice gauge of how the Ranger fares as a baby-mobile. We’re about an hour away from ours, so it’s about the typical travel time to get to anywhere within the city. We loaded up our things (well, our baby’s things) and that’s where we hit our first snag.
Some Tetris skills required
All of the things I mentioned could easily go at the back of the Ranger’s bed. But the baby stroller aside, all the baby trip essentials must be in the car at all times. Either way, I couldn’t put the stroller in the bed as the Ranger tester I got had no bed cover. That meant it had to go inside the Ranger’s cabin. You wouldn’t have that problem in (almost) anything else.
Sure, you can stuff everything in the back seat, but that means the stroller has to share the same space as the child seat and all the other baby-related things. In our case, we had our daughter’s yaya on board, too. The solution? Mom and yaya sit in the back, along with all the other baby paraphernalia, while I put the stroller in the front passenger area. I then had to slide the front passenger seat forward just so it wouldn’t be cramped back there.
Space aside, how was the trip?
Truth be told, the Ranger did a fine job of bringing our family to the hospital. Sure, it felt a little bit cozy, but it was generally okay. But even if the Ranger is one of the better riding pickups in its class, it’s still nowhere near as comfortable as its SUV equivalent, the Everest. The result? The occasional jolt can be felt back there, so you’ll have to be a little more aware of bumps and humps. It’s a relatively minor thing for some, but it’s something to keep in mind, especially for those with pickups that ride firmer than the Ranger tester that I had.
Why even consider a pickup as a family car, then?
It’s understandable why some folks would like a pickup as a family vehicle. Most pickups these days have high safety ratings, and the promise of all-weather capability make it an attractive proposition. The size of these things means there’s more road presence, so there’s less risk of someone running into you as say they didn’t see you.
Then there’s the price. Pickups are considerably less expensive compared to their SUV counterparts. Some are willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort and flexibility to save several hundreds of thousands of pesos for that. We can’t blame them, but you have to ask yourself if it’s worth it.
The verdict
Can a pickup be a baby transporter? The simple answer is yes, but you’ll have to make several compromises. Chief among that is the space. Yes, pickups are big, but the interior room is, often times, about the same size as a modern day compact sedan. The main issue is the bed. You have all that space you can’t use because it’s exposed to the elements and, let’s be honest, thieves.
This is where the adjustments come in. One solution would be to add a bed cover. That way, you (theoretically) have a high-riding sedan with acres of trunk space. Another solution would be to add a camper shell, although it does limit vertical space for the rare (but important) times you need to carry tall items back there. Weigh your options, but we say a cover is a must if you’re considering a pickup for a family vehicle just so the bed can be utilized.
There’s nothing we can do about the ride. It’s either you live with it or not choose a pickup at all. My advice? Take one out for a test drive and feel out the ride at the back. If you find it stiff, your kid will feel more of it.
If you insist on having a pickup for a family car, we won’t stop you. If anything, it can be your family’s adventure vehicle for the great outdoors. And for those who really need the pickup’s bed for their line of work or lifestyle, they have the peace of mind that modern pickups are no longer the rough-riding and spartan utilitarians they once were. It’s a solid choice for those who need a vehicle that combines work, play, and family.
There’s nothing wrong with choosing a pickup for a baby hauler. There will be sacrifices along the way, but if you can make it work, then good for you. If it’s too much compromise, a station wagon, an SUV or an MPV would, no doubt, be a better choice. Plain and simple.
Personally, I don’t need a pickup. I need the extra seats for when the extended family tags along so those things are out of the picture. My little experiment proved that a different kind of car would suit our family’s needs better, but that doesn’t mean pickups are terrible family vehicles and won’t work for everyone else. Saying pickups are unsuited for family use is a blanket statement, which is a fallacy.
So, to my friends with kids about to get a Hilux, Ranger, Triton, or anything similar, I leave you with this thought: Weigh the pros and cons, make the necessary adjustments, and go get that pickup if you really want it.
Besides, we’re here to advise, not shove personal opinions down other people’s throats.
