hiya,

although we dont have 3 children, we are about to have our first baby and one BIG dog (think small horse :P) and we just bought a 2004 Subaru Outback, after having a 2004 Mazda 3. It's higher than a normal sedan, so its easier to put the kids in and out, and it is ALOT bigger inside than the mazda 3, and the boot is DEFINITELY big enough for at LEAST one pram, and plenty of shopping. not sure about 2 prams, as im not sure how big your prams are, but we have a strider dlx. so that gives you abit of an idea how big the boot is? and not to mention added "SUV" features, like AWD, hi and lo range AWD, and what not.

Subaru's are also known for their quality too, so unlike some other cars, they last alot longer, and although sometimes their parts may be more expensive than say ford, hyundai, holden, etc. you really do get what you pay for. the parts LAST and the cars are just generally durable and very good quality. as well as everything about the car.

we used to also have a 1995 Subaru Liberty sedan, which had 275,000km on it, and it still drove better and had a better gearbox (both manual cars) and just a better feel than my husbands 2001 Honda Civic with 120,000km! we sold the car so we could get a wagon, but yeah.. just a bit of history there

perhaps, if he's not keen on an "SUV" can you suggest possibly a Subaru Forester? or even a Nissan X-Trail, or Honda CR-V as theyre alot smaller than normal suv's, but big enough for your needs. and because its 4 cylinder its still good on petrol, in comparison to larger SUV's which are often 6 cylinder and also alot heavier, which sucks more fuel. because i know my DH was against "big" suv's as well (though he did have a soft spot for territory's ) but he still liked those, as theyre smaller, so use less fuel because of that, and also theyre still 4 cylinders, but still have enough power.

when we were looking around for cars, i went around to different dealers and looked at wagons, and SUV's, and got an idea of their boot space (as that was a deciding factor so we can have a dog in the boot, and baby in the back seat lol) and got ideas from that. that way we werent wasting time looking at cars that looked nice, but werent practical for our circumstances, iykwim? maybe that's possibly an option? although it can be time consuming, i just went to local dealers (we have about 10 in penrith) and only looked at wagons and small SUV's, and got an idea of everything we liked there

anyways, i ramble

hope i helped!

ETA: everyone has their own opinions of what an "SUV" is, i know my DH classifies them as anything that is a 4WD, like subaru foresters, nissan x-trails, ford territory's, hyundai tucson, etc. anything big really, lol. but others may only classify them as the "big" 4WD's, itms? maybe ask your DP what his idea of an SUV is, and see how negotiable he is? i.e. if he doesnt like ford territory's, ask if he would consider one if it were on gas? or if he would consider an x-trail or forester, etc.?