I first got to know the Uppababy Vista while working at a children’s boutique during college. At the time, it was one of the most popular strollers among Ann Arbor parents. Fifteen years later, I’m back in town, and the Vista still seems to be everywhere on the city streets.

But I test car-related products, so I want to know: How does the Vista work for families who rely on their cars?

The Uppababy Vista Travel System

Part of the Vista V3 appeal is that it can change as a family grows: Depending on the setup, it can carry a bassinet, an infant car seat, or a toddler seat, and adapters allow for additional seating configurations. Add the PiggyBack Ride-Along Board, and an older child can hitch a ride too.

Putting the Vista Together

Before loading it into our test vehicles, I assembled the Vista and got familiar with how its pieces fit together. Honestly, I put this thing together in six minutes flat. Watch me do it with little-to-no head-scratching:

How the Vista Fits in Different Vehicles

A flexible stroller is all well and good. But for families who rely on their cars, how much cargo space is left after the stroller is loaded matters. To show what the Vista looks like in everyday vehicles, we loaded it into a mix of cars from our office fleet. Here’s what we found.

SUVs

This one surprised us! There’s barely enough room for the Uppababy stroller behind the third row. My sister has a previous-generation Palisade, so I asked her what she does. She said she usually keeps one side of the third row folded down to make room for the stroller and other cargo. The trade-off? My nephew rides in the third row beside all the stroller parts.

As a two-row SUV, there is plenty of room in the trunk of a Honda Passport for the Uppababy Vista.

As the largest vehicle in our fleet, the GMC Yukon had plenty of room for the Vista. Even with all three rows upright, there’s room to spare.

TRUCKS

Many trucks have rear seats that flip up, which may give you more cabin storage than you see here. You could also put the stroller frame in the truck bed, but I’d keep the fabric stroller seat inside to protect it from the elements.

In the Ranger Raptor, it was a pretty tight squeeze even with the seat folded up and the passenger seat set way forward. However, in a pickup, you could also stow the stroller in the bed—ideally under a tonneau cover to keep it protected.

COMPACT SUVs

The Uppababy Vista fit easily in all of our compact SUVs, with room to spare. In the Volvo XC60, the only tight spot came when the Vista was laid on its side. The wheels came pretty close to the headliner but didn’t touch.

The Vista fit comfortably inside the EV3, but with not a lot of room to spare from the second row to the trunk door.

The Mazda CX-5 has a roomy cargo area and had plenty of room to spare for bags and other items needed for a day out.

HATCHBACKS

The Golf R is not a great candidate for Vista owners, as one stroller wheel kept the hatch from closing. To make it work, you’d need to fold down the rear seats.

The hatchbacks in our fleet were both sporty models, and neither was an ideal match for the Vista. If you’re set on both a GR Corolla and a Uppababy Vista, you will need to either put down the back seats or be a two-car household and never use this one for stroller-related purposes.

Sedans

The Vista works well with the sedans in our fleet. The Accord, one of the most popular sedans on the market, fits the stroller and seat with room to spare.

We’re big fans of the Mercedes-Benz E450 4Matic for a lot of reasons, but the trunk is particularly roomy.

Coupes

It may not surprise you that the Vista’s full setup wouldn’t fit in a two-door coupe’s trunk. The surprise: The frame did fit, just without the stroller seat. We didn’t try the Mesa infant seat in the front passenger seat; rear-facing seats shouldn’t be placed in front of an active airbag.

The Verdict?

The Uppababy Vista V3 is an excellent stroller. We’ve pushed it all around the office, where more than a few people have understandably asked why I’m pushing an empty stroller around. Once I showed them how easily it folds and how its modular design can adapt as a family grows, they got it.

As for vehicle fit, our testing suggests (as we expected) that the Vista may be a tight squeeze in smaller sporty hatchbacks and coupes. In the sedans, SUVs, and pickups, fitting the stroller wasn’t such a problem. The Mesa infant seat was also straightforward to install. The Vista may be a familiar sight on city sidewalks, but our testing shows it can work just as well for families who rely on their cars too.

Why Trust Us?

The Gear Team helps readers make informed purchasing choices about automotive gear, tools, and accessories through hands-on product evaluations and comprehensive testing. Car and Driver’s renowned testing standards mandate that we use all products we feature and that our findings and recommendations are based on personal experience and knowledge—not hype. We won’t claim to have tested something we haven’t, and we’ll never recommend a product we wouldn’t buy ourselves.

We’ve evaluated dozens of product categories, like interior cleaners, pressure washers for car washing, and shop vacs. The Gear Team’s product selection and gear picks are editorially independent; Car and Driver has a strict policy against accepting payment for placement in articles.

Visit our Tested & Trusted page to see the very best in automotive gear. Read more about our testing process here.

Katherine Keeler is Associate Testing Editor at Hearst Autos. By day she evaluates tools for your enjoyment; by night, she Frankensteins her ever-changing fleet of rustbucket oddities back to repair. Her dream is to open a roadside attraction where the public can view, drive, and learn repairs at her emporium of curious cars.