A car that fits three child/infant seats?

wazer1

hi ,
I have owned a Citroen Picasso now for 3 yrs.3 kids 7,5,3 all fit in nicely. Plenty of room in boot for buggy's,bucket ,spades etc.Interior is robust and plenty of storage space in side car(cubby holes in back for kids bits).All seats fold and remove to turn car into van type vehicle.

PrincessTaylor

eslick wrote: »

just in case you dont know the new (well new ish) car seat law also states that the kids car seats shouldnt touch each other so make sure that even in the 3 seaters the seats are big enough so that boosters and baby seats arent touching.

also you shouldnt use a car seat or booster with an airbag

Where did you find this out? I have heard before that it is suggested to try and avoid having the seats touching but a quick google on car seat laws bring up nothing about this.

I can highly recommend the Kia Ceed. We hunted high and low for a cheaper to run car that was great for road tax and mpg and also has enough space for 3 chunky Britax seats. I struggled to get them into the back of a mondeo estate but they fit perfectly into my Ceed. I have the 1.6 crdi gs. Unfortunately Arnold Clark did us over and sold us a 57 plate on marketing it as 119co2 emmisions bringing it just into the tax band b (£35p/a) but we noticed the tax disc said £120. We found out that the Ceeds made before the middle of 2008 had a slightly higher horsepower pusing it into Band C but all the newer ones are Band B so cheap cheap road tax! You get about 55mpg. Many people are put off when you mention Kia but the interior of this car even impresses me. Theres even a bit for me to stick my usb stick into! We were just over £7500 for ours x

mumofjusttwo

I have a Citroen Zsara Picasso . We did look at the 7 seater but felt the were too big to drive (I did have a Daewoo Matiz before) and think they are great. The back seats can be moved forward and back to leave more legroom/space in boot.

Only problem I find with the car is that it does have a poor turning circle.

PrincessTaylor

Silly computer not letting me edit.
Forgot to add the boot space is smaller than other cars that we have had but can still fit a double buggy into it (and hubby is slightly relieved that i cannot fit as much shopping into it lol). My little ones are 5, 3 and 1. I have a Britax Eclipse SI in the middle and 2 Britax Evolva 123 seats, one at each side, the Evolvas are quite wide too and i have been able to get the seats in other cars but have had trouble shutting the doors but absolutely no trouble with the Ceed. The back seats do fold too. The one on the passenger side can fold itself which is a feature we used yesterday for buying some lengths of wood, and the other 2 fold together.

Scuttsy

Rather than CRV the Honda FRV sounds ideal. Should be cheap as not overly desirable either. Should get relatively cheaply

moneyuser

Have a look at multimac (just google it). Fifth gear tested it the other month, said it worked well.

esmf73

This is interesting - thank you to everyone.

I'm in need of a car that can seat two childseats, plus one adult in the back and two adults in the front. We've looked at the Honda FRV and the Mitsubishi Outlander - but I'm concerned at the amount of road tax we'd be paying. Any one got any suggestions on car models?
Thanks
Emma

AdrianHi

esmf73 wrote: »

This is interesting - thank you to everyone.

I'm in need of a car that can seat two childseats, plus one adult in the back and two adults in the front. We've looked at the Honda FRV and the Mitsubishi Outlander - but I'm concerned at the amount of road tax we'd be paying. Any one got any suggestions on car models?
Thanks
Emma

Most cars are going to be a squeeze for an adult in the centre rear seat flanked by child seats. Big cars liek a BMW 7 series or possibly 5 series (still a bit of a squeeze) might just do it.
Don't get too distracted by road tax costs, it is a very very small element of the total cost of ownership / use for a car even when considering small city cars.
Depreciation first, if you do a highish mileage fuel next, are the costs to worry about.

You really need an mid sized MPV for 3 adutls and 2 children with child seats. My pick is Toyota Corrola Verso.

lynnexxxo

eslick wrote: »

just in case you dont know the new (well new ish) car seat law also states that the kids car seats shouldnt touch each other so make sure that even in the 3 seaters the seats are big enough so that boosters and baby seats arent touching.

also you shouldnt use a car seat or booster with an airbag

Just to correct you should not use a rear facing child seat with an airbag, a forward facing one is ok. If you have a child in the front seat you should have the seat back as far as possible to maximise the space between the child and the airbag.

A lot of american sites recommend that the safest position for a child to travel is in the middle seat of the back as they are better protected from side impact (assuming you have a proper seat belt). If you have multiple children the advice is to put the least protected child in the middle (ie the one in the booster as opposed to the big bulky one)

I think the problem with child seats touching is the possiblity of the seat belts rubbing and becoming frayed.

I have had a high back booter, a booster and infant seat (the bulky ones) in the back of my zafira. Its a bit of a struggle to get to the buckles though.

The boot seats of people carriers are fine for all child seats. Bear in mind though they a very near the back of the car should someone run into the back of you.

kernewek

We've got a Renault Scenic and its lovely. You would easily get 3 seats in the back but if you want isofix then only the 2 outside seats have points as well as the front passenger seat.