Advice needed - baby car seat questions (merged)

frostyspice

The Peugeot 307SW can.

Not a proper MPV, so might suit your budget. Not been around too long though, so a used one might still be a bit pricey - not sure.

Rachie_B

the berlingo can accomodate 3 seats easily apparently

vodkaqueen75

We have a renault espace and its ok, although obviously no boot so we have a roof box, its a bit cramped when we have got the buggy and shopping in the back though, escpecially if you use all seats, hopefully in the summer we are going to get a Vauxhall Zafira, these are lovely with 7 seats but the 2 seats at the back fold down into the boot thus giving you more space if your not using them.
Hope you find something suitable!

Lady_S

Fiat Multipla actually has 6 seats, 3 proper ones in the front and three in the back.

mrsm

come august i shall have 3 under 3. A 2 year 8 month, a 16 month and a new baby. We're getting a picasso as it will fit all 3 seats plus in the best buy for our limited budget. I've heard the diesel has a bit more poke than the petrol and it should save us in the long run as hubby does a lot of miles

comping_cat

vodkaqueen75 wrote:

We have a renault espace and its ok, although obviously no boot so we have a roof box, its a bit cramped when we have got the buggy and shopping in the back though, escpecially if you use all seats, hopefully in the summer we are going to get a Vauxhall Zafira, these are lovely with 7 seats but the 2 seats at the back fold down into the boot thus giving you more space if your not using them.
Hope you find something suitable!

I have a Zafira, and i love it, plenty of space, and as a childminder, its good to be able to fit 6 child seats in the car. When im not working, i can fit my 2 childrens bikes in the back!!!!
Prob too big for OP, but my friend has a Citreon Picasso, i dont know what its like to drive, but she can fit 3 seats in the back, and seems to have lots of room in the boot too.

fabwitch_2

We also have the Citroen Berlingo and bought the car because of the space and the ability to have three car seats in the back. We love the car.

cheekymole

I have a Skoda Octavia Elegance and that would fit 3 seats in the back

scl_2

Have a look at the Honda FRV 3 seats in the front, 3 seats in the back
all ISOFIX apparantly.

enor

We recently had the same problem as you. Our old car was a VW Polo and we needed to use three stage two car seats in it (this wasn't going to happen!!!).

We asked at a local baby shop and they told us the best bet would be a Fiat Multipla, but gave us a list of other cars to look at. We then went around the showrooms armed with several different car seats and tried them all out. We also checked out the Britax website and used their fit-finder as although some seats fit they may not necessarely fit correctly in all seats of the car.

The ones that we tried that fit all three safely were: Fiat Multipla, VW Touran, Citreon Picasso and Toyota Avensis Verso (using rear seats as well).

These are the ones that fit but were a bit of a fiddle or didn't look that safe: Ford Mondeo, Land Rover Freelander and Renault Megane Grande Senic.

The ones that didn't fit were: Ford Focus (as you know), Vauxhall Vectra (apparently the old style Vectra does fit three?), Renault Megane Senic.

Most showrooms we went to recommended a people carrier or one of the so called mini MPV's and after checking we agreed with this. We ended up choosing the VW Touran with seven seats (although it does also come in a five seat version) which cost around £13000 after a hefty discount using the What Car Magazine target price to haggle. With a bit of searching you can pick up a good second hand one for around £10000 which can't be much different from a Ford Focus. Otherwise we really liked the Multipla (not to eveyones taste) I can't remember the new price of one of these but we were looking at second had ones for around £8000.

If you're looking for the cheapest option then have a look at the old style Vauxal Vectra as we were told at a Dealers that they would fit three in the back.

Do check the car out properly before buying as we nearly bought the Honda FRV but found a problem with it just before paying the deposit (I can't now recall the problem but it may have been unrelated to the car seat issue - I'll post again if I can remember).