Car for 3 kids under 5!?

sg0102

Hi all,


Ok so I know this must have been debated before, but wouldlove to have an up to date view!

My wife found out yesterday she is pregnant with number 3,to arrive May time!

We will then have a newborn, a 4 year old and a 2 year old.

So....what car options do we have? Do we have to go 7seater? Could we go estate? How about SUV e.g. Quashqai?

Also, we currently are MaxiCosi loyal – should we considerdifferent car seats to help?

Advice welcomed!!!

Thanks

Steve

Lozzy88

We have had 3 maxi cosi car seats at the various stages in the back of a 3 door corsa and currently have them in a 3 door Clio, if you can afford a bigger car get one! Climbing in the back to put the kids in the car is a pain mine are currently 1,2 and 5 so there's still many years of car seats ahead.... Joy.

Congratulations on baby number 3

London50

Ex prisoners transfer vehicle {with cage locks} ;0)

Counting_Pennies_2

My friend has the Honda FRV this gives you three proper seats in the back and three in the front, so room for an occasional extra person.


Another friend swears by the Ford SMax, in fact the majority of the car run has an SMax.

maman

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

Another friend swears by the Ford SMax, in fact the majority of the car run has an SMax.

My BIL has one and he loves it.


My past two cars have been a Zafira and now a Touran. I can't comment on car seats but for space they're excellent. We find the fuel consumption is good on the Touran too. I wouldn't go back to having an ordinary 'low down' car again.


I keep looking at Land Rovers.:drool:

iwilldoitthistime

I have two friends in this situation, and both have Citroen Picasso 7 seaters. HTH

sterlingstash

Very few cars can fit 3 baby/high back car seats in the second row - I'm amazed at the clio story above! Even many 7 seaters arn;t wide enough (eg Zafira) so you would have to use the 3rd row. That would be a pain, as it massively limits boot space.

We've got an S-max which is great and fits 3 seats ok, leaving a big boot. But they are ridiculously pricey.

Look at the 'Multimac' also - turns your existing car into a people carrier! They are pricey, but changing car costs thousands, and you'll probably get a decent price for it in when you finally don;t need it any more.

Gillyx

Getting 3 seats across the back of a normal car without buckle crunch is very very rare. In car safety centre are very knowledgable and if you give them a call they'l give you all the info over the phone as to what may fit.

Another option may be to go for a normal car but with 3 back individual seats, like the Picasso.

Metranil_Vavin

We have an S-Max too and I love it!

We only have the 2 kids, but there is space for a 3rd kiddie seat if we do lose our marbles and have a 3rd

Spendless

We had 2 kids but frequently had my Grandmother with us on trips so went to a 7 seater car after youngest was born.

We had a Touran followed by an S Max. The Touran had less boot space when all 7 seats were up. We bought a roof box to use on hols for this reason. The S Max had more boot space. Now our eldest is a teen and Gran has ill-health, we didn#t see the need any more and went back to a 5 door and though it is rare for us to be more than 3 or 4 in a car, I really missed the 3 full seats at the back on a recent family trip.


If you're going to stick to a 5 seater car, I'd say you need a 4 or 5 door as a must and you're going to have to look at what cars are big enough to fit 3 car seats. I have seen on one of the threads on here about this problem, that someone solved it by buying different car seats he saw on display at the showroom he went to, think he said car salesman wasn't impressed.

kev25v6

VW Transporter wud be perfect, 9 seats and plenty of room for buggies in the boot.