I know this has been done in recent threads with regards to specific models, but I'm interested in knowing what you love/hate about your car which fits 3 car seats across the back.

We are in the beginning stages of looking (very reluctantly) for a new car to replace our beloved Octavia in preparation for the arrival of dc3. We'll need a car which can accommodate a baby, toddler and booster seat, preferably with 3 full seats, a decent boot (we are used to the octy's cavern for long trips), economical, but not too much of a bus. We will only have the trade-in/sale value of our car to play with, perhaps in the region of 7-8k. It seems there are compromises to be made regardless. Is cheap always nasty? Or is it better to invest in bigger is best for the future?

Hate car shopping. It always feels like gambling. All nuggests of experienced wisdom gratefully received.

Bump

we've got a ford cmax which fits 3 across the back if you have them in the right order. it's the ollder model (05 plate). It is tight fastening the seat belts. I like the car as it's not too big and wasn't too dear. Has a heated windscreen too which is great. I guess the cheap and nasty aspect might depend a lot on the spec.

My friend recently bought a scenic as she is expecting DC3. She's delighted with it - kids enjoy being higher up, 3 seats in back so carseats will be accommodated, oodles of storage. She did her research before deciding on this car and got a good priced 2nd hand.

I have a C4 Grand Picasso. Our DCC are not in car seats, but areall adult sized - and it was one of the few cars which has the three full seats across the back. As opposed to two seats and a 'shelf' for the middle seat. (Ours also have two extra seats, which we rarely use).

I love it - as if we take all three DC there is little squabbling over who sits in the middle. Of course they do still argue over it - as whoever is in the middle seat gets 'touched' on their elbows at either side.FFS... arragh.

The boot is huge - when not using the 2 extra seats.

The car itself isn't too large to drive and park. We havea narrow driveway and I was concerned that it would be tricky to get in and out - but it isn't all that much bigger than prev car.

Pricewise - I guess it all depends on spec. Mine is an 'Executive' on a 59 plate - and i bet you could get similar or lower spec for about £9K ? I really do rate it. Had no problems at all - and it is quite economical for such a many seated vehicle - and all on a 1.6 L engine!

How economical is economical? We do quite a big commute so it makes a difference to us. We would be looking for 45-55mpg if poss.

I'm getting geeky and starting a spreadsheet.... I just wish someone would do a website for this. All cars, models, specs in an easy to compare format. I claim patent rights.

we have 3 across the back of our volvo v70

i LOVE the car. it has a mahoooooooooosive boot (we can fit all our camping shit in the boot)
it's well made, it's nice to drive, it's fairly economical.

it doesn't have 3 full seats in the back, but if you look on my profile you'll see that we fairly easily fit 3 across the rear seat

Do you think the V70 would work with a full-backed booster too (for seatbelt access)?

I have a Ford SMax. It has three proper, individual seats in the back which makes fitting three car seats much easier. It fits a double buggy in the boot nicely (provided the back two seats are down - it's a 7seater.) We originally bought a KIA Sportage thinking there would be ample room in the back for three car seats but alas, no.

PS Mine is the top model on an 06 plate bought for 9k.

yeah one of our seats is a high backed booster

we found that the narrowest one, a graco, actually wasn't as good a fit because the arms on it got in the way, so we have a britax adventure which technically is slightly wider, but has no arms so you can just put your hand down to plug it in

Anyone had a Honda FRV?

I got a Volvo xc90 with the arrival of no3 as three wouldn't fit in my Lexus 400.
volvomwa fab as it had the in built child seat in the middle. No grazed knuckles doing seats. Huge boot fit the big three where, trainer bikes and scooters.
I now have a cayenne but is suspect I'm not allowed to fess up to that here

We had an FRV, loved it. But it was thirsty on petrol, and as we only have one needing a car seat, and there are usually a max of 4 in the car we now have a Jazz. Although we've done long journeys with 5 in the Jazz.
The extra seat in the FRV was great for giving people a lift.

We have an older VW Sharan and it has been and still is such a reliable and versatile car. 7 seater, with plenty of room. The seats can be moved around easily and our current setup is 2 adults up front, 3 kids in the middle (2 in booster seats), 2 back seats taken out and there is tonnes of room for wheelchair, and big dog or shopping.

Its a diesel and gets 40-45 mpg, parts are cheap and its relatively easy to work on.

Would recommend one to anybody, so versatile - I often have all the back seats out and use it like a van.

We have a VW Touran, the smaller of the seven seaters VW do, i have ten month twins and a four year old so need to be able to fit two stage 0 seats next to each other. They fit no problem.
There is loads of storage in the boot (plus two extra seats if needed) loads of little cubby holes for crap essentials.

All in all i love it

Oh and regarding mpg we get 50+ usually, dh is obsessed!

Is something like the Mazda 5 worth looking at?

When you made decisions based on priorities such as seat space, boot space, parking ease vs budget, do you have any regrets or surprised yourself by liking what you'd compromised on?

I've had a Honda FRV. it was ok. I quite liked it - only really changed it because we wanted a 4wd. it did fit in a fair bit, but the boot was not huge, imo (although we did bung a lot of crap in it, and had a huge dog, so maybe it was bigger than I'm remembering

I now have a Honda CRV, and we have managed ot fit 3 seats across that (thanks to the lovely ladies at In-Car Safety at Milton Keynes ) - an infant carrier, a toddler seat and a high backed booster. we will also manage ot fit (we checked - silly not to, since we were there anyway!) 2 high backed boosters and the toddler seat once the baby grows out of the infant carrier.

We have the frv and I really like it. I resisted a bigger car as I am a scaredy driver but it is fine. The extra seat has come in handy.

Toyota verso here and we love it

We have a toyota verso. We just bought it, due to the arrival of ds2 8 weeks ago and having 2 other dc in high back boosters. We had a Skoda Octavia and could not get three seats at the back, which is why we changed the car.

We like the toyota, very spacious and good sized boot, if two rear seats at the very back are put down. Fairly economical on fuel. Recommended!

FRV is great, but not the biggest boot to be honest. It doesn't have under floor storage boxes, which makes it easier to fit a range of car seats. Scenic, picasso etc all have bigger boots I'd say.

We have a Vauxhall Zafira (older style, 06 plates). It has fitted a stage 2 and two baby seats fine, but now we need to upgrade the baby seats to stage 1s, we can't fit all three and are having to look again can anyone say whether their favourite car is wider across the back than a Zafira? ds1 is 4 and the dts are 18 months (but small).

We also love our verso! Also it doesn't have floor boxes in case you are going to get extended rear facing car seats which was important to us.