Car advice please from any MPV owners

[dreamfeeder]

Hi,
I have my 13 month DD in a rear facing Group 1 (the BeSafe iZi Combi) which is isofix and has a support leg and weighs a ton. I am 13 + 4 pregnant again, and have discovered I'm having twins.

Weighing up the options, we think we will change our car for an MPV. I thought I would buy 2 Klippan Kiss car seats for the twins to take them from birth to age 3-4, and job's a good 'un.

However, we have been to look at some MPV's (we intend changing car after xmas when I'm at least 26 weeks but NEED to have an idea to budget for) before, and liked the Ford Galaxy but it has underfloor storage boxes. The nice lady at the In Car Safety Centre who I rang while we were there said we can't put our BeSafe or a Kiss on an underfloor storage box. We were hoping to get a 3 year old ish car, bt the man at Ford said from 2006 they have all looked the same and he thinks all have underfloor storage boxes (yet my BeSafe instruction booklet says the seat can go in a Galaxy from 2006 onwards??). Is he wrong? Does a 2006 or later (we saw a new one) Galaxy have underfloor storage?

Or is anyone driving an MPV without underfloor storage and with some isofix points?!?!

Or does anyone have 3 of the 'big' rearfacers (BeSafe/Kiss) in an MPV?

It is so hard to research this underfloor storage box thing...

[HarrietJones]

Renault scenic- has underfloor storage. So one to rule out

[notfarmingatthemo]

MY understanding was that issofix car-seats were tested in the actural car and that is why they are only semi-universal. So if a car is on the list it is ok. Have checked my last 2 cars on the besafe website both had storage boxes both are on the list. c4 grand picasso and a Renault scenic out of those the c4 was bigger. If you lookhere and clic on English top right hand corner you can look at the kiss instruction in English which has a car list.

The c4 and the Renault both had 3 issofix in the middle row but you wont get three across a scenic once the get to highbacks the c4 was better
In case your wondering how I afford to change car so often it a motability car

[dreamfeeder]

Thanks for the information

loopymumsy, pleased to hear you got the BeSafe in all the positions in the Seat Alhambra. That is definitely near the top on the list now! Did you get 3 of the seats in, or just use two in the car? Oh dear about the poor visibility though, I was hoping to put DD in the middle, and have the twins in isofix seats- maybe Kisses- either side... sounds like that needs a re-think, though I can't imagine a Kiss would be any better.

Interesting about the car seat being tested in the car. I'm a little wary, as I can't imagine they re-test every time a change is made to each model of every car they say the seat is suitable for, and we have looked at a brand new Alhambra (showroom browsing) which also has underfloor storage now. Not an issue for us, as we won't be able to afford to buy new, but makes me wonder...

My husband is raging about the car seats/car issue, he wasn't 100% sure about our Besafe to begin with, so I hope this doesn't become a mammoth battle/disaster...

[sleepevader]

I think you can get foam spacers for fords under floor storage. Worth investigating!

[dreamfeeder]

oh, fantastic!!! That's great. I'd probably choose the Alhambra car bus, but I think DH is keen on a Ford S-Max or Galaxy as he thinks it 'looks' best. Like I care about that!!!

DH will LOVE it if we could get foam spacers and it therefore wouldn't limit our choice of car, the amount of grumbling about ridiculous car seats that look like an alien spaceship has landed in the back of our car is unbelievable now he thinks it'll affect our choice totally!

I'm so encouraged by this thread, it has been the best thing I've done today!

Thanks everyone.

[abendbrot]

We had a Fiat Multipla and it was great because you could lean the rear seats back aeroplane style. This meant as they got older and nodded off they were comfortable.

The other good thing about it was its height - the seats are high off the floor so loading dcs in car seats is really easy.

And the last good thing about the Multipla was having 3 seats in the front. They would both sit in the front on school runs and chat.

Main disadvantage is it was noisy and took a while to heat because of its size. Also it looks completely bonkers.

Oh, and visibility was excellent for towns and pulling out etc, felt very safe on motorways.

We now have a Nissan Almera Tino which is quiet, reliable, dull and completely impractical for children. But it has a 'curry hook' (yes - a purpose built hook for bags of takeaways so they don't spill). Must have been invented by a bloke.

[nicm]

i have 3 rear facing seats across the back seat of a toyota verso(no underfloor storage). a britax two way elite and 2 britax hi-way ii, which are also suitable from birth to 25kgs. they are great seats, very sturdy when fitted and i like them better than i did my KISS but they have tether straps and take longer to fit if you have to move them reguarly.

:)

[ZombiouslyGhoulblivious]

I have a foam filler for my vw caddy maxi - when I ordered it from the dealer he had no idea what I was on about at first. I ex

[ZombiouslyGhoulblivious]

Oops! I explained to him what the filler was for and he remarked that it is clearly such an important thing he couldn't understand why no one else had ever asked for one (this is a busy London dealership). There must be lots of unsafe isofix car seats out there!

[dreamfeeder]

That's fantastic that foam fillers really do exist!!

I am off to google a toyota verso too. I think I know ehat a fiat multipla looks like...

Thanks nicm, I don't think we'll be moving them regularly with having 3 in proper car seats as I think the grandparents' cars etc just couldn't accomodate them. I assume you have to lift the baby in and out every time with a hi-way II though? That's why I was thinking of the KISS so I could just click the seat off the base and lift it out.

[justforinfo]

If it's any help, i've fitted a multi-tech and got the leg down with the storage compartment lid up as the actual storage is quite shallow, so that may be worth looking at...can also vouch for Fiat Multipla! It does look a little bit like a dolphin though! Not very "cool dad"!!!!!!

[sleepevader]

Which car was that in justforinfo ?

I have to say I do love the multipa as think it's got decent seats and a reasonable boot.

[justforinfo]

Oops I didn't put the car :-S sorry!!!! In a VW Touran! whoopsies! (It's been a looong day!)
also, what about a vw golf estate? Would there be enough room to get 3 across the back in that or are you after individual seats? Another plus on the multipla side of things is that it has 6 seats, so you wont have to worry to much when all 3 dc's are in HBB

Also, congratulations!!!!!

[dreamfeeder]

Lovely, I have a nice neighbour with a Touran I've noticed today- might have to go and check it out!!!

[brachy]

I have a Zafira. The other day I managed 3 across the back seat- my DS was rear facing in his Two Way Elite, I then had two FF...one in a Britax First Class, the other in a FF Two Way ELite. It was a squeeze though. The Two Way ELite could have gone in rear facing had I not lost my spare set of tethers!

[moonstorm]

We have an S-Max. Ford works with Britax - you will notice that their Isofix baby seats are now allowed to rest on the lid of the storage boxes (as long as they have been filled)...

Two way elite fits nicely. We aso have a BeSafe Izi Isofix. The manual says that you need to install foam spacers when using a seat with a support leg. HTS (Besafe manufacturers) say as long as Ford ok the seat, then they think the seat is ok to use - with regards the foam spacers. Fork UK were not sure whether it would be ok (Besafe Seat goes up to 18 kg, whereas their testing was for the baby seats up to ?11kg). Ford in Norway (where the mesafe seat in manufacturered) said absolutely the seat is ok to use as long as the foam spacers are used. Ford (UK) have told me the Galaxy and the Smax are identical in many ways, so what's ok in the Galaxy will also match the S-max.

We will be using the Besafe seat in our S-max with the foam spacers installed, although I wish I hadn't needed to go around the houses to find an answer and there will always be some element of doubt there - although I know it is ok to use. The same sort of doubt I feel about turning ds1 forwards (he is 4 now, and I will keep him rear-facing if the rearfacing seat behind the driver works out).

Galaxy is better for rearmost passengers, S-max not so good, but at least it doesn't feel like driving a bus!

hth

[moonstorm]

car list - see S-max at the bottom and info reminding to fill underfloor storage

[dreamfeeder]

Thanks moonstorm, that is incredibly helpful. DH will dance a jig. He loves the S-max, I'd prefer the Galaxy I'll bang and scrape either into all sorts, bus or not as it took me months to go from a Mini to a Focus

[moonstorm]

In all seriousness -parking sensors on front and rear. We got our by chance (bought a demonstrator and it had them). I love being able to switch the front ones on. We had a Focus before and the S-max seems no different (I have to remind myself that it's wider and longer!).

Happy car hunting

[dreamfeeder]

Absolutley! I hope they can be retro-fitted if we buy something without them....