What cars can you get 3 car seats in?

[Tigerlily13]

Hello! We are thinking of trying for baby no.3 in december. If all goes to plan that means we will have a just turned 3 year old, 18 months old, and a newborn. I currently have a maxi-cosi baby carrier with isofix, and a britax eclipse, which the 18 month old will be in. I'm guessing the 3 year old will still need a proper car seat at that time, so what cars can i get 3 seats in? Budget is around £11500, used. I guess another option is to put the 3 year old in the front, but i wouldn't really want to do this as i don't trust airbags not to go off even when switched off. We don't really want an MPV, so are there any other options?
Thanks!

[LillyofWinchester]

No idea on cars but you could always go to a garage to make sure the airbag is off safely if you did have to go for the option of putting one in the front.

If the 3 year old is in a forward facing seat do you still need to deactivate the airbag? I didn't know that.

[SugarMiceInTheRain]

My choice personally would be a Honda FRV - 3 separate seats across the front and 3 across the back. They're not huge like people carriers. It is possible to get 3 child seats across the back of a few of the larger 5 seater family cars, but very hard and fiddly to actually get to the seatbelt anchors. We're expecting #3 and have fortunately found some narrower boosters so I am keeping my Honda Civic. However, my children are older than yours so don't need proper ridiculously wide car seats.

[AliceMum09]

Peugeot 5008. I guess it would be classed as an MPV, but I think you'll struggle to get 3 car seats in something that doesn't have 3 separate seats across the back (or middle) row.
Currently I have two Britax Adventure high backed boosters and a Britax Multi Tech II rear-facing group 1 seat in the car. They fit easily side by side and the older two can easily reach the buckles to fasten their own seatbelts. I've had any combination of Britax Adventures, Britax First Class (used both ways), Cabriofix (with seatbelted base and without) and Britax infant carrier and they've all fitted with space to get to the buckles.
The car also has two 'occasional' seats that pull up from the boot floor. I find this really handy now that I have all 3 seats on the middle row filled - we can go out with my parents in just one car, and I can take a gang of DS's friends to and from Beavers/football etc easily.
My car is a diesel (1.6L engine), I had a test drive in a petrol one and it was really underpowered. You'd easily get a second hand one for your budget. Ours is 2 1/2 years old now and we've not had any problems with it at all.
If you want a similar car that really doesn't look or feel big then a Toyota Verso would be good. My parents have one, it's not that long at all and you'd never know by looking at it that there was a third row of seats. It too can easily fit 3 car seats.