Three young kids in a car - help please :)

[Lovemylittlebear]

Hi

We have a Nissan quasquai and a Peugeot. We found out we are expecting recently. This will mean next year we shall have a three year old, one year old and newborn. I'm a bit stuck about what to do as the guy is halfords just said he hadn't heard of anyone stupid enough to have three kids under four - lol

Anyway first question does anyone have a quasquai that they can safely fit three kids and car seats in and what do they use?

If not possible we could trade in our car for the newer xtrail which seems to be our cheapest monthly payment option compared to other 7seaters I got quotes for. Again only two isofix points so one will have to go in the back without an isofix base. Which child/ car seat type would be best in the back?

If anyone has ideas I'd be really grateful

Thanks

[Lovemylittlebear]

Sorry my dd will be just turned 4 when baby arrives if that makes a difference with seat options

[SnugglySnerd]

Not much advice but I'm in a similar situation, expecting twins and have a DD who will be 3 when they arrive.
The car safety centre in Milton Keynes are really helpful, have a look at their website (sorry, can't link on phone).
We are also looking at bigger cars and a second hand Citroen C4 Picasso looks like our best option. Ford S Max and Seat Alhambra also look suitable.
I have always found Halfords useless with car seats!

[Lovemylittlebear]

Yeah it was a bit of a tragic conversation haha - oh my god three kids under four- woah I have only ever seen that once lol - I was thinking really? Lol but he was trying to be nice. I really like the cars you are looking at but when I rang up for quotes they were more expensive then the Nissan option we have. Looks like it would be £380 per month without owning the car at the end. If you find any particularly good offers please let me know and vice Versa :)

[beepbeep]

we had 3 under 3, you need to make sure the 3 seats in the back are full size adult seats so the car seats fit safely, we have an smax and i have to say it's been great.

[Lovemylittlebear]

Thanks beep beep - will see if I can find any offers on the s max. I am crap at all this car shopping stuff :)

[beepbeep]

the Smax also has 3 iso fix points, I may be wrong but I think the picasso is 2 big seats and one smaller one in the middle (which most cars are). Ours are now 6, 7 &9 and the need for 3 large seats continues are their bottoms grow!! We'll probably look at something like a discovery but may end up replacing the smax with another.

[twojues]

I'm a childminder. I've got a Renault Espace which has got 3 full size seats in the middle.
I've just purchased some new car seats for my little ones. They are all isofix. I've got a Jane Grand, a Cosatto Hug isofix and maxi cosi cabriofix with an isofix base. They fit neatly in the seats.

[rhuhbarb4]

Hi we have a now 7 month old baby which is our 3rd child and 2 older dcs so we had to change our car from our old now 3 series we went for a discovery in the end after looking about. They are expensive to buy but they are so worth it we can fit 3 car seats across the back seats so that means that one of them doesn't have to sit in the boot and all 3 seats have isofix. It is a brilliant all rounder car as well I can't recommend them highly enough. The running costs are about the same as any other 7 seater car we are getting 40 mpg on ours which is a 2.7 turbo diesel.

[AliceMum09]

The Citroen C4 Grand Picasso has three equal-width seats, all with ISOFIX, as does my car - a Peugeot 5008. I can easily fit three child seats across the middle row of my car.

[SnugglySnerd]

I wondered about the Peugeot 5008. What's the boot space like? We do a lot of camping so ideally need a massive boot and roof bars.

[AliceMum09]

The boot seems to be bigger than other cars of the same type (except possibly the S-Max, I've not had a good look at the boot of one of those). It's certainly miles bigger than a Toyota Verso, and the VW Touran (my parents had a Verso and now have a Touran).

We have friends who have a 5008 with a roof box, they have children aged 13, 10 and 8 and a dog!

I'll see if I can attach some pictures, the pram in them is a Maclaren Quest! In the one without the pop-up seats the left hand passenger seat is as far back as it goes (so the boot is as deep front to back as the length of the pram). I think the middle seat is pulled forward slightly, you can do that without compromising the legroom in the middle row too much, again my car is longer than my parents Touran and seems to have a bit more legroom.

[Lovemylittlebear]

Ah that looks like a great boot size will need to take a look at one of those !

[SnugglySnerd]

Wow, that boot is huge! Will add those to my list to look at. Thanks for posting the photos.

[sleepwhenidie]

Or get a multimac instead of a new car? We were as stupid in the same position as you and it's been great. Eldest is now just 11 and we are still using it, though probably getting towards stopping.

[BikeRunSki]

My friend with 3 under 4, put one on the passenger seat (turned off airbag), and she or her DH squeezed into the middle back seat when they all went out together.

[SnugglySnerd]

We have to get a new car next year anyway as ours is leased and I would like something with lower monthly payments. Can new borns use a multimac?

[vallinnapod]

We have a Nissan X-Trail (so bigger than the Qashqai) and are expecting #3. There is no way you can squish an adult between two car seats in the back and have an infant carrier in the front. Nissan don't do anything suitable - we are on PCP and car is only 18 months old so were desperate for a Nissan solution!

We have a Cybex Q-Fix and a Maxi-Cosi Pearl. The baby will have a Cybex Cloud Q. Looked at other car seat options but most 0+ and Group 1 seats are a similar width. We've tried all 3 seats in a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso and the S-Max. If I am honest it is still a squeeze. Not really sure how to get the seat belt done up for the Q-Fix when all 3 seats are in, will have to get DC - with smaller hands- to be cooperative.......

Long and short, we pick up an S-Max tomorrow.....

[AliceMum09]

Try sliding the car's seats back and forth to see if you can create a bigger hand gap!

[Lovemylittlebear]

Hi vanilla
Similar ball game to us we still owe 6400 on our quasquai and they said the X trail would be fine but having looked at it I don't think it's right. I'm trying to work out how you trade finance deals with a different company as I heard you can do that but it's all a bit complicated to me :( we like the s max and also the sharan so hoping there is a decent option for us too

[FreeButtonBee]

We got an XC90, with 3 under 2.5! Fits two Britax dualfix isofix seats and a britax babyseat (can't remember the name but the narrowest one) on a belted base in the middle.

My mum's RAV4 also has tons of space. Again you'd have no real problem with 2 isofix seats and babyseat in the middle on a belted base. You can even stand in the footwell to buckle them all up in that car.

[SnugglySnerd]

I suspect we'll have to buy new seats as well as a new car as DD is currently in one of those massive Cybex ones that rotates to put her in and out. We also have a Graco baby seat off a travel system but that should be ok. The S-max is huge!

[vallinnapod]

Hi lovemylittlebear the X-Trail is def not big enough, we'd have done anything to keep it!!

We had to pay an 'additional' £2k which was the difference between what we owed on the PCP and the value of the car (as agreed upon by both Nissan and Ford). The S-Max is also on PCP and Nissan Finance/Ford sorted it all out. Very easy. All we needed was an email from Nissan with the settlement figure.

[MummaGiles]

Sorry if this has already been suggested but have you looked into the multimac?

[SnugglySnerd]

I've considered it. Isn't it very hard to reach to do the middle one up in a small car though?

[Bexta147]

We have a VW Touran and we can fit the three seats across. My oldest is in a booster though so they aren't as bulky. I love having a 7 seater as it means I can just put the oldest right in the back so he can't spend the whole journey winding his brother up and I don't have to listen to him talk nonsense all the way!