a car with room for 3 children in carseats

[cuppateaandasliceofcake]

Hi, we've got a citroen picasso but its on its last legs and costs a fortune to run. We want a car that will fit 2 forward facing seats and a booster seat. Any recommendations. Has it got to be a people carrier? Thanks for any replies, we havent got a huge budget so cheap but decent (if that's possible ) thanks

[fivegomadindorset]

I drive a Fiat Multipla which is great, cheap to run, it is a diesel, two rows of 3 seats.

[frustratedpants]

Have you considered a bubblebum it fits in the middle seat between 2 forward facing seats in our Honda.

[cuppateaandasliceofcake]

Thanks, my dd likes a window seat as she can get a bit travel sick, I need a car with 3 full seats but thanks for the suggestion. I like the fiat multipla but is it much wider than a Picasso, our drive is quite narrow.

[frustratedpants]

Nissan serena? Ours just went on and on. They look huge but handle well and have a Surprisingly small turning circle.

[whereismumhiding]

I had this problem when mine were younger 4. Years ago. Very hard to find car wide enough to fit 3 car seats in one row. I found my Citroen c8 people carrier unreliable & expensive to run, repairs were awful. If you do get mpv, totally recommend vauxhall zafira. (can't do 3 child seats in row but is 7 seater, good size boot). Very reliable, cheap to run and repair and you can usually pick up older models for a bargain.

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

VW Touran. That or the S-max (but we couldn't afford an S-max).


All individual seats. Britax ones were wide, but still fitted.

[PerryCombover]

We have an smax. Fits three full car seats in the middle.
Lovely car to drive also

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

I've had 2 car seats on the middle row (but could fit 3), and another 2 on boosters on the back row.

[Notgrownupinmyhead]

Does the car insurance go up with a 7 seater? We need a car with 3 rear anchor points too.

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

Ours went down!

[Notgrownupinmyhead]

Yay! Always a good thing!

Jareth as in paravoodoowhodoyoudo?

[Fisharefriendsnotfood]

Try a Toyota verso, they do a 5 and 7 seater with 3 full seats across the back

[Notgrownupinmyhead]

Thanks. Ill get DH to have a look. He thinks the insurance will go up if we get a 7 seater.

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

Ours definitely went down (from almost
£300 to under £250).

We did swap from a Golf though. The insurance company probably think families in 7 seaters don't drive very fast - they're not exactly boy racer cars :p

[wyorksmum]

Vauxhall Vectra, nice and wide in back, enough room for 3 car seats, have had 3 in, and HUGE boot.

[SilkStalkings]

FiAt Multipla, size of a normal car but seats 6 with bootspace, we have 4 cars was in ours as we often car share. Once you get over how ugly it is, it's cheap to buy relatively young, good mpg and it's the most reliable car we've had since we grew out of a micra. Any of the back 3 seats can come out completely and boot opening is flat so it's like a van.

[SilkStalkings]

4 car seats (bloody iPhone)

[SilkStalkings]

Some cars can fit 3 car seas in the back but it can still be a right bugger to strap/unstrap them in. Not so the Multipla, loads of room to reach the buttons.

[Notgrownupinmyhead]

Grr to iphone keypad. Mines the same. Ill show DH all of the ones youve all talked about. Weve got a Mondeo now and thats nacked. Were nit fussed if the cars pleasing on the eye

[StuntNun]

I have to recommend the S-Max, easy to fit three car seats in the middle row, each has a full size seatbelt. Isofix points are only on the two outer seats, not the middle one. There's also the advantage of either having a humongous boot or having an extra two seats if you're taking a bunch of kiddies out somewhere.

And they're great to drive. I drove a brand new VW Golf Estate on holiday and a brand new Ford Fiesta as a courtesy car recently and they driving experiences were so poor compared to the S-Max. I really expected more from the Golf but it goes to show that the S-Max is good.

My childminder has a Renault Grand Espace and it just about fits three seats in the back but it's a bit of a squeeze.

[SilkStalkings]

We had an Espace and it was horrible, was not sorry when DH wrote it off!
I LOVED my Toyota Estima Japanes import but it was ancient and falling to pieces, but still a high spec car. If we won the lottery I would import a newer one from Japan.

[shushpenfold]

Word of warning on 3 car seats and audi A6....depends on the ages of children as we couldn't fit 3 in with ours as the wrong one would always grown out of the car seat before the next had left the previous (IYSWIM)

[AhsokaTano]

We've just bought a VW Touran; it fits 2 HBBs and a stage 0+ across the 2nd row of seats but also has 2 seats that pop up from the boot if you need extra room.

[administrator]

We have had our multipla for years, can't bear to get rid! So much room for 3 DC, shopping, pushchairs, suitcases etc. All at the same time sometimes over the years!
They are wide tho, no two ways about it. You do have to be careful about your wing mirrors and parking. Our drive is narrow too and we do struggle past the car with shopping etc.
That said, I love, love it & life would have been difficult without it these last 8 years.