Four under five and a dog - what car?

[Middledistancerunner]

Sorry guys, I’ve looked over old threads and I know it’s been done a lot, but I’m very pregnant at the moment and just confused.

I have a four year old, in a forward facing high backed seat who can’t manage to do a seatbelt themselves, although Im sure he could learn, he’s just stubborn.
A two year old in a rear facing seat (although I’d be willing to turn the seat around to help with strapping in), five point harness so will help with that.
In a month or so two newborns in maxi cosi I size, 5 point harness obs.
And a dog. And a bloody great uppababy double with buggy board. Associated bags, jackets, wellies, changes of clothes, scooters etc.

The cars I’m looking at online all seem too small - the boot space which I need for dog/ pram/ scooters is taken up by the extra seats.

The really big minibus type things are out of our price range.

Can anyone recommend what they drive please?
All recommendations I have found seem to think a family should be more spread out so all the children aren’t still in the giant rear facing seats and can manage seatbelts themselves.
And you certainly shouldn’t have a dog as well as a pram (although tbf there is no way I would have got a dog if I’d planned this many children either).

I’d be very grateful for any help or advice.

[AuntMarch]

A two seater so I would have to leave them all with dad

My friend has a harness thing for her dog so he's in the back, not the boot. Would that make a difference, assuming you need two rows of seats behind you and DP to fit the car seats in anyway?

You're a brave lady!!!

[OhWifey]

I'm not sure this is possible as one child will have to go in the boot seats if your partner is in the car too. In which case you won't get both the dog and the buggy in. The Seat Alhambra springs to mind as it has a huge boot as well as sliding doors to aid car seats. If you're using the boot seats you must tie the buggy down as it will fly about in a crash otherwise.

[babysharkah]

Zafira and a roofbox but with the baby seats in, you can not pull forward the seats for access to the back seats so you have to go in via the boot.

[Middledistancerunner]

@AuntMarch the two seater idea is a good one .
I’ll suggest it to DH and see if it’s a goer.

@ohwifey I’ll need the front seat free if my partner is not in it as I would like to leave the car seats in situ.
I’ll check out the seat again, to add a complication my dh is tall so we need a car that allows him to get his legs under the wheel. I thought that seat are really built for small Spanish people, but I could be wrong.

@babysharkah is that what you do?
How is your fuel economy with a roof box permanently on your car?

[OhWifey]

Seat Alhambra is the same car as the VW Sharan. Just has a SEAT price tag rather than VW. Ford Galaxy is a similar size but without the slidey doors

[babysharkah]

@Middledistancerunner we had to do it as no other choice, I have no idea about fuel economy!

[Spanneroo]

Nothing to add, unfortunately, but I'm watching with interest as we have almost exactly the same issue.

I'm surprised nobody has invented a boot divider for cars with pop up back seats so that you can preserve half the boot as actual luggage space!

We're considering a multimac but I really don't want one!

[1984isHappeningNow]

I have a Nissan Elgrand. The kids call it the Boogie Bus.

It's 8 seater, with bags of room but it's more of a small minibus as it's van sized but classed as a SUV.

They are a Japanese import, but fantastic value for money. Mines been converted to LPG, so although it's got a huge 3.5l V6 engine it costs the same as our Volvo to run.

[Gin96]

A 7 seater Land Rover, you only have to put up one seat in the boot and would still have room for a dog and a buggy

[Chaosonthehorizon]

Hi middledistancerunner what did you get in the end and how is it all going? Due with twins next year and will have a (probably ff by then) 5 year old and rf 3 year old. No dog (yet) but tonnes of stuff!

[Isawthathaggis]

@Chaosonthehorizon we ended up with a Hyundai i800, it’s basically a bus. Seats eight adults or four children and their stuff.
Sliding doors are brilliant, massive boot, pain to park as only has rear sensors and only just fits in car parks height wise.
Only one row of isofix which is a pain.

We spent weekends in showrooms looking at all the seven seaters on the market, couldn’t make any of the cars work.

Good luck