Car - 3 yr old plus expecting twins, just discovered we won't all be able to fit in the car...

[Weegle]

I think we might have just found the straw to break the camel's back...

We have a Skoda Octavia Estate, 54 reg - it's great but we've just tried all configurations of seats and there is no way that one high back booster, two infant car seats, and two (very tall) adults can fit in. But we are in the process of doing building work on the house and there is simply no spare money - we are in fact taking out a loan on top of the mortgage to meet the shortfall on the building work.

What on earth can we do? We live in a rural area and I am disabled, we NEED a car!

Please help me think outside of sheer panic as to how to solve this!

[choufleur]

Well congrats on the twins. Coudn't you sell the octavia and buy something else. I would have thought for the price of the octavia you should be able to get something half decent.

If you are looking for alternative a renault scenic will fit two baby seats and a high back booster in easily.

[Weegle]

thank you

we would get about £2.4k for the Skoda (Parkers) which doesn't seem to go very far on a MPV - which I think is what we need?

Is a Scenic an MPV - not very up on cars! The Octavia is actually only a Golf chassis, so not very big.

[choufleur]

I think it's an MPV (suppose i should know as we have one). We bough it in June (53 reg, 56000miles for £3.5k), i imagine you could get something similar, albeit a bit older for £2.5. What about things like Citroen Picasso or the Vauxhall MPV?

[Weegle]

thanks - will get DH to have a look as I'm lost already and have no idea what's good or not... We seriously don't need the hassle of trying to look for a new car right now though, we're barely coping as it is.

[choufleur]

Just looked on autotrader quickly and you could get something around an 52/03 reg for £2k - £2.5k easily.

[ilove]

You need a Multipla.

[Weegle]

just been looking at the Motability website - we'd need about £800 upfront I think (from what DH was just looking at). And I only have just over one year left on my current DLA award - and I've only had that for one 'term' so far, DH is a bit worried about what would happen if it doesn't get re-awarded, or we have to appeal again (like we did before) and therefore end up without a car. That was my first thought though. Need to research it more and get on to it ASAP if so because you need at least a year left on your award.

[Weegle]

I think the key problem is that DH is pissed off at having to replace a great 04 car with something not great that's older - because that's the issue isn't it? I need to convince him somehow that selling the Octavia and using that money only (and no additional) won't mean we're breaking down every five minutes and spending a fortune on repair bills... I think that's his concern.

[choufleur]

YOu're probably only talking about a year or 18months older. How many miles has your car done?

[Weegle]

about 50,000. I just explained that argument to DH and he said "but they're all shit. you'll be ringing me from a layby". Hmmm, not a massively constructive response...

[jellibob]

We were in the same situation, sold our 54 plate care and have a Y reg Volvo estate now, which cost about £2.5k, but has all sorts of fab extras. We can get 2 isofix maxi-cosi baby seats in, with the high back booster in the middle.

Mind you, it's huge, and I can only park it in an empty car park!

Oh, and a 3 year old and twins is a great combination (most of the time) - the twins worship the older one, and laugh at everything he does, and he enjoys the adoration. Congratulations

[Weegle]

oh thank you so much for that positive comment jellibob - I'm feeling really overwhelmed by the prospect of it all today and that's just reignited my excitement

DH has just had us both out there with all the seats and a wedge of foam... and we can just fit DS + very squashed DH + one baby in the back, and get the other baby in the front. It's far from ideal (as he clearly wasn't comfortable! and I would have to do 100% of the driving) but it would get us through till the building work is done and we know what our financial situation will be.

Mind you, it's taken DH so long to fit each seat that we won't be going anywhere this side of 2011 anyway...

[fustilarian]

really really recommend a fiat multipla- we bought a 2004 one for 2 grand and currentky have 3 dcs under 2....great car.

[curiositykilled]

Does anyone know what and when, if anything, fiat did to the multipla to make it safer after it was NCAP'd?

[sazm]

have you been to halfords/mothercare and tried out lots of different types of seat?
an octavia is huge i can't think how you cant get 3 carseats in,

put a slim we have hi-liners) in the middle for your 3yo and a babyseat on each side,they will prob fit in better that way,
its all about how the seats fit together!different seats can make all the difference,

[Egg]

Hi weegle i know this thread is a month old but just wanted to see how you are getting on. We have a 3yr old plus 1yr old twins and we managed with a golf until twins were 18 months old. It meant having ds1 in front passenger seat and me stuck in between babies in back. Was not ideal but ok for short journeys. Saying that i am quite small myself! We did have to hire am mpv a couple of times when we stayed at inlaws for a few nights as would not have got all the paraphernalia in!

We now have a ford s.max which works a lot better. The multipla is supposed to be great.

[Weegle]

Looks like we might be getting a Zafira - but there aren't many of the spec DH wants, so we are still looking. Taking out a loan for it which is far from ideal but realistically we wouldn't have coped with the arrangement we were proposing. We're both over 6ft so a bit limited by that as well. Plus I have help because of my disability so it wouldn't be an unusual situation to need 3 adults and 3 children in the car, so that's what we've narrowed it down to.

I'm ok - well not really. I'm not enjoying this pregnancy one iota. I'm in so much pain with my arthritis and now I've got a cold which is exacerbating it (makes my joints even more painful). Whinge whinge whinge, less than 10 weeks to go though - they just booked my CS for 23rd Dec, so am counting down!

[Anjelika]

Hi Weegle

Have you checked that the Zafira will definitely take 3 seats across the second row (assuming this is the configuration you want?) I saw a thread on another site about someone putting a deposit down on a Zafira only to find it was a real struggle to get the 3 seats in. I have peered in a few (as we may also have to get a new car as have a 2.8 year old and twins due April) and they don't have the 3 same sized seats across the 2nd row that you get in say a VW Touran or SEAT Alhambra.

[throckenholt]

if you are looking at a zafira then have look at a vw touran - very similar but people I know who have had both say the touran is much better.

We have a touran - it fits 3 highback boosters across the back (just). Oddly in our old car we could manage 1 booster and 2 of the stage before that but not 3 boosters.

Good luck with the building work and the twins when they arrive (I have been there with both ).

[MilaMae]

We have 3 dc and had a Zafira,it was fine when they were all tiny but have had to get rid of it as our model had a middle lap belt so no good wghen dd went into a booster seat and it was getting a bit squashed in the back.

We bought a Toyota Lucida/Estima and it's fantastic. I'm not a good parker so dp searched high and low for a car very similar in size to the Zafira. The Lucida is thinner than the Zafira and only 10cm longer,it has sliding doors(so much easier) and a centre aisle,high seats and it's lovely-we've bonded .

I love driving it,my twins have separate seats(which can turn round,recline) with said aisle between them so no poking. Dd loves the back,it still has a big boot even with all 7 seats in use. It's tough as old boots,even has curtains and a useful runner for the dc to sit on to take wellies off.

You will need to start searching as they go v quickly(especially the 7 seater) being reliable,reasonable in price etc. Dp found a very good dealer,we bought ours before it arrived from Japan. We paid a returnable £200 deposit and the dealer made sure it was in tip top condition,replaced a few things and even took our battered old Zafira in part payment.

The brand new ones are bigger so for parking purposes the older ones are better. You see loads down here in Devon,very popular car.

[Weegle]

thanks all - the configuration of the Zafira works fine: we would have DS on one seat of the back row (have tested this on test drives) the twins in the middle row with the au pair between them and the pushchair in the gap next to DS in the back row. We would need to get a roof box immediately though as there is no boot space for more than what we'd need for a day out. What's swung it really is the we have a Vauxhall garage about 500 metres away, and we like the fact they are small and cheap. The Touran doesn't get great reviews for what we could afford for the same money - we'd get a better model Zafira whereas an older and less good spec Touran. DH did lots of research on that, and it really surprised him as normally he would have gone down the VW route. However, there aren't any coming up with our spec in our area so will get him to research the Lucida. Also have broadened our search out to include my parent's area of the country, see if they've got any.

Also - whilst I'm here - can I ask - did any of you have REALLY strong braxton hicks with twins? They were so bad last night (I'm 27 weeks today) they were making me breathless and I actually started to panic labour was starting! It didn't, obviously, but they were so strong - not painful but very uncomfortable - never had them like it with DS.

[MilaMae]

The Lucida and Estima are exactly the same car so either are great.

I did have a few BH but my twins were my 1st pg so I didn't have a lot to compare.

It is quite a squash in the very rear of the Zafira and they can't see much,I felt sick the 2 times I was in that seat. It's a long way back to get to them too.You may be better putting the au pair in the back. The beauty of having an aisle is you can get to them all in vomit situations

We also felt the crunch zone in the rear of the Zafira was too small if the back seats were in use and we had an accident. The boot in the Lucida is bigger so bigger crunch zone. The engine is under the front 2 seats so that's how you get a bigger boot and 7 seats. Personally I wouldn't be keen on a buggy next to one of my dc in an accident but you could rig up some way of strapping it in.

It's such a nightmare isn't it,no idea what families with 4 dc do!!!!!!

[Weegle]

Have C&P'ed everything you've just written and emailed to DH! He says we'd have to go older and higher mileage - what have you got? We'd be looking at about 60k miles and also there are only 2 of them available in the country at the moment - neither near us, so can't even go and have a look!

[MilaMae]

Ours is an R and had 70 milage. Runs like a dream and just did the south of France without a whimper. It's lovely for long journeys. It had a years warranty and was in tip top condition.

The dealer we dealt with was brilliant we grabbed ours before it arrived from Japan by putting down a refundable £200 deposit. Our dealer had a list of what was on the next boat,then we saw photos when he got them. He was lovely very trustworthy,bit of a Lucida geek methinks.

I'll get the name off dp if you need it.

I would go for the 7 seater though as you need the aisle with 3 carseats otherwise you'll have to take a seat out every time you want to get into the back iykwim.

Re looking at one just head down to Devon I saw 6 in our Asda carpark last week- one had been decorated with errrr fairy lights(dp said he'll leave me if I start decorating ours). Very popular down here as great for the outdoors,kids, loads of stuff, tents etc. We reckon we could go camping for a week with no topbox in ours,could fit the tent down the aisle. Didn't need a topbox for France. There are a couple of dealerships down here I'm sure there were some near you as we nearly drove up to view a couple.

Anyhow if you need anymore info just shout.

We nearly toyed with the Citroen one with sliding doors but size or crunch zone may have put us off can't rem. Didn't want 3 across either.

Good luck!