Cars - 7 seater and 3 child seats. Help please!

[Didyeaye]

I’m going mad from googling...
Can anyone with a car that fits 3 car seats tell me all about them please? I thought we had decided on a grand Picasso but noticed today that they’ve got underfloor storage which is a big pain for isofix car seats with support legs.

When our surprise number 3 arrives we’ll have a newborn (obv), a 22 month old and a 5 year old. So will have 2 baby seats and a high back booster. Ideally would have had the oldest in the middle but actually that’s the only seat that can take a support leg. Or can it? The manuals and child seat advice has confused me.

Sooo would you move toddler to a seat without support leg or keep them rear facing in the middle and just belt the infant carrier in? I’m not overly bothered about the extended rear facing, I suppose by the time baby outgrows the infant carrier the toddler will be nearer 3.

Ahhhh and is it going to be a huge pain trying to buckle the toddler into the middle seat with the 5 year old and newborn on either side?

My brain is broken 🤯🤯

We got a Toyota verso just before our third DC was born. It’s a bit wider than many cars and we could fit 2 baby seats and a high back toddler seat in with no problem. We didn’t use isofix so can’t advise on that, I’m afraid. It also converts to a 7 seater with 2 seats that you can flip up in the boot, or you can have it as a 5 seater and it has a very roomy boot.
I found that whatever order you put your DC in, in the car, is a pain, and a bit awkward with seatbelts but we did get quicker with practice. Our DC are now 6, 8 and almost 11, and we still have the same car but, finally (and happily) about to stop using a car seat for the eldest. Good luck!

We had a ford smax and used a Britax isofix base on the outside. There are ERF seats you can get without a support leg.

Ford Galaxy 😁

Only car I could do this comfortably with was a galaxy or a chryser grand voyager. Nothing else compares space wise!

This is for Britax, you can select the car and see what might work.

www.britax-romer.co.uk/fitfinder

If I recall correctly you open the underfloor storage on a picasso and extend seat prop to the floor base. (Email Citroen and ask them to be sure - they may even do fillers now)

Smax has underfloor storage and you can out fillers in it so prop can sit on top of box

We have a Ford galaxy. It's fantastic, fits all 3 in the back, and it has a HUGE boot which can be turned into 2 extra seats.

Car seat wise our baby is currently in infant maxi cosi car seat, our toddler is in the joie 360 and our big girl is in the cybex high back booster. Our eldest sits in the middle without isofix and the 2 younger ones are on either side with isofix. When baby grows out of infant car seat he will move into toddlers joie 360
Take a look at the Ford galaxy, they aren't especially nice to look at but awesome for a large family and so functional.

We had the same problem and got an S-max, I very reluctantly gave up a Lexus RX, but I was very impressed with the S-max.

We have a Prius 7 seater as we had a third surprise baby as well. My other two were older but still needed high back boosters . It is surprisingly decent space wide

@Sparklehead, thanks! That’s not one I’ve considered so I’ll add it to the list to check out. I did think that any order would be annoying cos the younger 2 will need buckled in by us and the eldest might be able to buckle herself but will need checked too.

@thegreatwave thanks for that. My mind was so boggled earlier!

I think the galaxy is a bit out of price range sadly, it does look good.

I doing the manual for the Picasso/space tourer and it seems to suggest that isofix with the support leg is fine but I can’t see how that can be when all the car seat safety advice pages say they’re not.

Sorry, more replies while I was typing. And more cars to look at, thank you!

We currently have a cybex high back booster, a joie i anchor advance and (as her unused) maxi cosi cabriofix. In all my mind boggling earlier I didnt really consider that changing car seats wasn’t such a big deal in the grand scheme of things considering the cost of another car.

Man these surprise extra babies are expensive out of interest can anyone recommend a twin pram for toddler and newborn?

We have a Ford SMax, although we managed with a Cmax for a while with two HBB and a rear facing baby seat maxi cosi. In the end we got the smax for a bigger boot and extra seats for friends etc. This has three proper seats in the back so we can easily fit the seats and the bigger two can do their seatbelts up by themselves (a big help when getting three out the house!)

Also the mountain buggy duet was brilliant for my older two who were v close together. It’s slim enough to get through doors but also side by side, with baby in a carrycot. However if you’ve got a taller toddler maybe wouldn’t be enough legroom.Good luck!

Another S Max vote from me. Fits the criteria and is a lovely car too.

@Meanameicallmyself20 yesss! The duet is currently top of my list so that’s good to hear. I’ve a while to get sorted so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get Into a pram shop at some point in the next few months to give it a whirl!

More recommendations for the s
Max! I just had a look back at my 29392 open internet tabs and this was one I had looked at so that’s good to know. I think the Citroens just looked like an easy option but actually the cars recommended here are much nicer to look at!

Oh just remembered the only downside of the duet was that the tyres used to get punctures and pushing it home with a flat tyre was hard work! I think you can fill them with some stuff so they don’t puncture... don’t quote me on this (we had this buggy about 6 years ago now so a little out of date!) also I got mine second hand which Was a saving and then sold it on a year later. They keep their value well!

We were actually able to squeeze a high back booster, an ERF seat and a baby seat into our existing Vauxhall Insignia. The ERF seat helps with squeezing them in as car seat are narrower at the front and wider at the back - so a high back booster and an ERF seat puzzle together where two forward facing seats won't. It might be worth giving someone like the In car safety centre a ring to see if they've done it with your existing car. An ERF seat is also narrower than a HBB as they are for smaller kids.

We can't get two high back boosters and a third seat in our car so we will eventually still need a new car - but it has delayed it until after I'm back at work again.

Do you want a side by side or in line double? We had the Baby jogger double city mini with 21 months between my oldest 2. We loved it, it has huge seats so we were able to keep using it on long days out until my oldest was almost 4 - but it's no good in narrow shops.

I've got a Verso and can fit an axkid minikid (centre seat, tether straps), besafe izi modular (isofix ERF) and cybex aton Q Infant carrier (isofix) across the back easily.

We also went for the smax. We have the fillers for the underfloor storage and so were able to put the Joie 360 spin seat with support leg on the outside. We tried it in the middle first and it was a nightmare having to lean over to buckle in the baby.
We have had the smax nearly 3 years now and have never regretted the purchase. It’s a great car for a big family.

Placemarking because we have the same issue. A 5 year old in a high back booster, a 3 year old in an ERF seat and a baby due in November. I’ve written a list of potentials so I’ll add them on here tomorrow. I’m waiting for showrooms to open so I can take the seats along and try them in the actual cars.

We have a Volvo XC90. Across the back I had two big joie car seats and a high back booster. The baby went in the middle in a rear facing car seat. It wasn’t isofix but it was safer to have her there than the high back booster which was forward facing.
It already worked really well. The boot is enormous. Even with 7 seats up, it’s still a decent sized boot and fits a compact pram.

Seat Alhambra like the galaxy but with sliding doors!!!

We've got a very old Galaxy and the space is fantastic. You would be able to push the middle row back so you should have enough room to get in to buckle them up reasonably easily. It's also great now as we have two teens and a 10yo who are all close to or taller than me and everyone still fits comfortably.

Just seen your comment about a ford galaxy being too expensive. Have you considered the old style (pre 09 I think) where the seats lift in and out. I have one with over 100000 miles on that is 2005 and see plenty even older on the roads. It was cheap and is honestly the best thing I have driven. Very versatile (I use it as a van mainly with a giant plywood box in the back) but do put all the seats in every now and again and it is extremely roomy.

No advice on the car, but one thing that might save you a lot of hassle is a little seat belt extender.
Put high back booster in middle.
With seat belt extender fitted to his clip.
Put baby with fixed base on the same side as extender. Then you shouldn't need to reach down that space too often. And 5 year old will probably learn to do his own belt if he can reach the extended buckle?
Then you only need to clip baby on to the fixed base and sort middle age child out.
If he is in a 5 point harness, that should be easy as the triangle belt is fixed.
safety warning check for any limitations on age etc on seat belt extension.
We have to use one in the back of my car, as wherever we put dd seat, she would get buckle crunch.
And as an afterthought, my friend has a 14 plate zafira. Tourer or something?
We often (pre lockdown) have a lift with her. 3 high back boosters in the "middle row"