Car seats , 3 young children . Saloon car!

[Guset2729]

Hi ,
I was wondering who else has been in this situation.....
Basically I have a saloon car (Mercedes c - class) medium/average size car.
A just four year old son who I have recently bought a new booster seat , went for the narrowest safety high back seat I could find.
A two and a half year old son who’s in a maxi cosy car seat I’d say it’s an average size seat.
I’m soon to have another baby .... Iv a ISOFIX and again average size baby car seat for baby.
Now I never realised until this week, that all 3 seats do not fit across the back of the car. ( I don’t know why I was so shocked, because looking at the space now it’s pretty obvious there not going to fit)
Iv been to Halfords and basically tried a few different seats nothing really fits at all 🙈😭.
Who else has been in this situation and what did u do??
I don’t really want to change my car just yet as it’s only a year old.
My husbands car is slightly bigger but the same problem there. ( Its the middle seat it’s not A full-size seat it’s like 3/4 seat) so we cannot swap cars.
I have found online the Multimac that seems to resolve the problem though it’s roughly £2000 So before purchasing that , has anyone else found seats that fit ect.
Any help or advice please x

Have a look at the car seat advice uk Facebook group. Lots of advice on there about getting three across. Make sure you check your car manual to make sure you're allowed a seat in the middle as several cars don't allow it. The multi Mac is not recommended as has a very low rear facing limit (ideally you'd want to rear face to at least 4 as not safe to be in a booster until 4-4.5 minimum). You might find belting in the infant carrier will be narrower than using the isofix and 25kg rear facing seats are generally narrower than isofix seats so might be more flexible. Halfords is not the greatest for car seats, if you're near an in car safety centre they would be much better.

Hi,
Iv never heard of the an in car safety centre, I will look into that. Also I will look at the Facebook car seat guide.
Iv been into Mercedes this week to see about 3 across the back they seem to advice it’s safe tho the guy who was helping had no idea what seats to recommend

I can get 3 across mine but it was tight (booster, baby carrier style belted in and extended rear facing toddler seat) my car is a people carrier though. Check the Mercedes forums for ideas

Thank u will do

Yes defo second the car seat advice FB page although it takes a while to get your post approved, so it's no good for urgent help. Th ey have a website with a list of car seat specialist retailers who might be good. The in car safety centre is on the list but in case that's not local to you.

Thank u , I’m waiting on there pages admin to respond

Honestly? We bought a bigger car.

Also means 3 full seats in the back rather than the hump in the middle.

We are going to buy a bigger car. I am looking at these that have three full seats at the back.

I bloody love my car

We had this problem too. We've just gave in and bought a new car. We picked a Kia Carens as it has 3 full back seats and two extra seats folded in the back if needed. We have them folded though and have tons of boot space for the pram and shopping. Hope you get something that works OP

We bought a bigger car, we could squeeze 3 in our older car if we belted the baby seat rather than isofix but we couldn’t physically get our hands between the seats to do anyone up.
So we bought a people carrier with 3 separate seats. I don’t like it, but it’s functional.

We have a Vauxhall Insignia which it turns out is absolutely awful. We went to an In Car Safety Centre car seat shop where they spent 45 minutes puzzling seats. We were able to get 3 across with a seat belted baby seat, an extended rear facing seat in the middle and a forward facing high back booster behind the driver. No other combination fit and the critical middle rear facing seat the ones that fit Halfords don't sell. They keep a record of what they've fitted in what car so would be able to help over the phone even if you aren't close enough to go in.

For us, it's unfortunately only a temporary solution - seats get wider as kids get older, so we couldn't fit 2 high back boosters in. However, if we max out the baby seat it'll get is another year and a half or so to which helps with saving up for a bigger car.

Sounds silly but try a different order. I can just manage 3 in I go Rear-facing / forward-facing / Rear-facing but not if the two rear facers are next to each other (FF/RF/FF also works).

Also if you deactivate air bags, a rear face in the front isn't that bad safety wise (as apose FF which is quite bad). Might work if your the only adult most of the time, and the second adult squeeze in the back for occasional journeys.

Time for a bigger vehicle (not car...). As someone has noted, as the kids grow up the seats get wider, so the hard reality is that you are on borrowed time. You probably need an MPV, something like a Ford Galaxy - three rows of individual seats, can have child seat/booster built in. The Galaxy drives like a car, not sure if Mercedes have an equivalent.

Here is the list of retailers if you'd like to see whether any are near you. I find car salespeople tend to be clueless about car seats, but car seat specialists are good at knowing about different cars (at least this aspect of them - maybe not the engines etc!) :o and if you make an appointment explaining you want to try and fit three across they will generally book you in for an hours' slot.

www.carseatadvice-uk.com/specialist-retailers.html

Some general tips for three across - try the seats in different configurations. The seats on either side aren't always the same size as each other.

If you have a seat which can be isofix or seatbelt (e.g infant seat, HBB) try seatbelt fitting as it can give you a bit more flex in position.

When the oldest is bigger (6/7y+) you can try putting him on a bubble bum in the middle. I wouldn't do this yet as he's too little.

Consider rear facing the 2 and/or 4yo - a lot of the larger rear facing seats can be fitted further forwards in the car which helps when "playing car seat tetris". You could keep the booster seat for later so it wouldn't be wasted money.

Consider replacing the maxi cosi and/or infant carrier with slimmer seats. If the maxi cosi is on a base they can be quite inflexible, whereas a seatbelt fitted one might have more room to move. It is a pain to replace seats, but it is usually cheaper than changing your car.

Just get a bigger car.

The added things that having 3 children will bring will mean you need more space than just a bigger seat

I think you need a bigger car too. We can get 3 seats in our Picasso Grande, but I can imagine many estate cars will take them.

Bigger car or one in the front.

I can sit relatively comfortable in between 2 seats in my 3 series so you could do that and have DH drive.

If you like "nice" cars the xc90 fits 3 in a row and is lovely to drive