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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think that a skoda estate should fit three child seats???

35 replies

Joycey29 · 07/07/2009 13:12

I am fuming! Expecting number 3 in Nov and need to sort out car seats. My others are 1 and 3 and so need car seats (despite law that 3 year old can sit in the middle with an adult belt!!!!)
I asked in Mothercare and John Lewis and both answered you need a 7 Seater! You are joking!!!! I have acar that seats 5 adults but wont seat 3 chidren and 2 adults - this is stupid.
Am having to consider a Multimac which will set me back £1200 but will do all 3 in my car!!
I cannot believe this is the only solution!
SO angry!!!

OP posts:
Katisha · 07/07/2009 13:15

Is a Skoda estate quite small then? Interested as was wondering about getting one.

EachPeachPearMum · 07/07/2009 13:15

I think citroen xsara picasso- its a 5 seater.
also ford focus s-max

crokky · 07/07/2009 13:16

I have an octavia estate with a 3yo and 1yo in the back. There isn't much space between them and I agree, I think it's pretty poor for a decent sized estate car. Have never seen a multimac but it seems to be a very clever invention and you may be able to make some money back on eBay depending on how long you use it. I know 2 lots of people with 3 kids and both have 7 seaters.

EachPeachPearMum · 07/07/2009 13:16

A lot of people put 3rd child in the front tbh, but I'm not keen on that

Original poster
Joycey29 · 07/07/2009 13:18

Don't really want to use the fornt seat and where do i put the husband?????
The skoda is great in every other respect - economical, great boot, runs well etc - just so annoyed that I have to shell out for a normal(ish) size family

OP posts:
Original poster
Joycey29 · 07/07/2009 13:19

or even front seat ...... lol

OP posts:
EachPeachPearMum · 07/07/2009 13:22

britax seat are more slimline I think... there are other threads on here which would tell you...

bran · 07/07/2009 13:25

What's a Multimac? Do you have a link? I'm possibly interested as I have a new A4 coming this month which I don't think will fit 3 (not that I have 3 but I might in the future).

sharedplanet · 07/07/2009 13:28

what is the ruling on 3 year old in the middle seat? does that mean that leagly thay don't need to have a booster at all?
PS passat estate is the same and i think made by same company

proverbial · 07/07/2009 13:30

I have a skoda estate too, and no way will you get 3 seats in the back. You don't need a 7 seater though, just a proper 5 seater. Xsara picasso, renault megane, plenty of others will fit 3 across the back, but they have to be true 5 seaters.
I'm looking for a very very cheap picasso or similar at the moment, same problem. But then I hate the skoda anyway, its very old, has no power (or assisted) steering, and it smells bad!

BalloonSlayer · 07/07/2009 13:31

I had a Citroen C5 (big Family saloon) which I loved, and had to get rid of as I couldn't get three across the back in the way I wanted.

Makes me spit

BettyTurnip · 07/07/2009 13:36

We have an Octavia hatchbabck (not sure how much narrower it is than the estate). We also have Britax car seats and 3 chidren aged 4.10, 2.11 and 1yr and we cannot fit them all in car seats on the back seat. I checked the legal guidelines a few weeks back, and a child is legally able to travel without a booster if there isn't enough room because of other car seats in place on the back seat.

Agree it's crap, especially when you've got an estate.

SarahL2 · 07/07/2009 13:39

My husband went on the Skoda website once to prove to me that Octavia estates are exactly the same size (length and width) as the normal saloons (he wanted to swap his company car for a pool car for a weekend when we went to Center parcs and I didn't want to drive the "bigger" car)

The only difference is that the back is squared off to give a bigger boot space...

No way you would get three seats across the back of our car

bran · 07/07/2009 13:40

I googled it multimac, it looks cool. I must resist the temptation to have 4 children just because I can fit them in the back of the car.

Am I right in thinking it would be a huge faff to take it out temporarily? Occasionally I need to put the backseat down to carry large items but I guess that would be out of the question without a couple of burly men and a lot of huffing and puffing.

Sorry op, I'm not really being any help to you at all, am I?

zeke · 07/07/2009 13:41

My friend has the exact same frustration a while back witht her skoda estate.

All of the people I know who have 3+ children do have a 4wd or a people carrier. My sister did have mercedes (C class I think) estate when he 3 were little, so the car seats must have fit (2 newborns + 2 yr old though. Since swapped for a 7 seated 4 wd though!

Some of the smaller cars are able to fit three booster seats, not sure about any other combination. I know one of my friends actually takes her smaller car when picking up 4 kids (playdates etc) from school, because it can fit 3 boosters in the back but the bigger one cannot!

There are more slimline seats available though, not sure whether that would help enough though.

I don't know what a multimac is....so I shall google it!

BalloonSlayer · 07/07/2009 13:42

Just to add that I have now got a seven seater (Toyota Corolla Yaris) but have never used the sixth and seventh seats. With the middle three seats pushed back as far as they can go, there is loads of room for the baby to be in the middle and one of the other two to go past him to get to their seat, having got in at whatever is the "safe" side of the road. I'd never have been able to do that with my Citroen.

Plus I can actually clamber into the car to put the baby in his seat. It was a faff and an expense to change my car, of course but it is so much easier now.

bran · 07/07/2009 13:42

What would make a huge difference IMO would be if the car manufacturers offered the option to have a bench style seat rather than the raised edges that they usually have. It's the bits at the edge that force the two child seats towards the middle, if both seats were right up against the door then there would be room for another seat in the middle.

zeke · 07/07/2009 13:43

The multimac does look very cool! They have definately spotted the problem in the market. I can understand why you are at the price though.

wishingchair · 07/07/2009 13:43

Many many cars won't fit 3 car seats across the back. We had an Audi A6 that wouldn't do this. Think many cars are designed for 5 adults but really think that no one would regularly sit in the middle seat. We've now swapped to a 7 seater ...

wishingchair · 07/07/2009 13:45

That multimac though is brilliant! Expensive option but maybe cheaper than a new car?

WoTmania · 07/07/2009 13:55

Have you tried some in? We have an astra estate and have a concorde, high back booster and graco in the setting thingy. Tight but they fit.
Maybe go to somewhere like Halfords and get them to try diff combinations? It'll be a lot cheaper to get a couple of new carseats than a new car. (mothercare were useless when we were looking at fitting 3 across the backseat.)
HTH

WoTmania · 07/07/2009 13:55

YANBU by the way

beepbeep · 07/07/2009 14:06

we have a volvo v50 (estate), have just bought a ford smax for same reason, even some 'proper' 5 seaters won't fit 3 big car seats, but will fit something like 2 car seats and a booster but even that's a squash. Friend has a renault scenic and has 3 tobi car seats in it ok. we have 2 britax car seats and there is no way another would go in the middle, even a booster (they knocked about 10cm off the size of the big infant seats)

our DCs are 1yr and 2.5yr and 3rd also duein NOv so in same dilema as you. Very reluctant to get rid of volvo as also have dog but needs must.

you also need to think about the safety of squashing 3 car seats in the back, just because 3 fit in doesn't mean they fit properly and are safe.

beepbeep · 07/07/2009 14:06

agree, YANBU, we assumed 3 would fit in ours until we looked at it properly.

Bramshott · 07/07/2009 14:14

My friend has somehow managed to get 3 in car seats in her Skoda Fabia - I think by putting the smallest one in the middle in the big Stage 1 seat (I can't remember what she did when they had a baby seat, maybe used the front if the airbag turns off?), and then two slimline-ish boosters at each side of it.