8-9 seater owners - Rear facing seats advice!

[dangtfc]

We are a family of 6 (my wife and I, teenager no car seat, 4 yo with car seat and newborn twins.

We have a V Class for full family outings, with 8 seats and space in the boot the twin pram.

We are finding our best configuration for the car and at the moment have it set up as in the attachment. Wife/I sit in the back corner, with twin isofix seats next to us facing rearward. 4yo sits in the isofix rear facing seat and teenager and driver up front.

Ideally, we’d have the twins in the rear facing bench with their seats facing rearward, so that we can easily tend to the twins or the 4yo from one position. The problem is that the Joie I-spin is not recommended (according to the manual) to be fitted to any rear facing car seat.

Are there any 8-9 seater owners out there who have a similar setup and does anyone know of any isofix infant seat that can be placed in a rear facing seat?

thanks!

I love my Viano conference seating style; as the kids can chat away play games etc during longer journeys and they have so much more space (as do we putting them in and out etc)

thank you for your help i will take a look at them seats

@sami93 have you checked the Trafic manual, because in the one I found online (don't know if it is the same year/version as yours) it says that driving with the bench seat in the rear facing position is not permitted, so would not be able to do this anyway.

If using the Cozy n Safe Excalibur with 5 point harness for a child over 18kg in weight, it must be attached with top tether as well as the seatbelt. If you don't have isofix, then you probably don't have top tether so be aware of this because it's quite a dangerous misuse unfortunately - high chance of the child moving too far forward and hitting their head.

The Excalibur explicitly says it can't be installed on a seat against the direction of travel, while the Apollo just has a confusing mess here, but does use the same diagram showing an X on a sideways seat that the Excalibur manual has.

You don't have a lot of choice for belt fitted seats with over 18kg harness capacity. Forward facing, most of them need top tether. There are a couple which don't, Maxi Cosi Beryl is up to 25kg using seatbelt + support leg, but discontinued, expensive and hard to find. Joie Elevate R129 is up to 21.5kg, but 105cm limit, belt fitted only. (Though the manual only has a safety warning for using with child over 21.5kg or with shoulders higher than the highest slot, not for using with child over 105cm.)

Neither manual says whether the seats are allowed or disallowed on rear facing vehicle seats.

Rear facing there are quite a few options with the cheapest currently bring Britax Safe Way M which is on offer for £220. This rear faces up to 125cm and 36kg with seatbelt, lower tethers (which don't need a dedicated anchor point) and top tether.

Change the middle row of seats so they are forward facing. They can go either way in the V Class.