Two car seats side by side...

[MattUK81]

After 15 years of a diesel guzzling, smallish hatchback, I'm making the leap to an electric vehicle in May/June this year. I'm going to be getting a Tesla Model Y, which has isofix points on the outer seats (and I think a three point belt in the middle!)

In my current car, Audi A3, I have a Silver CrossMotion All Size Car Seat (360 Rotation) on one outer seat, for my 3.5 year old, and a Bugaboo Turtle Air by Nuna on the other outer seat, for my 4.5 month old. This of course means there is dead space in the middle and we cannot carry a passenger.

The New Model Y will be a little more spacious in the back seats, so I'm hoping to get seats which can go on outer and middle....leaving one outer seat free for a passenger! Does anyone have any experience in doing this, the best two seats to buy which are narrowish, etc..... my little one will be 7+ months old by the time the new car arrives.

Have you checked the car manual to see if a car seat is allowed in the middle? Not all cars allow this.

Yes, all passenger seats can be used. Wording direct from the manual.....

"In Model Y, belt-based child restraints can be installed in any passenger seat and ISOFIX/i-Size systems can be installed in either of the second row outboard seats."

How often do you need to carry a passenger? Can you older child get in and out of the car seat themselves? If not, doing up a car seat which is in the middle seat is a lot more hassle than one of the outer seats.

You can but unless you're really lucky, they get buckle crunch.

If you've got a passenger, can't they just squeeze past the seats to sit in the middle? Everyone I know does that, even in much smaller seats, and the Tesla will at least have a decent middle seat for them! I'd keep the seats on either side, where they're safer and easier to do up.

No, not easily, the passenger(s) in question cannot easily do that, hence the original question.

Enough that I'd like to do the seats this way, and not have said passenger try and squeeze in the middle (which they would find difficult to do, owing to mobility.
The older child can easily get into her current car seat by herself - I just do the buckle up for her.

I've actually seen a photo of three across in this car recently: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGL9mZJTKoC/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Is your 3yo rear facing or forward facing? If she would cope with rear facing, I'd ditch the Silver Cross (all stages type seats are bulky - sorry) and swap it for something ERF and belt fitted, like Britax Safe Way M in the centre. I can't remember if your Nuna seat can be fitted without base.

Or the other option is keep the spare seat in the middle for now, and let passengers in by climbing over the baby seat base then put the baby seat in last. In about a year's time, when your eldest is ready for a high back booster, put her in the middle with a slim high back booster and the baby can go into the Silver Cross.

Or when the baby outgrows the infant carrier swap them into an ERF seat in the middle, keep the eldest on the outside either with the Silver Cross seat or a new high back booster.

Can they go in the front and the other passenger go in the back?

I thought car seats were meant to go on the outside, but I guess if you had triplets you wouldn't have the option anyway 🤷‍♀️

Yes, or another option is put a child in front passenger seat - best is rear facing, so the baby, make sure the airbag is turned off. We do this with our similar aged baby now and I sit in the back middle as all three of our car seats won't fit in the back.

I'd move the baby into the front when you've got that passenger, then - the Turtle will be fine there presuming you can turn the airbag off easily.

The only problem with having a baby in the front some of the time is that you have to then remember to turn the airbag on and off. It could be fatal if you forget, so it's not something you want to be doing regularly and increasing the chance of a mistake.