Multimac? Anyone got one?

[jojochanel]

DC3 due imminently. We have an Audi A3 an won't be able to get them all in as the oldest will only be 3 1/2 and he's a wee one.
Really don't want to have to move to an SUV/MPV/aircraft carrier style thing. Seriously considering a multimac - does anyone rate it?

[CantSupinate]

Ooh, you saw the article in yesterday's Guardian too, did you? Wish I had known about it when we still had a 5seater car.

[bea]

i read it too... am curious about the actual seat belts as i think a little undignifying for a 12 year old to have a 4 point harness seatbelt don't you think! ?
wonder what the other ooptions are?

[Madigan]

I am getting one .......... they sound like very good news to me.

[neenz]

I was going to post this exact same question! It says on the website that they will come to your house to show you how it fits, or you can go to one of their fitting centres (they have 15).

I am definitely going to consider it - I will have 2.3yo twins when LO is born in August, and we have a Honda Accord estate. All the MPVs we've looked at have tiny boots - not sure I would even get my pram in never mind all our camping gear!

I just wonder whether you can take the infant carrier in and out or whether they are fixed. They don't seem to have a handle so I assume they stay fixed in the car which would put me off massively - when you go visiting anyone or when you get home it is handy to have the baby strapped into the seat isn't it.

[neenz]

I've just been looking at the fitting guide and it seems the infant carrier (the "Minimac") can be removed pretty much at the touch of a button (very much like a Cabriofix on an ISOFIX base)

This is from the fitting guide...

The release mechanism for the MINIMAC is a lever under the right hand edge as shown in Fig 8e. To remove the MINIMAC, the carry handles should be used to ?lift? the MINIMAC while the lever is moved to the right.
Once the lock has disengaged, the MINIMAC should be eased backwards to withdraw the tongue from the slot and it can then be lifted cleanly out of the car

[neenz]

I requested a fitting demo from them. They replied same day (today - Sunday!) and said it would fit my car (even though my car is not listed on the approved fitting list) and they are going to come out and give me a demo!

This is definitely worth a look - we were thinking of spending £12k on an MPV when we have a perfectly good estate car that's only done 45,000 miles but is only worth about £6k. It fits the pram and all our camping stuff in so really don't want to get rid of it!

[jojochanel]

yep neez - the MD emailed us back from his blackberry on sunday monring about 10 mins after my husband emailed the company a load of questions. That's customer service for you. Can I ask where your based for the demo as we're in scotland and I know they are around Birmingham way so not sure if there will be any fitting centres near us.

[neenz]

We are near Liverpool - I haven't heard anything from them since they emailed yesterday to say they would come to see us next time they are in the area. So I assume they don't know exactly when they will be in the area next! But a friend nearby has asked for a demo too and I might get my SIL to request one as well - then they might make a special trip to see us all in the same day.

[mhh1019]

We got a Multimac a few weeks ago and LOVE it.

Have a look at this:

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/27/mishal-husain-cars-multimac

Expensive but I figure we will be able to sell it on, eventually

Much easier to get kids in and out than with those side fastenings.

[BertieBotts]

Ooh interesting that the website says they will have a rearfacing insert going up to 15kg soon.

I don't know whether it is "cool" now or not as we weren't all in boosters until 12 when I was younger but I remember being about 10 and it being immensely cool and a novelty to travel in a friend's car who had a 5-point harness in their middle back seat. We called it the "aeroplane straps" (I have no idea why ) and used to fight over who got to sit there.

[BertieBotts]

The minimac does look a bit upright for a newborn though. A shame, they could easily (probably) make an infant carrier with handle with a more reclined position, say for up to about 6 months. And then the baby goes into the existing minimac seat for up to 15kg until they are around 2 or whenever it is safest to go forward facing.

[curiositykilledhaskittens]

I'm neenz' friend, they came to see us today and I think it looks great.

[neenz]

Yeah we saw the multimac last weekend and it looked great. Very easy to get the kids in and out of, the infant carrier was quite heavy but not too bad, we are definitely getting it.

It is bloody pricey though - £1,650 for multimac, infant carrier, two head rests and fitting!

Cheaper than getting a new car tho - and I figure the fuel we will save by having the five seater versus a 7-seater will save us a few hundred over the next 5 years, plus we'll save some money on the next-stage booster seats we would have had to buy - so eventually it would be pretty much cost-neutral but still a lot to shell out up front.

[4twins]

Do this barter with the price?

[mogs0]

I know this is an old thread but has anyone used one of these seats?

I can't fit 3 seats in the back of my car but don't really want to upsize it either.

I showed 9yr old ds the picture to see what his reaction to the harness would be and he thought it was cool!

Ideally, I'd like the 4 seat version but the guide says it won't fit in my car.

[babyluck]

I've just been looking at this too. Did anyone actually get one? Think it looks brilliant but a bit worried about if it is truly suitable for a newborn.

[Thinkingof4]

hi
we have one! its a 4 seater but the smaller one. We have 3DCs age nearly 4,2 and nearly 6 months. baby was 4 months when we got it and pretty big so I can't comment fully on suitability for new baby but we originally were quite worried about how upright minimac is. However it does have 2 different sizes of inserts which help a bit. Despite that we found that he tended to slump forward when asleep so I got a chest strap and cushioned covers (from ebay)to go on the straps which has solved that problem.

We were also worried about 2 year old fitting in minimac- he's only little but seems quite squashed compared to his other ERF seat. However he does seem comfy enough and we are hoping to keep him in it till he's 3 at least.(13kg weight limit)

overall we are happy, it was cheaper than changing our car and allows us to keep the 2 wee ones rearfacing for the time being.

I hope we will get 4 or 5 years use out of it anyway then hopefully sell it on to make some of the money back. We got it in black leather effect (no extra charge) and it looks really smart

I would suggest you contact them and request a viewing and they might be able to come to your house to demonstrate it all for you

HTH

[JodielF]

Just thought i would share my experience of owning a Multimac. We have a 3 seater which we use in a Corsa and an Astra. The unit arrived (after quite a delay) and looks really smart. It fits well and and the fitting service was pretty good. We have a 5 yr old, 2 1/2 yr old and baby is now 3 months. When we first put our newborn in the Minimac baby seat i was surprised how up right she was and really concerned about head flooping forward, however we now have the smaller foam wedge in the seat and it is alot better. My issue comes in what we will do when she gets to big for the rear facing minimac. The website says the rear facing seat can be used up to 3 yrs or 15kgs (?) so we sat our 2 1/2 yr old on the rear facing seat and her legs reached all the way up the back of the back seat (very funny, but not at all comfortable) so i called the company and got a very speedy call back and spoke to someone who said that you could move out of the rear facing seat to one of the other seats at about 18 months, he reassured me this was all safety checked. I doubt that you could keep a child in the rear facing seat to 18 months for comfort and practicality reasons and i would not be happy putting an 18 month old in what is basically a high back booster seat, so not sure what we will do there!! Would also add if you are moving the unit between 2 cars it is quite heavy and my 5 yr old boy complains it hurts his butt on longer journeys!!

[PGB8000]

REVIEW: We have had a 4 seat multimac for 2 years, since baby 3 arrived (others were 3 and 5 when new baby arrived). We had the minimac (baby seat) for the baby, though we no longer use that now.

We are using it in a 2004 Toyota Avensis estate.

Overall, a good experience. Seat is very solid, and seems very safe. Safety data from manufacturer is very good too. Kids like the seats and find it comfortable. Its very robust - after 2 years, it still looks nearly new (not true of other kids seats we've owned!)

Minimac worked well for baby. Its heavier than a standard baby seat though, so carrying baby about in it was not so easy. It's easy to get out, but a bit awkward to fit into the multimac, especially when baby is asleep and you don't want to wake them. We moved baby into forward facing seat at about 12 months as legs were getting bunched up.

Things to consider if you buy one:

1. Seat is v. heavy to move in and out of car. So we almost never take it out. this means we no longer have an estate car where we can quickly and easily drop the seats to take a large piece of furniture or similar. This is a bit annoying at times.
   
2. Car is now only a 2 seater as far as adults are concerned. I've been caught out offering a lift to friends, then realising I can only fit one in!!
   
3. Kids are very close together. They have enough room, but if they start arguing, it's far to easy to kick each other.
   
4. 5 point belts are very safe, but not ideal for older girls (oldest now nearly 8) wearing summer dresses.
   
   Bottom line: As a solution to avoid changing our estate car for a people carrier, it was ideal. But we have now replaced our other car with a people carrier (Honda FR-V), and by preference, we always use the people carrier, not the estate with the multimac for family trips.

[PGB8000]

Any I should have said, I'm based near high Wycombe, so if anyone wants to pop over and see ours, then I'm fine with that.

[PGB8000]

One other thing I should have mentioned was car insurance. Not been as simple as I would have liked (not multimac's fault - rubbish insurance companies!)

Most insurers had no problem with increase from 5 to 6 seats. That was fine. However, several had a problem with replacement of seat in the event of a crash , given how expensive it was. Some said it was a single seat, so they would only replace with 1 seat (ie one normal car seat for 1 child). Others said it was a modification to the car, as as such was limited to a max of £500 in the event of a claim.

Eventually Churchill insured me with 10% increase in premium (about £30), with a note on my policy that they agreed to replace seat or give cash equivalent of new seat in event of accident. They dropped the 10% increase in year 2 and have updated their terms and conditions to say they replace child seats with like for like, or cash equivalent, which I thought was good.

[Sleepwhenidie]

We have one too, a four seater in a Volvo xc90. Got it when dc3 arrived just over two years ago. DC's now 2,3,6 yrs old. It is a fantastic invention, although it does lack the refinement and I suppose, luxury of more upholstered, tweaked car seats that we are used to seeing.

I would echo pgb8000's comments. I was never fond of the infant carrier either, it doesn't look as cosy and comfy as a maxi cosi, baby does seem more upright (and ds2 was/is tiny...4lbs at birth) but it didn't seem to bother him. I found it really tricky to get it fitted back into the main seat and very heavy too, so never really took it out. If I knew I would want to move the baby seat I would use our old maxicosi in front seat. Tbh i was very glad to be able to stop using the minimac.

The other DC's also seem pretty happy in their seats and harnesses, even on three trips to southern France and back. Also handy having the extra seat for taking a friend home from school etc. We originally asked for the 3 seater but it looked slightly ridiculous in the Volvo, with spare useless seat hanging either side, so we went for the 4. We haven't taken it out of the car since we bought it as it is so heavy (29kg iirc?) and cumbersome. This compromises our admittedly already large boot but is occasionally (eg at Ikea ) inconvenient. Also less space to comfortably fit extra adults - the two fold down seats in the back of the Volvo aren't really for adults.

As said by pgb, the multimac was definitely the answer for us, but once DD can sit in a booster and ds2 in an older child seat - maybe 3/4 years - we will probably get rid of it. I can actually imagine over 10's being comfortable in it.

Am in N London if anyone wants a look and has a fumigation suit doesn't mind a messy car

[mogs0]

I've been looking at getting a multimac for a while but I keep stalling because I'm struggling to part with so much money.

The people at MM say that I can only fit a 3 seater in my car. However, I have measured the back seat and it is over 1200 so I was wondering if someone with an actual seat could tell me if the width of the MM is accurate?

I really want a 4 seater rather than a 3 seater but don't want to pay for the 4 seater and it not fit!

I have contacted MM but it took them a few days to get back to me when I contacted them a couple of weeks ago and i'm impatient and wondering what MM owners thought.

[Sleepwhenidie]

Hi mogs, just measured our 4 seater and it is 1350.

[mogs0]

Thanks!

Someone from MM emailed me back straight away last night and the narrowest 4 seater is 10mm too wide for my car

I really don't know what to do.

My choices are:

1. try and find a 3rd carseat to fit inbetween the 2 I already have and carry a 4th child in the front seat
   
   
2. get a 3 seater MM and carry 4th child in the front
   
   
3. buy a bigger car to fit a 4 seater then 9yr old ds can sometimes get a lift to school .
   
   Might go and start a thread asking for votes!!