Recommendations for cars with 3 full seats in back

[BeingATwatItsABingThing]

It’s looking likely that we’ll have to replace my Hyundai Tucson as it keeps having issues and is becoming a money pit. We’ll likely have about £6000 to spend on a replacement with the following criteria:

• three full seats in the back/middle row - we have three children with two in car seats (a high back booster and a 360 spinning chair). This is a must because we want the option of having all of the children in the same row without DD1 being squashed in the middle.
• a 7-seater is preferable
• large boot capacity
• if it is a 7-seater, the extra seats aren’t the crumple zone of the car

We’ve seen Kia Carens, Ford Galaxys, etc. online but if anyone has one they have loved, please give me your recommendations.

I love everything about the VW Touran. Good boot space and easy to put the third row seats up and down and the exterior isn’t too wide like some SUVs so parking is not a problem. Would recommend the built in pop up booster seats with interchangeable child headrests on the two outer seats which is really handy if you can find that option.

Also liked the Vauxhall Zafira which was a cheaper option and similar with a good boot size but the third row was more cramped.

Thank you @twoastars. I’ll have a look at the VW. I’ve seen a lot of the Zafiras but my concern with those is how close to the back window heads are in the third row. Plus, not 3 full seats in the middle.

Peugeot 5008s are great

For your budget, a Ford CMax could be a good option. Only 5 seats but all are full, separate seats and the boot is large.

I didn’t really rate my Q7, but it has three full seats in the back and also has isofix points in the third row.

Don't get a Citroen C4 grand picasso if you r considered that.

We’ve got a zafira, definitley three full seats in the middle row. I hate the look of the thing but it’s our second and an absolute workhorse.

a big plus for me was the flat entrance to the boot ie no lip so doggo could get in easily.

I don’t know about the other cars mentioned but if you want to use the back row you will have to take the car seats out to be able to pull the seats forward for access or you can have a very undignified climb in through the boot!

Ah ok. Maybe I wasn’t looking properly 😂 I won’t rule it out.

Why not, out of interest?

I love our Ford Galaxy. We are on our second now and still find it fabulous for 3 nearly 6ft teenagers in the back. The beauty of it is the 2 proper ‘back’ seats which are comfortable for adults so great for taking grandparents or school friends.

This is good to hear. I do like the look of the Galaxy. My only reservation is that they’re all quite old cars that I’m seeing for sale. They stopped making them, didn’t they?

@BeingATwatItsABingThing People carriers are a car of the past! No boot space when 3rd row of seats in place and many were based on vans. SUVs are the go-to car now. We have a Disco but I guess this might be above your price point. Most cheap SUVs won’t have 7 seats. Do you really need this?

I like these, newer ones are called C4 spacetourer. 3 proper seats in the middle and 2 extra in the Grand spacetourer. The middle seats also move forwards and back to share more leg room with back seats.

Unfortunately the Galaxy and S-max were discontinued in 2023. Not sure what we will get next - we did look at alternatives but could find nothing we preferred.

No we don’t strictly need 7 seats but it’s our preference. Having three full seats in a row is essential regardless so that DD1 has a full seat. She’s wedged between two car seats currently and it’s lucky she’s the same width as a pencil!

I love my Tucson SUV but they come with a price tag we just can’t stretch to realistically. A people carrier is more likely to tick our boxes without bankrupting us. We won’t need the 6th and 7th seats the majority of the time which then frees us up for a much larger boot.

Yes, this is a downside. All of the car companies are going down the vastly more expensive SUV route.

My dream car has been a Volvo XC90 for quite a while now but we haven’t managed to win the euromillions yet… 😂

@BeingATwatItsABingThing There’s loads of estate cars that have 3 seats. Plus you get the boot. I’d rather have a solid well built car than one with seats in the boot you don’t really need. The cars with optional extra seats always cost more and your choices are limited. There’s a reason people carriers died a death.

@TizerorFizz do you know which estates have three seats? We’re not ruling anything out at this point.

Are you in any of the car seat safety fb groups? I know some of them are mad but there's one called Bumps 2 Boosters which is very friendly and has lists of cars with 3 full seats in the back. Plus there's a thread with people posting details of their vehicles and which car seats fit in the back. It's really handy.

Thank you. I’ll have a look. I tend to avoid those groups because of the chaos of them. 😂

I know, I know... 😂 I've found this one helpful though - we dont have a car at the minute and have been considering getting one now we have two DC, but we live in London and I really don't want a massive SUV when we live on a narrow road with a tiny drive. So I've found it quite helpful to narrow down our potential search criteria!

VW touran as mentioned before, we then upgraded to vw sharan (see also seat alhambra). These all have 3 "proper" rear seats and each moves independently, no bench style or 40/60 split, so infinitely more flexible than eg Zafira. Not sure what they go for second hand these days, I know the Sharan is discontinued. Edited for typo

@NotMrsTumble
Yeah, they do seem to have discontinued a lot of them and I can’t help but feel this is because of the popularity of SUVs. I love my SUV and would get another one in a heartbeat if it weren’t for the cost. We live in a large town but surrounded by country roads which are prone to flooding.