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 like mine. It's not the most expensive or attractive car I've ever owned but it's cheap, reliable, functional and I can comfortably get 3 kids, the buggy and all their bikes and associated crap in with room to spare. It's never let me down.

This is reassuring! Thank you.

A Picasso is great, and very affordable. Three full seats in the back, extremely spacious inside and huge boot. Only 5 seats, though.

The grand Picasso has 7 seats. And still a fair bit of boot space when they're up too.

A Citroen Berlingo (there’s a 7 seater version) - both versions have three full seats in the passenger row. 5008. In general the French cars are good for this. At the top of the market I think the Volvo suv and possibly Audi suv offer the same.

Zafira suits three. I had one when my kids were little.

Essentially you cannot get 3 full sized seats in a standard road car. Just haven’t got the width. There are cars like a Skoda Octavia that try their best. Then there’s the cars like a Citroen Picasso where there are 3 seats but a larger adult would not be comfortable in them because they are narrow. That’s inevitable because the car isn’t huge. Many people accept the middle seat in the back isn’t the most comfortable and if you have three teens who are tall, a suitable car is a problem. The family estate is a dying breed like the MPV. MPVs with seats in the boot were a no no safety wise for me. Most families now go for a big SUV. Families cost money and this goes for the cars they need too.

We have a Nissan x trail, which is a 7 seater, plenty of room in the back seats and a good sized boot.

We have a very chunky swivel base car seat and a new born seat and a child in the middle. Plenty of room

It’s a shame they have discontinued most the 7 seater cars, I asked at the Mazda dealership and he said it was just that fashions change, families choose the look of the 4x4 despite the fact that most the ones sold aren’t 4 wheel drive nor any good off road, they are simply regular cars that are styled to be higher up, chunkier design trims etc. Estates are also far harder to find than yesteryear too but apparently they still have a loyal customer base in older people who want the boot space. I loved my Mazda 5 (discontinued) but the middle seat folded away for easy access to
the rear two seats, ideal for 6 passengers. You do need a roof box if using the back row, only the larger US brands have 7 seats (typically 223 rather than 232) plus boot, I had a grand caravan in the USA, huge vehicle and truly sat 7 but not sure if they were sold here

@overthinker001 If the OP will accept a middle seat like the X Trail, she has umpteen cars to choose from. As with many cars, due to width restricions, it’s a narrow seat where the back is probably an arm rest when folded down. Loads of cars are like this and one child compromises.

We have two narrower car seats deliberately to make it more comfortable for DD1. It’ll be a long time before we have to worry about our DC being adults and needing to fit in. DD1 is 11, tall for her age but very narrow. DD2 is 4 and in a slim-line high back booster. DS is 1 and in a Joie 360. The plan would be to put DD2 in the middle seat.

We currently have a Mazda 3 and a Hyundai Tucson. We’ll be replacing one with whichever car we choose for now. In a couple of years, we’ll replace the other with a larger SUV type.

Yeah, this isn’t an option for us unfortunately. It’s just not fair on DD1 to continually have to wedge herself in for all journeys.

@BeingATwatItsABingThing Why not have 1 year old DS in the middle? Then seat width won’t matter so much for him for a number of years. Most other people don’t and cannot have 3 full seats in the second row and a 3rd row takes up boot space. In a cheap car I always wondered about safety and rigidity of the rear crumple zone in a crash. Being run into from behind would not feel great with dc in such seats.

My Disco has 7 seats. However there’s still some boot space when seats are up. I would never use those seats as standard for DC though as they get older. It’s always a compromise for three dc but small DC can use a middle 2nd row seat and be comfortable but most cars are not going to have 3 full seats. At best 3 seats will be narrow as in the Picasso. So child sized seats but not very good for adults. This is partly why MPVs went out of fashion. Plus ride height of course. Agree most SUVs aren't 4 wheel drive.

The other issue is your budget. You will end up with a high mileage family car and it will start to cost you. It’s inevitable.

The 1 year old can’t go in the middle as narrow middle seats don’t fit car seats! Even narrow car seat are still too big.

OP- I’m looking at getting a Citroen Berlingo which has 3 full seats and a huge boot.

Another vote for the Touran. It’s brilliant in every respect. Also didn’t get on with the Grand Picasso at all. If you have a spinny seat, keep in mind it probably won’t spin properly/at all once there’s another car seat right next to it.

They are not all that narrow! They often have 3 isofix points in the back 3 seats. You cannot find many cars with three full seats. Three isofix points is very doable with a baby. How does everyone else manage? A new Berlingo is way above OPs price and those seats are very narrow. It’s spacious but not a very refined car.

Going totally left field here but we ended up going for a Ford Grand Tourneo, it's basically a small tradesman's van! It's 7 seats, sliding doors and I've fitted 7 of us, with a wheelchair and pushchair in the boot. When we bought we loved the Ford Galaxy but didn't live the price tag

The vw Tiguan.
It doesn’t have three separate seats but it’s really spacious. You could easily put 4 year old in the middle in high back booster, leaving full seat for 11 year old. It’s been around a while so if you get one that’s a few years old it should be in budget

https://babydrive.com.au/reviews/suvs/2022-volkswagen-tiguan-comfortline/ - this shows x3 full car seats fit in the Tiguan.

I think you would find the Kia Carens ok, and could get a reliable one within your budget - I'm not sure if you'd get a recent Galaxy for £6000. We have one child in a HBB and two adult sized passengers sitting in the back and can fit luggage for a family of 5 in the boot. Although if you are taking extra equipment or beach stuff you might need a roof box.

No, the Picasso seats are full sized adult seats. The car is huge.

We had the Peugeot 5008. 3 proper seats and no big ridge on the floor. Huge boot.

Smax also has three proper seats in the middle row which can each fit a car seat. Had one at the same time as DH had an XC90 and I felt that the smax was roomier across the middle row despite the xc90 being like driving a small tank.

The Picasso is not huge. It’s smaller than a Discovery. The Berlingo current model is smaller than a Disco too. They are biggish cars but not Range Rover width so the seats are smaller. You cannot squeeze a quart into a pint pot. The X Trail is similar in width to the Picasso and the pictures I posted show why three adult seats are not really possible. Three narrow seats are.

Yeah, this is the issue with having just a standard bench seat. When DS was in an infant carrier, we chose the Joie Juva because it was the narrowest seat going. We could then put it in the middle seat of the Tucson with DD1 at the edge.