Does anyone have 3 small kids and a saloon car?

[PinkTulips]

we currently have a ford focus estate as our family car... we can fit the 2 highback boosters and the rear facing seat in the back but it's very awkward and the baby seat gets a jolt every time the door is closed.

we need to get a bigger car before ds2 needs a front facing seat as it simply will not fit but i'm not sure i want an MPV

has anyone managed to squeeze 3 under 5's into the back of a saloon?

which saloon, and is it working for ye?

We have a volvo V40 (Newer version is S40?)and fit 3 seats accress the back easily ages 18mth 3yr and 6yr..One is a high back booster, one is a priory and the 3rd is a 9mth to 11 year with 5pt harness.. works fine for us!

[googles]

thanks

any of the daytime crowd?

i checked out the volvo but reviews aren't great and top gear describes the back as cramped

Sorry no We recently came back from Cyprus with our lovely tax free BMW - only to find you can't get 3 seats across the back. DH was GUTTED!!!!!!!! We took the car the Kiddicar in Peterborough and they tried just about every combination/brand of car seat going, although we could get 3 seats across and slam the door they sad it wasn't safe and wouldn't sell them. There would have been a lot of knuckle grazing going on too!

We've bought a Ford S Max now and I have to say it's fab!

not what you wanted to hear, sorry

We have a Mondeo saloon and you can fit 3 in the back BUT the outer 2 seatbelts buckle in the middle of the car and its awkward clipping them all in. Wish we had a car with seatbelts that do up adjacent to the doors on the window seats. (Friend has a Scenic that does this.)

knuckle grazing i'm all too used to as it is... i'm not spending the next 6/7 years wrestling seat belts into tiny gaps between seats!

i do love the s max but it only came out in 2007 so used models are still a bit out of our price range sadly

my dad used have a mondeo and the focus we have is an absoultely brilliant car so would be tempted to stick with ford if i could find one that fit us all easily.

i'm starting to think i should just buy a damn multimac thingy and just resign myself to never being able to use the back seat for anything other than kids!

Hi Pinktulips, can i hijack and ask what seats and age kids you have in the focus, and how bad is awkward?

I think we want a third DC, and if conceived soon we'd have a 5 yr old, 2 yr old and baby (so, booster, front seat, baby seat) at the same time. Would my focus take it? Getting a new car isn't really an option.

we have a britax evolva, a graco high back booter and a mothercare carry seat.

it's not too bad if we put them all in at the same time and belt them in in order, it gets complicated though when i have to collect dd from playschool and the 2 boys are already strapped in. she has to climb in from the front and i get the fun of spending 5 mins groping blindly and half breaking my wrist trying to slot her belt in.

it's not a huge gardship though, we'd cope except fpr the fact that there is no way ds2's britax eclipse will fit in when he grows into it in a few months.... saying that i haven't actually checked tbh! our focus is 1.4l and struggles a bit on the roads round here... we don't need much more power but not slowing down as we drive uphill with foot to the floor would be nice

Thanks. I hadn't really thought through the practicalities, but then again, that describes my whole experience of parenting!