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Original poster

Is putting three rear-facing seats in a 7-seater possible?

16 replies

twomoreminutes · 14/02/2015 23:29

We are expecting another baby in August, when DS1 will be maybe just 4 and DD will be 2.3. They are both currently in rear-facing seats (Britax 2-way Elite which is secured by seatbelt, not isofix) and obviously DC3 will be in the infant seat to start with but my current car is tiny - I have a C3 - so we're looking to upgrade, hopefully to 7-seater as we often have to transport other, older children too.

But are there any cars which would take three rear-facing seats?? I don't know whether it's possible to put these in the second row or whether there are any cars that would have enough room across the back to fit these?

I think the Britax holds up to 25kg but not sure roughly what age that would equate to. Any recommendations gratefully received

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JustWantToBeDorisAgain · 14/02/2015 23:40

We have a Kia sedona which has 3 individual seats across the back ( plus 2 in the boot) 4 out of the 5 rear seats have ISO fix.

There are others out there as well, whilst the baby is in a stage 0 or 1 it is easy and as the baby grows your 4 year old may well grow out of her rear facing seat?

redspottydress · 14/02/2015 23:45

We have three britax first plus across the back of our Renault grande scenic, but we have never had them all in rear facing together. The weight limit for rear facing is 13 kg in them

redspottydress · 14/02/2015 23:46

Your oldest DS will be well over 5 by the time baby grows out of a stage 0 seat though.

redspottydress · 14/02/2015 23:48

My eldest 2 are 5 and they are both small for their age. No where near 25 kg, but they are outgrowing the seats, with the 5 point harness etc etc. I think we'll move them to stage 2 seats soon.

Fresh01 · 15/02/2015 19:09

Possibly a Chrysler Grand Voyager. A friend has one and it has 2 seats in middle row then 3 across the back row. Her kids are a wider age range so she didn't need to have them all in car seats.
We have had to do three in car seats but never did extended rear facing seats. You really need to take the seats to a garage and try them. A couple of inches makes a big difference.
I had 4 under 6 and would say if you have to drive to do nursery and school runs by 3rd child you need a car seat base for the first stage rear face car seat to click into or you will be forever waking the baby.

AnythingNotEverything · 15/02/2015 19:18

We've just bought a Zafira because we're expecting our third. I wouldn't like to put three car seats in the second row though.

The problem with rear facing seats is the practicality of getting the kids in to them. You won't have space for one of the swivelly ones.

In your shoes I'd be looking at something with either three proper seats, or a proper third row (plus boot). The Kia Carens gets good reviews, and I think the S-Max has a folding central seat in the second row to make getting into the back two easier ... Although not sure that helps if you have to buckle a child in. Maybe better where they only have to do a seatbelt.

You could belt one seat into the rear row of a Zafira but it'd be a bugger to fasten and you'd lose a lot of boot space.

I think I'd be moving the eldest into a forward facing seat and strapping him in the middle, with toddler ERF on one side and baby in a seat on an Isofix base on the other.

Eastpoint · 15/02/2015 19:23

We had a VW Sharan with built in booster seats. The older two were in five point harnesses in a Renault Scenic until dc1 was 3.4, I could fit a rear facing car seat in between the 2 forward facing. Dc2 was nearly 18 mos when dc3 was born.

Laquila · 15/02/2015 19:27

Have a look at the blog "A Rear Facing Family" - I'm sure she has a couple of posts on this. It's certianly possible!

littlepeas · 16/02/2015 17:55

You would have been able to do it in our VW Sharan and I imagine in other larger 7 seaters (Galaxy, etc), but not the smaller ones (like the Grand Scenic, zafira). We have an xc90 now, which is a 7 seater too, but we only just squeeze 2 hbb in, so I don't think you'd get 3 rear facing in 7 seater 4x4s either.

Jackieharris · 16/02/2015 18:11

I moved mine to booster seats once they turned 4. They were too big for their car seats by then and desperate to get out of them!

WhereIsMyFurryHat · 24/02/2015 14:40

My S-Max would take 3 rearfacing seats. The 2 way elite doesn't have a support leg does it?

weebleswillwobble · 24/02/2015 16:17

Another vote for S-Max here.

ItWasThePenguins · 03/03/2015 13:46

We have a grand voyager, have 2 erf but could fit 4 (in theory - getting them in would be awkward but not impossible).
We currently have a Britax maxfix and a Besafe izi kid (belt fitted) one in front of the other. Britax behind driver and besafe behind that. The other middle seat currently folded into floor and HBB for eldest next to the besafe :) Because of the collapsed seat it's easy to get toddler into besafe, but we have done it putting him in from boot too occasionally so could do that if more erf seats in.
Works great for us and can fit infant carrier easily too when the time comes.

piglet2911 · 07/03/2015 22:12

You can in a VW Caddy Maxi Life, plus enough stuff for a family of six to holiday happily for a couple of weeks lol!

mrsbee2be · 21/03/2015 11:53

I have a grande espace and all the seats in the back are full sized, same as the front ones and can be mixed around, they all have iso fix & we have 3 in the middle row and plenty of room. The seats are on tracks on the floor & trust slide back and forth so could get into rear facing seats easily

Original poster

twomoreminutes · 25/04/2015 00:22

Thanks so much everyone. Just wanted to update to say that I think we've found a Chrysler Grand Voyager that would work, and I see it's been mentioned a couple of times on this thread. Fingers crossed we can pick it up next week!

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