Volvo XC90 and 3 car seats

[Volvooo]

Hi, I'm looking for advice on car seat set up. I've got an XC90, 1 year old twins and a 3 year old and this seems harder than it should be. Why isn't there an isofix point in the middle fgs.

Twins are 14 months and I've still got them in their baby seats, secured on the seatbelts 2 next to each other, and then have a massive Group1/2/3 seat for 3 year old on the isofix. Ideally I want 2 on the isofix but need something for the middle. I want to keep the boot for luggage etc ideally. I'm resigned to buying at 2 more seats (unless the booster is a goer) but ideally wouldn't have to buy 3.

• recommendations for a slim 5 point harness seat that would go in the middle on a seatbelt?
• recommendation for 2 seats to rear face for the twins, but that will both fit width wise and one can be on isofix and one booster
• Should I buy the Volvo own brand car seats, the swivel rear face thing looks nifty as does the booster seat with the 5 point harness.
• Or, does anyone use the integrated booster with the cover padding thing? He is tall and heavy enough but is the minimum. I don't feel great about this, maybe next year. If I could keep the twins in the baby seats til Christmas (not impossible) then maybe I could reassess.

The Volvo own brand ones are just Britax rebranded. The rear facing 9-25kg seat one is worth considering because it's belt fitted, possibly can go in the middle and it's the Britax Max Way which has been discontinued so you can't buy any more. It's meant to be really slim! Also easy to install in volvos as they have the tether loops already. Axkid Move is another option similar to this which is a bit cheaper at the moment due to a sale.

The swivel Volvo ones are just Britax Dualfix/Swingfix. (Swingfix is just the same as the Dualfix with the forward facing option removed). You can buy a newer version of the Dualfix for £280 so I wouldn't spend £500 on the Volvo branded ones, which is an older model anyway.

Volvo don't have a booster with 5 point harness. I wouldn't put your 3yo in a HBB yet especially if she is only just minimum weight/height for it, keep the 5 point harness a bit longer. Do you know what 123 seat you have currently? They are all quite bulky, but it might be worth replacing if you have an especially huge one. If you keep the twins rear facing, then it's probably beneficial to keep the forward facing child on the isofix as they do tend to perform better for FF seats. Rear facing is so much safer in the first place that it doesn't matter if it's isofix or seatbelt.

I'd probably use the rule of thumb of minimum 22kg / 125cm for the integrated booster seats. They will come in handy later on, but not yet.

Thanks for the helpful tips, good one on the Britax rebranding!! Assume all the above knowledge is the work of a lot of research, so thanks!

Me again... after some internet exploration I'm keener suddenly on rear facing for longer. We actually do quite a lot of long drives on the motorway, and not that much else, so aside from the safety factor, the sleeping/recline factor is probably better rear facing too. Thinking we could probably get them to 3ish at least before considering a switch, then older one can get more use out of the other seat we have as well (although we turned forwards from about 15 months last time).

I've asked local Volvo garage regarding the rear facing seats, which I checked and apparently they are 44cm. This is the same as Axkid Move which is narrower than other Axkid apart from the newest one which is £££ and also 44cm. Turns out the baby seats we are using atm are 44cm too, and I wouldn't want to try anything wider certainly. The only other option I can find that might be a bit slimmer is Graco Slimline something which is about 42.5cm (so not a huge difference).

Any other thoughts? At the moment I'm leaning on ordering Axkid Move because it's quite cheap and although Volvo don't publish their prices, I doubt it'll be less, and seems no benefit particularly of their seat anyway. I'd normally have been inclined to assume the more expensive Axkid was better and wanted to buy it, but it's wider so that has saved me from myself on this occasion.

Is there anything else I should look at. Has anyone successfully installed this in the middle of a Volvo XC90 with quite a tall driver? It says it will fit on the website, but not sure it definitely will with 2 of them next to each other and 3 across. Other seat is isofix so has to stay one side or the other.

IIRC the Volvo Britax seat is £270, so Axkid Move is cheaper if you get it before the end of September.

If I were you, I would contact an ERF specialist, by phone if you can, and see if they can fit you in for a fitting with the Axkid at the sale price. They probably won't have a Britax Max Way to test unless they happen to have one personally (which obviously they might not want to use in a client's car!) but most ERF specialists will have at least seen the Max Way and should be able to tell you about fitting it. Or it might be that 2x Axkids are fine.

Here's the Axkid retailer list - if you contact them ASAP they might honour the September price, just I wouldn't wait because it's due to go back up on Sunday.
https://axkid.com/find-a-retailer-near-you/

The published widths don't really tell you anything about fitting three seats together - the only thing that matters there is whether they have protruding bits which get in the way of each other or not. Graco Slimfit is wide - over 50cm for the old R44 one and 45.5cm for the new r129 one. (I can't find the 42cm figure so not sure where this is from!)

The Britax/Axkid seats last until around 6 or 7 years so ages until you'd need to consider a switch.