Luxury car for 3 children

[supercalafragilisticexpealidocious]

I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old and another on the way.

We need a car that will fit 3 car seats. I would like a car on the luxury end of the scale as we will be using it a fair amount and I've never had a decent car before. I also don't want to feel like the Von Trapp family with a very unsexy mumsy car. (Don't judge me please!).

We will be buying second hand and have a budget of around 30k.

Requirements are:

• needs to fit 3 car seats (ideally isofix I'm guessing given age of children)
• needs to have potential towing capacity for horse trailer in future
• good boot space
• feel "nice"
• we are going to be living in a village so need something that can potentially cope with village roads in winter

So far I've come up with the Land Rover Discovery, the Volvo XC90 and the Audi Q7. BUT I've heard the discovery is horribly unreliable and doesn't fit 3 seats across the middle so would require one of them to be in the third row of seats (not necessarily a deal breaker), the q7 is perhaps not substantial enough for village life, the xc90 doesn't have 3 isofix points so our oldest would need to be in a seat attached with a seatbelt which doesn't feel ideal.

Any opinions or advice and any personal experience would be much appreciated.

Alot of isofix seats tend to be quite wide as well and if they can spin wouldn't be able to once you have three seats. Some of the axkid seats have been designed with the idea of getting three seats across.
Will the children all be under 125cm or 25/36kg all the the same time as you can stagger the rear facing seats to get the best jigsaw puzzle which you can't do with isofix seats unless you get the axkid one2 but that's all the £££ but a great seat as I have one!

Possibly not as posh as you want but the top spec Peugeot 5008 is superb.

If you currently own three seats just take them to garages that have the car you like the look of and try them. It's the only way to know if they will fit.

Double check car manuals before buying as some cars don't allow cars seats in the middle seat even if it's a family car.

Gosh yes that's another good point about the swivel. Our two current car seats both swivel and I agree you can only swivel one at a time because otherwise they would block each other. I had planned to get the baby a swivel as I do find them really useful but you're right that's probably pointless if we end up with all three across the back in a row.

All three of them will be under the weight and height you mention for quite a while. My four year old is only 100cm and not quite 18kg yet.

It's all so complicated!

All land rovers are terribly unreliable, a thieves dream and expensive to insure. Allegedly some insurers are refusing to insure. Stay away!

From your list, xc90. Watch Volvo crash tests compared to other models and you'll not want anything else. BMW x4 is a milf car and surprisingly roomy.

We don't have them yet unfortunately. Our four year old is coming near to the end of the height limit on her current seat so we are in the market for a new one for her soon and the newborn will be getting a new seat. So we can sort of buy the seats to fit the car although I'm currently researching seats too and want to make sure we are getting ones that have good ratings.

Probably not fancy enough but we've got a Peugeot Rifter that's fantastic for the 3 kids plus a huge boot when the back row seats are out.
I would never get a family car without sliding doors now, it makes parking in small spaces so much easier, especially trying to get a baby in and out.

Volvi XC90. Reliable, lovely to drive, insanely comfortable and most importantly incredibly safe.

Isofix seats will limit your choices as they are wide. An isofix seat is no safer than a correctly installed non-iso car seat.

So I suppose my next question should be what are your recommendations for a non isofix seat suitable for a FF four year old at 100cm and less than 18kg.

And very likely to be stolen. It can be impossible to get insurance for RRs in London. RR most unreliable car brand according to Which.co.uk

Absolutely love my Disco, I have driven them for the last 16 years. Get the HSE and 7 seater. Yes, some are unreliable, buy from a decent dealer and get full service history. You’ll have no problem towing with one. They’re amazing cars.

I know which.com says its very unreliable but been driving it for 20 years. Different types but always range rover and never had any problems. So u trust my experience rather than what other people said. Also i didnt know its impossible to get insurance for RR. I live in cambridge and i never got any problem with getting insurance here.

My Volvo XC90 has an integrated car seat for ages 4 and up, meaning you don’t need an extra car seat. You’d need to buy a Volvo with the family pack to get this feature.

We bought our 2017 XC90 R Design in 2020 for £28k so you should be able to get one in your budget. We have a 5 year old, three year old and a newborn at the moment btw.

It’s a dream to drive and feels luxurious given we went for the R-Design spec.

Just looked to confirm details for child suitability for the integrated chair and it’s as below:

The child seat is approved for children who weigh 15-36 kg (33-80 lbs) and are at least 95 cm (37 inches) tall.

Another vote here for Volvo. A PP mentioned the poor interior. We have an R Design (xc60). Everyone who sits in it loves it.

Comfort and safety were high factors here - it is a 4.5 hour drive to our nearest large city and the possibility of hitting elk or moose is high.

I would pick Q7 over X5
Both equal to drive Q7 less engine problems and easier to set up 3rd row seats etc.
But if you used your sensible head you could get a newer car like a Skoda Kodiaq. 😂

Look at maxi cosi high back boosters for your 4 year old. They can be used with or without the isofix. We are just moving ours from swivel harnessed to forward booster and maxi cosi was one of the narrower options.
i think we are getting the maxi cosi rodi pro2

Also car wise, consider an electric suv. They have more space in the back as the floor in the middle is completely flat. So whoever sits there will have more leg room

The built in booster @ThisReallyDoesntAddUp mentioned isn't safe enough for a 4 year old, you still need side impact protection at that age so a high back booster is what you need if you're not extended rear facing.

Hahaha Villiage entitlement all over.

I’d have an XC90 in an instant if I could afford one.

On the subject of car seats, I’ve just spent £££ on Axkid Movekids because they’re compact enough to fit 3 across in our (far more modest!) SUV.

I've got discovery 5 and it does fit 3 seats in middle. I love it but only buy if you have plenty of money for the garage. It's lovely to drive and lovely to look at , so spacious although not sure you'd get a decent one for 30k x

Hey just browsed through thread and to add definitely don't buy multi mac they aren't safe. Also a swivel for a newborn isn't recommended as they aren't a good fit until they can sit up. Why don't you just get a maxicosi style isofix with separate base. Is an option to then air bag off in passenger and have her/ him RF? We can fit 3 in middle and due later this year but won't be doing that as just know they'll squabble like hell. Plus if I need to pull over and BF much easier if baby in front. Note I may not decide to do it this way May put my oldest in back back but she's still RF and I feel weird about her just being right there in the big glass boot if god forbid an accident,
You're right- it's a minefield!
Defo look into ERF it's about 4/5 times safer than FF upto age of 5/6 x

I love our XC90. Safety was are first, second and third priority. I also feel (possibly unreasonably) that it's the least twattish of the luxury large SUV line up 😀

Hardly village entitlement. If you had to reverse 25 metres when you had two or three vehicles behind you and you knew the vehicle facing you had 5 metres to reverse into a passing place you may feel the same way.