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3 kids and car seats

48 replies

2goingon3 · 28/06/2024 20:03

currently pregnant and will have a 8& 4 year old so wondering without buying a 7 seater how I could fit 3 car seats in the back?

what do other people do without buying 7 seater!

OP posts:
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PregnantNowScrewed · 28/06/2024 20:04

Following! Mine will be almost 7 and 4 and I had assumed we would definitely need a 7 seater.

FuzzyStripes · 28/06/2024 20:07

I have three with two-ish years between each and have never had a seven seater. Just get a five seater that has three full sized seats in the back. Some seven seaters won’t allow children’s seats to go on the back two seats.

PoopingAllTheWay · 28/06/2024 20:09

A standard 7 seater wouldnt work anyway , as most 7 seaters, you cant put child seats at the back

ARichtGoodDram · 28/06/2024 20:11

Cars with three full seats will work.

if you’re close to somewhere like the InCar Safety Centre they can help with combinations of seats that work together

2goingon3 · 28/06/2024 20:18

What cars have 3 full seats in the back? The only one I can find is a ford C Max

OP posts:
PregnantNowScrewed · 28/06/2024 20:19

Can anyone recommend a good family car with 3 full seats? We have a Skoda Octavia estate and whilst massive it’s still too small to fit 3 seats in the back.

Beginningless · 28/06/2024 20:20

My Citroen berlingo has 3 full seats. Is a 7 seater but I think you can get a 5 seat version? Plus how tall is the 8yr old? May not be too far off no car seat?

Justbecause19 · 28/06/2024 20:22

We have a VW transporter, absolutely love it. 3 full seats in the back and a huge boot.

2goingon3 · 28/06/2024 20:22

She's still about 10cm off! I'd feel better with her in a seat for longer anyway. Really hard to find a 5 seater car that has 3 full seats but not a 3rd row!

OP posts:
questionningmyself · 28/06/2024 20:43

I have a big standard car and 3 kids - two of whole are twins. Slimline graco for the eldest (7) in the middle and twins in the slimmest forward facing ones I could find either side

PregnantNowScrewed · 28/06/2024 20:45

questionningmyself · 28/06/2024 20:43

I have a big standard car and 3 kids - two of whole are twins. Slimline graco for the eldest (7) in the middle and twins in the slimmest forward facing ones I could find either side

What is the car?

My Octavia will not fit 3 seats of any kind in the back.

questionningmyself · 28/06/2024 20:46

Ford c max

2goingon3 · 28/06/2024 20:51

I really like the Peugeot 5008 but trying to keep the price down on a new car

OP posts:
lochmaree · 28/06/2024 20:53

Seat Alhambra is a popular one that has 3 seats.

Also if you put newborn in the middle RF and the other seats (assuming the other two are FF) either side then that might fit better than newborn at the side and two FF seats together.

my friend fits 3 in her Mercedes E class estate. from L to R, Axkid move, avionaut pixel infant carrier, and britax kidfix.

Flangeosaurus · 28/06/2024 20:55

Citroen Picasso has a 5 seat model with 3 full seats along the back

allgrownupnow · 28/06/2024 20:59

Very few cars have three back seats.
We ended up with a ford galaxy, but there are very few to choose from.

PurpleBugz · 28/06/2024 21:15

I got twin baby seats and a high back booster in the back of a ford focus. 10 years ago now so not sure on current models.

I say get a 7 seater. Ford c max or a pergoet 308 are the size of a 5 seater but have 7 seats (but absolutely no boot!)

strawberriesandcream23 · 28/06/2024 21:17

Peugeot 5008 7 seats and fit 3 car seats in the back, we have a 7, 3 and 10 month old

17caterpillars1mouse · 28/06/2024 21:25

I have an 8 year old, 5 year old and 7 month old and Drive a C5 aircross. It's a 5 seater with 3 separate seats in the back and the seats more forward and back so you can adjust to get the fit that suits you best

idontknow54789 · 28/06/2024 21:35

2goingon3 · 28/06/2024 20:51

I really like the Peugeot 5008 but trying to keep the price down on a new car

We've just brought this one - it's a good car. I'm currently pregnant with our third so can't judge much more than that. I would say be careful when looking for cars with three isofix, often there's two in the back and one in the front. There seems to be very few cars with three in the back.

Tessiebeare · 29/06/2024 22:14

Ford c max doesn’t have 3 full seats in the back. We had a c max and had to change car when no 3 arrived. The s max does though. There’s very few cars which actually have 3 full sized seats in the back.

The ones I can think of are:
Peugeot 5008
Ford smax
Ford Galaxy
VW Touran
VW Sharan
Seat Alhambra
Berlingo
Citroen grand Picasso

With the age of your kids you might also get away with something like the Skoda superb.

questionningmyself · 02/07/2024 20:06

@Tessiebeare

It does - the middle seat is classed as a full seat as it has an over the shoulder seatbelt just the same as you get in the other seats rather than just a lap belt

Wasywasydoodah · 02/07/2024 20:11

We have a Kia Carens and can fit 3 carseats across the back. Although it is a 7 seater, we don’t use the 2 seats that are in the boot. It was the cheapest car we could find to fit 3 across. The key was to get the right carseats. So we had a baby seat, then a high backed booster in the middle, then a britax two way elite to start with. Then we went to the in car safety centre to find the next carseat up that fitted.

GoodnightDoom · 02/07/2024 20:18

Citroën Picasso grand (7 seats) is excellent, as it has three full seats for car seats across the middle, a HUGE boot space when back seats are folded away (great for all the buggies/ travel cots/ toys etc you have to travel with when young!), and then options to spread out more when your kids are older and can sit in the back 2 seats. Ours is super economical too. Did a 4.5 hour drive to our holiday, drove around for a week, and got back again all on one tank. It's a great car. Would thoroughly recommend.

BertieBotts · 02/07/2024 21:43

Legally you can put the eldest in the middle with no booster seat, and at 8 this likely isn't disastrous, but it's not ideal if the lap belt is up on their tummy.

I think all cars have a proper 3 point belt in the middle seat now, even my sister's tiny Hyundai i10 does, what classes it as a full size seat is the width. For example we do have Peugeot 5008 and the three seats are totally separate and identical, it's not a bench, you can slide them back and forth. Most middle seats in a car though are 3/4 size width of a standard seat or sometimes even smaller. The Hyundai seat is tiny and when I've sat in the middle there I feel like I'm sitting on both seatbelt buckles at once. It would definitely not fit a car seat.

I haven't actually come across a lap belt in a car for a very long time, not a modern car anyway. I wonder if there was some law banning them in new cars at some point.

If you do want to fit three across, your best bet is to take the car and every car seat you currently own to either an independent car seat specialist, a big nursery specialist (like those warehouse places which always seem to be located in the middle of nowhere!) or somewhere like John Lewis and see if you can book a slot to bring everything and have a play around with different combinations. If your 4yo is OK in a high back booster, then you'll probably get 2x slim boosters (maybe one backless) and an infant carrier in side by side even in a standard car, and then a Swedish type ERF seat like Axkid Move/Minikid (which your 4yo could actually use now if you wanted to, though granted you might not want to have them rear facing if they are FF now!) - these are well placed to fit in, because the part where the child's feet are is very narrow.

It takes a bit of playing around (which is why it's best to book an appointment if you can) and fairly often it's more about the shape of how the car seats and the seatbelts fit together. In the 3008, we managed to get an isofix seat + baby seat on belted base + no-carseat teenager in a row but it wouldn't work in any other combination at all because the extra height offered by the base was what allowed the handle of the infant seat to clear the bottom of the frame of the toddler's seat. Tuck away the isofix of the boosters if you can, as this gives you a little more lateral movement. Most HBBs allow this. If you have any combination type seats (e.g. 123 type) it's worth swapping these for just high back boosters. The part you'll struggle most is if your 4yo is currently in a harnessed seat which attaches using isofix and top tether, because these are space hungry and tend to need to be right in the centre. But you could look at Cozy n Safe Hudson here which I think is a bit more compact than others of this type.

This is helpful even though a lot of these are older model seats now: https://erfmission.com/car-seats-3-across-in-the-backseat/