young kids in the front of the car-I have a kneejerk reaction against it, but am I being daft?

[fillyjonk]

It'd save us about 7k

But I don't feel comfortable with it.

What do you all think? Is it safe?

(I know-olden days-17 kids in back of volvo-but there IS more traffic on the road these days and also-they are my kids and this is one of my few neuroticisms)

actually, i am thinking we could possibly hire a car for those occasions when we needed us all to travel in comfort-eg to relatives. or pos just take the train

maybe we could do that for a year and save like feckery

How often would all of you go out in the car together? If it's a several times a week thing, then assuring yourself of safety at whatever cost may well make sense for you.

But if it happens less often, could you perhaps plan to make it less frequent still until your oldest is big enough for a booster, allowing you to keep your current car? Then maybe on those few occasions that you really do all need to go somewhere together, you could hire a bigger car that meets your safety criteria.

Or would it be feasible for you to travel separately (e.g. you drive the kids, dp gets the train/goes by bike/whatever other permutations)?

Unless you really do a lot of whole-family outings, by buying a big car for a specific need that will only last for a year or so, you are incurring a massive cost per trip.

oh OK you thought of that already! slow typing syndrome here. I used not to have a car at all and did the train/hiring thing - worked absolutely fine and saved wads of cash

Where does this arbitary 7K figure come from? Why do you reckon that it would cost that much to replace your car with a larger one? TBH I think with a Fabia you are going to struggle if you are trying to fit in two stage 1 and a baby seat. I could not do it in my Fiesta or in DH's Volvo S40. I can just get one stage 1 and 2 boosters in the Volvo.

And also even in the volvo it is a squeeze for me (female, size 10) to fit between the stage 1 and the high back booster. I am short of shoulder space.

The whole problem will not be whether or not you can fit 3 full car seats in theback. My Laguna fits 3 full carseats in the back but will not fit 1 full carseat and 2 boosters because you can't access the seatbelt sockets to fasten the boostered children in. One DS has to travel in the front of out car (passenger airbag, can't turn it off, seat waaaaaay back). I am happy with this simply because it is a big car and the seat is a very long way back from the airbag. I was not happy when I had a Fiat Panda as a courtesy car fopr a fortnight as the seat was too close for my liking - only made very short necessary journeys in that with all 3 children in.

Am currently hankering after a Ford S-Max but haven't scraped together the money yet.

7k is cost of secondhand multipla

i think multipla is the cheapest. its alsto the smallest so i assume cheapest to run and insure

one of the reasons i found going from 1-2 very stressful was that i spent a LOT of time lugging 2 very small kids around on public transport and i am scared of doing that again

we cna't fit 3 full car seats in back, have tried

ALSO we have a lap belt in middle and I don't think you can really fit a seat belt to them. Assumed I could get a garage to sort something there though.

You can use a Britax Freeway with a lap eblt only and there is another , perhaps Renaissance. A Honda FRV has a similar seat configuration to a Multipla and a Renault Scenic or Citreon Picasso, with 3 seats in back and 3 point belts, can certainly be picked up for less than 7k 2nd hand.

So your current plan is to replace your Fabia with a secondhand multipla? I have read your other thread now and am understanding more. Do you just have one car as a family?

I do put children in the front of our cars on an ad-hoc basis when I have more than the usual two to transport. I push the seat back as far as possible given that DD is behind and, at 3, her legs stick out of her stage 1 seat quite a bit. I think a 4.5yo would probably be OK in a high back booster - they are from a minimum of 33lb.

Ladymuck - no probs! Fillyjonk - mine were 4y.5m, 2y.3m and new born and we could always fit 3 seats in at a time - ds went in booster (skinny one) on one side, dd1 went in the middle in the big 9m to 3yrs ish one (which is the only way it fits if you have all 3 in) and baby went in the baby seat on the other side. This also works with 2 booster seats and one big seat in the middle when no2 and 3 change seats (2 has to move up before 3 can) Our problem has only come when ds (only about 1 yr off no seats at all) still has to be in a booster and no2 and 3 both need a booster too - no3 is a big lass and is growing out of middle car seat fast! We won't be able to do it so the plan is for ds to sit on the end on no seat - seatbelt adapter, and dd1 and dd2 to have booster seats - we had to try about 58 of them in the car to see which would work though!!!! We've tried ds in the middle but his sisters' car seats fall in on him!

Sorry - I would check with garage re: middle lap belt first - if you can't change it then you've GOT to change car (obviously!) If they can alter it - go and see some friends and borrow all their car seats and have a try out session while they look after the kids.

I have a sporty coupe style car and back seats are really tight. Sometimes I will push passenger seat as far back as it will go and ds sits in the front with me (no air bag). The seat pushed back is almost back to wear he is sitting in the back anyway!

I do think he is probably safer in the front sometimes as it is a 2 door car and so small in the back.
We are considering a new car.

Most councils have someone who can check the fit of child car seats for you; perhaps they could help you work out the best thing to do? Can't remember which bit of the council they'd come under, sorry, but worth asking around.

Look on the ROSPA website, child car seats and positioning. It explains it all there.

Safest in the back, the middle seat being safest of the lot as it is away from the doors. Avoid the front if possible but have the seat as far back as possible if you have to.

have checked with garage

can't change it

oh fgs

i shall make the ncap site my homepage i think