Car advice - 3 under 2 1/2 when twins arrive

[LalaDipsey]

Hi
I am expecting twins in December when DD will be 2.5. She is currently in a rear facing carseat which attaches to the front passenger seat. I drive a ford focus and know I will not fit 3 carseats in it so I need a new car. Budget is about £3-£4k. Can anyone advise on a suitable car? (I know nothing about cars!!)
I was thinking Ford Galaxy???????
The one worry I have is that although a 7 seater will let me keep dd in a rear facing seat, say behind the passenger seat - won't this mean the twingles have to go in the rear seats, leaving no boot space to store a buggy which will be vitally needed??
HELP!! Thanks very very much
Lala

Congratulations!

Do you need a 7 seater? We bought a citroen Xsara Picasso when dts were born and dd1 was 17months. It has three full seats which fit three car seats in the back comfortably, although our stage one seats are front facing, so wouldnt know about your rear facing one.

There is plenty of boot space- had 2 travel cots, a double buggy and a single buggy in mine over the weekend!

I also don't think the footprint of it is that big- some of the cars we looked at were huge but this is fairly easy to park and get dc in and out of.
For your budget I would think you would be able to get a pretty good one second hand.

OOhh that doesn sound good - I will check them out!! Did you put your DD1 in the middle and have the twins either side?
Thanks

Yes, dd1 is in the middle. Made sense at first as her seat was never taken out and dts were taken in and out of the house in their seats so no manoeuvring around dd1 to strap them in.

Now shes still in the middle as she can climb in her seat by herself, which is a big help when we are in a rush!

We have a Galaxy - loads of boot space, ability to ship some of their little friends around too in the extra seats. We went on a month's touring holiday recently and got everything in easily. That said, it's a challenge to park it in a supermarket if the P&T spaces are full (though I am crap at parking)

Hi, I have a renault scenic, just the 5 seat variety. When my 3 were little and twins still in pram I had a roof box that I kept the double buggy in to keep the boot free, but the boot is pretty large with space for heaps. I still have this car, but would love a 7 seater variety as we have no room for friends now!
New to this Mumsnet thing, not sure about all the abbreviations, DD etc??
Congratulations on your pregnancy!

I have a VW Touran and love it. Plan is (twins due in 2 weeks) dd1 goes in the middle (and we've been practicing her getting in from the front and climbing through the middle. She does her harness up and I tighten it), twins will be either side. It is a 7 seater but we rarely use those seats - means we can take friends out occasionally or pick up others from school when dd1 gets to that stage so can be involved in lift share - I'd feel guilty asking for favours of others picking up dd if I couldn't repay the favour.

We have a Fiat Multipla as our family car. It's the newer style so not quite as bug ugly /weird looking as the older version. It's a 6 seater - 3 front, 3 rear. Dp really likes it but I'm not so convinced. It's quite roomy for passengers but I don't think it's particularly comfortable for long trips. I think it has a disappointing amount of boot space for the size of car too, though we do manage to get everything in for a weekend / camping trip so obv not tiny.

I have a toyota hiece regius I love it.
cheap, very reliable, 8 seats large boot, (nipper 360 plus toddler wagon and still room for bags)

thankyou thankyou thankyou - I am going to the car supermarket to look at some on friday so hoping to narrow it down.

We've got a Ford S-Max so pretty similar to Galaxy, just slightly smaller and we can comfortably fit 3 proper car seats in the middle 3 seats. The 2 in the boot fold down when not in use to give us a massive boot. Plenty big enough for a twin pram. Even when the rear 2 seats are in use there is still enough boot space to fit a twin buggy folded up in. A couple of my friends have Galaxy's and love them. Good luck with the twins

You could buy one of these.

i vote for a galaxy. you can fit car seats into every single one of the passenger seats if you need to, so 3 across the middle row is fine (we can also do this in our fiesta). and the boot is fab (which you will need for all their crap equipment) we could fit 3 kids stuff (all under 2, so cots, puschairs clothes etc) and the dog.
some people carriers don't have 3 point harnesses in every seat (the old previa was like that) and some have 2 seats joined together (some chryslar voyagers). watch out for stuff like that!