Cars and 3 children - help and suggestions gratefully received!!

[cloudberry]

Baby number 3 is due in about 3 weeks time. We currently have a Discovery, bought because we couldn't face the idea of a people carrier, my dh works with horses so needed a tower etc, and thought that it would provide plenty of room. Trying to fit in 3 car seats has proved to be hard work - do-able but a real squash. The rear seats don't come out thereby severely restricting the boot room and we have a large lurcher and a labradoodle plus the double buggy to fit in! DD is just 3 and ds is not quite 2.

So deep breath and think it's time to consider a people carrier, but would be really interested to hear what experienced people carrier users have to say, recommendations etc. Don't like Vauxhalls and have spoken to friends who have them and don't rate them especially on motorway and children in the rear seats. I've heard glowing reports about Ford Galaxys, been told that VW Tourans have crap boot/luggage space. I'm also attracted to the idea that people carriers will be infinitely cheaper to run than the Disco.

VW touran doesn't have much space in back at all if you're using 6 or 7 seats.
we ahve a ford s max and is great, v roomy. 3 seeats in middle move indepedently of each other, lots of room there

We have a grand scenic which has seven seats but we don't use the two in the back and that gives us a good size boot.

Thanks for being so quick!! Do the back seats in either car come out completely or fold down?

We've got 3 little ones (dd1 3, dts 8m) and a Toyota Verso - 7 seats, but the back 2 fold down into the floor of the boot so a decent sized boot when folded (which they always are).

We love it.

And the verso has a sliding door (I think) which is a godsend so I am told (we still have a Golf and have DS1 just turned 2 and 8-week twins, we never go out in car cos we don't all fit...).

We have a Vauxhall Zafira (7 seats) and we have never had any trouble with it - it is the most reliable car we've had actually. Our mechanic said that he seldom has problems with them, only you must change the fan belt at 40,000 miles. Think that is true of a lot of cars though.

The extra 2 seats in the back slide away out of sight under the middle 'bench' of seats and can be used together or separately ie you can have 6 or 7 seats used at one time. If you just use 6, there is ample space in the back next to passenger 6 for luggage, buggy, dog etc.

We have a Mitsubishi Grandis and love it. 7 seats. The middle seat in the middle row has a proper seat belt, not a lap belt. Rear two seats fold flat into the floor, no need to keep taking them in and out like the galaxy, and they are proper seats, not flimsy deck chairs like some of the 7 seaters we looked at (Zafira).

We've had it a year and love it. Slightly juicy and with hindsight would probably have gone for the diesel, not petrol.

I have a multipla - 6 full size seats so absolutely no problem accommodating any combo of car seats/adults/kids but the boot isnt huge

my friend has a touran and finds it great for her three (all under 4) and the boot space is great if you arent using the extra seats.

wouldnt the volvo xc90 be good for you if you need a more 'country' car?

Another vote for the verso here. We got one a month ago and love it. All 3 seats move independently of each other, and you can fit 3 car seats across the width. Big boot with both extra seats folded(totally flat).

Mine fold right down.

Thank you everyone for feedback. Hana can you tell me more about your s-max please?

umm, what do you want to know?

we have 3 kids s- 6, 3 and 18 months. bags of room in the boot when seats not being used. they fold up v compactly. 3 seats in middle all independent, we have one booster and 2 second stage (?) seats in middle, and use a booster (without back) when I'm driving a little friend around. bit pricey are they are still kinda new. quite high driving position which is nice, and parking sensors front and back - essential for parking in our neighbourhood! they rate quite highy on what car surveys (or so dh has said) Our is 07 model, think it was about 3 months old.

Thanks hana. Did you think about a galaxy - not really sure what the difference is? Or any other type before deciding on s-max? ONe of my concerns is how squashed the dcs will be when no. 3 arrives. 3 yr old dd is in booster seat and easily reaches across to prod or bang her brother's car seat and that's with a gap in the middle which will be occupied by the baby. I had a peek at a galaxy today and was really impressed by the width of the 3 back seats, first time I've looked inside a people carrier with new eyes so to speak. My dh is telling me that we can't afford to change, tho' we need to hang on to the disco for his work, so we'd have to trade in his car. I can't decide whether I'm being ridiculous and that we should make do or whether changing will really make a big difference. The rubbish boot space in the Discovery does do my head though, before I need to start worrying about whether poor no.3 will be force fed something awful, have its eyes poked out or we all end up in the ditch as a result of me worrying about its eyes and not on driving!!

didn't consider a galaxy at all. not sure why? friends with 3 kids same age as ours bought smax about 6 months before we did - raved about it - we test drove theirs lots!! and dh was sold. did look at the vw touran, but it was too small (boot space)

We've got a Galaxy-it's a great car. Have only got the one DC, but have travelled with four adults, DS in his car seat, two dogs and a biggish 3 wheeler buggy in the boot(with the seats removed) plus all the trappings for a day out at the beach!! LOADS of space in them, and really easy to drive. Petrol ones are a bit thirsty though, so diesel might be better. Oh, and it's got parking sensors too (agree that they're really handy!). DP did hours of research when we realised that my very-nice-but-not practical Renault Megane Coupe just had to go
We've had it a year now and it works for us!!

we have a scenic and its very spacious

might have been because back seat in galaxy is fixed - they don't fold down? not sure if that is the case in newer modelss, certainly the case for older models

Hana - All five 'rear' seats in our galaxy will come right out. You could even have just the two rear seats in and the middle ones out if you want to!!
They do have to be taken right out of the car - they don't fold down into the floor like some cars do, but it's only a case of unclipping them and lifting them out.
There's also a seperate heater control for the rear two seats which is handy for human passengers, but also for blowing over wet canine passengers to dry them!!
HTH!

I have an old style 5 seater scenic with three dds and can not wait to upgrade to a seven seater. (have discovered the reason people must have seven seats with three kids is they can all sit and not touch each other!) Reading this with interest as was adamant that i did not need a people carrier and now dd3 is 7mths am desperate for one. By the way it is impossible to fit three car seats (baby, mid size and booster) all together in a scenic. DD1 is minus her booster despite being 4cm below the regulated age as just can not fit them all in.
DH interested in the Mitsubishi so intersted to hear more on this one. Sorry for the interuption..

Farfarwaway, please don't be sorry for interrupting. It's good to know that my queries are not ridiculous despite my dh insisting that they are, and I'm interested to read your comments about the not being able to touch which dear dh tells me is not a reason to justify changing cars. I have an uphill battle here so need to information-gather as much as I can. Will probably need to wait till the baby arrives and see how it works then. Thank you everyone for all your comments.

Well maybe it is just my dd's but dd2 has a habit (when tired and bored) of trying to annoy dd1 but putting a leg on her, touching/poking etc and generally annoying her. And dd3 who would probably love to sleep can't sleep for dd1 right next to her cooing in her face and humming and singing in her ear. Any journeys of more than 20 minutes are too stressful to be considered. Hence if I could put two at each end of the car and another in the rear seat I would be very happy.
Must add my dd's are not usually like this, combination of being bored, tired and squashed too close together results in scenes like the above and my patience tested to the limit.

Volvo V70?

Good tower,
Can get 7 seater,
Loads of room in the boot.

.....and you don't get any grief for driving a SUV