Am I missing something? Car for 3 kids…

[girlrunningoncheese]

Why am I finding it so tricky to get a car that’ll fit 3 kids?! Context = DC3 due in Aug, already have a 6 + a 4 year old.
My criteria is under £30k (ideally £25k), and for all 3 kids to fit in the middle row. Don’t really want the eldest scrambling over into a third row seat or getting in/out the boot.

maybe it’s because we don’t have a Volvo XC90 or Landrover budget but it seems surprisingly hard. I didn’t think 3+ kids was that unusual but there don’t seem to be loads of options.

we test drove a Peugeot 5008 only to discover that the newest model no longer has 3 separate seats in the middle - they’ve gone back to the 40/60 split which is unhelpful. So we could go for a 2023 version which is probably the obvious choice.
any other recommendations - anything I’m missing?
i’d rather have an SUV than an MPV but could be persuaded otherwise. Am nervous about going much older than 5 years for maintenance reasons but not super precious about it.
advice gratefully received!

The Skoda Kodiaq always get recommended but I haven't tried it myself! The Citroen Berlingo definitely does fit 3 across the middle - it's also an excellent family car if you don't care about being fancy 😄

I had a Berlingo. Very flexible and spacious. If you get a diesel, change the oil and filter regularly not matter what the service schedule says. Modern emissions systems kill engines, and changing the oil more regularly will pay dividends. I change mine every 6000 miles.

SUV
Peugeot 5008
Skoda Kodiaq
Citroen C5 Air cross
There's an Audi too (prob out of budget)

MPV
VW Touran
VW Sharan
Seat Alhambra
Ford S-max (discontinued, poss longer ago than your 5 year limit). Ditto Zafira.

We are in the process of buying new car as we have a 2 year old and expecting twins, so will have 3 car seats. We've settled on a Vauxhall combo life/citreon berlingo - same car, different badge, combo life a bit cheaper. Its not sexy but it fits 3 car seats on second row. We also wanted electric and our budget is more like 18-20k, and this is literally the only option!

VW Touran.
The Kodiaq has a much smaller boot.

Oh yeah I tried a Berlingo but it broke down so often AA were on speed dial and practically followed me round until I made the dealer take it back as unfit for purpose!

Because everyone buys SUVs and manufacturers are no longer making people carriers.

I have 4 DC and bought a Ford Galaxy when DC3 arrived which we drove into the ground before replacing it with a VW Sharan. Both great cars and drive like cars not trucks. Sharan fantastic as it has sliding doors so you don't sit wincing when your older DC enthusiastically throw open the back doors in car parks.

I think the Galaxy is still made but they stopped making the Sharan in early 20s, tho plenty second hand around. Seat Alhambra is basically the same car.

You're not going to get admiring looks but frankly you're unlikely to with a load of kids anyway. Advantage of only 3 DC is that you can keep the back seats down unless needed and have a massive boot available.

We have literally just brought a car to fit 3 kids, baby due very soon.

In the end we went with Citroen C4. It's not at all glamorous but does the job. The middle row is 3 separate seats. And from someone who has always driven a hatchback, the space in the C4 is amazing 😆

Honestly it’s a bloody nightmare.

We are lucky / unlucky that our main car is a company car so it’s cheap (£200/month all in on a brand new car) but we were limited to one 7 seater SUV that still doesn’t fit 3 across the middle row.

Day to day I have 7 year old in hbb and 5 year old in erf on middle row and baby in infant carrier on front seat (air bag off). At weekends (or just when another adult needs to fit) 7 year old gets shifted to the back row, and baby goes on the middle row.

What does the split matter? That’s just about creating boot space by folding seats. Bigger child gets the 40% seat! Any large suv would do it and a used Volvo won’t cost a fortune. A Discovery sport has 3 seats in the back. Centre is smaller but baby goes there.

There is a whole feature on this here:- Best cars for three child car seats | What Car?

I had a Skoda Kodiaq. Now I wouldn’t give it a strong recommendation. I had a 2021 (purchased new for I think about £20k ish at the time) and I sold it and bought a 16 year old Volvo XC70, which is much nicer! But I would think you could get 3 across the back depending on ages, but it does have 2 extra third row seats and my eldest loved sitting back there with friends. It ticks the boxes, even if I still think an aged Volvo is better. Fwiw, I bought my Volvo for £6k and I can fit 3 teens across the back or two teens and one in a high back booster, so doesn’t need to cost a fortune.

The split matters if you want to use isofix. Three full size seats often have 3 isofix points. A 40/60 split will only have two.

We had the older 5008 and it was great. TBH even the 3008 was OK - we had this previously, and did fit 2 child seats and a teenager in it but it was a bit of a squeeze, and needed a belt fitted base for baby seat in the middle which are much harder to find now.

We have an Audi Q7. Not sure where they come in at in ref to your budget but we got all 3 car seats in one row and it has two seats in the back that fold down so 7 seats in total and good space for a buggy

Car Wow lists cars with 3 iso fix points. A Discovery does and many others but they are all big cars. I guess that’s why most parents stop at 2 dc now! Lots of recommendations are the big 7 seaters.

There's no problem getting cars older than 5 years as long as they have evidence of a good service history, and preferably VW or the like. Having said that I've had no problem with an older Citroen C4 Spacetourer with good service history even though Citroen engines are normally crap.

I’m pregnant with my 3rd dc and other dc’s are 7 and 4. I’ve picked the Vauxhall frontera because it looks quite spacious and 7 year old is only in a high back booster so doesn’t need an isofix point.

I have 3 kids and have got a Vauxhall Combo Life. I went for 5 seater but there is a 7 seat version. Full size seats though I only have 2 kids in car seats. Boot is massive(in 5 seater as seats are fixed into boot in the 7) and could fit my double bugaboo pram, and all our luggage and shopping when we went on a caravan holiday as a family of 5. Is it a nice looking car, No, it’s like driving a mini van. But it is very practical

I had this issue 2 months ago when we realised we couldn’t fit a baby seat in either of mine or husbands car as well as the other 2 kids seats. (A booster and a high back booster seat - kids are 8 &3 & a newborn now) We ended up buying a Citroen c5 aircross it has 3 full size seats in the back and all 3 move individually. Also has a decent size boot for the pram/shopping etc. second hand we got a decent one for £12k with low miles. Etc from cinch.

Find your local car seat specialist and ask them about car seats available to fit side by side in certain cars. They will be able to tell you what is possible and what seats you need to achieve it.

The new Vauxhall Frontera looks quite nice.

I’ve just bought a new Nissan Qashqai, absolutely perfect for us with a baby, toddler and a dog! Loads of back room space, the boot has additional storage underneath and the new shape is fabulous, I love mine

We bought a BMW X5 when we had our third, by then the older 2 were just in boosters so there was space for all of them.
Was a very comfy car, was sad to sell it on but it served us well.

Most people I know had to move to seven seaters after they had had three kids (as did we). Had a few months of tearing hair out with three seats in the back then finally gave up