Advise on cars for 3 children? 2 boosters and one infant car seat

[smarSarah]

Currently pregnant with my third and have a 5 and 8 year old. We are looking to get a bigger car and was hoping to get some recommendations.

Our older children have high back britax booster seats currently but we can change them to something more slimline if need be.

thanks in advance!

I’d look for a 7 seater. I had a Skoda Kodiaq that would have fit them all fine. In the next few years, you’ll be moving into the giving lifts to friends stage of life, so you’ll want to have more than 5 seats. Mine loved riding in the back seats.

Take a look at the Hyundai Santa Fe - that's what we're going for!

Many years ago now, but we had a Volvo with inbuilt boosters you could sort of pop up. I had 3 kids all required to be in booster seats at the time and it was wonderful as I could do away with the actual boosters. Happy days.

You will probably need a seven seater, and definitely not any sort of suv. Very few 5 seater cars have a proper middle seat these days, they are essentially 4 seaters with and arm rest with a seatbelt. I have done a lot of looking and it makes me cross!
We have a galaxy, it’s great

We went for an Alhambra and very happy so far. Though the kids feel sooooo far away when they're in the back seats 🤣 it has 5x Isofix points so a nice bonus for taking extra people, several seat configurations, random secret storage, trays on the back of the seats, loads of leg room, works with a roof box. Ticked a lot of boxes. Was also thinking about taking additional friends places so thought it was best to go straight for the 7 seater rather than get 5 now and wish it was bigger!

Toyed between that and the VW touran. We do seem to have a tendency to change cars every few years. Right now a second hand Alhambra suited the budget better than the Touran, but would consider that when I'm back at work and funds are more stable, if we do want to switch it up.

This website might be helpful - its run by independent car seat retailers but has good advice on vehicles too. https://www.bumptobooster.co.uk/post/3-across

Peugeot 5008 has three equal seats in the middle row. Huge boot for a buggy when you don’t need seats 6&7.

They've taken the full middle seat out of the newer models - its only in older models. We nearly got caught out by this!

I'd absolutely recommend a 7 seater. We are a family of 5 and we used 7 seats when we had grandparents with us and for friends. We've had Tourans - I love them and am on my 2nd. I've been driving them for 20 years now and am only now at the point where I think I no longer need such a big car, but I'll absolutely keep driving it for as long as I can.