Isofix fittings in 7 seaters

[KBwan]

Wordy one I'm afraid... but I'll be very grateful for any help you can offer!

We're looking for a car that will take 3 car seats across the back with Isofix fittings (plus a bit of extra space in case we ever go for a dc4). Having looked around, we like the S max (and maybe Seat Alambra). We were almost about to buy a 2010 S max but discovered our Maxicosi Priorifix seats and our Mamas and Papas baby seat wouldn't clip into the points where the Isofix labels were. The car salesman said all three 2nd row seats were suitable for Isofix, but I think he thought he was so close to a sale he'd have told me the car was self cleaning if I'd asked.
I understand that I will need foam fillers to support the Isofix legs (it's been a real journey of discovery!), but my questions are -

1. Is it just the car seats I have that will not fit i.e. are Ford Isofix fittings different to other cars where I've used my car seats (Nissan, Honda, Land Rover)?
2. Is it possible that although Isofix labels are there, I need to have Isofix retro-fitted?
3. Is it because it's a 2010 model, do newer versions have them as standard? From when?

I did try asking the salesman, but I think he'd lost the will to live by then (his commission was slowly sliding out of his grasp......)

In some cars they are a long way back and you have to use the guides (plastic square things that came with the car seat) You should be able to feel the bar when you slide your hand in. I remember having trouble fitting mine in a zafira once as they were a lot further back than I was used to

Is isofix essential on all 3 seats? The priorifix can be strapped in too IIRC?

Don't know if this is any use, but if you put in the cars you are looking for, the car checker on the maxi cosi site will tell you if you can fit them with isofix.

We had a March 2010 s-max which didn't have isofix in the middle seat but did on the outside seats iykwim. We now have a July 2011 s-max and it has isofix in all three seats as standard, not sure when they started doing the middle seat as standard, somewhere between march 2010 and July 2011.

Hope this helps a little, not sure if you can get the middle seat retro-fitted with isofix but we certainly did with our old c-max. Hope this helps a little.

Old thread which may help

I was told yesterday by the john lewis car seat lady that standardisation of isofix fittings only came into place in 2008 so to check in older cars. Haven't verified that yet, but thought it might be worth passing on.