4wd for three under 5's

[ToddleWaddle]

Hi does anyone have any recommendations or personal experience of the above.
Live very rurally so 4wd or at least snow tyres will be required in winter.
Room for 3 under fives preferably rear wards facing. Can change car seats if necessary.
We are considering Volvo XC90 at the moment. Think we have ruled out discovery due to running costs.
Any advice appreciated.

I've got a peugeot 5008 with winter tyres on ATM.

I've had 3 car seats across the back but not rf. They are 3 proper, individual seats and it's a pretty wide car so should fit your requirements.

The boot is huge without the back seats up too, and the optional 2 seats in the back are handy for friends etc for shortish journeys.

The Volvo is a soft road-going 4x4 for city types! Not seen good reviews recently as it is a bit dated. We do have a Discovery and I am not sure why you think it has high running costs. Have you ever owned one? Sometimes what a car can actually do outweighs other considerations. We too live in a very rural area and I would not swap a car that can really cope with an imitation. Does the Volvo have a terrain selector, a hill descent control, variable ride height, low gear options etc? If not will it be good enough? I can select a type of terrain and the car responds to it by setting it's gearing. The hill descent control negotiates a steep hill in bad conditions by automatic breaking without the driver touching the brake or accelerator. These types of cars are just the business for country living.

Skoda Yeti?

FiL loves his, loves that eg can get out when it snows now and I am pretty sure we've had 3 car seats across the back (I may be wrong).

Thank you for your replies. Really informative.
Ideally yes would like the discovery but possibly moving to Ireland where road tax is over 1000 euro per year and parts etc are also suitably inflated. That is what makes it expensive. Friends have spent 1000's on theirs with any breakdown in Ireland. They may just have been unlucky though. Will have to look at costs again.
Have driven a Peugeot 2008 and feels very can like.
Not sure I like the look of the yeti!

Shame about discovery as that's what we had and it was fab. Got it really cheap so what we saved there probably went on fuel. Ours was gas though which was cheaper at the time. Fab car, I miss it

BMW X5? Very reliable. Ditto Mercedes ML. The Volvo is a very capable car and don't worry about it not having/not having hill descent. We all managed to descend slippery slopes before it was invented by putting cars into a low gear....
I had a big (BeSafe) rear facing seat in an X5 today and there was masses of room.

Yes I used low gears in quite a few older Range Rovers, but you could also alter the ride height. Hill descent control, if you have it, is a miracle! My X5 had it too! I did not realise Ireland was so expensive! I think you need to decide if you are likely to be stuck in winter, do you have to negotiate hills or bends, or you just want a bit of added safety and a higher driving position? . If it really is the latter then a Volvo, BMW or Merc or Audi would be absolutely fine. I would think most of these cars have fairly high spares and running costs as well though.

Yes costs in Ireland are so expensive. Road tax on cars post 2008 is based on CO2 emissions.
If we can keep emissions under 225g/km will be 1200 euro otherwise will be 2350 euro. A huge jump.

Roads in rural areas can be quite badly maintained so tyre costs etc add up too.

Think we will look at a discovery again. You have convinced us Milly. Best vehicle for the job. Similar costs etc.
We are likely to be stuck with bad weather and don't want to be relying on local farmers

What about a Jeep with low range gear box? They have lots of space and are cheaper than a Land Rover.

I know people with a Volvo 4x4 and 3 DC under 6 and they can't fit the car seats across the back seat, they have to put one in the boot seat. It also has cost them an absolute fortune in parts, wing mirrors, tyres etc. It's not what you'd call an off-roader!