MPV advice

[Biffalobuff]

Has anybody got any recommendations for an mpv preferably with sliding doors and if they exist with a rear facing middle row?

I need to trade in my car as we are expecting number 3 and it wont fit three child seats in the back and I am thinking of going for an mpv to my husbands horror - not sure what his problem is but he seems to have an unnaturally strong dislike of them.

Does anyone have any good recommendations no particular reason for the rear facing middle row other than I have seen it somewhere before and like the idea!

We have a C4 Citroen Grand Picasso and are v. happy with it. Doesn't meet most of your requirements, except for the fact that it fits 3 full-size child seats across the middle row (we have 3 DC). It also has excellent boot space, which is still decent with the 2 boot seats down as well).

Don't know why you'd want rear-facing middle row? Harder to talk to the DC while you're moving, surely? It doesn't have a sliding door either, though that's not something I've ever wanted. It has 3 ISOFIX points, so all 3 child seats are very easy to pop in and out, and a normal door gives enough room to do that.

not sure what his problem is but he seems to have an unnaturally strong dislike of them

Because as a man it makes you appear to the world as an emasculated, pussy whipped bloke who has given up on life.

Not keen on the brand personally, but ford do lots of models with sliding doors. Or try new (post 2010) seat alhambra or vw sharing (same car, different badges). Not aware of any with rear facing middle row though.

And yes, my dh only agreed to an mpv when it was a shiny black and chrome model....

I've got a ford C-Max Grand. I love it.

It doesn't have backward facing middle seats, but it does have sliding doors which were on my wish list (twins plus older sibling).

It's based on the ford focus, so drives like a car rather than a van. The middle seat is split 40:20:40, but the middle bit is stored under one of the outer seats, so while I usually have it as two separate middle seats, it's dead easy to flip the middle bit into place to give a 3 seater bench seat in the middle if you have extra passengers. The gap in the middle also makes it easy to get to the back two seats when they are in use.

One of the other important things for me was how much leg room there was in the very back two seats. They are dead easy to pop up, too, and are quite raised off the floor compared to other 5 + 2 seaters I tried (even the volvo XC90, which is huge, had 3rd row seats that were low to the floor). It's a bit difficult to explain, but if you get into the very back of a few of these cards you'll know what I mean!

Before this I had a peugeot estate which I didn't like at all.

P.S. I don't work for ford, but I'm still happy with this car 18 months on, whereas I hated the peugeot after about a week.

Didn't realise the you tube thing would do that!

Also, my eldest usually is in the front with me, or in the very back if all 5 of us go out, so it probably doesn't meet the 3 child seats across the middle seat either, I've never tried. But I'm hoping to have it for a number of years and it will suit us for a long time to come.

It also has a proper plug socket in it (great for long journeys needing dvds) and a couple of USB charging points. Can you tell I love my car??

4DC and we have a Citreon C8 upsides are 7 full size seats in the back including 3 across the middle which means you could get 3 car seats in, 2 full size seats in rear plus a bit of boot space if all 7 seats are in use.

We took one of the rear seats out to fit a double buggy in (and still had space) now we put the large dog in there instead.

Electric sliding doors

Downside is it's big and heavy, expensive on diesel for short trips and drives like a van but for space and the doors I cannot fault it.

With 3DD's aswell we have had:
Chrysler Voyager - fine but found the rear seat was a weird angle for car seats, it was an older model though.
Vauxhall Zafira - fine but using the third row was annoying as you had to undo the car seats to move the bench seat forward, they now do a bigger version which works better.
Ford SMAX - we have had 3 in succession and love them. 3 separate seats means it's very easy to accommodate any combination of child seats. Great size boot. But no sliding door.

Ours are now mainly out of seats (just on a booster now ) so we sold our last SMAX about a month ago.

Thankyou all so much,this is great!It's always useful to hear from people who have been driving the car for a while to find out the best and worst bits!Lots to go on here!

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