Do I need a new car?!

[bluewisteria]

Currently a family of 4, 2 DD's aged 5&3, both quite tall already.

We have a vw passata estate. We really like it, but will it fit 3 car seats across? They currently have the chunky evolva car seats, which are great but I can't see a third getting in their judging by eye.

Passata estate?! Haha, Passat estate...

What's the back seat like? It it fairly flat all along, or is is moulded into two 'dips' with a smaller 'bump' in the middle (like it's been designed to seat two passengers in comfort, with a third in the middle occasionally)?

If it's pretty flat you might be ok, but you'd need to swap the Evolvas for something else, they are really wide (I used to have one, then discovered the benefits of rear facing until age 4 so DD2 has a Britax Multi Tech II which is exactly the same seat shell as the Evolva).

It is ridged, so two larger seat dips on each side.... Out of interest, where does your daughter put her legs?! Is she cross legged in it? My girls are both v v tall so I don't think we could do that this time.

I think when number three arrives we will need a new car within 2 years, and I'm wondering if we should do it while our car is worth more. We would go for a 7 seater I think, no idea what though, I haven't looked into anything. All recommendations are very welcome!

My daughter is 3 also, but is very petite (she weighs 26lbs, I've not measured her height recently but she's below the 9th centile!). She can still just about stretch her legs out fully, her feet go flat against the backrest of the car's seat. There is more legroom than you'd think in a rear facing seat for older children, the seats don't fit right up against the backrest of your car's back seat like infant carriers do. With most seats there is a decent gap, if the seat is high up in the car there is room for the child's legs to dangle down it. Our Britax seat has a gap, but because it sits quite low down in the car there is no 'depth' to the gap for leg-dangling! But having said that, my older daughter has used the seat sometimes, she sat in it all the way from Sheffield to Penzance (and back again) cross-legged when she was 4 and didn't ever complain. She's average height and weight for her age.

Our car is the Peugeot 5008 (it's not what I'd call a 'proper' 7 seater, it's a '5+2). It has a 1.6 diesel engine, it's really nice to drive. My parents have a Toyota Verso, that's good too but the boot is loads smaller than mine.