Help!! Which cars can fit three car seats?

[CluelessWithTwins]

Recently found out I'm pregnant with baby number three and wondering which car to buy since we already have 14 month old twins, who will be 21 months by the time the new baby arrives. The new car must be big enough to fit three car seats in the back (if it helps we have two Cybex Sirona car seats for the twins). Does anyone have any recommendations? I don't have a specific budget but I need it to be as cheap as possible!!

I have a ford s-max. I got it because I needed to fit our twins plus teenage step son. The back row has three proper separate seats which works really well and all have iso fix capability. The boot is big and fits our bugaboo buggy but is also has two seats in the boot so when they are bigger and we don't need a buggy they can have friends round.

Agree re smax. We have one it's great. Sitting in the back there's loads of room.

S-max

Citroen C4 Picasso and the C4 Picasso Grande, Volvo XC90, and Seat Alhambra - all fit 3 x car seats

I would venture the bigger Picasso’s. “Which” recently did an article on which cars can actually fit 3 car seats across the back. It is worth noting that this varies by car seat - ie you may get 2 hbb and a newborn infant seat, but not 2 Cybex Sirona and a newborn in. You will really need to test with your own actual car seats I’m afraid - and watch out for buckle crunch. I know it’s a pain (have had 3 car seats for many years for work - I’m a nanny) but you do need to check it out. Maybe ask grandparents to have twins for an afternoon, then go to a big car dealers and spend a couple of hours trying with your seats.

My Peugeot 5008 can.

Perfect, thank you!!

Thank you!!

This is great, thanks for all the advice everyone! I’ll definitely check out that Which article too! The above comments were because I was trying to reply to everyone individually but they seem to have all ended up at the bottom of the thread (not a frequent Mumsnetter!! 😂). But thank you all so much!!

We used to have a VW Touran for this (nice) problem!

Citroen Picassos are brilliant for this.

I have a Ford tourneo it's 7 seater but good size an adult can fit in them and sliding doors which make life so much easier. Make sure anything you get has parking sensors or a camera.

Parking sensors or a camera

I just aim for 4 wheels and an engine

Zafira - fits 4x proper car seats and still room for a double buggy (3 in the middle row, one in the back, and the second back seat folded away for added boot space). I have previously managed to transport two adults, five kids in car seats, and two umbrella-fold pushchairs in mine (just). Good luck!

Recently read that you can't have a car seat in the middle seat of the new zafira

We have three proper sized isofix car seats in our Citroen Grand Picasso (can't remember the types), and no problems with accessing the seat belts. As AWasp said about the Zafira we actually have the same configuration. (Have a spare car seat currently in the back for guest child and the buggy fits in the other side).

It was bothering me whether the Zafira thing was true or not but right enough i looked it up, there it is page 62 of the Zafira tourer manual

www.vauxhall.co.uk/content/dam/vauxhall/Home/PDFs/owners/owners-manuals/zafira-tourer/zafira-tourer-owners-manual-january-2016.pdf

Centre seat, second row - no child restraint system permitted in this weight class.

mither I was the same 4 wheels and an engine did me. Bit so glad i have them on this car you honestly can't see anything out of the back, it's scary even worse with car seats in. I'd be running pedestrians over every 5 minutes or never reversing

Ford Expedition, Chevrolet Suburban both will do it.

S-max will to but we found them very small

It’s really difficult to get three seats accords the back of anything - it all depends on the car seats. You say you’ve got two cybex sironas, they are great seats but pretty difficult to find a third seat that will fit across the back of any car with two of those. We have a Volvo XC90 but we can’t get one cybex Sirona and two cybex high back boosters to fit across the back! People mention the Ford s-max which might be worth a try.

Thanks for the link @mither - I was a bit alarmed by that. I have an older model (2007) and have just checked its user manual in a panic! I'm relieved it states the centre seat has "universal suitability in conjunction with 3 point seat belt" across all groups.

Thanks so much for all the advice everyone!! Can’t say how much better it makes me feel to know there are options out there. Pregnancy was a surprise, albeit a lovely one, so still trying to get my head around the logistics of having three!! 😂

We had 3 in a row in our (old style) xc90. Two britax isofix 360 degree ones for the twins and a britax infant carrier on a a belted base. We chose the infant carrier as it was the narrowest one we could find and we got lucky with the configuration of the sticky out bits in all our seats. It’s a bit trial and error.

The xc90 is now ace for our three as we have one in the 3rd row in a HBB and the middle seat folded down permanently and the other two in the 2nd row. No one can touch anyone else! Amazing!

VW Touran can - but you might still struggle with the Cybex Sirona. We are expected a third any day and sadly sold one of our old big ones and got two slimmer line ones for the existing DCs - we didn't want one of the hugely wide cars, as living in London it's already hard to park a relatively compact minivan like the Touran! 😑

Great to hear that FreeButton, nice to hear how other folk with twins made things work with a third!!

Congratulations Namechange and good luck with your imminent arrival! Xxx