Is there a 5 seat car that supports 3 baby seats and 2 Adults???

[FoRahman]

My wife and I are expecting twins later this year (at which point our first child will be 2 years and 3 months old) and is currently using a harness back supported booster seat. I am currently looking for a car that has 5 seats as I would rather avoid purchasing a 7-seater.

My options are BMW 5 Series Estate, E class Estate, BMW X5 or a Mercedes ML (all 13 or 14 plates). Anyone know which of these cars will be best to support our family and whether we can or cannot (space-wise) use two ISO-fixes for the twins with any of these cars and then an infant seat or adult in the middle rear seat?

Can't recommend a 5 seater but can say we had 3 in car seats (now 6,5 and 3) and having a 7 seater has been invaluable. Especially initially as has the back seats down to make room for the double buggy, definitely something to consider with boot space as with a standard 5 seater we could possible have got our buggy in but no shopping or anything else etc.
The 7 seater is now hugely practical for holidays, scooters, friends and granny etc

I agree with almost everything a pp has said but if anyone (these days) only uses rear facing seats for 9 months they are wilfully endangering their child.

My Q7 has 5 isofix seats I think. Three across the middle row of seats and two right in the back. (I've got 2 isofix and a normal full size in the middle row before) It's an ok car (I want a smaller more economical one) but does for us whilst kids are needing to be dragged around with scooters and sports gear, I wouldn't think of it as a mumvan.

SMax here too. My husband is very into his cars and did a lot of research... you can’t really have a trendy car and have 3 small kids! The q7 is ok but is absolutely enormous to try to park...

@ Copperleaves I think that’s a tad harsh, “wilfully putting yourself child’s life in danger”. Some car seats are rearward facing up to four years, others are nine months. It’s more common these days for children to be rearward facing up to four years (also weight dependent). However, there will be some families that are reusing their car seats from siblings. In our family car we have the Britax Dualfix which is up to four years rearward facing, but in my car we will have the Britax Eclipse, which is suitable from 9 months. I am not wilfully putting my child’s life in danger by using a safe car seat, which is compatible with my vehicle, despite said seat being three/four years old.

Ford s max is great

We’ve gone for Volvo 90 but 2 of ours were in booster so don’t know if fits with younger seats.

So two rear facing belted, wife in the middle rear seat, forward facing front seat toddler on an X5, would that work you reckon?*

So you're going to make your wife sit in the rear middle between two child seats, just so you can still look young and like your childless friends? Nice one...

But you don't have to move your child from their rear facing infant seat into a forward facing eclipse at 9 months old. That's a choice - you obviously already have a baby seat so use it as long as it is safe.

We had this problem 10 years ago and had a citroen Picasso which worked - we still have it now. You don't have to have a 7 seater - yes, it's a bit of a squash but having twins was/is expensive so needs must.

I've got an Audi A8 which is wider across the back, with more knee room, than any of your four self-defeating "options". We can squeeze two adults with one rear-facing i-Size seat in place, but with a second child also on the way later this year adding a second i-Size will make carrying an adult with any dignity all but impossible with any dignity. My first child is 2 years 3 months at the moment and will be rear-facing for at least another year, I'd have thought.

There's also something deeply unattractive about a bloke who puts his image ahead of looking after his family. If your wife had posted in AIBU about you and your warped sense of priorities they'd all be asking why she was having children with this man-child.

As a previous poster said, you've fathered three children. Get over yourself and deal with it. I'm a 44 year old man and while I love the A8, when offspring number two arrives it will make carrying grandparents etc around impossible. It's really not that difficult to buy something more suitable; if I can switch to a Seat Alhambra or Citroen Berlingo (I haven't yet made a final decision) then so can you. If you're the first of your friends to have children, show a bit of leadership on this. If they don't get it, they shouldn't be friends for long.

Within my circle (I'm the last of my friends to start families) we tend to think that a seven seater is probably better proof of a functioning penis than an M3.

We were in exactly the same situation a few years ago OP - twins arriving when eldest was under 3.

We didn’t find a 5 seater solution, so we bought a 7 seater. A Vauxhall Zafira. It’s an ugly piece of crap but it had space for all the kids, and space for the twin buggy. You might just need to do something similar.

Twins are now nearly 3, and we’re looking at other options. We will probably just get a normal 5-seater car, and buy a multimac car seat.

The multimac is an all-in-one car seat for 3 or 4 kids, that basically sits on top of the entire back row of seats. Not cheap, but it means you can get pretty much any car you want. No idea if it takes newborns though.

Join car seat advice Uk on Facebook - they have tonnes of photos of 3 across in various cars. You can fit 3 rear facing seats in the back of a Honda jazz so I’m sure there will be a solution to your problem. Not everyone buys a 7 seater. If you’re going to put a child in the front though, it should be one that is rear facing. Ideally all 3 should rear face across the back seat.

I've got 3 across in a q7. One in a diono radian, 2 maxi cosis. I had 3 under 3 so this was a big issue for us and it took us ages to find what would work for us. We also needed a big boot to house double buggy, buggy board etc.

You need a big car and to be really smart about the car seats. The diono was one of the narrowest at the time.

erfmission.com/car-seats-3-across-in-the-backseat/

This should help

I’ve managed to squeeze 3 child seats into my last 3 cars. An Astra, a focus and a juke.

You can only properly get three seats in if the car has three isofix points in. The info online should be able to tell you if the car has three isofix points.
Dont try to get three seats in without three full seats, it's not safe and it's a royal pain in the bum doing and undoing straps.

Cheaper versions of the s max are Seat Alhambra, Peugeot 5008, Citreon Picasso c4 grand. They all have 3 isofix points in the back.

I got an 8 seater van a couple of years ago, with fully configurable seats, all isofix - best money I ever spent! (3 kids all quite close in age).

That’s not true - plenty of cars only have 2 isofix but fit 3 seats with no issue!

@welshweasel I think the issue is more should they? If car seats touch or buckle crunch occurs it isnt as safe. They may well fit but at last check guidelines were that they shouldn't touch at all. We are also talking three large small child seats here, not boosters.

www.carwow.co.uk/best/cars-with-three-separate-rear-seats

We had to go from a Audi A4 Avant sport to a VW Touran.
My husband almost cried.

Don’t not have isofox just to have a posh car

Isofix are proven to be safer than belted seats. Proven many times over

Get isofix. Please.

I know exactly what you mean about not wanting to drive a “grown up” car but you get over that pretty quickly when you have 3 kids sat very close to each other, bashing the crap out of each other because Freddie breathed on Ted. Plus family cars maybe ugly on the outside but you’re sat inside where all the bells and whistles are.

That said, we ended up buying a fun car as well when we went to the 7 seater option.

And not wanting a boring car. Just to look cool

Prize ***

@Thislittlepiggywentto seats are allowed to touch, but shouldn’t move another seat out of the way. Buckle crunch has nothing to do with having 3 seats, it’s to do with the compatibility of the car and car seat. I’d rather see someone driving a Honda jazz around with 3 plus tested rear facing seats along the back row, than someone driving an expensive SUV with 3 forward facing isofix seats that have a cm between them. I see loads of people who will put a young child forward facing on a HBB in the front passenger seat despite having a car that could accommodate 3 seats in the rear, just because they get told stuff like needing isofix, seats can’t touch etc.