Converting a 5 seat estate to 7 seats, advice, experience?

[lljkk]

I am expecting 4th baby, we could just try to modify our existing 5-seat car to have 2 extra seats in the current boot space (7 seater conversion). Dozens of companies on the Internet sell kits to do this, they usually insist it will be legal and insurable -- is it actually safe? Any other experiences?

One friend said that her DC were frequently carsick when they tried using an estate with 7 seats. We don't actually use the car that much, so wondered if we could get away with it, cheapest option by far.

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We had ours done by this comapny: motorhoods.co.uk/option7info.html

Fantastic and fine with insurance companies. We paid for them to install it as I felt better about doing it that way.

How has it worked out for you, magnolia? Did you have to clear it with insurance company, can you use a booster seat for a child under 135 cm, please tell all!

We traded up to 7 seats facing fwds (expensive), but the whoel family is rarely in the car at the same time, so don't need all the seats often! As long as your estate is well built, I'm sure it's a good option - I would always put one of the bigger dcs in the back though I think.

my question would be how long is the estate car going to last ? Is it worth the investment ?

People carrier may be cheaper in the shortterm - but may last longer.

Also - how much bootspace would you have left ? If you are taking the whole family away then that would need luggage space too (although could have a trailer).

How removable are the extra seats ? Presumably you had an estate in the first place so that you could use it sometimes to get big things in the back (how often do you do that ?).

7 seater conversion only costs about £600 (installed). Our 2nd-hand estate cost under £1500 and I don't see P-carriers advertised for less than £5000. I guess we could get a roofbox for when we need luggage space (hols).

Actually, someof the smaller 6-7 seaters (Zafira) with 6 seats has no boot space hardly at all, I notice.

well if that is all it costs then it is probably worth doing - even if only for a year or two until you know better how you manage with 4 kids.

The lack of boot space is one of the things that I don't like about the zafira. But maybe we are just a family that takes lots of junk with them

We had rear seats fitted to a 4-yr-old Volvo 240 estate in 1993 when ours were aged 10, 7, 4 and not-here-yet . It was a rear-facing bench seat that folded into the floor when not in use. The kids were OK sickness-wise, but with a high seat-back it got very stuffy in the boot and we eventually traded up to a people carrier.

At that time though 7-seaters were very scarce and very expensive - I wouldn't consider doing it now but would buy a car with factory-fitted third row. You can get a 2nd-hand Zafira for less than £6000 (if you look, make sure you get one with a reg of 03 or later, that's when the middle-row middle seat got a shoulder belt). You can keep one of the rear seats folded down most of the time and leave plenty of space for buggies and Stuff.

(I really don't like the sound of "The product can be removed or re-fitted in less than five minutes once initial installation is completed" - sorry, magnolia.)

(You can get older Zafiras for c £2000 but they only have a lapbelt in the middle seat - OK to hold some child-seats in though)

We used ours for 2 years before getting a people carrier. I wouldn't reccomend the seats in the boot for children over the age of about 8 to be honest as their legs are pretty cramped.

You cab pick up Renualt Espaces very cheap, depends if you are happy to get a slightly older car. We got our espace and it is a frw years older then the vectra estate we had but it cost us £700!!! Runs like a dream, full mot ect.... and much better space wise

We had a Montego which was built with rear-facing seats in the back, and the children soon ran out of legroom. Not only that, the back part of an estate car is the crumple zone even in cars built with rear-facing seats (think Volvo is the only "safe" version?).

We have seen people carriers recently for under £2k. By far the safer option IMO.