Estate cars we could fit 3 car seats in (£3000 budget!)?

[redclover79]

DC3 is due April next year and we went to look at a galaxy today, I don't think I like MPV's!!
We have a limited budget of up to £3000, so we can't buy a shiny new car, but are there any estate cars out there that we could fit 3 car seats across the back of (will have 3 under the age of 4!)?
tia!

You can fit 3 in a Volvo V70 but it is a tight fit.

The Picasso or a Berlingo - both Citroens. You may have to check the seats you use but we have one and my Mum drives the other, we fit DD 14m and 2 boosters in no trouble.

Picassos can be v cheap 2nd hand as there are so many of them around.

Waswondering - £30k I wish!! I keep seeing citroen's being recommended, how reliable are they?
Lapsed - I was wondering about a volvo, ds1 is in a booster seat with a back, so I'm hoping that will make it less of a squeeze!
Big problem is dp is a Ford mechanic which means he will only entertain galaxys (even if we had the money he HATES c-Max's or whatever they're called...), so I'm looking to persuade him towards a nice reliable estate which is super-reliable and easily fixable at home, i.e. no fancy gadgets that would require a main dealer to fix!

Berlingo is a bit of a Van but has been Super reliable. It has sliding rear doors which is great for getting DC in and out at Tesco. Also has a huge Boot, my Pushchair goes in without folding it down.

We have an old vauxhall vectra (not estate but huge boot) and have a forward facing seat, a booster with a back, and a booster, across the back.

you can fit 3 in a vectra, just.

but how old is your oldest? the law actually says that every child must be in a child/booster seat unless you have 3 children and can't fit 3 cars seats in the back. dd has a cushion instead, and since she's in the middle, also has the protection of the car seat on either side - I feel it is safer than a booster seat, and is legal.

redclover- citroens are not very reliable ime. friend has had nothing but trouble with hers

we have a citroen c5 estate. have never tried 3 car seats but i reckon you could squeeze them in. we got it fairly cheaply 2nd hand. but it's been very expensive to maintain (£1000 for the brakes earlier this year, then another £1000+ when something else went wrong last month). gulp. but it's a lovely car to drive & travel in.

I have an old style mondeo estate which fits 3 seats, but I had to choose the slimmest models. We also have a Vectra estate which doesn't really work because the seats are quite sculpted and cause the outer two seats to tip inwards.
call the britax people, they are very knowledgeable

I have a citroen picassso and my friend with 2 year old twins and 5 yr old fits all three car seats in hers. Boots great size and I never had any probs with mine.

Selling mine as need something smaller, only got one DC and used to use for work but no longer need. Mines 2001 model.

oh yes, we did have the sculpted seat problem in the vectra, I'd forgotten that. it is quite wide for its class though.

Wow, loads of replies, thanks!!
I think our major problem is going to be that we will only have 1 in a booster seat... ds2 will only be 11 months old when dc3 arrives!!

agree, it is dificuly to squeeze in 3 seats -we have managed a rockatot and two carseats, then 3 carseats (!), two carseats and a hi-liner, and now have one seat and two hi-liner. Our seats were the narrowest the Britax sold at he time, but now discontinued. I would give Britax a ring, the people on the phones are very knowlegable as they go out and actually fit seats for people.

thanks chippy, will give them a ring tomorrow!

i used to have a mondeo estate and there was no way you could get three kids in the back, we had ds (3) and dd (9months) in and couldn't squeeze anyone or anything in between them. we now have a citroen xsara picasso and it's much better, much more room, not only on the back seats but just generally. i would reccomend them, they have good safety rating too and you can also dis-able the front airbag if you need to get another child in the front

Thanks for posting this thread before me .

We have focus estate at the moment but next May we will have a 4 yr old, 2 yr old and a newborn.

I'm dreading buying something else and we are currently doing our best to find three seats that will fit in the focus. Our budget for a new car is £2.5K and you can't get much of a decent mpv for that - those in our budget have very high fuel consumption - the diesels always command a premium. I've been using Parkers guide online to get an idea of fuel consumption and reliability on various models. You DH won't like what they have to say about the Galaxy though - they prefer the Seat Alhambra (which is nice actually but the same size as a galaxy)

I know the xsara picasso is very popular with people with three children, but I've yet to find one within my budget .

The main problem with the estates I have tried is the sculpted seats. Also when the seats do fit in you can't get to the belt latches as they are under the seat next to the one you are trying to fit (does that make sense???)

If I find an estate that fits three seats I'll let you know , in the meantime I'm going to keep a close eye on this thread.

we only paid 3 grand for our picasso, tis a petrol tho...

There is also the Renault Megane Scenic to consider.

Apparently you can fit three car seats in those, they are a bit smaller than the picasso.

They are a bit too small for my liking but you might love them!

What about a Renault Scenic, you could get an old shape one for your budget, they are really common loads around. I know you can get 3 seats in the back (have a friend who has one and 3DC).

We will probably get one next March as we will have a 4yo, 2 1/2yo and a newborn in July.

ford escort has no problem with 3 chidren. although kmiddle seat is obviously just a lap belt.

Coby - I think I'm resigned to the fact that we are gonna end up with a galaxy, dp is a ford mechanic!! Unless we can find a suitable alternative with a ford engine under the bonnet, I'm not having much luck persuading him otherwise... We also have a focus at the moment and an ancient fiesta that he goes to work in as it costs half as much in petrol to run!
I have been looking on what car and quite like the mazda premacy, but dp has dismissed it as we don't know anyone who works on mazdas.
He's off to look at the galaxy again tomorrow as it's well within our price range and is the basic model so nothing too expensive to go wrong on it, but unfortunately that means no air conditioning either
Sweetkitty - I mentioned the 'renault' word, there was a lot of muttering...
LLB - I never thought of an escort! Will go and have a nose at my db's!

The trouble with any MPV is the boot - We've had a Kia sedona for about 6 months and it just doesn't work for us at all (were hoping it would suit when #4 arrives). We're selling it as we can't deal with having to put shopping, buggies and the like in the footwells. Red - is the Galaxy you're looking at a newish one? We had one at work which was the basic 1998 model and every time it rained, water came through the vents on the bonnet and eventually ballsed up the central locking as well as making the footwells rusty and mouldy