Estate cars with folding extra seats in the boot

[ketchupkisses]

Can anyone tell me anything about cars that have the option of extra seats in the boot? We've looked at a Volvo V70 which seems to do the trick and I'm planning to look at a Zafira as well. Are there others we should be considering and can anyone vouch for either the Volvo or Zafira? We can't afford anything much newer than 2002, so also interested to know if 100,000+ millage is a big problem (a rule of thumb my Dad used to talk about but cars are better than they used to be!)

We have 3 kids, so would put them all in the second row when we go on holiday so we have all the boot space for luggage. But we also need the option of transporting my step daughter in addition to our 3 for day trips (and still need space for a buggy and a few bags). I know very little about cars generally, so any advice gratefully received.

we have a mercedes e class estate with seats (they are rearward facing when up and fold flat into the boot) its 97 reg with 140 k on clock and is fab! very easy to manage 3dds in and cheap to fix as the older they are the less complex the garage labour!
Mercs last forever and are very safe old tanks!

Thanks jenhden

The mercedes look great but sadly out of our budget

We're moving towards the Zafira, but not sure if we can get all three car seats in the second row for the times we need full boot capacity. Does anyone have a Zafira, and if so, does it fit three child seats alongside each other?

Hi, I have a Zafira I used for childminding so had plenty of little ones to fit in.

At the peak I had a booster seat in the front, baby seat, toddler chair and booster in the middle and a booster in the back.

It does fit 3 across, however easier if 2 of the seats you want to put in have their own straps so you don't have to squeeze hands into gaps all the time.

I am actually selling the Zafira now as no longer childmind. What is your budget?

We looked at the Zafira but bought a 7 seated Toyota Corolla Verso which is brilliant. However I don't use the boot seats after seeing a piece of footage where they crashed a lorry into the back of a Zafira or something similar and you could see the lorry bonnet hit the back of the test dummies heads, made me doubt the safety of those type of boot seats.

I can definitely vouch for the Volvo, though ours is an XC70 rather than a V70. You shouldn't have any problems getting 3 car seats across the 2nd row. It's an excellent car, has done over 100,000km now (mostly motorway driving) and is still driving beautifully.

The one thing to note is that the third row of seats isn't really designed to be used permanently. It's great for shorter trips with loads of kids in the car, or to separate them, but not for long trips.