VW Passat and 3 child seats? How?

[waltonsmountain]

We are expecting DC3 in 2010 and are having trouble fitting 3 car seats across the back of our car. It's a VW Passat estate and perfect in every other way so don't want to sell it for a coach. It is a huge car and it seems unbelievable that it won't take 3 seats in the back. (need 1xGroup 0, 1xGroup1 and 1xGroup2/3)
Does anyone else out there fit 3 seats across the back of a Passat and which seats do you have?

you can get narrow boosters (argos/mothercare) with a 5 point harness, a friend of mine had to buy one of those to fit in a baby seat/forward facing and a booster,

the only reason i found out that maxi-cosi no longer sell the seat as being suitable for use with a lapbelt is that i was looking for one that fits with a lapbelt,as the car i plan to buy next only has a lapbelt,
i went on the mothercare site to see which model it was and none of them stated they could be fitted with a lapbelt, when i had a hunt i found that although they used to be sold as able to be fitted with either belt,they reckon its not so safe so only sell it now as suitable for a 3 point belt, thats why i went for the eclipse,

Ours is also the new shape. It is possible, honestly!

If you put the 2 toddler seats next to each other (so 1 in the middle) I have found myself, my mum and my MIL have all fitted in the seat behind the front passenger (not at the same time though! ). Obviously though it is nicer to ride "up front". Both my DSs have had the treat of being in the front passenger seat recently too so the baby can be in the back next to me in case of crying fits etc.

New baby not due for ages (June 2010) but I have to think about it now as DS1 desperately needs to move out of his Cabriofix... hates going in it now and is only just fitting. I don't want to buy the 'wrong' seat now and regret it in June.
By June the DCs will be DD1 - 3yrs 8m and DS1 - 1yr 8m. And (fingers crossed) a newborn.

Will let you know what does/doesn't fit after the next trip to Mothercare World...
Thanks for all the suggestions!

Went to Mothercare. Had the assistant try various narrow high back boosters (with and without 5 point harness). None fitted across the back, in any configuration. She also advised that the Cabriofix is the narrowest infant carrier and our Tobi is also quite narrow compared to similar models so nothing to be gained from changing those seats.
After exhausting all the possibilities (and the assistant) we got a Britax Evolva 1-2-3.
It is huge but we needed a seat urgently as baby has outgrown the Cabriofix.

Come next June we are going to have the same original problem that 3 will not fit across the back.
We will either
a)put fresh baby in Cabriofix in front seat and have the airbag removed. Adult in the back Or
b) change the car.
Will let you know if find an alternative in the meantime. Thanks for all yr help

We're in the market for a new car as our Rover 45 is too small for our 3 kids (4, 2 and 5 months). We can actually just fit a slim high back child seat, a Graco infant seat + base (in the middle) and a slim Halfords booster in the back of the Rover. Although the outside seats lean in a little.

So, I measured the working width (the distance between the projecting handles on the inside of the back doors) of a few estates. Perhaps these measurements will help people decide what car to buy.

Rover 45 saloon (2003): 130 cm
Audi Avant (2009): 130 cm
Peugot estate (2009): 131 cm
BMW estate (2009): 132 cm
VW Passat estate (2009): 135 cm
VW Touran MPV (2009): 137 cm

It seems that the Passat is pretty good at 135 cm. Only 2 cm smaller than the Touran.
We were very disappointed at the narrowness of the Audi, as otherwise we like the car.
If we can fit three kids in the back of a Rover 45 then I'm sure that the Passat will be OK with the right selection of child seats.

Quite a few of these also have quite pronounced cushions on the sides. But the Passat, at least, is fairly flat.

Perhaps we should set up a proper list of car measurements for car seats? This might force the car manufacturers to think a little.

Update to original post...
We have now changed cars to an MPV people carrier BUT, before we did, we did find a way of fitting 3 seats across the back of a Passat.
It took Mothercare fitters over an hour of trying different seats but eventually they found the following would fit. (just).

MaxiCosi Cabriofix (without a base, just secured with the seatbelt) for newborn
Britax King (in the middle seat)for toddler 18m
Booster seat (for eldest child 3 yrs old)

After 9ish months newborn would need to change up to a larger seat so then it could fit :-

Mothercare Sola high back booster (for toddler)
Booster in the middle (for eldest)
Mothercare Sola high back booster again (for youngest)

So it IS possible to do it, but they advised it would be quite fiddly to plug in the seatbelts. It is a very tight fit indeed. In the end we chose to swap cars but maybe this info might be of help to someone out there.

I have a VW Passat 05 model my eldest is 4 so he has a graco junior my 2 yr old is in a maxi cosi axis and the 11 month old is getting to big for the baby seat so I want to move the 11 month old into the axis and buy a 123 5pt booster however I've tried the comfitrip at Halfords and is dose not fit with the other two seats can anyone recommend a slimmer seat that could fit in the back seat. Please please help