3 Car Seats (1 Toddler / 2 Babies) - What Car???

[Zod]

Efbe said:

Zod said:

They are far enough away and the car is designed for the third row. It's not some joke add-on. Do you think BMW thought, "Oh let's just bung a third row of seats. If a few X5s get rear-ended and the kids get killed, we can weather the bad publicity"?

ETA - the third row is designed to cope with a 50mph rear collision, according to some quick google research..

Edited by Zod on Thursday 20th October 12:56

wasn't actually meaning just the bmw, just third rows in general.

for example, look how close your head is to the back of this c-max:

It's the rear-facing ones that worry me.

[GreatGranny]

We have an Alhambra at the moment which has been very good.

Its my wifes car and finds it pretty easy to drive. The high driving position does make a difference.

The 4x4s will be more expensive to run than the MPVs as a whole.

This one says isofix and is £7.5k.

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[Rinko]

GreatGranny said:

We have an Alhambra at the moment which has been very good.

Its my wifes car and finds it pretty easy to drive. The high driving position does make a difference.

The 4x4s will be more expensive to run than the MPVs as a whole.

This one says isofix and is £7.5k.

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Yep - totally agree about the running costs, so I'm trying to take the initial outlay and the ongoing costs into consideration.

The earlier (pre-2010) S-Max do come with Isofix, but only on the outer two seats in the second row. We may just have to live with lifting the 2 y/o into the middle seat, I guess.

I think we need to at least look at something like the Alhambra and get the missus to drive it, before striking it from the list.

Edited by Rinko on Thursday 20th October 14:19

Edited by Rinko on Thursday 20th October 14:20

[Ciaran]

Hi there

We have a 3 year old and 7 month old twins.

As a side issue and I'm sure you'll soon find out but it's fking mental with a 3 year old and baby twins. Honestly, it's been the hardest 7 months of my life Good luck!

Anyway, we have an XC 90 - 2006 so it has the 185 engine. Great piece of kit, plenty of room for 3 car seats across the middle and loads of room in the boot for the double buggy and all the other crap.

Costs the wife about £600 to insure, £425 to tax and is returning about 26 mpg (a fair amount of city driving though) Long journeys are a lot better.

We did the same as you, looked at all the various choices. I waned a Disco 3 she wanted the Volvo. As it was her car she got final decision. Although I think she'd have liked the bigger boot in the Disco now.

Edit

Can't remember how many isofix points the car has as we use the normal click in bases for the twins car seats.

[miniman]

Rinko said:

miniman said:

Mine is a 2002 Disco 2 TD5. It returned about 26 average to and from Normandy over the summer, a little less around town. £6k to buy.

Ahh - I was looking at figures for the newer shape Disco I think.

A quick google for that year/model doesn't make terribly happy reading, have you had any issues with yours?

Nope, air suspension was already converted to springs, everything else works perfectly. Have had decat pipe fitted and planning to change the intercooler and have it chipped.

[Efbe]

Zod said:

It's the rear-facing ones that worry me.

yep, i'm not sure if I should, but the old mercs and volvos just don't look right to me with those rear facing seats.

had a look around one, and even sat in the rears seat of one, just felt wrong!

[Liquid Knight]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Humber-Pig-Armoured-Pers...

[Bill]

We went for the 2.2d S-Max in exactly the same situation, it's the best driver's car of the bunch IMO (excepting the 2.5t, but they're rare as hen's teeth) and I've come to have a grudging respect for it. PM me if you want details as we need to sell it...

miniman said:

Ditto 4 weeks to go, our daughter is 3 so is now into a booster seat. I bought a Discovery 2, can certainly get 2 toddler seats and a baby seat across the back and don't see any specific problems getting 2 baby seats (on Isofix bases) and a toddler seat in between.

I can't get two toddler seats into the isofix and a booster seat in the middle on my facelift D2. The isofix mount for the offside seat is set in to allow for the seat hinge, so we've had to resort to just belting that one in. Even then it's a fight to get everything done up

ETA: re the guy who said it's been the hardest 7 months of his life - it does get easier. In 10 months or so

Edited by Bill on Thursday 20th October 15:11

[sparkyhx]

I would imagine the biggest limiter is luggage space. 3 seats across the back should be no problem.

Many car based estates don't have that great luggage compartments if you want to keep everything out of site. e.g. I think the Insight and Primera saloons both have more load space on the saloon than the estates. Saab 9-3 is simply vast.

Beyond that you have people carriers which again you may struggle with space on mini MPV's like the Picasso and Megane.

So you then look at the bigger MPV's
SMax
Alhambra
Sharan
Galaxy
Previa etc


Also the van based cars such as the Doblo, Kangoo etc (surprisingly good)

Whatever you do take the prams etc when you go looking.

Edited by sparkyhx on Thursday 20th October 15:55

[DanielC4GP]

We've got a C4 Grand Picasso. 3 separate full size seats in the back all with isofix points and the front seat even has isofix points.

So far couldn't fault it, very easy and comfortable to drive and not a single fault with it.

Its not a drivers car so it doesn't handle corners very good with all the roll, but it does grip surprisingly well and takes a lot before it starts to lose grip.

Post June 2008 petrols come with engines co-developed with BMW.

[offshorematt2]

No use for the first 9months in a rear facing seat, but after that the Multimac should open up your choices a little?

http://www.multimac.co.uk/3_child_car_seat

So buy a multipla or S-max safe in the knowledge that in ~9months you can buy something nice again

Edit: just looked again and the 'minimac' gives you a newborn option too, it seems. No excuses for buying something gash now...

[Bill]

The rear facing minimac seats are pretty long and heavy, so depending how long your legs are might not even be a possibility.

[Darlo74]

Rinko said:

Meant to ask in my earlier response - does the XC90 have the 3x isofix, and/or does the centre seat have a ceiling mount 3 point or a lap belt?

Edited by Rinko on Thursday 20th October 13:32

Just checked mine as I was curious... no Isofix in the middle seat of the second row... but it has a normal belt that crosses over your chest (not ceiling mounted or just over the lap) so would easily fit a non-Isofix seat. The middle seat also coverts to a booster seat for when the kids are older.

XC90 is a good option as the boot is huge... and even with 3 rows quite spacious and the rear seats aren't right on the tailgate if you were involved in a rear end accident.

Plus I read somewhere that the XC90 had a reinforced shell that makes it one of the strongest cars on the road - but I could be making that up!

Never had any issues with mine - its a 2005 163bhp RICA'd to 200bhp... insurance is £350, tax £245, averages around 31MPG so reasonable to run.

[mattnunn]

[quote]
Out of interest Matt, what year is your S-MAX? If it's pre-2010 what belt arrangement does the middle seat have? The late-2010 have two clips (one on each side of the seat), and a roof mount belt (with two buckles) to make a proper 3-point harness.

We were supposed to test drive the S-MAX yesterday (I was upfront with the sales guy, but he was still happy to let us try it), unfortunately after peeling off all the windscreen stickers, he realised it had no fuel in it.


[/quote]

It's a 57, and it has that arrangment like you suggest. It's worth driving one before you commit, the citroen has a really airy cabin which feels like you're drving a fish bowl, which is nicer than it sounds, 3 kids screeming can make a car feel very clostraphobic (spell check). But second hand ones were hard to find in decent condition and the ride was not quite as good as the Ford.

[Carl_Spackler]

From my experience with two and the sheer amount of crap you had to carry, then you'll be needing one of these...

http://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/transporter-range...





Get one in black and hum the A-Team theme tune as you drive.

[Ciaran]

Darlo74 said:

XC90 is a good option as the boot is huge... and even with 3 rows quite spacious and the rear seats aren't right on the tailgate if you were involved in a rear end accident.

With the rear seats up in ours we can get a double maclaren buggy behind along with a bit of shopping.

[Zod]

Bugaboo fits behind the rear seats in an X5.

[Rinko]

Thanks for all the responses, all very helpful!

I quite like the XC90, but not had a chance to confirm whether the child seats would fit - so good to hear it's an option!

The VW Caravelle is a nice bit of kit, but bloody pricy to get anything new-ish and reasonably spec'd.

Had a wander over to the local Renault and Seat dealers to ask what they had that might fit. The Alhambra and the Grand Senic look like the only possibilities (I think the Altea will be too small, but perhaps worth trying anyway).

[AMcLean]

Ciaran said:

With the rear seats up in ours we can get a double maclaren buggy behind along with a bit of shopping.

Exactly, there is some useable room in the XC90 boot with all 7 seats up. ISOFIX is defo on the two outside rear seats, not sure about the middle, I'll check tonight if I can remember. The middle rear seat is a proper belt, but it also has an integral booster seat that can be popped into place which is useful if you are giving one of your kids' mates a lift. Ideal car for a family of five, nothing safer than a huge bonnet in front of you. Don't get the petrol though, they are meant to be horrendous consumption, the diesel is bad enough (worse than my 3.2 Alfa).

Of course if you want something "Petrolhead" but useable by a family consider a 156 GTA sportwagon, or AMG C32 estate. You can get either for under £9k, but not 100% certain about isofix. I've had both cars as family cars, but eventually let the AMG go not long after no.3 came along, as we needed the extra seat(s) for grandparents.

Also, not to everyone's taste mind you but it's still a good car, the Mercedes R class, 3.2 diesel. Most of these are 6 seaters, but the newer ones are 7. See this one for an idea...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-R320-L-Cdi...

Good luck

[mattnunn]

Hi again,

We really wanted an X90 but to find one pre 06 to get reasonable tax with reasonable mileage and decent history is a bit of a challenge. They do have the excellent feature of the built in booster seat in the middle usually (it might be an option but all th ones we saw had it). Volvos of that era appear to commonly have cream interiors, which on a salesmans saloon is one thing but on a familly car is a bit odd.

The ones we found under £12k were variable, the only one I found that I would have bought was sold before I had chance to get to the bank. Looking back it was probably for the best, there is quite a few big bills in waiting on a car like that if you're unlucky.

As a side not I don't use Isofix and am not sure there is any benefit over a properly fitted normal seat, I wouldn't get too hung up about it.