Small Children And 3 Door Cars.

[Life Saab Itch]

Does anyone have small children (under 4) and use mainly a 3 door car?

How difficult does it make using child seats with a 5 point harness?


My little girl is in a Recaro Monza seat, that uses the cars own seat belt. My son is still in the Recaro Young Expert that uses the harness.


I'd love something like a Honda Civic Type R (like Harris dislikes). I've had a 5 door Civic of that era before and would quite happily have another.

If we start looking for 3 door cars it opens up many more options like the Civic or a Brera etc, if not it's a choice between a Mazda 3 MPS (BK) or a Mazda 3 MPS (BL).

Thoughts and experiences please.

[gherkins]

I've got a C30 and it's not a problem at all. In fact, a friend who changed their car from 3dr to 5dr actually found it harder as you are maneuvering from the front instead of the side. Only problem is, if they are large doors, being able to open fully.

Give it a try on a test drive.

[RicksAlfas]

It's easier when they are in big seats as you can lean in and deal with them from the front. You can't do this in a 5 door. However once they get into booster type seats which use the rear seatbelts it's probably easier with rear doors.

[swansea v6]

I currently have an FTO and my 8 month old girl loves it! It's not too bad with only two doors as they open quite wide, plus the boot is huge so all of her bits fit in quits nicely.

[Pablo16v]

RicksAlfas said:

It's easier when they are in big seats as you can lean in and deal with them from the front. You can't do this in a 5 door. However once they get into booster type seats which use the rear seatbelts it's probably easier with rear doors.

I'd agree with this. Plus, if it's only going to be for occassional use then a 3 door will probably be ok, but if it will be the main family car I'd probably opt for a 4 or 5 door for the added convenience. I know that my wife and I couldn't live with a 3 door as our main car.

[deltashad]

When my daughter was born we had BMW compact. We also had Recaro baby seat.
I had no problem at all using the three door, the ex-wife had a problem with it.

Saying that she had a problem with everything.
We traded it in for one of those ghastly range topping Corsa MPV things, a dreadfully dull beast.

[englisharcher]

We have a sportrak, and our kids are 2 and 5, we haven't found any problems only having 3 doors

[5678]

We have a clio 182 and a bmw 650, both obviously 3 door. The Clio is fine, normally the seat lives on the passenger seat as in the week there is rarely 3 of us in one car. Same for the 650.
At weekends though it's a ball ache as the rear facing seat (Britax MultiTech) does not fit in the back of the 650, so it leaves the wife or I playing chauffeur.

I'm just about to order a 5 door estate as our main car...

[Stuart70]

Did it for a couple of years with a 3dr vr6 golf. It is manageable

However as I now have a mondeo estate and a 5dr golf gti as day to day cars, I couldn't resist forever.

Did run an old corrado vr6 for a year (an itch i needed to scratch) and the kids (11+9) whinged about getting in and out.

3l Subaru legacy is next up for me, and an Elise to replace the mx5 ( though that is not relevant to kids discussion!).

[Ben106]

I've got a baby under 1 and a 106 we've not had any problems execpt boot space

[Hairy Bob]

I recently went from a 3 door Megane 225 to an Audi S4 avant due to trying to be more family oriented with my 2 year old i.e. larger and estate.

He always sits in the back due to him always trying to kick the gear stick if he is in the front. It is a lot easier in a 3 door to put him in his car seat than in a 5 door. Admittedly if it was a low roof 3 door coupe you would have different issues.

[Life Saab Itch]

Hmmmm.

Lots of food for thought here.


My little boy is getting big/heavy enough that we could do away with the harness and use the seatbelt. This is my only issue really, as to get the belts tight enough you need to reach in behind the seat and pull the straps tight from there.

A normal seat belt would be easy from the front.



It may be time to scour the classifieds.

[s m]

Had a Cooper S for a fair few years with 2 lads - they were 6 months and 2.5 years old respectively when we got it. Seemed fine to us.

Try putting your kids in and out of the prospective car before you buy. I think most sellers would understand you need to try and ascertain if the car is suitable. Don't forget to take your pushchairs etc to make sure they will fit in boot as well

[Life Saab Itch]

s m said:

Had a Cooper S for a fair few years with 2 lads - they were 6 months and 2.5 years old respectively when we got it. Seemed fine to us.

Try putting your kids in and out of the prospective car before you buy. I think most sellers would understand you need to try and ascertain if the car is suitable. Don't forget to take your pushchairs etc to make sure they will fit in boot as well

That's kind of the point of looking now. My little boy (19 months) is just at the point where he doesn't really need his pushchair anymore.

That'll pretty much halve the bootspace we require in one go. The previous Civic we had was fine for bootspace with one child, but we had to change for an estate when the second one turned up.

[rob.e]

Mine are 4 and 2 yrs old. We have my octavia for family holidays etc but during the week the wifes mini cooper 3 door is just fine. Ok, its a little more cramped but perfectly usable - quinny zap fits easily in the boot too.

HTH.

[KMud]

As long as the seats go forward enough and you've room to open the doors (and are of powerful build), then a 3-door is fine. I'm managing in a monaro, although the seats really don't fold forward enough. The snotter 5-door 307 is an easier proposition though, both in rear and front-facing regimes.

[roystinho]

My lad (2) happily goes in the Clio 200. In the front when it's just me and him for nursery, in the back when the mrs jumps in. The only person who moans is the mrs because of Harry in the back shouting faster faster, and daddy duly responding.

We do, however, have a scenic for things like holidays and the dreaded IKEA trip, but we mainly use the Clio if me and Jnr can get away with it

[Mr2Mike]

No problems getting my daughter in and out of my Fiat Coupe for the last 4 years or so (she's 6 now). I imagine it's a bit more of a faff if you have multiple sprogs to load and unload, especially if they have to be strapped into a baby seat rather than a booster seat with seatbelt. Wouldn't stop me getting a car I wanted though, as long as it's comfortable for them in the back.

[jock mcsporran]

My lad was in the back of the 911 from about 8 months to almost 3. He's now in the front of the Exige on an almost daily basis. We do have a more sensible car for when all three of us are out but for the two of us it's 'Daddys car' every time.

[Swifter]

I have no issues with my Megane R26 or my last 306 GTI-6. The doors on the Megane are huge though and when some muppet parks to close over the white lines in a car park it can be difficult.