E70 X5 and 3 rear child seats?

[Toady1]

I'm looking to replace the family car, our trusty Smax. We really like the X5 and thought it would be a fine upgrade, until I came across a picture on here in someone's advert of a child seat in the back. It looked like there literally wasn't much of a middle seat anymore!

We have three kids, 3, 4, and 7. So need 3 full sized kids seats. The Smax is great for this as it has 3 decent sized individual rear seats with isofix.

Has anyone else had an X5 and fitted 3 child's seats?

[Toady1]

So it looks like the answer is no after some further searching! Bugger! Am I constrained to an mpv for the next 6 years!!!! Arghhhhh!

[AHUX]

I’ve recently bought an e70 X5 (2011) and have found a car seat combination that works. I have a 1, 3 and 5 year old.

We have 2 x maxicosi rodi high back booster seats and in the middle a Diono radian for our youngest. The Diono seat is narrow enough to fit in the middle, it can be a rearward or forward facing. We have it rearward due to the age of the youngest. All these seats are fixed using the seatbelts rather than isofix (there is no isofix point for the centre seat)

You could also try a multimac but they are quite expensive.

I hope that helps you move on from your mpv

Edited by AHUX on Sunday 18th February 17:44

[Toady1]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I'll google those seats, though I only bought 3 new seats 18 months ago so am a bit loathed to buy more! The multimacs are way too pricey for me to consider. I realised the other day that my middle smax seat isn't isofix after all, and that one I use the 3 point belt. But the seats are all a good size. I parked up next to an x5 yesterday and had a nose inside, it didn't look much if any smaller than the smax.

[AHUX]

Yes the problem with the X5 is the width of the middle seat between the buckles - it’s too narrow for the majority of child seats.

We bought the Maxi Cosi seats from Asda at the baby event @ £45 each and the other seat from Amazon @ £160.

[Sk00p]

To be honest within a year or two you'll be glad to have the opportunity of splitting the kids between rows, my lot are a PITA if they have to sit in one row in the car, elbows out etc.

There are a few sneaky real 7 seaters out there XC90, Mercedes R/GL Class and judging by how fast a VW T5 came past me on the M3 this morning some of the bigger stuff can shift too!

I am also stuck in MPV hell with 4 kids under 16. Don't have to drive it every day though

[Toady1]

AHUX said:

Yes the problem with the X5 is the width of the middle seat between the buckles - it’s too narrow for the majority of child seats.

We bought the Maxi Cosi seats from Asda at the baby event @ £45 each and the other seat from Amazon @ £160.

Thanks, I've just googled the donio seat, it looks like a more narrow design. I currently have a britax seat for my youngest, a recaro monza for the eldest, and a cheaper jole. All are quite wide.

Just FYI, in my searching I found out there was a recall in 2017 for the donio seat.

[AHUX]

Toady1 said:

Thanks, I've just googled the donio seat, it looks like a more narrow design. I currently have a britax seat for my youngest, a recaro monza for the eldest, and a cheaper jole. All are quite wide.

Just FYI, in my searching I found out there was a recall in 2017 for the donio seat.

Thanks for the heads up, I don't think my seat is affected from reading the articles, but I've contacted Diono all the same to check.

You might be able to get away with keeping two of the seats you have and just replace the middle one.

Go on treat yourself and get an X5, my wife, the kids, and I like it, much better than the picasso we had