3 child seat cars? Which is the least crap?

[Hugo a Gogo]

due to impending 3rd child, we need a low budget very slightly wider car than the current well-worn Focus estate, which is otherwise perfect, bags of load space, roof bars, economical, cheap to run and ultra- reliable - it's just not quite got enough room to comfortably fit three seats abreast in the back

Focus C-max would seem sensible, but it's slightly too new and over budget, and annoyingly is smaller in the boot for no good reason

Big old Mercs would be attractive, but they've only got lap belts in the middle, a big old Volvo might fit the bill

Kangoos and Berlingos - Nice big load area and all sorts of cheap handiness about them, but they're French - do they hold together OK?

Scenic - seems to be the default option as a baby carrier for half the population, are they rubbish?

Almera Tino - the even uglier Jap version of the above

Mondeo - all that's good about the Focus in a bigger package? can't imagine they offer loads more space across the back seat though

Fiat Multipla or Doblo - I've no problems with the unconventional beauty, but, well, they're Fiats and will surely disintegrate before my eyes

then it's big 7 seaters - GalaShAlhambras are probably the best shout there surely

Hyundais and Kias - no thanks

anything else to consider?

Edited by Hugo a Gogo on Sunday 26th December 16:30

[IceBoy]

Depends on the amount of cash you want to spend and the age of the children.

I purchased a shed a while back for some renovation work on the house.

V70 and it has a built in rear car seat in the middle which I think is suitable for 3-5 year olds (please check!!!)

This is situated in the middle and you can easily get two either side.

My 2p's worth anyway.
IceBoy

[Stu 9-5]

Honda F-RV?

[vrooom]

Wear a condom in first place?

[Hugo a Gogo]

Honda's too new and expensive

I'm looking to pay around 4-5k euro in Germany (where used cars are dearer)

big Volvo estates are incredibly hard to find for sale without 400000km on them, presumably this is actually 'a good thing' as it says their owners like them and they are reliable

[Hugo a Gogo]

vrooom said:

Wear a condom in first place?

Aaaaand the winner is......vrooom!

[mybrainhurts]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Hugo a Gogo]

oh man, I searched for this topic last week, then didn't write the post

anyway, that threads more at the 'big new MPV' end of the market

[fathomfive]

I couldn't fault the Fiat Multipla I had - not the bland facelift model. If you can live with the pre-facelift looks they are a very good, very underrated car. If you go down that route, go for one of the later JTD 115 ELX models.

[Antonia]

My mother has a kangoo and has no trouble with getting three child seats across the
back. She can also get tooo much junk in the boot and the kids can't slam the
doors into another car in the carpark. It is very practical but I found it
awkward to drive as it is essentially a van with seats. She had some troubles
with the (automatic)gearbox on the first one she had and a replacement tyre
was an obscene amount of money - apparently they are a funny size?

My mother would whole heartedly recommend it but I think the Berlingo might
be better made.

[chrisispringles]

What about a W/S210 Mercedes E class? A tidy one is cheaper than a tidy W/S124 and they have 3 3 point belts in the back. A quick look at mobile.de suggests that you ought to be able t get a fairly tidy S210 E320 CDi estate.

[Risotto]

Another option might be to stick with the current car and get one of those fancy seats John Barker is always going on about in Evo. There have been similar threads in the past and the consensus is that it's pretty difficult to fit three child seats in the back of any car - even ones you'd imagine would be pretty spacious.

http://www.multimac.co.uk/home

They're certainly not cheap but neither is a new car...

Edited by Risotto on Sunday 26th December 19:31

[BeeRoad]

Hugo a Gogo said:

Fiat Multipla or Doblo - I've no problems with the unconventional beauty, but, well, they're Fiats and will surely disintegrate before my eyes

I have a Doblo mainly for carrying the dog and shopping. I'm afraid I've grown to rather like it.

I've had it for 4 years and 40,000 miles and it's not well looked after. Absolutely nothing has gone wrong, nothing broken, nothing fell off. It's huge inside with three seperate back seats. The driving position and seats are lovely. It drives really well with light accurate steering and having a 1.9 diesel when most vehicles of this type only have 1.5 or 1.6 it always feels lively. I chose the 105bhp version which is torquey and had no DPF, no DMF and a non-variable turbo which means it should keep going forever. It costs pennies to service and returns 50mpg no matter how hard I drive it. It has winter tyres on and is unstoppable on snow and ice.

[Dan Friel]

A Mazda 5 gas seven seats, and is based on a focus chassis. One of the child seats would have to be in the third row, so that may e a problem for a variety of reasons..

[the_scorpion]

Chrysler Voyager?