Travelling to Ireland, car hire with 3 car seats

Patdo

Hello, I'm writing from Canada. We will be travelling to Ireland this august and we are looking to rent a car. Our problem is that my 3 children need car seats and booster : 6 and 4yrs old in a 17in wide boosters and a 7months old in a rear facing 18in wide seat. The car hire companies can't tell me the width of the seats they can rent so we will bring our own... I'm still left with one problem : Which car has a 53-54 inches rear seat... here are my options: Ford Mondeo (not estate)
Toyota Avensis
Opel Insignia
We would like the car to be as small as possible since we are not used to narrower roads and wouldn't want to drive around in a ''boat''
Thanks for your help!!!!!

CrazyRabbit

Patdo wrote: »

Hello, I'm writing from Canada. We will be travelling to Ireland this august and we are looking to rent a car. Our problem is that my 3 children need car seats and booster : 6 and 4yrs old in a 17in wide boosters and a 7months old in a rear facing 18in wide seat. The car hire companies can't tell me the width of the seats they can rent so we will bring our own... I'm still left with one problem : Which car has a 53-54 inches rear seat... here are my options: Ford Mondeo (not estate)
Toyota Avensis
Opel Insignia
We would like the car to be as small as possible since we are not used to narrower roads and wouldn't want to drive around in a ''boat''
Thanks for your help!!!!!

Unless you are going outside the major towns/cities, you'll not have to worry about narrow roads....well mostly. Not sure about which car to get as I'm a motorcyclist, so have limited knowledge of cars. But, I imagine that most 'family' cars would suit your needs.

unklerosco

Of those 3 the Toyota would be the smaller I think, but not by much.. I've driven in the states quite a bit. There's not a massive difference in road sizes compared to here. Especially when you consider the size of US cars... I have a mondeo myself, plenty of space in them for car seats...

Another option is to pick up cheap boosters when you get to Ireland, saves the hassle of bringing them with you. http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_714407_langId_-1_categoryId_212579
There's an example there...

Patdo

we will be entirely outside major cities

Patdo

Over here, we drive a Kia Rondo that has an outside width of 71 inches and the 3 seats fit VERY snuggly in the back... I've spent a day looking at informations about the 3 cars i've mentionned and I only got contradictions...

Patdo

oh, and if anyone had success fitting 3 car seats in even smaller cars please share your experience

flyguy

Couldn't find any figures/dimensions to back this up but my guess would be the Mondeo would be your best bet with the Insignia coming close 2nd. I know the Mondeo has a huge boot and reasonable size backseats. As for driving the narrow roads I don't think any of these would be a problem (and there are a lot of motorways here as well you know...).
Most backseats are raised in the middle so if you put the rear facing seat there this will probably give you some more space either side for the other two seats. Also most rental companies don't really have a problem if you decide to take another make of car then the one you booked in case it doesn't suit you, I actually think they wont even guarantee you the car (make/model) you book, only a car in the same class...

Patdo

don't mean to insult anyone with the narrow road comment, we are actually planning our trip to drive the less visited roads and stay on the country side trying to be ''unusual'' tourists:)

flyguy

I think you'll find you wont insult the Irish that easily (not Irish myself so can't be sure). Anyway the "narrow roads" will be the least of your concerns, try roundabouts, lack of roadlighting or poor/no road markings and mostly dodging huge potholes... On top of driving on the left side of the road that is...
On a serious note, like I said in my previous post, have a good look at what you're getting before you book; rentals usually say: Ford Mondeo or similar. This obviously means they wont guarantee you'll get a Mondeo just a car of similar size (so just book the cheapest)...

Dilbert75

As regards getting 3 child seats in the back its not just the car size but the shape of the back seat that's important. The widest car in the fleet might have deep cut outs at either side and a big unstable hump in the middle.

If you want to avoid the extra cost of a full Mpv - Galaxy or Alhambra - see if a Peugeot 3008 or Citroen C4 Picasso are available - I believe both have 3 full seats across the back. Note that the Zafira only has 2.5 seats in the 2nd row so wouldn't be ideal, despite the third row.

Enjoy the trip!

January

Dilbert75 wrote: »

As regards getting 3 child seats in the back its not just the car size but the shape of the back seat that's important. The widest car in the fleet might have deep cut outs at either side and a big unstable hump in the middle.

If you want to avoid the extra cost of a full Mpv - Galaxy or Alhambra - see if a Peugeot 3008 or Citroen C4 Picasso are available - I believe both have 3 full seats across the back. Note that the Zafira only has 2.5 seats in the 2nd row so wouldn't be ideal, despite the third row.

Enjoy the trip!

I could fit three car seats across the second row of my zafira.

thomasm

Patdo wrote: »

Hello, I'm writing from Canada. We will be travelling to Ireland this august and we are looking to rent a car. Our problem is that my 3 children need car seats and booster : 6 and 4yrs old in a 17in wide boosters and a 7months old in a rear facing 18in wide seat. The car hire companies can't tell me the width of the seats they can rent so we will bring our own... I'm still left with one problem : Which car has a 53-54 inches rear seat... here are my options: Ford Mondeo (not estate)
Toyota Avensis
Opel Insignia
We would like the car to be as small as possible since we are not used to narrower roads and wouldn't want to drive around in a ''boat''
Thanks for your help!!!!!

All those cars should Im certain fit those 3 car seats. I have gotten two axis car seats and a seat for a two year old into a Mondeo. Bear in mind the axis car seats turn/swivel to make it easier get the kids in and as such are as big as car seats get. If I'm able to fit them you will have no problem with your seats. Enjoy your holiday.

cynder

I hired a vw passatt in the uk and that fitted 2 car seats and a booster seat. Similar size to a mondeo

You may need to hire a 7 seater.



Pity you can't phone up the hire company and hire there baby seats and get them to fit the car seats in the car to see what fits.

uck51js9zml2yt

You should try and look at a Galaxy instead of a Zafira.

The Zafira doesnt have a lot of space having hired one myself last year.
Dont forget you will also have luggage.

Patdo

emailed all of them : they can't give me the info about the car seat because they have different models (my guess) and can't give me the dimensions of the back seats of those cars but they did suggess the 3 cars i mentionned earlier.

Patdo

Frankie Mealy Fingertip wrote: »

You should try and look at a Galaxy instead of a Zafira.

The Zafira doesnt have a lot of space having hired one myself last year.
Dont forget you will also have luggage.

We wanted to stay away from 7 seaters or people carriers or any full size wide cars... we will carry 2 medium luggage for all of us plus a backpack baby carrier (folds quite flat) we are light travellers, even with 3 kids
Even wondering if there is an even smaller car that can fit the 3 car seats...

cynder

Patdo wrote: »

Frankie Mealy Fingertip wrote: »

You should try and look at a Galaxy instead of a Zafira.

The Zafira doesnt have a lot of space having hired one myself last year.
Dont forget you will also have luggage.

We wanted to stay away from 7 seaters or people carriers or any full size wide cars... we will carry 2 medium luggage for all of us plus a backpack baby carrier (folds quite flat) we are light travellers, even with 3 kids
Even wondering if there is an even smaller car that can fit the 3 car seats...

No smaller cars will fit 3 child seats,


A note on the law regarding small cars and 3 car seats:

the law in Ireland and the eu says if 3 car seats don't fit safely in the back seat of the car then the eldest child over 3 can sit in the rear of the car with just an adult seat belt and no child seat.

A lot would think that unacceptable however it's a parents choice to make.

Ayla

OP - out of curiousity, do your children have specific requirements that they require the width boosters/seats that you outlined? I ask because I don't necessarily know what width my kid's booster & car seat are, but they are standardised sizes here (which the rental companies will have), and I know many people are able to fit a combination of 2 boosters/1 seat in their backseat.

Especially considering two of yours are in boosters, which are not very wide, I would expect many cars would be able to fit 2 boosters & 1 seat in fairly easily. I bring this up because it is a *massive* hassle (and may be costly depending on your air carrier) to bring seats if you can avoid it. But, then again, it is also costly to rent them here.

Have you looked into the likes of these:
http://www.bubblebum.co/booster-seat/

We got one for our 5 yr old on our last trip State-side and it was perfect for what we needed.

Moonbeam

Most cars do not fit 3 car seats but nearly all the big saloons fit 2 booster seats and a baby seat.

lynski

I saw boosters in tesco today for 10.99 so might be cheaper and easier to buy them when you get here

cynder

Do your boosters have backs or are they just cushions?

Also instead of measuring the base did you measure the widest parts of the booster? The base can be the smallest part!

If they are just cushions they can fit better, that's if they don't have any wings, britax ones normally do and would be harder to fit.

Something like a ford focus should fit 2 booster cushions without wings and a baby seat. A ford fiesta I doubt would.


We're hiring a ford fiesta in Italy however we are getting 2 booster seats and we have a 12 year old, I'm hopeful they all will fit.

IrishInCalgary

All these new cars usually have the Isofix locking systems in the back seat which allow you to lock in the childs seats. If you can ask the rental companies how many Isofix anchor points they have you will know how many seats will fit. I would be surprised if any of these models couldnt take 3 childrens seats. They are all considered family saloons and as standard thats 2 adults and 3 kids or 4 adults.
Another idea might be these inflatable booster seats
http://www.bubblebum.co/us/

Patdo

thank you all for your help
Here, the booster seats are every width possible, mine are the narrower-safer i could find. The car companies will not rent baby seat that are rear facing (which my 7 mos old will need to be) So we thought that since we'd need to carry her seat, we would strap the 2 boosters in the baby seat (I guess plastic wrap or duct tape would do the trick) and leave it by the plane door with the strollers and other items... still have to verify that with aer lingus and us airways... but if you say that back-less booster are standard width maybe i could get a car hire company to guarantee me that... food for thoughts...

Patdo

as for buying them in Ireland, 1st : we'd need to buy them at the airport and 2nd : we're a bit of enviromental freaks lol I'd hate throwing all that plastic away in such a beautiful country... hence why I'm looking for the smallest car possible... couldn't care less about the price but more about polluting... would be pretty silly to drive around looking for the greatest sceneries in a petrole hungry gigantic car

Moonbeam

look for a car with low co2 emissions rather then a small car then,it is not going to make much of a difference.
You need to be comfortable and practical too.

neuro-praxis

Just as an aside, I strongly recommend you use sat nav while travelling country roads in Ireland - provincial Irish roads are notoriously poorly signposted and it can be frustrating getting around if you're visiting. Sat nav largely, although not entirely, solves that problem.

Good luck with your car and have a wonderful trip. Bring good raincoats - and you'll have a wonderful time!

wonbadood

Patdo wrote: »

we will be entirely outside major cities

What part of Ireland are you going to? It might be no harm to look at the roads on Google Earth (even though the pics may be a few years old), Its a handy way to see the scenery. As a Canadian you'll probably be sensible on the roads here so dont worry about the holes in the road. ITS A HIRE CAR. Go for a Zafira (Opel) as its a small 7 seater thats easily converted to suit your carrying needs. Ive never owned one but never heard any moans from those who did.