car with three seats

monflat

Hi all
Just need a bit of advice
Im due early sept. So il have a 4 yr old a 2 yr old and a new born
I have an audi A4 10 yr old.
But i would rather keep the car for the moment.

Any ideas of puttin 3 children into this car and fitting them in safely?
I have a maxi cosi axis and another maxi cosi

I may need to buy a new/ smaller car seat but any idea of a new born seat which could fit in ?
Has any one else been in same boat ?

Many thanks

dublinlady

monflat wrote: »

Hi all
Just need a bit of advice
Im due early sept. So il have a 4 yr old a 2 yr old and a new born
I have an audi A4 10 yr old.
But i would rather keep the car for the moment.

Any ideas of puttin 3 children into this car and fitting them in safely?
I have a maxi cosi axis and another maxi cosi

I may need to buy a new/ smaller car seat but any idea of a new born seat which could fit in ?
Has any one else been in same boat ?

Many thanks

Is it isofix?
Do you want a second adult passenger - if not maxi cosi in front rear facing with airbag off and the 2 others in the back. Don't think an a4 would fit 3 in the back but then my eldest is only 2 so I don't know if the older seats are much narrower?

January

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

Something like that might work?

Other than that, dublinlady's suggestion is good but you'll prob be looking at upgrading to a different car. Citroen Xsara Picasso and Peugoet 307SW have 3 full seats across the back. Drove a Picasso for the last two years and have 'upgraded' to a 307sw this year so we can change it to a 7 seater when new baby comes along.

monflat

dublinlady wrote: »

Is it isofix?
Do you want a second adult passenger - if not maxi cosi in front rear facing with airbag off and the 2 others in the back. Don't think an a4 would fit 3 in the back but then my eldest is only 2 so I don't know if the older seats are much narrower?

Hi no the two car seats are not iso fix one is the seat that u can turn to make it easier puttin child in .
Is that allowed putting tge child in the front in the baby seat ? I presume so ?

monflat

January wrote: »

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

Something like that might work?

Other than that, dublinlady's suggestion is good but you'll prob be looking at upgrading to a different car. Citroen Xsara Picasso and Peugoet 307SW have 3 full seats across the back. Drove a Picasso for the last two years and have 'upgraded' to a 307sw this year so we can change it to a 7 seater when new baby comes along.

Hi thanks for that that multi mac looks ok . Wonder how popular they are ?

January

monflat wrote: »

Hi no the two car seats are not iso fix one is the seat that u can turn to make it easier puttin child in .
Is that allowed putting tge child in the front in the baby seat ? I presume so ?

If there is no room in the back seat then you can put a car seat in the front, if it's rear facing make sure the air bag is turned off.

monflat

January wrote: »

If there is no room in the back seat then you can put a car seat in the front, if it's rear facing make sure the air bag is turned off.

Ok great thank you may have to do this for a few weeks
Im a scheduled c section this time so i wont b goin to far for 6 weeks at least and it may give us some time to decide what we will do .

mordeith

I wouldn't be optimistic about putting three seats across the back. I have a 08 A4 and currently have a booster seat with a back, and a car seat for the two-year-old. There's no chance I'd fit another car seat in between.

Moonbeam

Here are the rules concerning putting a seat in the front - http://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Road-Safety/Campaigns/Current-road-safety-campaigns/No-Child-Car-Seat---No-Excuse/How-it-works/ of couse it emans going anywhere as a family is out.

We upgraded to a Ford Galaxy when we had 3 and they all fit in the 1 row and then I have massive boot space.

dublinlady

Scenic fits 3 in back too I think, haven't tried it tho but three full seats.

Think that swivel maxi cosi can go in front too so long as airbag off when rear facing.

January

dublinlady wrote: »

Scenic fits 3 in back too I think, haven't tried it tho but three full seats.

Think that swivel maxi cosi can go in front too so long as airbag off when rear facing.

Scenic have 2 and a half seats in the back, the middle seat is smaller than the outer two seats.

Citroen Xsara Picasso have three full seats.

Little My

Maybe think of carseats that are a bit slimmer.

We have a kiddy guardianfix and I reckon that two of those plus our britax infant base would easily fit across the back seat in our car.

I haven't tried it, yet, but the kiddy car seats seem much less bulky than the other stage 2/3 car seats.

Moonbeam

We also have a Kiddy Guardian fix and it takes up as much space as other seats except our rear facing be-safe izi one which is massive.
Depends on your car but definitely not across the back of the avensis,primera,Santa fe or any car that size.

schoolhouse

I hate to rain on your parade but getting three car seats cross the back of a "Family" saloon car ,like the Audi, is impossible because I have yet to find a car that does not have bucket seats.
I was where you are a couple of months ago with an 11 year old Audi A4 and this is what I learned.

- Our Audi only had two full seatbelts and one lap belt so immediately we were in trouble before we discovered the joy of bucket seats.

- Turning off the Front Passenger Airbag, in newer models there is a slot in the glovebox or side of the dashboard which you can insert the key and turn off the airbag. In order models this does not exist and the car has to be hooked up to a diagnostic programme in garage for the airbag to be switched off and an inhibitor put in place to stop the explosives that trigger the airbag. NOTE it is technically possible to do this but very expensive and secondly garages WILL NOT do it for insurance reasons, who is liable in case of accident (we contacted every dealership in the Republic.

- Three independent seats are a necessity to fit in car seats.
Dont forget that in six months or so the baby will be out of the smaller carry seat and need full seat.
High back booster seats are not much narrower. Bring three for your seats with you if looking at cars.

- Sometimes you see seatbelt extentions for sale on line which may save your knuckles when trying to tie in seatbelts. They are Illegal here in Ireland for Road Safety and Insurance, accordinng to Halfords anyway.

Finally, after much searching we ended up getting a Toyota Verso which is not too bulky and not much longer than a traditional saloon.

Hope this is some help and good luck

Little My

We had our kiddy car seat on one side with the infant seat in the middle. Fits without any problems leaving plenty of passenger space, so I would have imagined a third seat would fit.

Ginny

We have a 307SW, 3 full seats across the back and I can fit 2 maxi cosi mobis (Big ERF seats) and a 0 car seat across the back, with room in the front for a passenger. Not too expensive either, oh and a huge boot.