Car to suit 3 car seats

[MummyDeb]

Hey girls

Well we are upgrading our cars in a few weeks once we get the money from the sale of our house and with TTC baby number 3 we need a car that will be able to fit 3 car seats. DD will be in her booster seat but DS is still in a car seat until he turns 4 and he is only 2, so no booster for a couple of years at least.

Any suggestions? We have a $10k budget and DF doesn't want it to be a wide body due to a very narrow driveway and having 2 cars... We are looking at the Subaru Forester but was hoping to have other ideas... also if anyone drives a Forester can they fit 3 seats comfortably?

Thanks so much

[Loula]

Interested to know also! we have a Mazda and need to get a new car before TTC #2, #3! lol

My SIL had a forester and got rid of it cause she said there was no room and that was only when she had 1!!

[sneakysparkle]

a good friend of mine has 3 under 4 - and they have a Forester! So i know you CAN fit in 3 car seats - I know one of those is a maxirider too, and they arent really narrow.

We are in the same boat at the moment - suggestions we have had -
Forester
Mazda Tribute
Commodore wagon
Falcon
and then all your large 4wds - which we dont want to do!

[Arimeh]

Mazda MPV

[Netix]

We put three seats (one convertible seat in the middle and two big booster seats on the outsides) of my friend's (VY) commodore. I imagine both the commodore and falcons would be pretty much the same size.

[StrawberryMumma]

I'd say go a commodore for that price range.

Happy car shopping!

[shaza12345]

Id say commodore as well there always got plenty of space i have a vx ss commodore and i have two car seats in now but there Certainly room for another one and the kids have plenty of leg room.

[MummyDeb]

Thanks girls

DF said no to commodores I was just falling in love with so many of them, we just can't afford 2 cars that are V6 with Rego... Think its going to be the Forester...or maybe a Kia Sportage...

[RainbowBrite]

I have a Pajero and I have three reversible car seats across the back....but it is a v6 so probably not what you are after.

[~Kim~]

A friend of mine had to get rid of her Forrester as the three seats didn't fit. She had a maxi rider, a convertable and a plain booster. She took her tape measure every time she had to look at cars.
Remember if you have an older child using a regular seatbelt you still need room to do the belt up between the seats.

[RainbowBrite]

Remember if you have an older child using a regular seatbelt you still need room to do the belt up between the seats.

You can get a seat belt extender so you don't have to reach through the seats...makes it a lot easier.

[Jennie13]

My friend has a falcon wagon, shes got 5 kids, and she loves it, the bench front seat and the fold down far back ones. We go for road trips all the time in it and it fits me and DD and my friend and her 5 kids comfortably. we have the 2 bub and a 4 yr old in a booster seat in the back and there is lots of room

good luck

[Epacris]

We’ve just been through this and I’m pretty sure you can’t fit three normal seats across the back of a Forrester or Honda CRV (or Mazda 7 either I think). Maybe you can get three special slimline seats but you’d have to actually check (thoroughly).

We’ve ended up with a Ford Territory and we’re really happy with it. I would definitely try commodore or falcon station wagons for the price range. Government Auctions are a fantastic place to buy these sort of cars for bargain prices. Just Google “government car auctions Queensland” (there’s one in each state).

[~me~]

Mazda MPV

We have a Ford Mondeo Ghia and it has three car seats in the back. Safe n Sound Meridian, Hi pod and a 3/4 booster for DS1. It was a bit of squeeze for my DS1 to do up his seat belt while the Safe n Sound was in rward facing, he mangaged it though. Got quite a bit of extra room when we turned the Safe n Sound fward facing, my DS1 was very happy!
I like the size of our car, can park it easily and it is great with petrol as well.
It's a hatch model so it also has great boot space when you want to go away or need to have a pram in your boot with also a boot full of grocery shopping

[Netix]

MD, since I'm in Vic, I don't know the rego rates up there. Is there a difference between a v6 and straight 6 rego? Or is your hand being forced to a four cylinder?

[MummyDeb]

DF currently has a V6 and its costing him nearly $900 for the year! So need to pretty much have a 4 cylinder for me as the 4x4 he is getting is a V6... The price will almost halve for me... Hopefully we can get 3 seats in the Forester as that seems the way we are going!

Thanks for all your replies ladies If we could afford 2 x V6 I would get a Commodore for sure!

[Netix]

Not sure if you know/are interested, the Magnas come out in 4cyl too (as well as v6), and are just as roomy as a 'falcodore'. The 4 cyl's go well, maybe a little too much of a 'wide body', but you would still get a schmick one for $10k. Our '96 is only worth a couple of grand, and there are some really nice ones out there.