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Ok I need some BB help. We are in the market for a new car and have short listed it to
Captiva 7 vs Honda crv vs Mazda cx5 v Subaru forester
We need to fit three car seats across the back, and are looking for a reliable and sleek city car (small streets and tight parking)
Any advice?
A friend has Forester - no way you will get 3 sets across the back of that.
Are they FF or RF?
We have a Honda crv you wouldn't get 3 seats across the back. I can just get between my boys seats if I have too for short journeys. They are in a maxi rider & a booster.
They are also not too good on the fuel. For our next car I want a Mazda lol
Good luck a friend has just gone through choosing a new car & it took them few months to find the right one. Ours was bought in haste as I couldn't drive the manual anymore when I was pg with DS1.
We needed a new car once baby #3 was on the way & realised our Honda CRV would in no way fit 3 baby seats. I rang baby bunting and spoke to the car seat installation man & told him our requirements - baby, 2 yr old & 3 yr old and he said people mover like Honda odyssey (which I didn't want), or Ford Territory. We got the ford in the end which initially I didn't want as I too wanted a nice sleek city car... But I love it. So much smoother to drive than my CRV huge boot plus we got the 7 seater so the boot can become 2 more seats.
What ages will the other 2 be? Mine are in baby capsule, safe & sound compaq & safe sound maxi rider.
No way known will you get 3 car seats across the back of a captiva. We have one and the middle seat isn't a full size seat. You also can't put a tethered/anchored car seat in the back either because it's illegal but you can have an untethered booster no problems. The honda odyssey will fit the 3 as will a kia carnival if you like the people mover type cars.
I love love love my crv but as the others said, no way you would get three seats across the back.
I can't comment on the captiva but I've seen all the others recently and I think you'd struggle to to fit 3 seats in any of them. We bought the forrester and i don't think even 3 slimline seats would fit? You might need to consider larger SUVs/ people movers or large sedans like commodore etc
We have a Captiva and love it but no way could you fit 3 car seats across the back. We have a Maxi rider and safe and sound Hi liner.
Yep, another CRV driver here and we can fit two baby car seats in with a small gap in the middle (I can just squeeze in there). Also the boot space isn't much once you have a pram or stroller in there. We went away for a weekend the other month and we struggled to fit suitcases, the pram and some other things. If we went for a longer time we'd need either a trailer or a pod thingy on the roof
My gf drives a Toyota kluger and it fits three seats across
Sorry, I beg to differ.... however I have an older crv so maybe this is why. I can and have fit 3 seats across the back. When dd3 was born we had a capsule and 2 safe n sound Compaqs. Then when she was old enough we moved her into the Compaq and got a hi-liner for dd1. Now dd2 is old enough and has a hi liner as well. Yep its a bit of a pain but we are used to it. I have the Compaq in the middle and hi-liners on the outside. When we have to do their belts up we just move the seats to the side to get our hands to the buckle then once clipped we move them back and adjust. As for the boot room...awesome. we have a Phil n teds double and I can get loads of shopping in there. We also go camping a lot and we can pack loads in. Only problem with mine is it won't fit #4 in:-)
We've got a 2010 Forester and you *might *fit 3 seats but they would likely have to be smaller seats (eg SNS Compaq). We have one Compaq and one Maxi Rider and there is very little room between them.
We have a Captiva 7 and can fit three seats across. A Qld Ambulance Service employee fitted all three (albeit it took a bit of arranging and rearranging), so I know it's ok, even with that middle seat being a PITA :):
We bought the most slimline booster seats we could find - Infa Secure - and we have a rear facing Safe and Sound Meridian. The boosters are next to each other, with the SandS (obviously) on the other side. They are all touching each other, but I find if I pull the booster nearest the window toward me a little, it gives me enough room to clip the seatbelts in.
I love my Captiva :)
ETA: The QAS employee (who's been fitting car seats for ages) said the foreign-made SUVs were the hardest to fit the three seats, but Aussie made cars were easier. Not sure if this helps one iota ...
Thanks everyone for your awesome help!! We are test driving tomorrow, and the captiva7 looks like it will fit three seats. We are ttc #3 soon so kids will be 5, 2.75 and newborn in capsule or rear facing.
Anyone try a Mazda cx5 yet?
Have you had a look at the Hyundai ix 35?
I just put a dep down on one. I only have 1 child, but they are very roomy for a smallish car.
5 year unlimited km waranty.
They range from 28-38k.
Worth looking at.
What about a 5 seat ford territory? We considered the captiva but wasn't roomy enough for us. (We bought a 7 seat territory) maybe go have a look. We also looked at the prado but I was disgusted by them.
They may have changed their seats? We brought our 7 seater LX brand new in 2007 and we couldn't fit any of our seats in the middle because it was too narrow. We measured it and it was only 30cm wide. We only need two car seats anyway so it wasn't a problem for us, but it meant that DD2 had to climb over 2 car seats to get into the middle of the seat which was a pain at times.:
Hi Trill, we also bought ours new in 2007. As mentioned, we went for the slimmest boosters we could find and had all three seats fitted by Qld Ambo service to ensure a proper/accurate fit. The fellow made it clear he wasn't enthused by 3 seats in a Captiva, but he mucked around until he got a good and legal fit.
While I love my Captiva, I'll be more conscious of that middle seat when we go to buy another car.
Just subbing as have a GF who will have this problem in a couple of months time and is on the look out for a new car. They have a Forrester at present. She will have a newborn 12 month old and 3 1/2 year old so she's having a nightmare trying to work out what to get.
I'm coming in really late but I just bought a captiva 7 2013 so i hope i might help someone further down the track :)
The middle seat is small so you wouldn't be able to fit two and then fold up the third to allow access to the rear - however with the full bench in use - you could fit three next to each other with a combination of seats. Atm our two carseats are very large ones but we reckon we could probably fit a rear facing in the middle without having to downsize to slimline.
There are no anchor points in the rear for carseats however they are full seats for boosters (or an adult - lots of room). The problem does lie with getting them in and out with the middle row being in use. it is quite difficult to get in through the back (and the storage compartment lids aren't very strong as we found out the day we installed the car seats)...however it isn't impossible especially if you only have a 4-6 year old who will have lots of fun climbing in and out.
We got the sx turbo diesel and we really love it. I do wish we had the dual climate control of the next model up but I couldn't justify the price for just that spec that I really wanted. However if you can afford it it is probably worth it (plus you get awd and front park assist which would be handy).
You cannot get extra anchors added in for the rear as the boot is not not wide enough and those back seats fall into a 'crumple zone' area which means it will void the carseat of the safety that the anchor bolt provides.
My FIL has approx a 2011 Forrester and there is no way you can get three seats across it. We went in it about a month ago and with our two seats (infasecure neon and hipod cairo) I just squeezed in the middle uncomfortably. I am very very slim and i had to sit so that my shoulders were angled to fit in. Even with slimline seats you wouldn't get them in.