[Closed] 3 kids across the back seat of an Octavia

Pricey, but a mate has a Multimac in his Octavia - bought the car soon before they found out they were adding twins to the kid they already had. Options for each "bay" from newborn up to 36kg.

No chance in normal  kiddie car seats. It's not the width that's the issue,  the seatbelt positions  / isofix mountings just won't work.

Change your car for something with 3 separate rear seats.

Congratulations and welcome to the Outnumbered club.

Yeah I was going to suggest the same (ie, multimac) as it will be difficult to get three full seats across the back (few cars have three Isofix points). The eldest could go into a booster seat now - that would fit in the middle.

We got one of these to squeeze into the middle of a smaller car - very useful and also great hor taking on holidays etc.

Jeez, in the time I took to edit, I got the multimac and the change car answer!

Jeez, in the time I took to edit, I got the [s] multimac and the change car answer![/s] only two practical solutions

FTFY but good luck figuring it out for yourself

I'm not wedded to iso fix. I like it, but I'm not changing the car for it.

Preference would be 3 little ones in the back door safety and adult comfort though.

Cheers johndoh, already seen that or a similar folding thing called the mifold grab and go. It's aimed at a holiday/occasional use solution and looks good for that. Would prefer something better for normal use, although tbh as we only do about 4k miles a year in the car currently I'm not against the mifold getting a closer look.

hopefully not for many many years.

Time to re-evaluate that particular expectation, methinks.

Keep an eye out for secondhand Multimacs, although they do hold value pretty well. Easier to find the newborn seat that fits in them, people don't need them for that long.

Despite the eyewatering price, it was still much cheaper than swapping cars for them, and means they can go on having "normal" cars rather than limited selection of SUVs and MPVs that can safely fit 3 across the middle row.

Yep bigger car time. We got an s-max for our three. Didn't like it and downsized to an octy as soon as we only had one in a car seat.

Regarding multimacs I'm sure I read something on here about them not being too great in a side impact. Could be rubbish or me making it up.

Just trade it in for a nice people carrier. Seriously

I have 3 kids and struggled for a while with a Citroen XM estate (which are big) when they were young (and this was pre isofix and 3 seats or boosters would fit). The best thing I did was sell it and buy a Citroen Synergy. No more who is in the middle arguments/fights and all together family journeys improved immensely.

Embrace the MPV

When we had 3 under the age of 2.5 the only car I could find that would fit them all across the back seat (that wasn't a horrendous MPV) was an XC90.
And that wasn't using isofix which I think restricts things even more.
It was 17 years ago though thank god! Stuff may have changed.
Don't forget, it's not just about fitting the kids in the car it's all their accompanying stuff as well!
🤦🏻‍♂️

We went to a Passat when youngest_oab arrived, the other two only on boosters and it was tight, really tight.
The move to a Touran then Galaxy was best thing we ever did. Three separate seats, you can reach belts, they can then reach belts when they are old enough.
Then they argue over how much space...
After 10 years of people carriers we now are back to a big estate.

Volvo used to do a narrow car seat that would work well here - can't remember what it was called but it was (and maybe still is) popular with the aircooled 911 and young children crowd. Asking on the ddk forum will definitely get you your answer.

I may embrace the mpv. But hopefully not for 2-3 years at least. My thinking is kids are smaller and not uncomfortable in the Octy for a while. Plus there is a second car in the mix (not needed but when dad passed away his old i10 seemed perfect for getting my qualified but in experienced at driving wife back into the driver's seat. She had refused to try with the Octy. I can hope that in a few years she will be confident with a larger car and we will trade in to 8ish year old cars for..[shudder] an mpv [\shudder]. As I said, wife had been in the back between the current two (mum was in the front seat) so I know there is a solution, but if I can fit 3 narrow ones in the back, or even 2 narrow to give max room between for the wife, then I'll be interested. As for the other kit, wife will have to learn she doesn't need half the stuff she takes, and when it's holiday time the roof bars and box take a lot.

Left field thought; slightly different but comparable situation here, 3x 8-9yos all on boosters. We have a Navara as our family people mover, as the huge, versatile load bay suits our purposes too. No issues with width of the rear seat with three bog standard width booster seats. Also a great MTB vehicle, second only to a lwb crew van, and loads less soul destroying to own than a people carrier.

Left field thought.....Navara

Yep, that’ll work. I had a Pathfinder for my three.

After the Galaxy and before the SMax.

The £500 road tax and 24mpg was a bit spicy though.

Bin dun

E.g. https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-family-car-for-3-kids-isofix/

FWIW we have a 7 seat mummy wagon plus Skoda Karoq now. Our 9 year old is finally big enough to not need a seat so we bung him in the middle of my skoda when needed. Being an adult in the middle of our Octavia was ok, but hard to get in and out of.

Have a rummage in my history and it was discussed a fair bit.

Congratulations on moving from man marking to zonal defence

Zonal defence, like it!

Zonal defence, like it!

More accurately described as Chaotic Retreat, but, whatever.

I've just remembered that the XC90 back then had built in booster seats on the two outside back seats.... These were invaluable for the twins and were used constantly for a number of years.
I kept that car for 12 years it was so good at moving the five of us, plus luggage and two spaniels on the 250 mile round trip to the coast every other weekend during the spring/summer.

I have three car seats across the bench of my Zafira. The middle one is a britax Prince that is spefically designed for middle seats. We also managed to use the britax Prince to get a regular child seat and a baby carrier in there when the youngest was born.

I've just switched from a nice B7 Passat estate to a year older SMax. I'm about 400 miles in.

Inside it's wider, there's a bunch more useful pockets, the ergonomics and high driving position are brilliant, the boot is usefully larger than an estate.

It drives ok but it's clearly no sports car and it is really at its best if you don't hurry it.

I'm sold on it as a lifestyle/family vehicle.

Honestly I would just bite the bullet and do the MPV thing if you can. I really think you might find it easier to live with than you think.

The £500 road tax and 24mpg was a bit spicy though.

Definitely go Navara then; less than half the tax and an extra 5mpg balances out well against a slightly choppier ride and a bit less interior space 😳😂

I think your current youngest will be too young for a high backed booster. The Britax Kidfix my in laws just bought has a starting age of 3.5 years and weight of 15kg. There's not just age and weight though. They also have to be mature enough to sit properly and safely, and not want to escape.... escaping a seat belt is very easy compared to a harness.

I have a suggested configuration but this may require some careful negotiation 🙂 If your current youngest is happy rear facing (which is recommended for until around age 4, but ideally as long as possible), the eldest child could go in the front on their booster. Then the youngest kids go rear facing either side in the back, with your wife in the middle. As the 2 outer kids are rear facing this gives the person in the middle much more shoulder room. A seat like the Axkid Move would do your current youngest for quite a while. I'd also use the seat belt on the baby carrier rather than the isofix base as this will easier for whoever is in the middle to get in and out.

If you do put a car seat in the front check what the manual says. I think for all rear facing seats in the front the air bag must be off, but for front facing it's whatever the car manual says.

Edit: search for the Car Seat Advice UK group on Facebook, lots of good info on there

We've just got an S-max to fit three. Bloody brilliant thing.

I don't want to be another +1 for the death knell for your Octavia OP, but sadly that's exactly what I'm going to be...

I had much the same scenario as you but with a mk2 Octavia. Our eldest was in a high backed booster, the middle child in a rear-facing seat. There wasn't a cat in hell's chance of getting the baby seat in the back too. We tried it out on other VAG motors in the family (more recent Passat and Skoda Superb), no dice there either.

I really didn't want to sell the Octy, but the only way to get all five of us in was with an adult squished between car seats in the back. OK for about 15 minutes tops!

We now have a Honda FRV, which had three separate back seats and fits the car seats in OK. It's a good setup (not the typical "monstrous MPV" sort of thing), and a shame Honda don't make them any more.

The £500 road tax and 24mpg was a bit spicy though.

Definitely go Navara then; less than half the tax and an extra 5mpg balances out well against a slightly choppier ride and a bit less interior space

And don't worry about raping the planet. With three kids you obviously don't anyway.

As I've said, the wife has done squished in the back for a long journey and although she said it wasn't ideal she is prepared to do that, particularly for short journeys. I'm thinking for now, one of the mifold diddy booster seats which aren't costly, and would allow the wife to do some of a longer journey in the front and I hope make the overall journey a lot less tiring.

when it comes time to change, I could fancy a navara....hauling logs around has made me look at those anyway. Doubt it woud get past the wife though!

And don’t worry about raping the planet. With three kids you obviously don’t anyway.

Classy.

Anyone mentioned just get a T5 Kombi yet.
You can wheel several bikes and a buggy straight into the boot.

And don’t worry about raping the planet. With three kids you obviously don’t anyway.

😂😂😂 brilliant!

It’s more of an indecent assault if I’m honest

I think we can (mostly) all understand the drive for procreation. I can even get my head around the wish to have a spare. Three just seems greedy.

we will trade in to 8ish year old cars for..[shudder] an mpv [\shudder].

Nowt wrong with an MPV, I’ve driven a few, and put plenty of miles on them as ex-Motability cars, the Zafira is hugely popular and quite a lot of fun to drive, the 1.4 Turbo is surprisingly nippy, has seven seats, the back two are really only for children; I’ve been in the back of one, we have one as a pool car at work, and a 5’10” adult isn’t really best suited to those seats!
The Citroen C4 Grand Picasso is just as easy to drive as the Zaffy, and both are just as easy to to drive as an Octy, I’ve had an Octy for years, and honestly, it ain’t a sports car, a Zaffy isn’t either, but can be quite a lot of fun.
Honestly, if I had a requirement for a larger car than my Octy, a Zafira would be one of my first choices, followed by a Grand C-Max, mainly because it has sliding rear doors, and a slightly higher rear roofline as a result.
Actually that might be a good alternative to the Octy as well.

When no3 arrives keep the two you like best.

Think an A6 can get 3 kids seats in if you don’t want an MPV.

I used to think an old style limo with the glass screen between driver and passengers would be perfect for kiddy transport. Now my two are older I’m trying to find one of the Group4 vans they use for ferrying prisoners.

Think an A6 can get 3 kids seats in if you don’t want an MPV.

Nope. Nor an A8. nor pretty much all another large saloons / estates.

Seatbelts are in the wrong places

Edited....

You should ensure you're aware of this before going for the Mifold

From 1 March 2017 the rules on backless booster seats changed. These seats can now only be made for children taller than 125cm and weighing more than 22kg.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/08/are-parents-getting-the-message-about-backless-booster-seats/

Your eldest might be close to the height limit if they're really tall for their age but they'll be way off the weight limit if they're skinny.

Edit: I'd only found the US Mifold site so assumed it would fall under that criteria above as it's backless.

The mifold UK site says it's for

Designed for kids aged 4-12, weighing between 15-36kg and up to 150cm in height

The Which article still has a point though. The high backed booster is the safer option if you can get one for your eldest. The Britax Kidfix SL my inlaws got seems quite slim. Worth going somewhere to try some seats out.

I know count, I'm joking. the Octy is the tsi 220 vrs but I drive like miss daisy mostly. In all likelihood the car will get swapped but since it isn't use loads and a better opportunity to swap cars may come along in a year or 2 I'll see how things go for now with the octavia.

FB, I regularly threaten to 'take one back to the Hospital' when they misbehave, and have already used your line.

I was most disappointed that a “baby change” area in a shop definitely doesn’t do as it says on the tin!

Re the A6, a colleague changed to one to fit his 3 kids, but possibly the eldest was out of the booster.

FB, I regularly threaten to ‘take one back to the Hospital’ when they misbehave, and have already used your line.

Surely it would be better to sell one. That would help pay for the upkeep of the other two. In fact, I've always thought it would be best to have twins. Sell one, keep one. And just give it two names so you can pretend you still have both.

3 kids and 2 cars here.

7 seater Kia Sorrento thing and my Toyota Avensis estate. The kids dont all fit in the Avensis really, it's impossible for the two older ones to put their seat belts on themselves in the space. Even the Kia, which is bloody massive is a struggle.

The Mrs wants a dog as well so stuff it I want one of the new(ish) crew cab transit customs. My mates had one for a while, can get bikes in for a family of 5 in the back, with camping gear and seat everyone in comfort. His kids cant even hit eachother in the back when they're in the two window seats.

We tried quite a few cars last year with the same dilemma. It is definitely possible to fit 3 kids in most medium to large-ish cars (assuming at least one kid is in a booster type seat) but as others have mentioned it gets tricky doing up seatbelts and things like that. Every child seat is different as well, there's no way to know other than to try it. I would be pretty confident of getting our 3 kids in the back of an Octavia but it might be a bit of a faff (i.e. you need to unclip one of the isofix kids seats to buckle up the kid in the middle).

Quite a few of French cars seem to have 3 proper seats. We had a Berlingo for a bit and 3 kids seats fit in that with ease but even things like the C4 seemed better than most.

Got VW Caddy Maxi life and can get 3 across the middle row in that no problem, although it's not quite 3 full seats like a berlingo. I *think* it's a similar width to a VW Touran.

I’ve gone down two separate routes for this. The first was to replace our useless skoda kodiaq with a VW Caravelle. The kodiaq may have had 7 seats, but only two were approved to take any sort of child seat at all.

The second and slightly less drastic path was to replace my abarth 595 with an Alfa Giulia. Then I went to a Volvo dealer and bought two of these.

Now, I can (just) get my 4, 6 and 1 year old across the back seat of my MLCC. The one year old goes in a maxi cosi two-way pearl.