Tossing up having a 3rd. What cars can take 3 child seats across the 2nd row. Not interested in having 1 in the very rear for safety boredom non-inclusio reasons.
Aside from:
S-Max
T5
what else is there?
It would still need a big boot for camping biking etc duties

XC90.

I’ve fitted 3 across the rear seat of my Mondeo, though that included 2 boosters which are less bulky than a full child seat. Worth a look though as it’s noticeably wider across the rear seat than even most cars of a similar size.

Smaller seats. Cheaper than most bigger cars.

We’ve had discovery 3 Citroen berlingo and picasso in past
Currently T5 and a Toyota verso

Is car choice main consideration in having a third?

Looking back we don’t use isofix, are you looking a car with 3 isofix rears?

T5 or ford custom

Seat Alhambra. Way larger than an S Max

Our Alhambra will swallow three full sized car seats and have oodles of space for luggage.

Much nicer than the Ford offerings 😉

We can fit 3 (two high back boosters plus one stage 1? (for 18month old)) across our Golf mk 6 estate and new octavia. Tight fit in both. Ended up buying a couple of seat belt extenders to make plugging them in easier.

Usually run with the two boosters outboard separated by her ladyship in the big centre seat which is useful from a dispute resolution point of view! Don’t think it would work with isofix.

Edit: PITA fitting her into the middle in a low car. When we don’t need all 5 we usually run with the eldest in the front.

We’ve just bought a new Citroen Picasso, three full sized seats in back, we’re using two kiddi seats and an adult sitting between them. Loads of room and lots of storage space for kids stuff. Looked at car wow after suggestion off here, had some good offers but I bought off local dealer who matched the offer £3k off list. If you’re local to me South Brum? You’re welcome to try it out? Email in profile. Matt.

Verso did.
Mondeo did but not easily.
Current Galaxy will, & easily.

Look for cars with three seperate seats, rather than a shared bench, your generally looking at MPV type vehicles for that though.

Our Kia Sorrento does, two more seats in the boot for when the sprog mates need a lift somewhere too.

Most of the mini MPV crowd will; even a Renault Scenic.

You’ll struggle a bit more with a bench seat.

We had this conundrum. Various combinations of three children needing varying sizes of car seat meant we ended up getting an S-Max. Tried Octavia, Superb, Mondeo and they all failed. This was after getting the slimmest car seats we could get in each category.

The main issue we found with normal car rear seats was the various bolsters and sculpting causing the issues. If they’d have been simple bench style seats it would have been fine. I imagine anything with independent rear seats e.g. MPV type vehicles, would be the best bet, as mentioned above. Good luck.

Up to 5 full size car seats in Disco 3 or 4

The Vauxhall insignia tourer is about the only estate with 3x isofix in the rear, however I would always go round the dealers and physically try your seats in the cars.
We went the smax route with our 3.

New only? We had the old style Picasso bought precisely on the basis of having three full sized adult seats in the back to accommodate three car seats.

Got rid of that when we had the fourth (!), but fortunately the first had outgrown car seats by then.

Ended up with a Fiat Multipla which also fits the “three at the back” bill, and avoided having to put anyone in the boot area of a cheap-ish MPV like a Zafira.

Fortunately the Multipla has lasted 8 years now (only one left in a car seat now) as they don’t make ’em any more. Nice wide roof too, so this summer on the way to the Alps we had three bikes on the roof, plus a roofbox, and four bikes on a towball mounted carrier, plus 6 people inside. Suspension travel wasn’t great…

With current regulations (and to be honest, best practice) with regards to child seat safety laws in the UK, you’re well advised to think through the car choice when #3 is on the way. Baby seats fit fine, but the older seats for 2-8 year olds can get quite wide so plenty of cars can’t fit them across the back. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a car that can carry my offspring safely than compromise their safety by forcing you to go down the “booster seat” route earlier than necessary.

3 across the back of a Touran was possible, but tight. T5 is much better (I know you mnetioned OP), with the added benefit that you can space them farther apart, and even if one or 2 is in the back its easy enough (though not legal), to walk from the front through to the back to tend to any fights/vomiting/ipad issues/etc 🙂

Seat Alhambra. Way larger than an S Max

Have an S Max, and an Alhambra from the work pool (was intersted in swapping the S Max for this or the Sharan, to see if a slightly larger car avoids buying a T5. Van that is.)

The Alhambra looks and feels bigger, but the higher floor with the seats down doesn’t make it look that much bigger luggage wise. Passengers do appear to have more room, but I can’t say overall it looks sufficiently bigger.

S Max is a much better drive as a day to day car, but has been mechanically a bit crap. Think mine is a bad ‘un, but it’s cost me more than I’d expect to keep on the road.

Nissan leaf

We are on our third C4 Grand Picasso, will take three child seats and still bags of room in the back

Porsche Macan?

I intend to kindly offer to travel separately if we have another child. I can pedal quite far in a day I reckon, 200 miles or so is the usual maximum required.

This will be less tiring than a car journey with three children.