Posted by
emmagane
17 yrs ago
We are trying to find a vehicle that will fit 3 car seats along its back seat. Does anyone know of one wide enough? Soon we will have a new born, 3 year old and 2 year old. Trying to avoid driving a big 7 seater.
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Don't see how you can avoid a 7 seater if you want 3 car seats at the back.
You COULD try to get a booster for your 3 year old (if he/she is tall enough), in the middle, then the two car seats on the two sides, however, it's not going to be comfortable for all three of the kids when they all sit together.
We have two children, 4 and 2, and from newborn to now.... we got a 7 seater, that way, one adult can sit with the kids at the back to take care of them.
And, with 3 young children like that, you are likely to have a lot of things and bags to bring when going out.... you need a 7 seater in my opinion!
7 seaters don't have to be HUGE.... many are compact, and easy to drive around.
(BTW, how did you do this? 3 children in 3 years ? wow!) Admirable, and very brave!!!!
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crj
17 yrs ago
Some of the larger SUV's will probably fit three in.
If the car seats are narrow (like the Britax First Class that also fits on airplane seats) you can try even the smaller SUVs. The main issue is width of the base of the car seat.
SUVs make it convenient to put the pram in the back too.
I believe some cars/SUVs, like the Ford Explorer (maybe) and others, have two 'pop up' seats in the far back of the boot... so if you did have another adult in the car, there would be a seat for them! That is what we would ideally want and we just have two under 2 :)
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mrsl
17 yrs ago
There is a US brand called Sunshine Kids which makes a car seat which can be fitted 3 across; forward or backward facing. They are very heavy seats, not ideal for travel, but can be used with an anchor point from birth. It is called Radian. The link is below:
http://www.skjp.com/products/skjp_radian_80.php
Basically, they have a narrower base and give extra shoulder/elbow room. I have not seen them in Hong Kong, but they can be bought in Singapore, if you hapen to find yourselves there for a weekend or whatever. It may involve buying 3 new car seats, but it's a lot cheaper than shelling out for a new car (not to mention the environmental benefits of driving a smaller car).
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It is very difficult and impossible if your car does not have a 3 point centre seat belt in the rear.
I'd probably have to say, best go down the 7 seater route, they do not have to be big as mentioned above. Honda Stream, Toyota Picnic are very popular, Mazda 5 is good and cheap to buy. At the bigger end you have the Honda Odyssey which is larger but packaged more like a car. If you really do not want the MPV route look at some of the larger Estate cars - Peugeot 407, Volvo and others that also have 7 seats as required. They will not however have room in the back when seats are up in the same way an MPV would.
SUV's are ok, but drink fuel and expensive to buy. Not all have 7 seats (and Ford Explorer not available in HK). So Volve XC90 (about the best there is for this), BMW X5 (new version), Mercedes ML, Toyota Landcruiser, L-R Discovery.
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Roo18
17 yrs ago
You can fit 3 car seats in the Lexus SUV.
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cd
17 yrs ago
I would definately look at the smaller 7 seaters, like the picnic and spacewagon. Its better to have more room, and as the kids get a little bit olderyou'll will often have an extra 'friend' in the car. Once you're eldest starts kindy she'he's likely to start having playdates. Or if a grandparent comes to visit you need to fit them in.
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If you have a car into which you can fit 3 child seats using gthe solution offered above, why would you buy a new one?
Apart from the cost; I do not believe that we should be driving cars that are larger than we need just in case we need to accommodate the odd friend or grandparent. Unless the grandparents live-in, they can take taxis or other public transport for the few weeks that they are here. Why spend the extra money on petrol and add to the ridiculous levels of air pollution for the 48 weeks of the year that you are driving a car that is larger than you really need? We all moan about the air quality here but very few people are prepared to make minor adjustments in their own lives to 'do their bit'.
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south side - this is really an argument that needs to be taken into think.
Firstly your one size fits all does not work. Some of us have kids with grandparents here! So we use the cars to ferry lots of family about and we do not live HK side. The argument on old / new cars also holds no weight. New engines are more efficient and less polluting that old engines. A larger car with a new engine could be twice as clean and more economical that your small car with an old engine. The one size fits all works if we all live in the same place with the same levels of public transport and we all send the kids grandparents off to some far-flung place abroad.
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Like I said, unless you have grandparents living here etc. You have no idea how old the origoinal poster's car is; she may have a Lexus RX Hybrid; in which case it is new, large enough and another car would be less environmentally friendly.
She explicity said that she was trying to avoid buying a 7 seater, so am guessing that she does not have extended family or a huge team of staff to cart around with her. Instead of pushing her to join the huge brigade of people in HK who drive around 50% of the seats in their cars empty all of the time, wht not try to work with finding the solution that she requested help with? Yo may need your large car, but most people in HK do not and it sounds from the original posting that the does not either!
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We did, but also gave options. Nothing wrong with that.
Now she has not even mentioned the seatbelt set up in her current car. If the middle is not a fixed 3 point belt (and a lot in HK aren't) then there is no solution. This we do not know yet. When transporting kids safety is paramount and overrides everything else.
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