What cars are suitable for a family with 3 kids under 5?
What are the best family cars if you have three young children asks Suzanne Keane Family cars have drastically changed over recent years. Many parents have moved from 7-seater MPVs to SUV style cars with 7 seats and manufacturers have followed suit with many discontinuing their MPVs and concentrating on cars that look less like a family van but may not be as practical. Options for families with 3 or more young children are drastically shrinking so we’ve taken a look at what’s currently available to buy new – based on parent’s recommendations and details provided by the vehicle manufacturers. However, before you buy it’s important to check the manual to ensure the car ticks all the boxes for you! The criteria are simple – we need a car that can comfortably fit three children under the age of 5, all in rear facing seats, and two adults. By comfortably we mean that the seats fit in the car, can be safely installed and are easy for everyday use – i.e. no need to constantly refit, easy to strap children in and no adults climbing over child seats to squash themselves into the middle seat. Seatbelt or ISOFIX? ISOFIX might be harder to get wrong, but a correctly fitted belted seat is just as safe as an ISOFIX seat. In fact, the majority of ISOFIX seats will be outgrown by 18kg due to the weight limits on the ISOFIX points whereas some belted rear facing seats can stretch as far as 36kg. Also, unless your car has 3 individual full-sized seats in the middle row you won’t be able to use/fit ISOFIX seats in a 3 across situation anyway and this is where belted seats can be really advantageous. However, if ISOFIX is a priority for you these cars will allow you to fit 3 ISOFIX seats, with their support legs in the middle row. Keep in mind however that spin/360 seats may not have space to turn. Citroen Berlingo Citroen Grand C4 Spacetourer (discontinued from July 2022) Ford Galaxy Ford S-Max Opel Combo-e-Life Peugeot 5008 Peugeot Rifter So what’s a support leg? Depending on the manufacturer it’s also referred to as a support foot or support bracket. Most people are familiar with these from their infant seat and base or a spin/360 seat but in general...
Read more