3 kids - isofix

[simon_g]

Multimac works well for a mate with an Octavia and twins plus an older kid - they'd only just bought the car when they found out about the twins. Spendy but they hold their value really well, and given they cover the whole age range (then you can use a 3-point belt with them) you'll get plenty of use.

Other mate with 3 kids - had an older S-Max, could probably afford whatever they fancied but replaced it with an "every box ticked" petrol Vignale S-Max. They're really pretty good and take 3 ISOFIX seats across the middle row just fine.

[hoyleyboyley]

I guess this is the problem - in an ideal world we don't want to move away from a 4x4 - high seating position etc and now we are based in Manchester I like having 4wd when it does inevitably snow.

The mrs won't consider seatbelt fixtures as isofix is categorically safer so that's that. Can't say its something we are having an argument about.

MPV - Espace/Galaxy/Sharan/Alhambras seem to have isofix we need - but well we don't REALLY want to drive round in a mum mobile

I suspect that's the way we'll end up going unless we come up with another solution.

Multimacs are crazy - saw one sell for 95% of its purchase price last week on ebay. it was 4 years old and the car had had a slight bump. for £150 quid more you could buy a brand new one - peeps be crazy yo.
Went to the local seller of them and was impressed seeing one up close desoite the monstrous price. TBF the seats don't seem squeezed in - you buy width according to your car.

The issue is the minimac for newborn and weight as previously explained.
only up to 13kg rearward facing with an alledged 15kg version coming soon.

Bearing in mind the cybexs we've had go rearward facing till 18kg that's quite a difference (again safety being key)

Interesting the Touregs have isofix up front - do Cayennes support this too as they are the same car?

[V8Granite]

The mrs won't consider seatbelt fixtures as isofix is categorically safer so that's that. Can't say its something we are having an argument about.

Not all ISOFIX seats and fixings are equal. In the FILs Lexus IS250 with the ISOFIX anchors quite far behind the seat back the Isofix arms are nearly half extended. I can grab the top of the child’s eat and hit it against the C-Pillar, so it’s worth yanking it about when you try them. With it in a seatbelt I can’t do it goes in that car by the seatbelt. You pull the seatbelt all the way out and then it is locked in whatever position you pull it in till it resets after retracting all the way.

There was a guy on Pustonheads who was a child seat designer/ installer/ geek who used to give out loads of advice but I’m not sure where his thread went to ?

Dave!

[Sundayjumper]

Interesting the Touregs have isofix up front - do Cayennes support this too as they are the same car?

I've just been out to check, and my Cayenne (957) has Isofix in the front passenger seat.

[Rich B]

I have a 4 year old who's about 110cm and probably around 18kg - how the fuck would he sit in a rear facing seat - he has legs!

[Swervin_Mervin]

I guess this is the problem - in an ideal world we don't want to move away from a 4x4 - high seating position etc and now we are based in Manchester I like having 4wd when it does inevitably snow.

The mrs won't consider seatbelt fixtures as isofix is categorically safer so that's that. Can't say its something we are having an argument about.

MPV - Espace/Galaxy/Sharan/Alhambras seem to have isofix we need - but well we don't REALLY want to drive round in a mum mobile

I suspect that's the way we'll end up going unless we come up with another solution.

Multimacs are crazy - saw one sell for 95% of its purchase price last week on ebay. it was 4 years old and the car had had a slight bump. for £150 quid more you could buy a brand new one - peeps be crazy yo.
Went to the local seller of them and was impressed seeing one up close desoite the monstrous price. TBF the seats don't seem squeezed in - you buy width according to your car.

The issue is the minimac for newborn and weight as previously explained.
only up to 13kg rearward facing with an alledged 15kg version coming soon.

Bearing in mind the cybexs we've had go rearward facing till 18kg that's quite a difference (again safety being key)

Interesting the Touregs have isofix up front - do Cayennes support this too as they are the same car?

I'll check our Superb later Hoyley, but as ours is a Sportline it may have different back seats - I'm not really that well up on the various iterations tbh. However, they do an AWD diesel as well as the 272/280 petrol which is AWD also. Well, Haldex AWD that is.

[integrale_evo]

The mrs won't consider seatbelt fixtures as isofix is categorically safer so that's that. Can't say its something we are having an argument about.

Not all ISOFIX seats and fixings are equal. In the FILs Lexus IS250 with the ISOFIX anchors quite far behind the seat back the Isofix arms are nearly half extended. I can grab the top of the child’s eat and hit it against the C-Pillar, so it’s worth yanking it about when you try them. With it in a seatbelt I can’t do it goes in that car by the seatbelt. You pull the seatbelt all the way out and then it is locked in whatever position you pull it in till it resets after retracting all the way.

There was a guy on Pustonheads who was a child seat designer/ installer/ geek who used to give out loads of advice but I’m not sure where his thread went to ?

Dave!

If the lady has decided isofix is safer then that’s what it has to be, you will never change her mind

Having pulled a few car interiors about over the years, the fixings for the seatbelts are always more substantial than the mountings for the seats themselves.

In my eyes a properly fixed seatbelt mount seat will be safer. Isofix was just designed to remove the user error of badly fitting a seat, make it as plug and play as possible.

[Gwaredd]

I think it depends on the car seat construction. The one I used was simple to fit and rock solid, both in her new Mazda 3 and my old bus.

I get the Mum factor with the bus, but your kids with thank you for it by not having to sit on the 'hump' in the middle. You will also be thankful for the lack of arguing, although ours still squabble for the window seats

We're nearing the end though, as the eldest is nearly 18 and will be off to uni soon. Be weird to have a 'normal' car again!

[V8Granite]

I have a 4 year old who's about 110cm and probably around 18kg - how the fuck would he sit in a rear facing seat - he has legs!

Mine were the same, I wouldn’t have been able to drive our car comfortably with both boys rear facing and it made Connor especially car sick till he faced forward.

Dave!

[Jimmy Choo]

Does the XC90 not have Isofix in the front passenger seat? Put your wife in the rearmost row

Congrats Scott, even if I'm no help at all. I think Jimmy Choo may have encountered the same issue but I don't know if he ever found a car which solved it.

I never used Isofix but lashed the booster and baby seat bases in using the seatbelts. For me it came down to the width of the rear bench and it not being too sculpted.

[simon_g]

In my eyes a properly fixed seatbelt mount seat will be safer. Isofix was just designed to remove the user error of badly fitting a seat, make it as plug and play as possible.

Indeed. The reason for the weight limits on isofix seats is because the whole system has a design limit of 33kg (18kg child plus the seat itself) wheras seatbelts obviously have to restrain full-sized people.

@hoyleyboyley how far are you from the eldest moving to high-backed booster? Despite having a fancy turning rear-facing Recaro we found with the youngest he wanted to be front-facing only by 2.5 and moved to a booster before 4. They keep getting bigger so these things tend to sort themselves out. High-back boosters can be pretty narrow so more feasible to squeeze in the middle between two isofix seats, and by that stage you're using the car seatbelt to hold them in anyway.

If you can get to MK or Essex then https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk/ do appointments where you can try out various seats in your car and see how they'd fit.

[DeskJockey]

I have a 4 year old who's about 110cm and probably around 18kg - how the fuck would he sit in a rear facing seat - he has legs!

My 3 year old is same height and weighs another half stone on top and she's fine rear-facing.

[DeskJockey]

Another vote for the in car safety centre. We've used them for at least five seats over the years.

[Rich B]

I have a 4 year old who's about 110cm and probably around 18kg - how the fuck would he sit in a rear facing seat - he has legs!

My 3 year old is same height and weighs another half stone on top and she's fine rear-facing.

where do her legs go?!

[Simon]

My 2 year old turned from rear face to front face in his isize 360 car seat as soon as he was allowed by law at 15 months and it wasn't a moment too soon. No idea how I could put him in a rear face now without his feet up on the parcel shelf.

[DeskJockey]

I have a 4 year old who's about 110cm and probably around 18kg - how the fuck would he sit in a rear facing seat - he has legs!

My 3 year old is same height and weighs another half stone on top and she's fine rear-facing.

where do her legs go?!

Her seat isn't right up against the seat back. There's enough room that she can sit with her legs down or cross-legged. It is more comfortable than having her legs dangle in free air and she doesn't slump forward when she falls asleep (unlike her brothers).

[Gwaredd]

At the end of the day, you've had too many kids to have something nice

I can only think of MPV's and the Tesla model S and X that have 3 true seats across the rear. Even the huge Mercedes R class has 6 proper seats, and 2 of those ate in the boot. I've even hired the big Ford Expeditions, Chevy Tahoes and an Escalade in America and none of those had 3 seats in the rear bench.

Suck it up MPV boy

SEAT do the Alhambra in FR spec now, though not sure of the 4motion is available in the UK.

Or, ship over a Chevy Suburban.

[hoyleyboyley]

It's my own fault for being so damn handsome

[DeskJockey]

It's my own fault for being so damn handsome

And virile.