What Car? Q&A - Child seat trio

Q: I want a car which will accommodate me, my wife and three young kids. Is there a car that will take three child seats next to each other on one row?
Simon Gazeley

A: You can fit a child seat wherever you have a three-point seatbelt (but never fit a rearward-facing seat in front of an active airbag). That means most cars on sale can theoretically take three child seats abreast on the back row.

In practice, though, many won’t be anywhere near wide enough to cope. You might damage seats trying to squeeze them in, or compromise their operation and the subsequent safety of your children.

The centre seat of many cars may also not be as deep as the two either side, and so leave the child seat toppling a little from one side to another. This obviously isn’t safe either.

Fiat’s Multipla MPV is a broad car, however, and may be wide enough to accommodate your three children in the way you want. The Honda FR-V also provides seating for six over two rows of three. It’s not as wide (three adults would certainly find it a squeeze in the back), but the seats slide fore and aft individually so it might be suitable.

Try actually fitting the seats into the cars to see how practical a solution it really is. Your dealer should be happy to let you do this if you’re serious about giving them money for a new car.

Otherwise, MPVs such as the Volkswagen Touran, Vauxhall Zafira, Mazda 5 or Toyota Verso might be the answer. While they have three rows, the final pair of seats fold into the floor when you don’t need them, so they happily operate as cars with two rows.