Hi as the long title says i am needing some advice from parents that have 3 children and own a ford focus estate.

I am expecting my third child in july and we are looking to buy a new car and my husband likes the ford focus estate, my only concern is they wouldn't be room for 3 car seats in the back, we have measured the back seat of a ford focus and in theory we would manage to fit all 3 child seats in.

If you have any experiance with this situation, i would love to here your veiws and take any infor you have to offer. Thank you Lindsey x x x

I can't help with the 3 car seats, but thought I would point out something I didn't take into consideration when I swapped cars to a focus. The focus is known to have short seat belts and I have found that I have had to buy a maxi cosi cabrio fix with the seat belt base to ensure it fits for my impending arrival. The next carseat up can also be a bit problematic, as my britax evolva 123 doesn't fit either, but my maxi cosi tobi does.

So it might be worth checking that your car seats fit in the new car.

Hope this helps

No:
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_advice_tips/649533-3-car-seats-in-Ford-Focus

Yes:
http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/house-garden-194/cars-motoring-611/217097-cars-will-fit-3-car-seats-back-can-anyone-recommend-any.html

Depends on the size of the children:
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/products/865699-Which-cars-take-3-car-seats-across-the-back

I guess for you it will depend on the size of the seats - take them to the dealer / garage and check is your best bet.

Well we have a mondeo estate and if someone sits between my 2 car seats in the back its extremely hard to get the seatbelts on. I have one child in a rear facing seat, 1 booster seat and 1 baby on the way and I think its going to be impossible to get 3 car seats in the back.
We are going to buy a Zafira as they are 7 seater which means our eldest can sit in the back on the booster and the 2 car seats can go in the middle.
I think you will struggle with a focus to be honest.

We only have the one little one, but we're thinking of getting a Multipla because it's got 6 full sized seats (2 rows of three, and yes, it's a wide car)

For us it means we can all sit in the front together, remove the other three seats and fill the back with bikes, prams, tents et al but it would be ideal for you too - each child gets their own full sized seat with a three point belt, and you and your o/h get the front to yourselves. You can replace the middle front seat with a fridge I believe.

The Zafira has virtually no boot if you use all 7 seats afaik, whereas the Multipla has a decent boot with all 6 seats in place, and is cavernous with only three seats in.

Yes but if you split the back row of seats in a Zarifa then that extends the boot space and a roof box is handy. I'm afraid I personally think the multipla is one of the ugliest cars ever - looks like a slugs face!

Yes but if you split the back row of seats in a Zarifa then that extends the boot space and a roof box is handy. I'm afraid I personally think the multipla is one of the ugliest cars ever - looks like a slugs face!

Each to their own. You can't see it from the inside :-)

Please be aware when looking at 7 seaters of the horrendous injuries that can happen to the people in the very back seats in a rear end collision.
I saw a documentary on the subject and wouldn't dream of knowingly allowing my kids to travel in the back seats of the kind of vehicle where they are up against the back window. Just something to think about.

To confuse matters, I've been able to get 3 stage two seats into the back seat of a vauxhall vectra estate... It was a squeeze, but possible.
We have two kids and often have a third adult or a large dog traveling with us, and we have a megane scenic. Plenty of room for a third large person/dog/car seat in there. And more than enough boot space, plus lots of hidden drawers and such.

Hiya

I have 2 little ones and a stepson who stays with us at weekends so we need plenty of room for 2 car sears and a 3rd person in the back. I can recommend either a renault megan scenic or a citroen picasso as both these have 3 seperate seats in the back, rather than one long back seat, also 3 full seatbelts rather than the middle being just a lap belt. Im sure there are other cars like this but my last car was a scenic and current is the citroen and both are lovely and roomy, they are also higher up than other cars I have had to I dont have to bend to put the littles into the car seats

hope this helps

I've had a Ford Focus all the time I've had kids, from their birth, I've also upgraded to a new one and my ex partner has the old one.
We've have 3 car seats of varying designs in the back pretty consistently. The only downfall I've had is that I struggle to reach to clip the seatbelts for the older car seats (where the seat belt is used as usual) because of the bulk of the younger aged seats and the access to the belt clips. We solved it by buying seat belt buckle extensions. I doubt many car seat designs would have changed the outcome for us.
It is also strategic to look at which side the double clip is on and make best use of your positioning to take advantage of it.
Otherwise, the bottom line is: we did it and continue to do it with the new car.