What car, 3 kids edition

The wife and I are expecting a third in January. Wife's Camry will become a minivan. E46 M3 will stay and become the autocrosser/DE car with the option of being used to take kids to school/daycare. And my race car goes away...

I want a fun car to avoid the minivan for short trips with the whole crew and backstop the M3 for when it's on jack stands. The two eldest are in booster seats. I want something that fits two boosters and a rear (later front) facing convertible car seat. Manual transmission, good dynamics and $8-$12K. If you've done it or know someone who has done it, what car and combination of seats did you use? Never tried, but can it be done in the current E46? an E36 or E39? WRX or Forester XT?

It doesn't need to be comfortable for more than an hour at a time, but it does need to be doable. I know there's a lot of variation in seat back contours and LATCH/belt locating points, so looking for real world experience here...

Mazda5

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You're unlikely to get three car seats in anything that isn't really really huge. I had a front facer, a rear facer and a booster and I was touching the doors, in a full size crew cab truck.

mazdeuce wrote: You're unlikely to get three car seats in anything that isn't really really huge. I had a front facer, a rear facer and a booster and I was touching the doors, in a full size crew cab truck.

This. To fit 3 across, all in some kind of seat is going to be really difficult. I'd bet the cars on your list could fit them, but the seats will literally be pushing against one another and it'll be near impossible to reach the seatbelt latches. A Crown Victoria may be wide enough, but definitely not fitting your desires. We've got 3 kids, and when they were all in seats of some kind, we used our minivan. I put them all in the back of my Volvo 850 wagon once or twice, but it was a seriously royal pain. I recall buckling the outboard ones, then having to push them sideways to reach the middle...and pinching my fingers non-stop.

Sorry, but that's the reality of it.

Well, it can be done in the current gen Focus if you scroll down this page. I think the critical part is getting the right combination of car and somewhat specialty seats.

Problem is those car seat forums don't really have so much info on cars that the GRM crowd are into.

Mazda 5 is your answer. Also, your budget could get you a very nice Saturn VUE 5 speed 2wd.

We had an Audi A3 when my third was born and there was no way to fit 2 boosters and a rear facing seat in the car. So anything A3 size or smaller won't work. We did manage to cram them into a 2005 Accord with the rear facing in the middle.

Three kids in our E39 only works because the biggest kid is in a low booster. Anything narrower is a no-go, unless you have third row seats. My parents Merc E350 wagon has those, but the price tag was nuts. I second the Mazda5 recommendation - small package with three rows, good fuel economy, fun to toss around.

Get a 4-door E46, that way it could be an emergency parts source for the M3.

We've done 3 in our accord, but it was 2 rear facing w/ a booster. It was temp( van was in the shop ) and very tight. In our 2005 odyssey, we can fit all three in the rear row( car seats facing forward ), but the seats are very, very close to each other. Not really a bad thing until you have to remove them and try to put them back in.

Lesson for today...choose your car seats carefully.

You have to get the special thin seats. With normal sized seats, here is a list of cars that it will not work in:

Nissan Altima
Honda CRV
Volvo 940
Nissan Leaf
Chrysler PT Cruiser
(The back seat only of a) Dodge Caravan

Just to give you an idea. Get the skinny metal backed seats and it could happen. Or buck up and accept that you only will be able to transport all of the kiddoes in one car. That's what we did.

I know that Volvos and some BMW tourings (e39s) had factory built in booster seats as an option. Not sure how old your kids are but if they only need the bottom of the seat raised, the built in seats free up a lot of space.

We just looked into this for our Rav4. My wife bought some narrower boosters, and the middle seat is a front-facing Brittax Marathon. The Rav4 is difficult because they offset the center rear seat towards the driver side (I have no idea why).

Bottom line is to shop cars and carseats very carefully. I think it would be tough in a 3 series, but doable in a 5 series. A 4cyl, manual Accord is probably another decent candidate.

The boosters we bought were a Bubble Bum and a Cosco Juvenile Top Side Booster. Both seem to work well for the short trips we've used them on.

Buy something that will be easy to load and big enough to actually be in then modify to suit any sporting intentions you may have.

Caprice Wagon, P71, Town Car, Dajiban etc.

We do 3 in a 02 WRX. The bigs(9 and 8yo) have their shoulders slightly behind the wings of the giant Brittax we have our 3yo in. When we had boosters I cut the "handles" off to make access to the seatbelts possible. Would you consider front seat placement of your oldest or the car seat as an option? If you never have to haul your spouse at the same time any car with rear seats is an option.

FYI - the Mazda5 will not fit three car seats, the third row is too narrow for even one. It will fit some boosters back there.

The Saturn Vue will fit 3 car seats across (two convertibles outboard, Cosco Sinera in the middle) all rear facing. It will easily do two boosters with a middle rear facing of your choice. Available in 2.2/5-Speed manual for stupid cheap.

The Dodge Magnum and Dodge Charger will do 3 across the rear seat as well, but only put in 3 LATCH and tether anchors starting in 05.

I have 3 kids all under the age of 10.

We have:

Minivan, which does everything including pull our speed boat. We still hate it.

'04 Forester XS with large sunroof. Wife loves this one and prefers to drive it over the minivan, even though I bought it to crawl through the woods and rallyx.

'06 Mazdaspeed6, my track ride and DD several times a week when I need turbo moments.

We fit in any of these vehicles at any time, including car seats. Long haul trips with the dog are all done with the hated minivan, but at least it gets 23-24 hwy.
Pick your boosters and car seats wisely. We have the fixed monster seats strapped into the minivan at all times so the others have narrow versions that we can move in and out easily. Look for something slighly newish with the child seat latch system. I think that came in '02+ for most manufacturers.

Absolutely use the latch system for the car seat. Kids WILL accidentally unbuckle a seatbelt mounted seat and leave your little one free to tumble the first time you turn.

Good info at carseat.org. If you're motivated you can find a number of configurations that will work three across. For a time we had two 5-point harness boosters (Cosco brand) and a Graco infant seat three across in a Mazda3. There are plenty of similar sized cars with equal or larger space for car seats.

Diono Radian is a narrow convertible car seat that can be used in three-across configurations in a lot of cars.

Problem with boosters in a three-across is buckle access. Three convertible car seats with harnesses are easier to use because you don't have to try to access the buckles that are sandwiched between two car seats every time you use them. Depending on your kids' hand size and coordination the effort might be easier or harder when the kids try to buckle their own boosters.

Good luck.