Bit of a rant about cars....

[Wisknit]

I doon't really have a "larger" family. I'm just expecting baby no 3 and got thinking about cars and carseats.
My irritations a 2 fold:

1. You have to get a bigger car cos 2 carseats and a booster won't fit along the back and we have non-turn-offable air bags in the front. We already have an estate.
2. You get penalised for having a bigger 'gas-guzzler' car by roadtax but because of the carseat rules you have no choice.

I'm not saying that I think here shouldn't be strict carseat rules in aide of safety (although I do think children having to be in them til 12 is silly) but I'm just getting nnoyed with the whole thing. Can't face the idea of changing cars AGAIN. (we had to only a year ago whehn DS2 was born)

[mummypig]

I completely agree. We are also expecting number 3 and have just bought a 4x4 specifically because it fitted all three carseats in the back. I hate driving and hardly ever use the car but we do need the kids to be safe and legal when we do use it.

[bonkerz]

Agree its ridiculous. Taxing more for cars that are necessary for bigger families is ridiculous!!!!

[juuule]

Definitely inconvenient but just the same as with everything else. More children - more cost. Isn't the tax due to the environmental factor? If you have children then paying more in time and money just comes along with them. Everything costs more with 3,4,etc no. of children than it does with 0,1,2..etc. Cars included.

[minster]

I agree juuule. If you have more children you should expect things to be more expensive. We'll need to bigger car when #3 is born & the cost of that (inc. petrol/tax/insurance) was something we considered when we decided to have another.

[Wisknit]

Doesn't change the fact that getting a bigger car is irritating and a pain in the arse.
I didn't expect it to be cheaper having more children. I did however plan a slightly bigger gap between 2 & 3 - I am pregnant due to contraception failure rather than choice.

Riven - 3 carseat all on the back seat in a fiesta? Really? Pleas tell me what these car seats are as I would love to look into new carseats rather than a new car.

[pooka]

I think there are cars that aren't SUVs or "larger" cars that can fit 3 seats in the second row.

[moshie]

Wisknit-Britax seats tend to be narrow, I've got two freeways and an elite, but I don't know about the newer ones.

[Wisknit]

Thank you herbieta. I thought it was 12 we are a long way off that yet but handy to know.

Riven, thank you also for that info. My problem is that I have 1 on one of those older seats with a high back - he's 2 and a half but he's the eldest. I'll have 1 in a graco travel system seat and one in a britax. All happened a little sooner than I wanted. 17 month first gap and this next be will probably be around 20 months and I can't find any small carseats. I'll just have to look more I supoose.

[juuule]

Wisknit - do you have a rear-facing carryseat? They usually fit in quite well as they're not as big as the full carseats. You could use that for a few months and then your eldest would be old enough for just a booster cushion, maybe, which wouldn't take up as much room.

[Wisknit]

I do but we looking at the size of them all and they just won't fit. I'll have to figure something out.

[olyoly]

Have you tried the Sunshine Kids Radian carseat? They are known for being narrow and fitting 3 abreast in an average car. Another bonus is that it folds completely flat for travel.

[expatinscotland]

our problem is that our P-reg Vauxhall has only a lap belt for the middle seat in the back.

but no passenger side air bag.

so baby will go in front, DD1 in her booster at one window in the back, DD2 in her car seat at other window in back and me in the middle if we're going somewhere altogether.

we have to make it work, we can't afford another car and there's no bus out here.

[Twelvelegs]

Fiat multipla, six proper seats....
My car has seven and only £105 to fill up good job I insisted on a 'cheaper' deisel when we bought it!!!!

[expatinscotland]

£105!!



Fuckin' hell!

We'd never go anywhere in a car that cost that much to run.

How big is the tank on it, Twelve?

[Goober]

Shame on you gas-guzzler-drivers!
I have 3 DC's and I own a Fiat Punto. The passenger air-bag can be turned off and 2 full seat belts in the rear. It takes very little petrol and tax is cheap, next year will be even cheaper. It is a Sport model and is a lot of fun as well as very practical.

[misdee]

to fit three car seats in the back of cars. even with a lap belt in the middle:-

you need a britax eclipse of similar style seat in the middle. this has the narrowest base, but the actualy seat sits higher. the eclipse can be fitted with a lap belt as well.

then on one side put the baby seat. on the other the booster seat. this works easily in our tino which is a 1.6(similar to the picasso and scenic cars). it also works in estate cars and smaller family sized cars.

we are having to move upto a zafira though.

[expatinscotland]

Well, Goober, we got our car for free - it was DH's parents' car and then they got a mobility car because of MIL's arthritis.

So we're not really in a position to be choosy about what we drive as we can't afford to buy anything else.

But we've worked it out, I'll just ahve to make sure I climb in first as I need to go in the middle of the back seat as it's the lap belt on and the kids needs the full harness.

[milknosugar]

i have 4 kids and a zafira, not particularly high tax. i managed perfectly well getting 3 seats in the back of an escort. ridiculous to say you need a 4x4 for 3 kids

[misdee]

i have never had a 4x4 for 3 kids.

i had a matiz for myself and three kids. had to sell it when dh came out of hospital though

[sweetkitty]

We have a Focus CMAX, DD1 (4) and DD2 (2.6) are both in Britax Renaissances 9m-4y seats still, DD3 (due July) has a rear facing M&P Prima Viaggio but can't get it to fit in the middle.

Need to sort this out quickly though, was thinking of changing DD1 to a booster in the middle and putting DD3 in baby seat at one side and DD2 in the other.

What do others think? DD1 is tiny and was going to wait until DD3 needed the bigger stage seat before moving her to a booster but am thinking will need one sooner than that.

[misdee]

sweetkitty. you need the set up similar to how i said

iot works honestly!