Top 10: Cars with three or more Isofix mountings
It’s said that the jump from two kids to three is the most complicated one, not least because it makes car choice a far narrower and, let’s be honest, less exciting one. Nonetheless, if you have three small children, you still need a way of getting them from A to B safely. Every one of the following ten cars is excellent in its own way, and each has at least three Isofix mountings.
Chrysler Grand Voyager
Number of Isofix points: four, middle row and centre back row
Prices from: £28,310
Euro NCAP: four stars, 79% adult, 67% child
As a regular star of The Apprentice on the BBC, you can at least be assured that the Chrysler Grand Voyager is well adept at hemming in crybabies that spit their dummies out after staring at a smartphone for a few minutes. Happens every week.
Back in the real world, the Voyager is one of the more executive-feeling MPVs, has a very useful four Isofix points, and although it doesn’t have the best Euro NCAP rating here, it’s still respectable – especially considering its predecessor scored a woeful two stars.
Citroen C4 Grand Picasso
Number of Isofix points: three, middle row
Prices from: £19,970
Euro NCAP: five stars, 86% adult, 88% child
This is Citroen at its best: a big, comfortable and suitably different MPV that’s actually very cool for it. It even handles reasonably sure-footedly, which is remarkable given its sheer bulk and lineage.
We’d stick with the 1.6-litre HDi diesel if you can live with the sluggish progress, because it will regularly return 50mpg-plus. We’d also avoid the automatic gearbox - it’s an automated manual that changes gear like a learner driver wearing high heels.
Click here to read our review of the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso
Ford S-MAX
Number of Isofix points: TBA: (likely four, as per outgoing S-Max)
Prices from: £24,595
Euro NCAP: TBA (likely five stars)
Ford unveiled the brand new S-MAX in early 2015, promising more of everything: more space, better to drive and no less than 20 new bits of technology, including an auto reverse park feature.
That said, there won't be any more seats - still seven - and, of course, the price has gone up, with a starting point over £1000 higher than the outgoing car's. Still, this is likely to become the new class-leader, offering outstanding efficiency and, in a first for the model, four-wheel drive. Because of course you need a four-wheel drive MPV. It's due Summer 2015.
Hyundai Santa Fe
Number of Isofix points: three, middle row
Prices from: £27,995
Euro NCAP: five stars, 96% adult, 89% child
The Hyundai Santa Fe is one of only a handful of proper SUVs with three Isofix mountings – and the cheapest of them all.
It’s well equipped, cheap to run for such a big car, available with seven seats and has outstanding safety ratings for occupant protection. All this makes it a great alternative to the usual MPV set when it comes to large family car duties.
Kia Carens
Number of Isofix points: three, middle row
Prices from: £18,195
Euro NCAP: five stars, 94% adult, 76% child
Squeezing seven seats into a body style that Kia itself calls a ‘mini MPV’ is quite an impressive feat. And because the Carens has three individual chairs in the middle row, they all take Isofix.
The Carens is the very definition of sensibility - if the Kia Carens was a batchelor, the first thing on its online dating profile would read ‘enjoys ironing socks’. It has a seven-year warranty, a very frugal selection of small capacity engines, a very comfortable gait and an equipment list longer than those trousers you bought for your son in the sale that he'd "grow into in a few years’ time". Don’t pretend you’ve not done that.
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Mercedes-Benz GL-Class:
Number of Isofix points: four, outer middle and back rows
Prices from: £61,655
Euro NCAP: Not tested
The most prestigious of the big seven-seat SUVs, the GL-Class isn’t cheap, but it’s genuinely luxurious and very spacious indeed. The only problem you might have is finding a space big enough to park the thing, though as you have kids, you can legitimately use the parent-and-child bays in Tesco – unlike most of the other German 4x4s in there, no doubt.
There are only two versions: a GL 350 diesel with 258PS, and, should you wish to scare the breast milk out of all four of your Isofixed nippers, a 557PS GL 63 AMG. It’s the antithesis of MPV-based big family motoring.
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Peugeot 5008
Number of Isofix points: three, middle row
Prices from: £20,145
Euro NCAP: five stars, 89% adult, 79% child
Roomy inside but actually quite compact for a seven-seat car, the 5008 is a comfy, well-priced and practical MPV whose key qualities are a massive boot and excellent ride quality.
It’s not the best to drive, and ultimately it’s a Peugeot MPV that screams "my kids forced me to buy this" – if you’re a bit vain, that is. Aren’t we all?
Renault Grand Scenic
Number of Isofix points: three, middle row
Prices from: £20,590
Euro NCAP: five-star adult, three-star child (pre-2009)
Renault’s MPV is blighted by a reputation for poor reliability, but in fact that’s slightly unfair, and often grounded in historical assumption – the Grand Scenic is much better-built these days.
It’s good to drive and, you’ll be pleased to hear, very spacious and versatile. It can't avoid the inherent monotony of being an MPV, but really, the Grand Scenic is more satisfying than you might think.
SEAT Alhambra / Volkswagen Sharan
Number of Isofix points: five, middle and back rows
Prices from: £24,885 (Alhambra)
Euro NCAP: five stars, 96% adult, 80% child
This is the best all-round MPV money can buy. Though it does cost a lot, with the cheaper SEAT Alhambra commanding £25,000 before you’ve even put a diesel engine into it and a nice set of wheels.
Still, the Volkswagen Group’s people carrier has space to burn, a super high quality cabin, and the sort of settled ride that puts many an executive saloon to shame. A very sensible and safe way of getting your Iso-fix. Boom.
Volvo XC90
Number of Isofix points: three, middle row
Prices from: £45,750
Euro NCAP: Not yet rated
Okay, so this is one expensive family car, but Volvo reckons the new XC90 might just steal sales from the Range Rover. Laughable? You might not think so once you’ve driven it: the refinement and sheer class of the cabin puts this right up there with the archetypal, and far pricier, luxury 4x4.
And for family buyers it has a distinct advantage over the Range Rover by virtue of an extra Isofix point in the middle seat of the second row. Safe. As a Volvo driver might say while doing one of those wrist flick finger snap things.
