See all Motoring AdviceThe rise and rise of the SUV as the most popular type of car has had many unintended consequences. The death of the four-door saloon and the family hatchback for a start — SUVs have created a market where the Ford Focus and the Volkswagen Passat can’t find enough buyers to stay on sale in this part of the world.
Equally, there have been much more serious effects — the International Council on Clean Transportation, or ICCT, reckons the fact that SUVs are generally taller and heavier than hatchbacks and estates means they’re less efficient. This means that in spite of all the advances in fuel economy and the switch to hybrid and electric cars, emissions from private cars are still rising. Without the incredible growth of SUVs, they’d be falling…
Another unexpected consequence is that cars are actually less practical. Before SUVs took over everything, if you needed a car with lots of seats for a growing family — especially if you wanted a car with those handy ISOFIX anchor points for child car safety seats — then you quite probably bought a large MPV. A Ford S-Max, for instance. Or maybe a SEAT Alhambra. Both of those had back seats wide enough to take three ISOFIX points side by side, and there were even extra seats in the boot.
SUVs just aren’t as space-efficient as MPVs though, and so there are fewer and fewer cars on the market which can manage three ISOFIX points in the back seat. In fact, one of them has just gone out of production — the Peugeot 5008, which looks like an SUV, but which is really an MPV under the skin. It has three individual rear seats, all of which have ISOFIX anchors (plus extra seats in the boot which don’t). It’s being replaced by a high-tech model which comes with hybrid or fully-electric power, but guess how many ISOFIX points there are in the back seat? That’s right, just the two…
Which cars have 3 ISOFIX seats?
Now, there are plenty of cars which can take three ISOFIX points, but almost all of them have their third ISOFIX point in the front passenger seat, which isn’t always convenient as you have to switch off the passenger airbag (easier in some cars than in others) and it means that the only space left for carrying an adult passenger is the narrow seat in the middle of the back row.
A number of cars come with three ISOFIX points, with one of those being in the front passenger seat. These include:
- Audi Q5
- Skoda Enyaq
- MINI Countryman
- Nissan Leaf
- Volkswagen ID.4
- Volvo V90
- BMW 2 Series Active Tourer
- SEAT Tarraco
- Skoda Fabia
Still, that’s not enough for some of us with bigger families. So which cars can take three or more ISOFIX points and put them all in the back?
The most affordable option is the Citroen Berlingo, which in passenger form has three individual sliding rear seats (perfect, because you can scavenge out a bit more elbow room for everyone by moving the seats around) all of which have ISOFIX points. There’s the bonus of a massive boot too — handy for those big buggies — and the Berlingo’s cousins, the Peugeot Traveller and the Opel Combo Life, have the same arrangement. There’s even an electric version.
Sticking with the van-like bodies, and stepping up a good bit in price, we come to the Volkswagen Multivan. It looks like a van, and it’s called van, but it’s actually based on the same mechanical bits and pieces as a Volkswagen Passat, so it’s wonderfully comfortable and easy to drive. The best bit? It’s a seven-seater, and all five of the seats in the back (two individual ones in the middle row and a three-seat bench in the rear) have ISOFIX points. Plus, the big sliding side doors make loading seats and people in and out a breeze. There are diesel or plug-in hybrid options, and while it’s not a cheap car, it is a bit of a brilliant one.
Generally speaking, you’re going to have to spend big money to get a car with lots of ISOFIX points these days, although of course there’s always the second-hand market. The Land Rover Discovery is a bit of an ISOFIX champion, as there are four ISOFIX points — two in the outer two middle row seats, and in both third-row seats, plus a top-tether mount in the centre rear seat. The Discovery is a big, comfortable, classy thing to drive, but it’s expensive these days.
So too is the Audi Q7, the seven-seat version of which comes with ISOFIX points in all five of the rear seats.
The equally massive and even more expensive BMW X7 has four ISOFIX points (two in the outer middle row seats, and two in the third row) and so too does the smaller, much more affordable Mercedes GLB — although the GLB’s compact size means that squeezing yourself into the back to fit an ISOFIX seat can be a bit of a struggle.
The Kia Sorento — rather more affordable than any of those — also manages to fit four ISOFIX points in the back — in the outer two middle row seats and in the third row. The massive Mercedes V-Class van-based MPV can also take four ISOFIX seats, but that’s a vehicle which is going to be too expensive for most family buyers.
The sad fact is that if you want to get lots of ISOFIX seats in the back of your car, without needing a second mortgage, you’re probably going to have to look to the used market. A (much-missed) Volkswagen Touran is your best second-hand ISOFIX bet — they’re reasonably priced but come with five ISOFIX mounts in the back seats.