DoubleA4

Yes, I have triplets coming. I want to keep my '05 AR and after reading the owners manual on the LATCH system I see my AR has two attachment points for the LATCH. However, I will need a third seat in the back and was wondering the following:

1) Is there a retro-fit for a third LATCH in the middle?
2) How easily will three baby seats fit back there, assuming they will.
3) Is the seat belt in the middle seat the only option for securing the baby seat?

Any and all comments on this subject are appreciated. Really want to keep my AR (aka, no mini-van in my future)

mlfca

The width of each baby seat will not fit in the back of the allroad or many other autos. A full size SUV maybe. I have 4 kids and just getting three booster seats in one row is almost impossible.

I know you don't want to hear this but a min-van is the way to go; easy in and easy out.

miataroadster

Triplets..wow! Congrats!
I have three kids. One car seat and one booster seat will be okay back there. My 9-yr old hated the very little space left for him! That is why I ended up with another 7-seater SUV(Acura MDX). I also have a mini-van which does not look as cool as the AR or the MDX but is lighter on my wallet(gas-wise). It's faster too when second row seats are gone.

I used to own a vw jetta wagon 1.8t but ended up trading it with an '04 toyota sienna days after we took home our second baby. I know, I know...no mini-van for you but perhaps an SUV will work, huh? You can keep the AR and buy a certified SUV maybe. Or you can buy the oem 2nd row seats for your AR. This option, if still available, might be costly, though. Hey- but you get to keep the AR!

I suggest to go with a 7-seater SUV like the Acura MDX, Toyota 4rnr/ Highlander, Audi Q. These are not full size SUVs but it will do the job of keeping everyone comfortable especially during those looong family trips. The reason I'm suggesting a 7-seater is because I had 2 toyota 4rnrs(5-seat)and believe me- 3 baby carriers is tight!

Good luck!

mowog

by attaching the middle seat to the 2 inboard latch hooks. There should be room to attach 2 seat latches to each latch hook. I attached our Britax in the middle of the back seat this way for a while, but usually kept it on one side.

CHRI7S

We used 2 Britax Wizard seats (very large) and one booster in the backseat of the allroad for a while. One britax was rear facing in the middle, one forward facing on the side, and the booster on the other side. Kids are a bit older now and we have one britax still (forward facing) and booster on either side. Biggest challenge was getting the boosters buckled. Fixed that with seat belt extensions. Your best bet is to go find some child seats and see if they will fit. Troy (trg) was nice enough to let us test fit our seats in his allroad before we purchased one. Three carrier style seats (infants) might fit but the rear facing seats once they get a little bigger (20lbs+) are going to be tough both width wise and depth wise fitting in the back row. Unless you and your wife are short and have the front seats forward a ways.

Ritter Jaeger

Congrats on the tripets! No need for the third row. We have 3 car seats in the back of our AR and c5 4.2. Our children are now age 2,3 and 4. The 4yr. old is ready for a half booster but is still in a full back booster. When the 2 year old was first born we put her rear facing in the middle. All companies make different width seats. At this point I would pick up 6 bases and 3 carriers that can be switched, to forward facing once they turn a year or so.

We also have a 2005 Durango which we actually use for 2 plus hour trips. The boys in the third row and the baby in the middle. This way whoever was the passenger could climb into the back to attend to the little ones when needed.

But as I said, for daily driving duties no need for the third row. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Regards

alex jb

Thanks to Ritter Jaeger, answered my question about the Allroad.
I'm not yet an owner, but this was a big un answered question in my search.

Congrats to the OP!
I'm just about to have baby No 3, but 3 at the same time... wow!
You're going to be busy!

Chupa

I have an 02 AR and have fit 3 britax marathon car seats in back. No latch system just seat belts.

cjcolorado

We have twins and an older daughter who's not quite 2 years older than the boys and I drive an A4 wagon with three seats across the back. Check into Sunshine Kids Radian car seats. I can easily fit three across, forward facing, using the two outboard LATCH hooks and affixing the middle seat with the seat belt (pull it all the way out, so you get that ratcheting sound as it retracts--that ensures it is locking at each click). The downside of these seats is that they are convertible car seats, so you cannot pull out the "baby bucket" as we call the plug-in infant seats, you put the babies directly into the seat and buckle them in in the car. Also, though they say they go from 5lbs up to 60 or 80 (depending on the model you get), you may have a hard time safely fitting a very small baby in them. Finally, as most triplets tend to come a bit early, they may end up with NICU time and the NICU will not release your babies without performing a car seat check with them in a baby bucket type of car seat. I suggest you surf around carseat.org and see if there are three narrow infant/baby bucket seats that might work (I seem to recall that the Peg Perego infant seat was narrow, and I'm sure there are more now). Finally, and you don't want to hear this, but for dealing with three really little kids for awhile, the minivan is the way to go. Even I succumbed...we had a Toyota Highlander when my boys were born and could find no safe and easy way to get all three in and out of the vehicle (not to mention haul all the crap that three little kids require!), so we ended up getting a Toyota Sienna AWD minivan that got quite a bit of use for about three years. My boys were 3 1/2 when I sold that last March and got my A4. Oh, happy day!
Regardless, congratulations and best wishes!

cjcolorado

I forgot to mention that, while mine are forward facing and fit fine, yours would need to be rear-facing for about two years and those car seats are fairly tall. If you have a Babies R Us nearby, you can take your car there and try out different combinations of seats in your vehicle while you're there.