Which Cars Fit Three Car Seats?

UPDATE: Parents are often searching for the automotive holy grail: a car that's not a minivan and can fit three child-safety seats across the backseat. It's a short list.

In the more than three years that Cars.com editors have been installing car seats into test vehicles, we've come across only a handful of cars that can hold three car seats across a backseat.

For 2014, the Jeep Grand Cherokee received interior and exterior revisions, but that didn’t affect this two-row crossover’s ability to fit three child-safety seats across its backseat.

As we come across more cars that fit three child-safety seats, we'll add to this list. For now, here are the cars from our Car Seat Checks that can fit three car seats in the second row:

The Cars.com Redesign Index

It can cost up to $1 billion or more to develop a new or redesigned car, so sales success — and not just a little bit of it — matters. Determining which of those new cars hit the mark with consumers is no easy task. In the past three model years, significant redesigns averaged a 33% increase in year-over-year sales in the months after they were launched compared with their predecessors in the same period a year earlier. With numbers like that, most automakers could claim success with a redesign. But some cars rose above that lofty mark while others fell below. Which were the redesigns that car shoppers lined up for?

Cars.com crunched sales figures for 61 redesigns or introductions that replaced outgoing cars over the past four model years. We set a sales floor and grouped cars into three sales tiers — after all, a bit player can easily double its sales with a sharp redesign, but market saturation makes it harder for a popular model to do the same. We compared six months of sales after dealers ramped up inventory with the same time period from the year before. Finally, we also accounted for the growth in the overall auto market, meaning that if the whole market went up 10%, we assume that tide would have carried these redesigns as well.

Cars.com Family Reviews the 2012 Mazda5

The Mazda5, a six-seater, is a mini-minivan, so compromises are necessary when hauling kids in child-safety seats, says Cars.com Family contributor Carrie Kim. Third-row legroom is best for younger kids, and Carrie’s rear-facing convertible seats ate up all the second-row legroom, making it difficult to maneuver around the Mazda5’s interior. There’s a lot to like about the Mazda5, though, including its rear sliding doors and its fun-to-drive four-cylinder engine.

2012 Mazda5 Review

Year-End Deal Reality Check: Mazda

The end of the year means dealers are trying to move old product to make room for next year’s new cars, trucks and SUVs; it also means more deals for new-car shoppers. According to Mazda, ‘Tis the Season of Saving. The automaker’s annual year-end sale program offers well-qualified shoppers 0% financing and no payments for 90 days on select 2011 and 2012 Mazda vehicles.

Model-year 2011 vehicles that qualify include the Mazda2, Mazda3 hatchback and sedan, Mazda6, CX-7 and CX-9. Also eligible are 2012 versions of the Mazda2, Mazda5, Mazda6 and CX-9. For example, qualified shoppers can purchase the redesigned-for-2012 Mazda5 small minivan for $19,345 and get 0% financing for 60 months and forgo payments for 90 days.

The sale ends Jan. 3.

Most Popular Car Seat Checks

Parents, grandparents and caretakers know what a pain it can be to install child-safety seats into a car. Imagine doing it over and over and over again. That's what our Car Seat Check team does nearly every week as it tests new cars to find out how easy it is to use the Latch system.

Car Seat Checks are performed by Cars.com editor Kelsey Mays, Cars.com photographer Ian Merritt and Cars.com editor and certified car-seat technician Jennifer Newman.

2012 Mazda5: Car Seat Check

This Car Seat Check was originally published in June 2011 on MotherProof.com.

The 2012 Mazda5 is a small minivan that seats six passengers in three rows of seats. The second-row captain's chairs can travel forward to create more legroom when it's needed in the third row.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide 30 rear-facing infant-safety seat, a Britax Roundabout convertible child-safety seat and Graco high-back TurboBooster seat.

Cars.com Podcast: 2011 Lexus IS, 2012 Mazda5, 2011 Audi TT

This week, Cars.com’s editors tackled a varied trio of vehicles in our 101st podcast. Kelsey Mays talks about the entire Lexus IS lineup – yes, he tested them all; Mike Hanley discusses Mazda’s redesigned small van, the 2012 Mazda5, and Joe Wiesenfelder expounds on the sporty Audi TT.

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Cars.com Reviews the 2012 Mazda5

When we talk minivans we’re usually discussing vehicles reaching 200 inches in length. That’s not anyone’s definition of mini. The Mazda5, on the other hand, is a small, nimble alternative to larger minivans, says editor Mike Hanley. Find out whether the compact package is worth the trade-off of less space versus a typical minivan.

2012 Mazda5 Review

MotherProof.com Car Seat Check Recap

The 2011 Saab 9-5 is a large family sedan that has some trouble fitting child-safety seats despite its girth. The high-back booster seat, convertible and infant-safety seats were tough to install compared with the other large sedan we tested recently, the 2011 Chrysler 300C. Check out the latest Car Seat Checks at MotherProof.com:

2011 Saab 9-5: Car Seat Check 
2011 Chrysler 300 and 300C: Car Seat Check 
2011 Nissan Murano: Car Seat Check 
2012 Mazda5: Car Seat Check

Ford Cancels 7-Seat C-Max For U.S.

Ford was all set to bring its small seven-seat minivan dubbed the C-Max to the U.S. at the Detroit auto show this past January. That was when we got a good look at this small people-mover that is similar to the Mazda5. Ford said today it no longer plans to sell the seven-seat C-Max in the U.S.

The C-Max offers minivan seating capacity without the size and price tag of traditional minivans, along with better gas mileage. The Mazda5 is seeing an uptick in sales, too. Year-to-date sales of the redesigned Mazda5 are up 22%, outpacing the rest of the company’s lineup.

However, the volume remains quite low for the Mazda5, and that might be why Ford nixed the C-Max. A smaller version that seats five will go on sale in the U.S. as an electric and hybrid vehicle with no standard gasoline option.

It seems that Ford thinks it has the pulse of American consumers who are still snapping up the new Explorer despite $4 gas prices. Of course, they’re also buying a lot of Fiestas and Focuses, Focii … well, the other small Ford.

There doesn’t seem to be any other automaker stepping up to the plate in the small people-mover space, either. GM has decided not to sell the Orlando — a similar vehicle — in the U.S., and Kia discontinued its Rondo last year. Perhaps Mazda can make some noise out of this news for its Mazda5. It’s a nice vehicle that now resides in a niche of one.