We faced this issue and were successful with a Mazda 5. When twins were infants we used flex loc infant seats and then transitioned the the radians. We then bought a mini van when twins were about a year old.

We have a Mazda 3 hatchback and two sunshine radians and I can barely fit in between them myself (tall, but size 4). The radians were the thinnest seats we could find. Also, when we faced the seats backwards (an infant bucket seat when the baby was little and then the radians, we had the push the front seat literally all the way to the front. I highly highly doubt you will be fitting three carseats in a Mazda 3. Time for a new car!

try posting at the car-seat.org forums. the car seat techs there will have all sorts of options. I bet you could do a forward facing radian and 2 chicco keyfit seats. You could also do the combo coccoros with the marathon

We have a mazda 3, and it's not possible IMO.
You are not even supposed to install a car seat in the middle, although it's possible, but 3 seats, no, no way!

Most cars can fit three across, especially with the right carseats. If you're open to the idea - you can get Combi Coccoros for your newborns instead. But you'd have to find a double stroller that lays flat for them.

I'm not sure how it compares but I can get three carseats in a Ford Fiesta hatchback. Its tight, but doable. One forward facing Safety First Onside Air, one rearfacing Safety First Onside Air (slightly upright as its for a 16 month old) and a Graco Turbobooster. Its a pain, and rearfacing is tricky (front seats are up a bit, we're short) I wish we could afford Radians and a Coccoro, as I'm sure that would work out nicely.

It might work if you got a narrower seat for your toddler and put the twins in RF narrow convertibles right away. Of course, it is really hard to get convertible seats that fit infants well, especially if the twins are are early.

I'd love to hear how it works out.

We have a mazda 3 and twins and I can't imagine getting a third car seat in there. The two infant seats were bad enough (DH and I are both about 5'10) but the rear facing convertibles that we are now using are even worse. (we are using britax). honestly if you just have twins and already have a mazda 3, i guess you might as well try to stick it out. but with three kids, I think at the very least you'd need to go with the mazda 5.

Please report back on what you find! We are having twins too. I have a Mazda3 and my husband has an Infiniti EX, which might actually have a smaller backseat, if you can believe it! We are both tall - I'm 5'11 and he's 6'2. We live in the Boston area and really don't want to replace either car. I just tried fitting my neighbor's infant seat behind the drivers seat in the Mazda and could barely find a comfortable driving position.

OP here. We're planning to head out to Great Beginnings this weekend to see if we can fit the 3 across, two buckets and a Radian. Wish us luck!

Not going to happen. Give it a try before you buy a new car though.

Doubt it. We have a 3 year old with a britax marathon and when we put an infant seat (chicco keyfit 30) in the back of our mazda 3 when my daughter was born we realized we wanted a bigger car because nothing else would fit back there and the front seats had to be pretty far forward (however we're tall, my husband is 6'4 and I'm 5'9). Two carseats in the back of a mazda 3 is pretty packed. We fit my tiny mother in between them but she was completel squished and could hardly put on her seatbelt....we got a mazda cx-9 and LOVE it.

No way. I have a Jetta Sportwagon and can't even get 3 booster seats in the back. You really need a somewhat large car to get three seats across. I see a minivan in your future.

Harahah. No. unless you and dh are very very short...and your kids seats are very tiny.

We just found out that we're having twins! Our toddler is in a Britax Marathon in the back seat of our Mazda3, and I just don't see how we'll fit two infant carseats next to it. Has anyone had success with that? Or with using other car seat combinations? I've seen loads of positive reviews on DCUM for the Sunshine Radian, but even that looks fairly bulky.

Thank you! If we're going to replace our car, we'll need to figure it out soon!