Hi Kate

If you can drive a standard stick-shift car you will definitely have far more choice when you go to buy. They are by far the most available. Having said that I bought an automatic last year, not necessarily because I was looking for one, but mostly because it was the right car/price.

I think you will find that both cars and child car seats are generally smaller in Europe than in the US. We brought our US-bought car seats to Ireland, and people do tend to comment on how much bigger they are. Actually the car we bought was as a result of needing a larger back seat to accommodate the seats. But then we needed 3 sets of ISOFIX hooks for the car seats. The Citroen Grand Picasso was one of the only cars that had enough. Even though it had 3 rows of seats, it wasn't like a US minivan that usually have at least one set of ISOFIX hooks back there.

With 2 kids/car seats, I don't think you need to rebuy your car seats. They should fit in most cars. I have put ours into smaller cars once in awhile, and I haven't yet had any issues. The hardest part was finding a car with 3 sets of ISOFIX hooks. Also, it's handy to have the seats immediately when you arrive for getting to your destination e.g. if you're renting a car at the airport.

Liam

I am not too worried about car seats and the rental car - it seems that most rentals now provide car seats for an additional fee. We will be in Ireland in February for 10 days looking at a few houses/towns that are high on our list for the move, and the price for 2 car seats is only 50 euro for the 10 days - not too bad.

My husband is 6'5'' and we have had issues even here in the states with car seats fitting in cars that allow him to drive comfortably. Knowing that cars are generally smaller than the US boats we drive over here 😉 I'm leaning towards just buying new car seats that are made to fit.

Any car recommendations for someone that is 6'5''? We will be driving a Ford Galaxy in February for our rental, which will be a nice 'trial' for us. Right now we drive a Ford Flex which is MASSIVE, but it fits everyone. We do not want to drive anything nearly that size when we move. This is all very trivial, but is something we are thinking about.

When I was looking at rental cars and used cars I found that the Ford Fusion and Ford Mondeo are related models https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mondeo_(fourth_generation)

I am 6'2" and been meaning to go sit in a Ford Fusion to see how I fit. Some car models have different names - VW Jetta is VW Bora for example.

I am not even 6 foot tall so I've never had to really think too hard about what type of car for that purpose. Try carzone.ie to find cars for sale in Ireland. You might be able to browse by vehicle size. Autotrader also has Irish site.

carsireland.ie also has an iOS app.

Great info! Thank you David and Liam. I am going to look at some of those websites today. Having a 3rd row will be optimal, so its nice to know about the ISOFIX. I'm assuming the ISOFIX is similar to the LATCH system?

David, the fusion/mondeo should work out well for you. We have had various models of that car over the years and it worked out well. We traded it in for the FLEX once we needed the 3rd row.

The issue we face with the car seats is mainly when they are rear-facing. Does anyone know the standards for rear-facing in Ireland? Is it rear-facing until 2 like it is in the states now?

The Citroen does have a third row but at the expense of a trunk/boot. When the third row is in use, you won't fit more than a few small grocery bags in the trunk. Definitely won't fit a stroller.

Yes ISOFIX is just like the LATCH.

You'll find the car seat rules (or at least the adherence to them) more lax in Ireland. The Road Safety Authority has the official info. They give an approximate age of "Birth to 12-15 months" for rear-facing infant seats. Full details at the link
http://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Your-Vehicle/About-your-Vehicle/Example-of-non-Dup/Seat-belts--child-restraints-/

I was quite horrified on my return last year to see kids as young as 6 years old sitting in the front seats of cars going to school. Of course this isn't the norm, but I observed more of that behaviour in Ireland than in the US.

LATCH is the term for ISOFIX in the US. It is implementation of the same standard.

I had the same fears regarding stick shift haha! We just bought a Toyota Wish via an import shop in northern Dublin, and most imports there are automatic. Apparently in Japan cars are considered no longer drivable after 100k miles. Our's has 40k, I believe, and was in *immaculate* condition, paid 7000 euro. It is automatic!

Downside: The GPS screams at me in Japanese and we have no idea how to disable it. At this stage we just find it humorous, though, soooo if I had to choose between stick shift or the disembodied voice of an angry Japanese woman, I'd choose the latter.

Also, we have a Graco latch that traveled with us. It fits perfectly, no issue!