2015 Audi Q3: Car Seat Check
The all-new Audi Q3 is a subcompact crossover, a new class of cars that’s growing quickly with competitors such as the BMW X1, Buick Encore, Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class and the Jeep Renegade. Although it’s small on the outside, the Q3 made good use of its interior. With seating for five, this tiny SUV managed to easily handle all of our child-safety seats with ease.
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two
What We Like
- The Q3 has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats that are easy to find and use. They sit in plastic housings right in the seat cushions and have removable covers. The outboard tether anchors are midway down the seatback, but the middle seat’s anchor sits up high behind the head restraint.
- Both the rear- and forward-facing convertible installed easily in the Q3. We didn’t need to move the front passenger seat forward to accommodate either seating position.
- The booster fit well in the Q3’s flat rear seats, and the head restraint, which is adjustable but not removable, didn’t affect the seat’s installation.
What We Don’t
- To fit the rear-facing infant seat, we had to move the front passenger seat forward. The 5-foot-8 tester still had enough legroom to sit comfortably with the infant seat installed behind her.
- The Q3’s seat belt buckles in the backseat are on stable bases, but they sit really low in the seat. And for the child sitting behind the driver’s seat, the buckle setup is complicated. The outboard and middle seats’ buckles are stacked on top of each other, which could make it difficult for younger kids to know which one to use.
Grading Scale
A: Plenty of room for the car seat and the child; doesn’t impact driver or front-passenger legroom. Easy to find and connect to Latch and tether anchors. No fit issues involving head restraint or seat contouring. Easy access to the third row.
B: Plenty of room. One fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing third row when available.
C: Marginal room. Two fit or connection issues. Difficult to access third row when available.
D: Insufficient room. Two or more fit or connection issues.
F: Does not fit or is unsafe.
About Cars.com’s Car Seat Checks
Editors Jennifer Geiger, Jennifer Newman and Matt Schmitz are certified child safety seat installation technicians.
For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide Classic Connect 30 infant-safety seat, a Britax Marathon convertible seat and Graco TurboBooster seat. The front seats are adjusted for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant and convertible seats are installed behind the front passenger seat.
We also install the forward-facing convertible in the second row’s middle seat with the booster and infant seat in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit; a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. If there’s a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible. To learn more about how we conduct our Car Seat Checks, go here.
Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat, and that Latch anchors have a weight limit of 65 pounds, including the weight of the child and the weight of the seat itself.
Cars.com photos by Evan Sears
