Sunshine Kids/Diono Radian Users

bestmaid6

What kind of car do you drive? I really like the idea of the Radian, but am worried it won't comfortably fit in the car. I really don't want to have the front seats crammed against the dash to fit the car seat in the back.

mamarazzi528

I recommend going to a store that will let you try car seats out in your car.  It's really the only sure way to know it will fit in your car and with your seat configuration.  I'm not sure if BRU lets you do this, but we went to a small baby boutique store that was more than happy to let us try them out.

We tried the Radian thinking that it would be more compact and would fit better in my Saturn sedan, but when we put the driver seat back to where my (tall) husband needs it (when he sometimes drives it), there was no way it would fit.  We ended up going with the Britax Marathon because it fit great.

Obviously it depends which seat you are going to put it behind as well.  We needed ours to be behind the driver because we're planning for baby #2's seat placement as well.

Good luck!

bestmaid6

This is the perfect reply. We also have a Saturn sedan. I've been going back and forth between the Marathon and Boulevard, but have a friend who loves her Radian. She, however, drives a huge mini-van and has plenty of space for a huge car seat. I think we'll likely go with a Britax, I just need to figure our with one.

Did you try the Boulevard in the car, too? I'm pretty sure it's the same height as the Marathon, but I haven't tried any out in the car yet. 

mamarazzi528

bestmaid6:

This is the perfect reply. We also have a Saturn sedan. I've been going back and forth between the Marathon and Boulevard, but have a friend who loves her Radian. She, however, drives a huge mini-van and has plenty of space for a huge car seat. I think we'll likely go with a Britax, I just need to figure our with one.

Did you try the Boulevard in the car, too? I'm pretty sure it's the same height as the Marathon, but I haven't tried any out in the car yet. 

I have a Saturn Ion if that helps any further.  We didn't try the Boulevard because a friend who has it said she doesn't like the headwings (they get in the way when putting the child in & out of the seat), plus we liked that the Marathon is cheaper.  I think the headwings are wider on the Boulevard and that is one of the main differences.

LisaM.

If you can have it in the center, then it will work.  We have it in the center of a Toyota Camry, but every time I turn around to back up I do feel like I'm going to hit my head on it!  It's pretty tall and leans back - not sure how far compared to others.  After LO is a year old, we can buy a mat from diono to put under it so that it tilts it more upright.  We have a tall baby, I wanted to do extended rear facing, and it is extremely safe, so we feel really good about our purchase.  Having said that, I am looking forward to adjusting the tilt at the year mark.  I think at that point it would fit behind either the passenger or the drivers seat fine.

Birdies08

I have a Honda Civic and MH and I are both tall and the Radian fits just fine. The back of the car seat does press against the front passenger seats, but everything and everybody fit in well.