Overwhelmed-Thoughts on New Car Seat?

MrsCase1 · April 2012

Lincoln is getting close to too heavy for his bucket seat and I am absolutely burrying my head in the sand about which transitional seat to buy. I currently drive a compact car, so space is an issue (therefore, a seat with excellent ratings such as a Britax, unfortunately won't fit.) I do intend to get a different vehicle but not in the immediate or even forseeable future. My budget is +/- $200.

I guess after this I am going to dive right into the countless online reviews.

Thanks!!

Fulbri05 · April 2012

You might actually find that Britax are smaller than other seats. I know the Marathon 70 fit better in my IL's car than the Graco MyRide. The Diano Radian is the narrowest as far as fitting 3 across. Although I despise BRU, I would go there and look at them in person and go from there. I've heard they let you take them out to your car to try.

MrsCase1 · April 2012

Fulbri05:
You might actually find that Britax are smaller than other seats. I know the Marathon 70 fit better in my IL's car than the Graco MyRide. The Diano Radian is the narrowest as far as fitting 3 across. Although I despise BRU, I would go there and look at them in person and go from there. I've heard they let you take them out to your car to try.

Thank you. That is an excellent suggestion. I am just going to have to bite the bullet and head over there.

gimmietimmies · April 2012

Ditto what pp said. Those two do work in tight spaces. Just wanted to add, you may be tempted at the other 3 in 1 seats, just steer clear. The Alpha Omega's (Safety 1st/Eddie Bauer/Dorel) don't fit well in tight spaces anyway.

orangecurls · April 2012

The combi cocorro is nice and small both width and length wise.

SpceCadet · April 2012

I found that my Britax Boulevard 70 fit better in the back seat of my Beetle (super small!) than the Graco Snugride. The Boulevard is often on sale on Amazon for about $210

cassoppea · April 2012

I agree about Britax - MH drives a Honda Civic and our Britax Boulevard and Marathon both fit. We've now installed about 7 or 8 carseats in various family members cars and our own. The Britax is the easiest by far to install and use. I highly recommend the Britax convertible seats. They are highly rated for a reason.

cast920 · April 2012

I got a Combi coccoro to use in my mini cooper. It actually fits a little better rear facing than the infant seat did.

From my research, it seems like most of the higher weight/height limit seats will not fit well rear facing in a tiny car. When you are testing out seats make sure you know what recline positions it needs to be in for rear facing. I had found a few that looked promising, but once I reclined it for the proper rear facing angle there was no way it would work in my car.

The radian most likely will not fit rear facing because it is very tall.

CarlaAndJames · April 2012

My Graco Myride fits better in my Honda Civic than my Chicco Keyfit infant seat did. And the Myride is one of the bigger convertibles. Go try, I think you'll be surprised!

nicole0066 · April 2012

DH has a smaller 2-door car and we have a Britax Boulevard for him which fits fine. We knew we were going to skip the infant seat for his car (not for mine) since it is a smaller backseat and would be hard to get in and out of. We went to BRU and tried out different carseats in the car and then ended up ordering from Amazon since it was cheaper and had more color selections.

LittleApple · April 2012

CarlaAndJames:
My Graco Myride fits better in my Honda Civic than my Chicco Keyfit infant seat did. And the Myride is one of the bigger convertibles. Go try, I think you'll be surprised!

The MyRide is much bigger than the Britax both in height and width.

You can get Britax cheaper on Amazon or albeebaby.com. They run sales all the time.

iristony · April 2012

FYI- our Britax Boulevards fit in our sitters Scion XA tiny, tiny hatchback car rearfacing! I love the Boulevard and in my opinion, I think spending a few dollars more for the extra side impact is a must in a compact car.

PunkyBooster · April 2012

Another Britax. I have the Boulevard, DH has the Marathon. DH has a tiny, 2 door sports car and DS has no issues fitting in his car seat back there.

BRU allowed us to take car seats out to his car to see what would fit. Yours may allow the same!

morgie44 · April 2012

I was just looking at the convertible car seat reviews this am in baby bargains, and it recommended the First Years True Fit for compact cars, as the upper head rest can be removed for rear facing, making it smaller than other convertibles front to back.

cyprissa · April 2012

We have a Britax Roundabout 55 and it fits well in my small car. I like it and DS seems pretty comfy. We also have a Radian in DH's Ford Edge and there is no way it'll fit rear facing in a compact without have to move the seat up so that's only a good option if you and DH are on the short side.

silvercamaro77 · April 2012

We have the maxi Cosi pria in my little Saturn.

gimmietimmies · April 2012

cast920:

I got a Combi coccoro to use in my mini cooper. It actually fits a little better rear facing than the infant seat did.

From my research, it seems like most of the higher weight/height limit seats will not fit well rear facing in a tiny car. When you are testing out seats make sure you know what recline positions it needs to be in for rear facing. I had found a few that looked promising, but once I reclined it for the proper rear facing angle there was no way it would work in my car.

The radian most likely will not fit rear facing because it is very tall.

Not true. The fit front to back is about the same as the Marathon, and even less with the angle adjuster. There are tons of pics on Diono's FB page with the Radian installed in cars like the Civic and smaller with room to spare. It's not a deep seat, just tall. We had a POS Alpha Omega and it took up more room front to back than our Radian does, and it has a much shorter shell.

klv · April 2012

We went from a Chicco key fit 30 to a britax marathon and a roundabout. The Britax seats take up less room than the infant seat. DH is tall and drives with the seat all the way back and there is still plenty of room, and we have a Ford Focus and a Honda Civic.

indomesticbliss · April 2012

Ditto britax-the advocate is also pretty small and goes up to 70 lbs. I second going to bru and trying some in your car.

JillBean78 · April 2012

I have the Britax Frontier SICT (forward facing only seat), it is gigantic in both height and width. Much larger than my Roundabout was. It fits just fine in the backseat of my Mercedes, I was very worried about it not fitting as I went from a large SUV to this car recently. I could even fit another seat the same size in the backseat. Def go to BRU and try seats out in the backseat, you will be surprised.

That.Just.Happened · April 2012

DH has a pretty small car so this was a concern for us to. We went with the Maxi Cosi Priori seat and I really like it. It is comfy and easy to use. Fits in his small car great, and it didn't break the bank.

Want a personalized experience?

Overwhelmed-Thoughts on New Car Seat?

Re: Overwhelmed-Thoughts on New Car Seat?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards