My son will celebrate his first bday soon and I'm looking for some feedback about his next carseat. Hi is a long boy and my car is small (1996 Acura Integra). I've been told that not all carseats will fit into my car.
If you have a similar vehicle and have a seat that you love - or conversely, one that you would never buy again! - I would love to have your input.
Thanks to all for taking the time to email back! Lots of different input but hopefully that will make my decision easier to have options. :)
I especially appreciate the direction on the website. Again, much appreciated!
Hi J.,
I had a Britax Round-a-bout in my Mini Cooper. I only used it forward facing because my son was pretty small and was old enough for forward facing by the time he weighed enough for the Round-a-bout.
I have a 2007 Toyota Corolla and the car seat my son has is an Eddie Bauer® Deluxe Convertible Car Seat - Granite. I purchased it at Target and it fits fine. Although when my husband is in the car (he's 6'2" I'm 5'4") its a bit tricky but he doesn't drive my car often.
Hope that helps.
L.
you gotta get the Graco Nautilus 3 in 1 Matrix seat. It fits in the back of our 325I BMW but still uses the LATCH system. My son finds it very comfy & it has side impact protection - it will adjust to a booster for up to 100 lbs so we are done buying carseats!! I had to special order it from Babies R Us - they said it sells out ahead of time - good sign! I also found it on Amazon.com for $144. It's a little more that BRU but you'll get it faster.
Hi! I actually have a small car as well, I have a 99 mercury cougar and my sons carseat is an eddie bauer 3in1 convertible, "kingston" edition.I absolutely love it and it fits fine in my car. I actually got into a pretty bad car accident and me and my sister were pretty banged up and my son came out completely perfect, thanks to the car seat. It is also VERY easy to change out of cars, I do it ALL the time! I actually got mine at target and it was just under 200 but I totally reccomend it! Good luck!
I realize this was posted quite some time ago, but I am in the same position in 2011 with a 1994 Acura Integra. I saw the post about someone suggesting the sunshine radian, and I 100% disagree. I recently did buy the radian xtsl (up to 80lbs. convertible), and this is an expensive seat. It absolutely DOES NOT fit smaller vehicles, at least I can say not my car. It is TOO TALL. The car seat is wonderful, but if you are going to use it rear-facing at all- forget it! The added base, makes it's pretty much impossible to have a passenger in the passenger seat comfortably. In fact- I would still LOVE to find out which car seat would work best for this car- this has become a major ordeal trying to find something that fits this vehicle, which does not have a middle seat. I'm still open to any suggestions- and all I can say is, unless you are 100% sure a car seat will fit do not buy it without a return policy. I just made that mistake, and now a decent amount of money is down the drain (for now at least)- I'm sure I can resell the sunshine kids (still in box,brand new).
Hi J.,
I bought a Britax Marthon for my firt son but found when I had my second child that it was too wide to fit in my back seat with the infant carrier in the center (the infant carrier was too long to sit behind a seat thus requiring it to be in the center position). I purchased two Sunshine Kids Radian 65's. Except the fact that they weigh a ton(Did I mention that they are steel reinforced?), I have been thrilled with them. They are nice and narrow so whenever I need it, a third carseat fits nicely in my backseat. We still have the Britax but at 4 years old my son barely fits in it, he's just too tall. The Radians are a lot lower on the car's seat so he doesn't have to duck to get into it. My friends that have Marathons are all talking about buying booster seats for their 4 year olds, the thought hasn't even crossed my mind. I feel like my kids are completely safe and comfortable in their convertibles.
Hope this helps,
R.
Hi J.,
We have the Britax Marathon convertable seats for both our kids (ages 2 and 4). My car is a 4-door Accord and they both fit great. My 4-year-old is 39 inches and when the front seat is pushed back it gets a little tight for her legs, but when the front seat is in it's regular position there is plenty of room for her. We have also put the seat in grandma's 2-door Acura and it fits pretty good too.
I like the idea someone mentioned about having Babies R Us trying the ones you like in your car just so you know before you buy.
Another note, be sure to get your carseat properly fitted at your local fire station. Call ahead to make sure someone who is trained will be there (the number to the station should be in the phonebook or on your city or county website). As long as they aren't on a call, someone there should be trained to do the fitting. Don't be shy, that is what they are there for and it is better to be safe than sorry. My husband is a fire fighter and sometimes they have a day just for this and it's like a drive through safety check.
Good luck in choosing your new seat! - Kim :)
Hi J.,
you might want to look into the Sunshine Kids Radian car seats (they come in two versions, one is up to 65 lbs and one is up to 80 lbs. Both feature the 5 pt. harnesses). We have our two kids in the Radian 65 seats in our Prius and are very happy with them.
Best regards, C.
take your care to Babies r us and have them try the seats to see what one fits best..
I would personally look at the britax roundabout..Esp if you child is still rearfacing (my 1 year old is and will be until she's 3 or 30 lbs... she's not even the legal 20 yet..)
Other wise go try them on :)
see what works best for your car.
Britax and Sunshine kids are my two favorite.
the only difference (other then looks) of the sunshine kids 65 & 80 is how much weight they can hold, otherwise they can hold the same height of the child.
I have a 1997 Civic (same platform as the Integra) and we had no problems fitting two Britax Roundabouts in the rear-drivers and rear-passengers side seats with enough room for long-legged dad to push the driver's seat all the way back. *however* if your son runs on the tall side of the height curve, you might want to opt for a taller convertible b/c he might outgrow a smaller seat like the Roundabout quickly.
one seat that might be worth checking out is the First Years/Compass TrueFit - the headrest removes to allow the seat to fit rearfacing in smaller cars. retails for about $179. In general, the Cosco/Eddie Bauer 3-in-1 seats (e.g. Alpha Omega) and Graco ComfortSport should be avoided if you have a tall kid b/c they have very low top harness slots and would likely be outgrown long before a kid reaches the 40lb weight limit.
this link has a good summary of what to look for in a car seat http://boards.babycenter.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&n...
I wish I had this site before I bought my convertible carseat. I saw it on another post here on Mamasource. www.carseatdata.org
You can put in your car type and it will tell you which car seat will work for your car.
I bought the Safety 1st from Costco to try and save some $; however, that is so big when I had it installed by the CHP they said that it was a safe seat; however, it was made for a SUV.
Good Luck.
I also used www.carseatdata.org - I have a 2001 Honda Civic. Is your car a 4 door or 2 door? I have a 4 door and the Britax Roundabout, which fits very well, even though its pretty big for my little car. Actually, it takes up less space than the infant seat and base we had.
HTH!
