Help! I need a rear-facing convertible carseat that will fit in my two door Civic. I have to push the passenger seat all the way forward for her infant seat, which is not ideal, but I will do it if necessary. It can't go in the middle since it's the second carseat. Does anyone have any carseat for tiny car recommendations? 
You might also enjoy...
-
Assuming your LO can sit unassisted - the two most compact rear facing seats are the Cosco scenera next and the graco extend2fit. But the extend2fit is very wide so might be hard to maneuver around.
The graco seat lasts much longer both rear facing and forward facing. The cosco seat will rear face an average size kid to 3 but will be outgrown forward facing at that point, though it's under $50 so not a huge issue.
-
The Chicco Nextfit Zip and Britax Boulevard Clicktight both fit in my 2 door BMW without having to move the passenger seat forward too far. The Nextfit is smallest of the two. I'd recommend going to a store and asking if you can try them in your car.
-
I've got a Maxi Cosi Pria 70 in my Honda Fit. It isn't strictly the smallest front-to-back convertible, but, it was the smallest that
• had a machine washable and dryable cover (a hard must for me after experiencing a hand wash/dry flat infant seat cover)
• and seemed likely to allow extended rear-facing for my light/skinny but relatively tall kid.It is also narrow enough to allow some other seats to install in the middle.
-
https://csftl.org/size-comparison-safety-1st-advance-ex-65-air/
This might be a helpful article! It’s a couple of years outdated, though...might still be a good place to start!
-
We went with the Graco Milestone for our little Mazda3. We couldn't get the 4ever or Nextfit to work with our seat angles. Added bonus, it is pretty narrow! We were able to have two carseats and my brother between them in the back for one very cramped roadtrip.
-
@catgirl: @CarDad: @lilyofthewest: @bees_knees: @codeitall: Thank y'all so much! This information is enormously helpful.
-
Agree with @catgirl: . My ILs made the extend2fit work in their 2door VW Golf .... but it wasn't ideal and ultimately after a year and the impending arrival of LO2 they traded in for a bigger car (their car was 10 years old.)
-
@babypugs: Why can't a second car seat go in the middle? Is it just bc there is no latch system and you prefer not to use a seat belt?
We are in the early planning stages for twin infants and a 4yo and were planning to put one infant bucket base in the middle and one on the side. Just wondering if that is not an option, or if I am missing something.
I will be upgrading my son to a booster after he turns four (frankly partly out of necessity given the new circumstances, but he is also really big for his age) but can't really have him climb into the middle seat between the other two.
We live someplace urban, only drive on the weekends, and are not planning to do much travel with two infants anyway. So we are hoping to make do with our sedan at first so that we can punt the decision and cost on an upgrade.
Sorry for hijacking your thread!!
-
@ElbieKay: My car is so tiny that my older daughter's carseat overlaps the middle. It might be possible, but they would be sooooo squished that I foresee all kinds of poking, prodding, and arguments, ha!
-
@babypugs: Got it. Thanks for clarifying! Sounds like we still have a shot at avoiding our upgrade.
-
@ElbieKay: a four year old should still be harnessed and frankly in a tight three across situation it would be way easier to have him in a harnessed seat. Reaching between seats to buckle him in to a booster could be quite hard. There are some narrow combination seats out there.
Also you might benefit from installing the infant seats baseless to save some space. Just keep in mind many brands do not allow seats to share space with another seat - they can touch gently but can not overlap into the other's space. Three across can be tricky in a sedan, possible but tricky. What car do you have?
-
@catgirl: We have a 2013 BMW 328i. Totally open to suggestions!
I found this list of narrow car seats which has me eyeing the Chicco Keyfit30. I am leaning towards the Mountain Buggy Duet double stroller so we need seats that are compatible with that, but they have a pretty broad list. We live in an urban location and park our car in a lot 5 blocks away, so a double infant seat-compatible stroller is a requirement especially with two babies.
I only found out about baby #2 two weeks ago so we have plenty of time to research.
Now that there are two babies we also need to do a construction project to convert our L-shaped living room into a third bedroom. Plus childcare is going to be a lot more expensive with a third child. I really hope we can punt the new car purchase to spread out the cost!
-
@ElbieKay: The Graco Tranzitions is a very narrow harness-to-booster seat. We have it installed in our Nissan Versa. I can't wait until I can turn my youngest around and then buy another Tranzitions because it will free up so much room in the back seat.
-
@avivoca: Thanks!
-
I say just get the best car seat you can, and have your adult passenger be a bit uncomfortable.
I'm dealing with the same problem in a jeep!
-
I apologize if this is a stupid question, but are you sure you'll be able to get your LO into the car seat? I ask because I had a 2 door RX-8 and it even had suicide doors and I couldn't get my LO into a rear facing convertible seat without climbing into the back myself on the other side. If you already have a car seat over there it seems pretty difficult to manage - especially if it takes up room in the middle.
-
I had rf’ing Cosco Next in the back of our coupe and it wasn’t too tricky to get a kid in and out but I couldn’t get a solid install so it had to go in the front (older car so no passenger airbag!)
-
@agold: The good news is that I almost never have an adult passenger. I almost exclusively use it for my commute!
@JennyPenny: Oh, I already deal with this with the convertible and the infant seat. I hate squeezing in to put my LO's in their respective seats. Luckily I'm pretty small--I just sit on the back of the front seat arm rest. I hope it doesn't get worse with two convertibles, yikes!
@Kemma: Glad you worked it out!
-
@ElbieKay: while your babies are in bucket seats, you can definitely have your four year old in the middle, since you’ll most likely be popping the seats In and out whenever the four year old needs to come in/out. I had three across with one baby in a bucket seat, one toddler RF, and a kindergartner in the middle FF. She either got in before the bucket seat went in, or ducked under the RF convertible. Maybe not ideal, but it is definitely very doable for a finite period of time, like until you are ready to decide on a new car (in our case, I was waiting to turn DD2 to FF).
I'm dealing with the same problem in a jeep!
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
19 comments