mazda3 question

Hi,

I was interested in getting a mazda3. I am a new driver and a new dad and I was just wondering if anyone on here has this car and if there is enough room for a carseat in the middle seat in the back.

Thanks!

As a matter of fact a regular "dad" here has one and I"m sure he'll be along soon to help you out!

We have the Speed3 and there is definitely enough room for a carseat back there.

Age/Weight/Height of child and budget would be great info if you'd like help choosing the best seat for your child and vehicle.

We already own the graco infant car seat. Our daughter is 2 months old, about 11 lbs and 2 ft tall. I'm planning to lease for 2-3 years and I know I will need to get a new car seat in a few months. I'm not overly restricted budget-wise.

i'm the regular "dad" with a 3 here. we had a snugride, and it was tight in back. we never tried a center install since we had two carseats back there, but i've heard center installs can be tricky with the hump back there in the middle of the rear seat.

how tall are you? i'm 6'1", and having the snugride behind the driver's seat was sort of a pain. i had to have the seat about four positions forward of where i would ideally have it for my own comfort. my wife who is 5'8" claimed the seat was only about one position too forward for her taste.

on the bright side, since you already know that you will need a new seat in a few months (or as soon as your DD is strong enough to control her head/neck), you can switch to a convertible carseat (one which can be used forward or rearfacing). we found that the britax convertibles and the new recaro convertibles take up a lot less front to back space when rearfacing than the snugride. we have a recaro signo convertilble and i have the driver's seat at about one position forward of where i would have it if we didn't have a carseat behind it . that's good enough for me. DW even moves the seat slightly more forward when she drives.

I'm 5'11. I'm hoping to install the seat in the center because my wife would like to sit in the back next to the baby.

Thanks for the recommendations -- I'm going to research those seats further. Is there an alternative infant car seat that takes up less space than the graco for the next few months?

having the snugride in the center will still require your seat to be moved forward, maybe not quite as much as having the snugride outboard, but it will cause both front seats to be moved forward. having a center install is safer than outboard, provided it installs as well as outboard. if it installs better outboard, then that trumps any safety benefit you might get by having it in the center, especially if you have side curtain airbags. if you do most of the driving and rarely have to sit in the passenger seat, you could put the snugride behind the passenger's seat, and your wife will have more room in back. also, having the snugride in the center will make passing things back and forth between you and your wife difficult.

as for shorter infant seats, i'm pretty sure there are some, but i'm not experienced there. i'm sure many others can chime in on which infant seats are the shortest front/back.

If you have the Snugride (as opposed to the SS1), then the other infant seats will be pretty comparable to what you already have. The good news is that once your daughter has good head control, you can change the angle of her snugride from 45 degrees to be more upright... anywhere between 30 - 45 degrees is fine as long as she has good head control (typically around 4 - 5 months). Making the seat more upright will give you a little more front to back space.

We have a Marathon that we love and it fits great in the back. It rearfaces to 33lbs, forward faces to 65lbs (lasts most kids to about age 5) and can be tethered rearfacing (big benefit in side impact collisions which are the most deadly type of collision).

Here's a pic of the Marathon installed rearfacing in our Speed3...
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/187/429825169_6590b29030.jpg?v=0

oh, forgot to add,

here's a bunch of pics detailing the recaro signo installed in the 3. it's very comparible to the britax marathon and boulevard in terms of the way it fits in this car. i found that the signo provided a smidgeon more front seat room than the britax boulevard that i also test-installed in my car.

http://homepage.mac.com/tutter/carseats/signo/signoinmazda/signoinmazda.html