Britax Boulevard vs Marathon

Hi, I was wondering if anyone out there knows if the Boulevard is better than the marathon. I know it has the wings on it and the marathon doesn't. How do they compare in crash tests? We have two marathons that are 3 years old. We purchased them for our older daughter and are now using them with the younger daughter who is now 9 months old. I purchased a wizard and my baby hated it. She hated the wings so we have returned it. We are going to be traveling on a very long car trip and I am considering purchasing the Boulevard because of the side impact protection. We cannot put the car seat in the middle seat and must use the outboard seats so she is right next to the door. We frequently drive to pick up my stepdaughter and that is a 5 hour trip round trip and now that we have the long trip I am thinking we should purchase one. She is rear facing and I would like to keep her that way as long as possible. Is it worth the purchase? My older daughter is 7 just got out of the marathon last year and she has the Britax Bodyguard and loves the wings to sleep in. I am happy with the seat because she is very little for her age. I just recently saw a tv show on side impact car crashes and the damage to passengers and now I am a little freaked out. What should I do? Are the Boulevards really better than the marathons? I am not concerned with the money if it is really a safer seat. Help :0) Kristina

I know Britax tested the Boulevard for side impact and the headwings are supposed to provide greater protection in a side impact crash and probably other types of crashes as well, but I don't know in real terms just how much more protection the Boulevard offers than a Marathon. Both seats are excellent when installed and used properly though.

Apparently a number of parents had similar experiences to yours with the narrower Wizard headwings so Britax redesigned them to make them wider and came out with the Boulevard. If the headwings bothered your baby in the Wizard, you may want to try her out in the Boulevard display model at Babies R Us to see how she likes it first. If your baby is riding outboard and you don't have side curtain airbags and/or your car's side impact crash test results weren't that favorable, the Boulevard would be worth the added peace of mind.

Personally, my oldest DD uses a Marathon and she was unhurt in two accidents that involved side impacts while she was riding FF in the middle seating position in my old Saturn Vue and in DH's Saturn L100. I replaced her crashed Marathons with another Marathon both times even though I could have opted for the Wizard or the Boulevard. I was going to get another Marathon for my younger DD who is 9 months old, but I bought the Boulevard instead when there was a deal on in it in January that made it lower priced than the Marathon. Both of my DDs ride in the center in the second and third rows of my Sienna and it has side curtain airbags. They rarely ride together in DH's Saturn sedan and it has the airbags, too.


HTH.

Thanks for the info. We don't live near a babies r us so if I purchase one it has to be online. How wide is it in the wings at the bottom and top of them? Also, our vehicle is a Suzuki XL7 and we don't have side air bags. What do you think? Thanks.

Okay, my baby woke up from her nap and I could get out the handy tape measure here... The Boulevard's headrest is about 8 inches wide horizontally between the headwings and it's this width or just a tad wider at any point up and down the headrest. The headwings extend outward about 6 inches at their deepest point on either side.

Both the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety web site, www.iihs.org and the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency web site, http://www.nhtsa.gov/ have the Suzuki "Grand Vitara XL7" listed as a model but no side impact test scores for it because it apparently wasn't tested, darn. I couldn't find anything just called the Suzuki XL7 so I may have looked at the wrong model.

In your shoes, I would be tempted to get the Boulevard since you don't have the side curtain airbags, your baby rides on the side, and your Suzuki seems to be an unknown in terms of side impact testing. Good luck with your decision.

Since your DD is still rear facing and will be for quite a while, I would personally stay with the marathons. Rfing is much safer in a side impact than ffing, that's why it is always suggested to put the rfing child outbard when possible. I would think the SIP of the boulevard would help more in the ffing mode than the rfing. I would save for a different seat later when she is ffing. THey might have a lot more options out by then.