Good grief! How does anyone fit 3 across with big seats?

todzwife

New member

• Jan 4, 2010

• #1

We just "upgraded" from an 07 Subaru Forester to an 08 Subaru Tribeca. (I really wanted a minivan but DH wouldn't budge) The interior FEELS SO much bigger, but after putting our seats back in (3 across because of a little guy I watch in the afternoons) I realized that they STILL barely fit!
In the forester, the Radian was UNDER the marathon by about 4 inches (where the puzzle at the shoulder. In the Tribeca, they are side by side but they STILL barely fit in there! I don't see how anyone fits 3 across with huge seats like the Regent or the Nautilus! I've got a RFing Scenera behind the passenger, a FF Radian center and a FF marathon (for a couple more days, we're getting another Radian woot!) So these aren't huge seats!

I'm a little worried what I'm going to do when my 6 YO outgrows the Radian. We've got the third row, but it's really only for "occasional" use. We're expecting #3 in April, and we're going to borrow a keyfit30 from a friend (I know it will fit because it did in the Forester) but then what?

 

steph_s

New member

• Jan 4, 2010

• #2

It really doesn't have anything to do with actual width so much as finding the right seats that will puzzle together and seeing if the kids fit in those seats. I've had several combination's of 3 across in my spare vehicle a mercury sable. I've gotten a Regent, Evenflo triumph advance and a rf radian or turbo booster. I've gotten a Regent, Nautilus and rf scenera in there also. It's really more about how the seats puzzle than anything. The efta sat up high on the base so I could get it sort of over the regent and the outboard radian or turbo (making the turbo easier to buckle). The Nautilus, scenera Regent was a mess and the seats had to install in a certain order otherwise I pinched my hand too much and had to break a sweat to get them in, but it did work all with independent installs.

 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member

• Jan 4, 2010

• #3

Well....sometimes you don't. You use a third row, or get a really wide vehicle. That's why i loathe a lot of the SUV's because even though they seem all big and roomy, the width in terms of carseat placement is not much better than an average sedan. And, the problem is, in many 3-row SUV's, you have to choose between USING the 3rd row for seating, or folding it down for storage/cargo space, and if you USE it, you have to access it, which generally means giving up one ofthe 2nd row seats to fold down...
That's why you just get the damn minivan, lol.

 

todzwife

New member

• Jan 4, 2010

• #4

bobandjess99 said:

Well....sometimes you don't. You use a third row, or get a really wide vehicle. That's why i loathe a lot of the SUV's because even though they seem all big and roomy, the width in terms of carseat placement is not much better than an average sedan. And, the problem is, in many 3-row SUV's, you have to choose between USING the 3rd row for seating, or folding it down for storage/cargo space, and if you USE it, you have to access it, which generally means giving up one ofthe 2nd row seats to fold down...
That's why you just get the damn minivan, lol.

Click to expand...

Oh my gosh, you TOTALLY just said EXACTLY what I was thinking.
DH thought that getting this "bigger" vehicle would fix all the installation problems, and yes, they ARE easier to get in, I'm still only able to use the narrowest seats available!
And if we add the hypothetical 4th child (which is still up in the air, and depends on how the rest of this pregnancy goes and the temperment of the next child) we'll have NO CHOICE but to use the third row and have no cargo space. Blah!

 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician

• Jan 4, 2010

• #5

Best day of my life was when I gave up the Rendezvous SUV to get my Honda Odyssey

Anyway, yeah, mostly you just don't get three big seats across easily, you get Radians and Parkways and scraped knuckles.

Congrats on the new car, anyway

 

3plus2isme

New member

• Jan 4, 2010

• #6

You find the perfect carseats or you simply don't. We have 3 pretty easily in the back of a civic - it's not ideal (hence why our fullsize f150 is now my family vehicle -- we are *not* minivan people and the truck fits us beautifully lol) but if we need to run somewhere in the car it does work. 2 radians and a safeseat. Once DS1 is out of the XT he'll be in a PWSG which fits just the same.

 

Twinklefae

New member

• May 5, 2010

• #7

A lot of the time you don't - I'm counting down the days til I can buy a minivan, any minivan, rather than install my 3 across again.

 

Katy

New member

• May 5, 2010

• #8

I agree somewhat with the puzzling. I've tried many different carseat combinations in about 8 vehicles going 3 across. Including the GN and the Apex. Some combinations just don't work, others it just depends on where you place the seats. Most recently I tried an apex 65 with a snugride and a safeseat. It would only work with the apex in the middle. Also if you install the middle first than the outboards it works better than moving right to left ect. TBH I've had more issues with 2 RN and a SR, than a SR, RD and GN. Changing positions in the cars can make a huge difference!!

 

M

Maedze

New member

• May 5, 2010

• #9

Agreed...you don't

 

canadiangie

New member

• May 5, 2010

• #10

A successful 3 across is doable in a lot of SUV's these days, but it requires just the right combo of seats, and tends to mean the oldest needs to stay in a 5 point harness for as long as humanly possible. Tends to mean a Radian is in the mix, later turning into two, and sometimes even three. A good seat combo for the long haul is a Radian/FrontierXT/Radian set-up...

An enormous percentage of my customers come to me looking for help with a 3 across... I can count on one hand the number of minivan families I've worked with. Crossovers and big SUV's are really popular in my neck of the woods. So is having three children, it seems.

 

4boysmom

New member

• May 5, 2010

• #11

Um yeah you don't.. we upgraded from a 2000 Quest to a 2002 Oddy because we needed to do 3 across. 8k later and honestly we didn't gain anything. 3 across is still a b!tch and a half using sgpw radian sgpw...

 

skitle1802

New member

• May 5, 2010

• #12

I have 5 kids, a F150 supercrew and a Suburban 8pass. I don't have any complaints over seating positions. The F150 fits anything I have 3 across, both rf and ff and all combos. If I wanted to I could fit my FR80/MA(ff or rf)/RA50(ff or rf) in the second row and 2 boosters in the third row. Yes its very tight in the third row but you do have options.

 

V

vamom

New member

• May 9, 2010

• #13

I have a prius with a britax husky in the center. I was surprised an dpleased when I was able to install a ff radian one each side

 

Judi

CPST/Firefighter

• May 9, 2010

• #14

You do, when you get a little ol' Malibu.