Two RF seats in Mazda3 sedan??

We have our 2 year old DS in a rearfacing Marathon in the center position in our Mazda3 sedan (04 with side impact air curtains). #2 will be along in April, and we need to acquire a new seat for the infant. We would like to keep our #1 rearfacing as long as possible, as he weighs just 23 lbs. The Mazda3 is typically driven by 1 adult without passengers (we have a CRV as a larger family car and I'm not concerned about getting the seats in there). Both possible drivers are on the short side (5'4" and 5'8", mostly the shorter). At one point I had the Marathon installed RF behind the drivers seat and didn't have a problem.

What seats should we consider for the infant? I'm leaning towards some sort of bucket, but hated the Graco Snugride we used for #1. I am interested in the larger buckets, since if our #1 is any predictor, we could get a lot of use out of a bucket that goes above 30 lbs. Is there any way that we can fit the bucket in the center position with the Marathon outboard? Will these larger buckets (I'm thinking about Chaperone or the Keyfit 30) fit on the outboard passenger side OK? We usually don't NEED someone in the passenger seat of that car but it does happen rarely. Should we put the infant in the MA and get a slimmer convertible seat for our #1? We'd have to get another infant seat for our other car in that case which seems less than ideal if we can avoid it (we have a Blvd there now).

Any experience with two RF seats in the Mazda3 would be welcome.

I know there are people on this board with Mazda 3s so they will probably be better able to answer fit.

I'm just bumping so your question gets answered.

You shouldn't have any problems at all with two RF seats in that car. I would put the more upright child (your two year old who doesn't need the full infant recline) behind the taller adult, that is if one of you drives more often then the other. That way you have more room for the infant seat behind the smaller adult. You may or may not be able to get two seats next to each other, as I have never tried. However you may be able to if you want to. We will have our RF infant behind the passenger side when he arrives since there is more room for him there.

I have never had an infant seat in my Mazda 3, but have had a true fit with out the head rest on at a full infant recline. So I see no problem with an infant seat fitting.

I am not up to date on the infant seats, but many on here are and I am sure one will chime in soon on that question.

Thanks for the response. I recall that it seemed tough to get the Snugride installed in the center without having it touch the backs of the seats, but it's hard to remember. Hopefully someone with more infant seat experience can chime in with any suggestions.

We have a Mazda 3. We have had a EFT and a Snugride rf behind the passenger seat with plenty of room for me to ride. I am short though. We even had the radian rf behind the passenger seat, but the front seat was NOT comfortable. We only did it for 1 ride...

I don't think you'll have any trouble as long as you put your older child behind the driver more upright.

I think the truefit would be a great choice because you can take off the headrest. By the time you need to put it back on, your LO will be able to sit very upright!

We can't fit any passengers with two seats with LATCh. If you want to fit a passenger, you'll have to do a seatbelt install and scootch the seats way over to the sides to have room for someone in the middle. We even had the Radian and ETA and there is still no room for a passenger if they are both in with LATCH.

Has anyone been able to fit three carseats in a Mazda 3 *crosses fingers for a yes*