Question Which car seat for an Elantra?

I'm thinking about getting a car seat for DD1 to leave installed in our 2nd car, a 2008 Hyundai Elantra sedan. Would you recommend the Nautilus or the Frontier 85. Which installs better in this car? She rides outboard driver side (DD2 is RF passenger side so tall people can still drive).

I know you'll want her stats - She is about 3.7 yo. Her weight is in the low 30s (~33?) and height in the low 40s (~41.5?). She has generally worn a size larger in shirt than pants and I have been told she has a long torso. I would like the additional height of the FR85, but she loves her nautilus in our primary car.

Would you buy a seat for this 2nd car in which she rarely rides? We will have to do it by the time she starts school next year anyway and a couple times recently I had to install seats in it late at night and ran into some problems so I was thinking, maybe we should bite the bullet and do it sooner. We might need a little time to save anyway so I could start looking for deals now. I haven't made a final decision (or talked to DH about it really ), but am thinking this might be a good idea.

Thanks!!!

In general, as long as your budget allows it, having a separate car seat for each vehicle the child rides in is preferable to having to reinstall it each time it switches vehicles. This greatly reduces the chance of installation errors.

My DH has a 05 Elantra, and although I've not tried either of those seats in it, the only issue I've found with the elantra and tall-shelled car seats is that the tether on them sometimes cannot be tightened enough. Tighening it all the way still leaves 1/2" of slack because the anchor is so close to the seatback. This totally depends on the car seat, though. Some are fine. Just something to check :thumbsup:

Other than that, either of these seats are great. My personal preference in that car outboard would probably be the Nautilus because of the higher sides leading me to believe she would be more protected with side-impacts. That's just me, though.

Either seat sounds like a great choice. I think it's going to be a matter of getting a Frontier85 to see which seat will give you the best fit.

Thank you for the responses!

thepote said:

In general, as long as your budget allows it, having a separate car seat for each vehicle the child rides in is preferable to having to reinstall it each time it switches vehicles. This greatly reduces the chance of installation errors.

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That's what I've been thinking. Plus, when I need to take seats out to haul something in our Forester, I'd only need to reinstall once, not twice.

thepote said:

My DH has a 05 Elantra, and although I've not tried either of those seats in it, the only issue I've found with the elantra and tall-shelled car seats is that the tether on them sometimes cannot be tightened enough. Tighening it all the way still leaves 1/2" of slack because the anchor is so close to the seatback. This totally depends on the car seat, though. Some are fine. Just something to check :thumbsup:

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Thanks for the tip!

thepote said:

Other than that, either of these seats are great. My personal preference in that car outboard would probably be the Nautilus because of the higher sides leading me to believe she would be more protected with side-impacts. That's just me, though.

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I hadn't realized the Nautilus has deeper sides. That's definitely an item for its pro list!

SusanMae said:

Either seat sounds like a great choice. I think it's going to be a matter of getting a Frontier85 to see which seat will give you the best fit.

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Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping someone might have tried it because I do not completely trust my assessment given I lack the expertise of most people on this site. But they do have the new 85s at BRU.

Thank you both!

So I haven't gotten around to getting this second seat, but I'm revisiting it after seeing that the daisy Nautilus is now only $139 at Walmart. Also, since some time has passed, maybe someone has tried the new FR85 in an elantra.

I'm torn between sticking with the same seat we have in our other car, the GN, and the added height of the new FR85. Plus now I'm hearing about this new combo seat that's coming out, I think it's by Recaro. Would you consider that one? TIA.

I have an 07 Hyundai Elantra and have a GN installed in there right now. I really love this car seat and it goes in the Elantra like a glove. I tried the regular Frontier in my Elantra and did not like how it installed but maybe the new one is better.

rosey2007 said:

I have an 07 Hyundai Elantra and have a GN installed in there right now. I really love this car seat and it goes in the Elantra like a glove. I tried the regular Frontier in my Elantra and did not like how it installed but maybe the new one is better.

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Thanks! I don't know how different the new FR is, but I know the old one also didn't install well in our other vehicle, the reason we got the GN for it. I haven't had a chance to try the new FR85 and prefer the increased height and more adjustable headrest/harness, but otherwise we are quite happy with the GN.