Best Convertible Seat for Small Compact Car

Hi,

I'm about to transition my son from his infant seat to a convertible seat. We already purchased a Recaro for our full sized pickup, which is what he's in a lot of the time, I have not installed it yet, planning to this weekend. However, our other vehicle is a small/older toyota corolla. We will need a convertible for this car as well, and my son will still be rear facing, hopefully, for as long as possible, but we will need something that is secure without LATCH.

Safety is my top priority, but it will need to fit in our compact little car.

Suggestions from those that have been through trying to find the best seat for a little car?

What is your child's height & weight? What is the year of your corolla? What is your budget?

My son is 6 months old, I'll have heights and weights on WEd (his 6 month appt), I'm not sure where he is at now, he is tall for his age.

It is a 2000 corolla, and I'm flexible on budget for the right seat.

Your seatbelts lock, so any carseat will probably be a fairly easy install. And at six months he doesn't need a newborn angle, so most seats will fit front to back when upright. So if you love your Recaro then you can get another. Or I'd look into the Cosco Scenera ($45), Safety 1st Avenue ($90, if his torso is long enough), Evenflo Triumph Advance ($140-$180), Graco My Ride ($160), Learning Curve True Fit/True Fit Recline/True Fit Premier ($150-$225), Safety 1st Complete Air ($180). The Sunshine Kids Radians ($200-$300) are the only ones I'd be concerned about not fitting, really, but with a 40-45 pound rear facing weight limit I highly recommend them.

Wendy

irishmaji said:

Hi,

I'm about to transition my son from his infant seat to a convertible seat.... we will need something that is secure without LATCH....

Click to expand...

First of all, there's nothing magical about LATCH, and carseats are all made to install with the vehicle seatbelt as an alternative to LATCH.

I drive a '96 Corolla, and routinely transport my three kids in the back, so carseats definitely fit just fine in the car, even for three-across situations.

Seats that have worked RF in my Corolla:
- Alpha Omega (without the base)
- Britax Marathon and Wizard (predecessor of Boulevard)
- Radian

The Radian was harder to fit than the others, because it takes up a lot of front-to-back space -- I was only able to fit it in the center, protruding forward a bit between the front vehicle seats. In either outboard position, the vehicle front seats had to go all the way forward, and still didn't really make enough space for the Radian. However, we needed a Radian because it's a very narrow seat, and allowed a three-across installation. If you are going for extended RF, though, it's still worth considering, as some of the newer Radians have the highest RF limits now available.

Putting a single carseat in the back of a small car is simpler than a three-across situation, and I'm sure many other seats would fit, beyond the few seats I've tried.

Also note that you should eventually (when you put in a FF carseat) get tether anchors installed (the anchor that the long strap on the back of the carseat clips onto). I'm sure a 2000 would have the weld nuts in place, and you'd just need to get the anchor kit from the dealer (or have them install it).

Good point about using the top tether when the time comes way down the road to eventually forward face. The 2000 Corolla already has 3 factory equipped top tether anchors in the rear filler panel with no tether anchor retrofitting necessary. :thumbsup:

The Complete Air, Avenue, Scenera, and MyRide should all fit well, in my experience. I'm sure there are others but those are the ones I've put in Corollas of that era RF.