Frontier or Radian XT for 5 year old?

I looked back at DD sitting in her Cowmooflage Marathon and realized that she's just about too tall for it. Her shoulders are right at the slots and her head just looks to far above the shell. So we'd like to keep her harnessed for awhile and are debating between the two seats.

Some background, we currently have 2 Marathons, 1 Radian XT, a Roundabout, HB Turbobooster and Grace safeseat. We are expecting #3 in Nov. DD sits in the Radian in our other car ('06 Prius) and loves it so I was thinking of just getting her another Radian. When baby comes, we're hoping to configure the carseats in the Prius FF MA, FF Radian, Infant Safeseat. Only issue is we're in the midst of looking for a new car and we've narrowed it down to the Mazda5, Odyssey or Honda CRV. We're leaning toward the Mazda5. DD would be sitting in the rear seat in the Mazda5 and I've heard Radian's don't install well FF there. So then I was thinking the Frontier would work in the back or maybe Graco Nautilus, not sure if the Nautilus will give us anymore time in the 5 point harness than the Marathon. Basically if we decide on the Mazda5, we can't get the Radian but if we decide on the CR-V we'll need another Radian.....so can't decide what to do.... We may need another Radian for the Prius at some point down the road though, so that's another thought. Any suggestions?

she doesn't need the RFing feature so I personally would go with the frontier. The frontier XT. Try her out in it in the store.

No experience with the Frontier, so cant comment on that vs Radian, but since you mentioned a Nautilus, just wanted to say that my 5 year old has already outgrown the harness straps on the Radian XTSL, but still fits and has a bit of growing room on the straps in the Nautilus...so if she has more strap room in the Radian than the Marathon, she'll likely have more strap room in the Nautilus than the Marathon.

Is the Mazda 5 going to replace the Prius or be in addition to it? You will not be able to fit a forward facing Marathon, forward facing Roundabout and Safeseat in the Prius.

How old is your middle child, and how big?

I wouldn't buy a radian for a child outgrowing the MA. There isn't that much more harness height. I would probably buy a maestro if you need a narrower seat. A frontier or nautilus if you don't.

Thanks for all the info so far.

mkmama: good to know the Nautilus has more harness height. :thumbsup: I'll definitely have to check it out.

Maedze: Sorry, I meant FF Radian, not roundabout in the middle. We're keeping the Prius. I currently have a Civic we're looking to replace. We've done 3 across before in the Prius, but with a turbobooster instead of the safeseat. Not 100% sure it'll fit. If it doesn't we'll probably do Radian, Safeseat, Radian. DC2 is 2 yo 34 lbs.

DahliaRW: I'll check out the maestro too. Thanks!

I'm a bit confused about the harness height. I looked up the measurements and the Marathon and Radian and they seem to have pretty close harness heights. But the Radian manual says that the shoulders can be above until their ears are above the shell or 53" tall? Is that correct? It says the Marathon is good until 49" or 1" above the shell, so technically the Radian works for longer?

It seems like the Nautilus doesn't give much more harness height, but the Frontier's looking good. I'm hoping to be able to do 3 across so hoping DD hasn't outgrown her Radian yet.

The top slots of the Nautilus are about 1.5" taller than the Radian and 2" over the Marathon. That's really quite a bit.

chickabiddy said:

The top slots of the Nautilus are about 1.5" taller than the Radian and 2" over the Marathon. That's really quite a bit.

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Thanks, we'll definitely check out the Nautilus. The measurements I'm finding for everything are different wherever I look. How does the Nautilus do in 3 across situations?

We do currently have a Radian XT and I was wondering about the harness height on that. Can the child go over the straps as long as their ears are under the shell as it states according to the manual? Thanks!

turtlejd said:

Thanks, we'll definitely check out the Nautilus. The measurements I'm finding for everything are different wherever I look. How does the Nautilus do in 3 across situations?

We do currently have a Radian XT and I was wondering about the harness height on that. Can the child go over the straps as long as their ears are under the shell as it states according to the manual? Thanks!

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Short answer is, yes he/she can.

Hi there! I'm in the same boat as you. I'm expecting d#3 in December, looking into getting the Mazda5 sometime closer to the December but need a seat now for my 4.75 yr. old and would ideally like it to be narrow since dh will keep his Tacoma and will need to do 3 across.

I'm looking at getting the Nauti since I've read it fits nicely in the 3rd row of the Mazda5 then the Radian will end up in the truck.

I'll be interested to know what you decide to purchase. I'm interested in the Maestro too but not so sure about comfort.

2sweetgirls said:

Hi there! I'm in the same boat as you. I'm expecting d#3 in December, looking into getting the Mazda5 sometime closer to the December but need a seat now for my 4.75 yr. old and would ideally like it to be narrow since dh will keep his Tacoma and will need to do 3 across.

I'm looking at getting the Nauti since I've read it fits nicely in the 3rd row of the Mazda5 then the Radian will end up in the truck.

I'll be interested to know what you decide to purchase. I'm interested in the Maestro too but not so sure about comfort.

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I'm really considering the Nautilus at the moment just because it's cheaper. The main problem with my decision is that we're in the process of deciding what car to buy. If I was certain I was going with the Mazda5 or a larger minivan, it would be no problem but I keep thinking I can drive myself crazy with a Honda CR-V for a few years and then just be happy with the smaller car. I'm quite sure we'd need another Radian if we went the 3-across route.

Just wanted to add that I just test drove the Mazda5 today. I loved it, but I definitely couldn't fit all pregnant in the back row with the 2nd row all the way back. My mom fit fine, but she's 5' tall and tiny. There's also a huge lack of trunk space, but I think we can make do because our Prius does have a big enough trunk for when we want to take the double stroller anywhere. My Maclaren Techno just fit in the back with all the seats up. So, I'll probably go with the Nautilus since it installs well in the back. May try to run out and check out the CR-V this weekend just to make sure the Mazda5's the better choice.