Question Mazda 3 sedan what kind of car seat will fit?

Hi I'm looking to upgrade our son to a convertible car seat. We have a 2008 Mazda 3 sedan, which kind of car seat will fit the best? I was looking at the safety first air complete but it seems quite big. My son is 3 1/2 months, about 26-27 inches and weighing around 18lbs. He will soon outgrow his infant seat. Safety is my biggest concern with a car seat. Please help thanks

I drive a 2006 Mazda 3 hatchback. I had a Britax Boulevard installed rear-facing in there for a long time, it fit great. I would be the Britaxes would work even better now because the new generation seats take up even less front to back space.

I have also installed a True Fit rear-facing and it worked well also.

hopefully you'll see this (i know it was an older post), but what kind of infant seat were you using? i drive the same '08 mazda 3 and it never occured to me that i'd have a problem finding a car seat to fit. but here i am five days before my due date only to find that in order to get my baby trend car seat in i have to have my seats so far forward that the car is undriveable. or i can put the car seat on the passenger side, but that makes the front seat uninhabitable. i know that convertable car seats take up less room (depth wise), but for a minnesota winter you really have to have a removeable infant type of seat. i'd really appreciate some input. thanks!

I have a 2004 Mazda 3i and the Combi Connection infant car seat fits nicely. Combi discontinued the Connection but you can still buy it from online retailers new and they do make a Shuttle infant car seat should fit as it is similar in size to the Connection. Also the Evenflo Embrace and Graco SnugRider are both smaller infant seats and should be able to fit nicely as well.

If you still have your Baby Trend seat, have you tried installing it with the seatbelt in the center position? I'm not sure if it will install tightly with the seatbelt in that position or not, but it it does, might that allow you to have the handle down and still have the front seats in an appropriate position?

Did you try using your knees to push the base towards the back of your vehicle when tightening the belt? That will often increase the amount of room available to the front passenger by a few inches. You'll also gain more leg room if you make sure the passenger seat isn't reclined. :thumbsup:

As for alternative seats, I have seen the Graco Snugride in there before. You'd have to plan to leave the handle up pretty much and you'd still lose some front seat space. I've also seen the Peg Perego in there. Assuming you're in Canada, I'd plan to put the handle in the rebound position. (I'm not sure if that position is approved for use in the US or not.)

Whatever seat you use, you'll want to be sure that you're pressing the base towards the seatback when tightening up the belt just to maximize the amount of room available for the front passenger. If the baby trend doesn't install tightly with the seatbelt in the center position of your car, then I know that the Graco seats will install fine with a seatbelt in that position anyways.

cmcki737 said:

I have a 2004 Mazda 3i and the Combi Connection infant car seat fits nicely. Combi discontinued the Connection but you can still buy it from online retailers new and they do make a Shuttle infant car seat should fit as it is similar in size to the Connection. Also the Evenflo Embrace and Graco SnugRider are both smaller infant seats and should be able to fit nicely as well.

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The EVenflo Embrace takes up considerably more room than the Baby Trend - the handle must be down in the vehicle with an additional 1.5" of clearance between the back of the handle and the front vehicle seat. The Baby Trend handle doesn't extend very far beyond the farthest point the shell reaches out so it takes up considerably less room. The Embrace is probably the biggest seat out there in terms of the room it takes up front-to-back just because of the handle position and extra clearance required.

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For the purposes of further information on this thread relevant to the OP's question in case someone else comes across this thread in the future, the My Ride and True Fit both fit great in the Mazda 3 sport. The Sedan has more interior room so you can count on them fitting fine in there as well.

I know of theEmbraces handle requirement but I have installed it several times in the center position to transport my friends son and it has fit nicely. It might be because it is a relatively low profile seat and it works with the angles of the front seats but it was never a problem.