Question What would you do?

bekah · Jun 6, 2011

This is a big long but I'd love any advice.

We have three kids, age 1, 3.5, 5.5. We have two cars, Sienna and Civic. In our Civic we have a Recaro Vivo and a Cosco Scenera. In our Sienna we have a Fronteir, EFTA and Marathon.

In the next two years both the Vivo and the EFTA will expire.

I am wondering what you would buy to replace them. The 5.5 year old sits in the Fronteir and the Vivo, the 3.5 year old sits in the EFTA and Scenera. Currently, the 1 yo cannot go in the Civic because we have no seat for her, though I could install her SR35 in a pinch.

I would love to have 3 across but am not sure that is possible in a Civic, especially with a booster. I just like the option of any three of the kids being able to sit in the Civic, not just the oldest tow. Also, my 3.5 yo will outgrow the Scenera by torso height in about 1-1.5 inches. I'd like to find a fairly cheap way to keep her harnessed in that seat. Why does she have to have such a tall torso! My 5.5 yo JUST outgrew the Scenera by torso height a few months ago.

Jillybeans5 · Jun 6, 2011

Re: What would you do.

I don't have any experience with civics, but the first thing that came to mind was a Maestro for the 3 or 5 yr old to use when you don't have all 3, the scenera RFing for your 1 yr old and a RSTV for the 3 or 5 yr old when you have all 3 kids in the car. I don't know if the seat is wide enough but you might try Maestro, RFing Scenera, Harmony Dreamtime HBB. That would be a pretty narrow combo and pretty inexpensive too.

bekah · Jun 6, 2011

Re: What would you do.

Jillybeans5 said:
I don't have any experience with civics, but the first thing that came to mind was a Maestro for the 3 or 5 yr old to use when you don't have all 3, the scenera RFing for your 1 yr old and a RSTV for the 3 or 5 yr old when you have all 3 kids in the car. I don't know if the seat is wide enough but you might try Maestro, RFing Scenera, Harmony Dreamtime HBB. That would be a pretty narrow combo and pretty inexpensive too.

Thank you! I was thinking the Maestro as well as the RF'ing Scenera. What is an RSTV?

Jillybeans5 · Jun 6, 2011

Ride Safer Travel Vest. It is only as wide as your child so would fit in very tight spots but would be a bit of a pain if you needed them all 3 in that car on a daily basis. For occasional use or travel it would be great. You would probably try that if you find other seats just won't fit.\

ETA: I also read that the Harmony Dreamtime HBB is the narrowest HBB out right now and it fits smaller booster riders well.

christineka · Jun 6, 2011

I have not been successful at getting any of my boosters in a 3 across in my civic. I've chosen to put in a booster (vivo) that my oldest 4 children can ride in. Then I have a rfing seat that the youngest two can ride in. The complete air works better, but I had to put it in the van. I have a radian in the civic right now. Fortunately, my 4 and nearly 2 year olds can use the same harness slot on the radian.

If I ever wanted to put two booster riders in the civic, we'd remove the radian and put in a booster.

jsta1005 · Jun 6, 2011

I had a HB Turbo in my dads civic last week in a 3 across. It was HB Turboo Booster, RF Coccoro, and RFing Radian. The civic is usually pretty easy to get 3 seats in. I've had lots of other combos but this is the only one with a booster.

If you got 1 radian you would have lots more options of other seats to use. I would pass the Scenera down to the 1 year old and get a Radian for the 3 year old, and some kind of narrowish booster for the 5 year old!

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask more questions if you need to.

Pixels · Jun 6, 2011

What year Civic? It makes a big difference. For example, I have a 2001-2005 generation, and I believe Christineka does as well. Quite nearly impossible to get three across. However, the 2006 is pretty 3-across friendly.

christineka · Jun 6, 2011

Pixels said:
What year Civic? It makes a big difference. For example, I have a 2001-2005 generation, and I believe Christineka does as well. Quite nearly impossible to get three across. However, the 2006 is pretty 3-across friendly.

Mine's a 2006 and I have not found it 3 across friendly at all. Maybe it depends on trim level. I think ours is the basic 4-door model. The sides of the back seat curve and I just can't get a seat to fit right while curved.

I've been able to get 3 across with combos of radians, Complete air or Marathon. The CA and radians fit nicely under the MA.

bekah · Jun 6, 2011

Pixels said:
What year Civic? It makes a big difference. For example, I have a 2001-2005 generation, and I believe Christineka does as well. Quite nearly impossible to get three across. However, the 2006 is pretty 3-across friendly.

2002

Thanks for the info. I will probably just get something both dd1 and ds can ride in and then turn the Scenera rear-facing when needed. I'd like to get something that's super easy, quick to install with an adjustable harness height (from the front) so that it can fit any kids who is forward-facing.

christineka · Jun 6, 2011

bekah said:
2002

Thanks for the info. I will probably just get something both dd1 and ds can ride in and then turn the Scenera rear-facing when needed. I'd like to get something that's super easy, quick to install with an adjustable harness height (from the front) so that it can fit any kids who is forward-facing.

CA or TF

Pixels · Jun 6, 2011

christineka said:
Mine's a 2006 and I have not found it 3 across friendly at all. Maybe it depends on trim level. I think ours is the basic 4-door model. The sides of the back seat curve and I just can't get a seat to fit right while curved.

I've been able to get 3 across with combos of radians, Complete air or Marathon. The CA and radians fit nicely under the MA.

See, I can't even get a Marathon and Radian side by side.

Pixels · Jun 6, 2011

christineka said:
CA or TF

or the Frontier, which OP already owns. You could move that to the Civic and get something else to replace it in the van

bnsnyde · Jun 6, 2011

We have a 2005 Civic and ages newborn, 1.5, 3.5 and 4.5. Only 2 kids can ride at a time and I don't like this! Right now we have no RF seats in there.

We have a Frontier85 that the 3 and 4-year-old can use. And there is a FF Radian (or Prosport Harnessed seat) that the 3-year-old can use, but not the older child because of Safestop and/or Latch.

I can stick a RF Scenera in there if I had to for the babies. They have never gone in this car yet.

So, we have to use the van for 3 or more kids. Right now anyway, only the oldest two are in activities on weekends, so I can take them and leave the babies with dada.

What I want to do is get a new car, lol. Maybe when they are older, and the car is older, we can, who knows.

bekah · Jun 6, 2011

Do any of you know where I can find the width of the Harmony booster mentioned above?

Question What would you do?

bekah

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Jillybeans5

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jsta1005

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