Question FF almost 3 year old or no back booster 7 year old?

mlohry

New member
So, we are considering getting a Prius this fall or winter as a 2nd car that would be used for long trips to help save gas coming back to visit family.

A tech on here was so nice to take pics of some seats for me in her Prius. Sounds like I would have to do RN for my DD and a BB for my 8 year old. The issue is that if the RN RF was passenger side, that seat would have to be pushed all the way forward, not so safe or comfortable. So I would consider FF, my DD would be at least 32 mos by then or we could put the RN in the middle allowing a little extra room for the driver passenger seat, but then my 7 year old would have to be in a no back booster, probably another BB.

So these are the options:
FF RN, BB and HB TB or
BB, RF RN and BB

Who would be better off, the toddler FF or the 7 year old in a no back booster? To be considered, there would be sleeping going on too.
 
ADS

mlohry

New member
Jessica61624 said:
What about a vest for the 7 yr old? I see those recommend all the time on here.

My concern would still be his side impact protection and what if he fell asleep. I guess the Prius has side air bags, but I am used to him being in a booster with sides.
 

Jessica61624

New member
mlohry said:
My concern would still be his side impact protection and what if he fell asleep. I guess the Prius has side air bags, but I am used to him being in a booster with sides.

I feel the same way. What Bb are you going to use?
 

mlohry

New member
I meant the Bubblebum, for their narrowness. Not much side impact protection and no where to rest the head with those.

If I use a BB for my oldest and have him in the middle and he falls asleep, he can lean his head on the HB TB or the RN if I would FF it.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
I would put a 7 year old in the center in a backless over FF a 2 year old, especially if there was a FF CR to rest a head on when sleeping, though neither choice is ideal. That would be my personal choice.

However, I would not use a BubbleBum for a primary use booster or for long, long trips for a kid whose feet didn't touch the floor. I'd be concerned about slumping due to lack of leg support. Though perhaps you could rig a foot support with a sleeping bag or whatever, to solve that problem. HMmmm.
 

mlohry

New member
ketchupqueen said:
I would put a 7 year old in the center in a backless over FF a 2 year old, especially if there was a FF CR to rest a head on when sleeping, though neither choice is ideal. That would be my personal choice.

However, I would not use a BubbleBum for a primary use booster or for long, long trips for a kid whose feet didn't touch the floor. I'd be concerned about slumping due to lack of leg support. Though perhaps you could rig a foot support with a sleeping bag or whatever, to solve that problem. HMmmm.

The problem with the 7 year old in the muddle would still be, then I couldn't RF the 2 year old, because I could only fit the RN RF in the middle seat... Sure not the ideal car for us.

Is there any other seat, like our Scenera or a CCO that would still give us a narrow seat, but allow it to be RF behind a driver or passenger side seat? How about that on side air, the Data said it was narrow at the base.

How long of a torso does the CCO fit RF, DD is short.

My oldest, might be close to partially 5 stepping in the Prius, so the BB might be ok for him, otherwise I would for sure put something on the floor for his feet.

Ideally I would like to find a sear that could RF my youngest, on the passenger side, BB my oldest in the middle and use a HB booster for my 7 year old, while still allowing the driver and passenger front seat riders to not be dangerously close to the air bags.
 

Pixels

New member
My 3yo has outgrown the Coccoro. It's a really short seat.

The RSTV provides side impact protection like a harness does. It just lacks the shell. It's a pain to use on a daily basis, but if this is an occasional use vehicle, it might be worth it for you.
 

momtoo3

Well-known member
Will the MA70 fit on the passenger side? I know it is wider but the way it sits up on the base makes it puzzle better for me. I can get 3 across in my van with it in the 3rd row which is really narrow. I have never seen the inside of a Prius though. I just got the MA70 for ds3 because I needed a 3 across seat that also gave front to back space. I gained 5 inches front to back over our TFP. The TFP took up less space than the RN so I would imagine if it fit 3 across it would work behind the passenger seat.
 

mlohry

New member
momtoo3 said:
Will the MA70 fit on the passenger side? I know it is wider but the way it sits up on the base makes it puzzle better for me. I can get 3 across in my van with it in the 3rd row which is really narrow. I have never seen the inside of a Prius though. I just got the MA70 for ds3 because I needed a 3 across seat that also gave front to back space. I gained 5 inches front to back over our TFP. The TFP took up less space than the RN so I would imagine if it fit 3 across it would work behind the passenger seat.

Huh, I sure could try it. My mom has a Vibe which is the same length across so I could put it in and see. I just want to get DD closer to 30 lbs ideally to FF her and that could be a while. I would then get a RA to FF her. I wish a store around her had a CCO to try her in.

Regarding the RSTV, I could try one, I have never seen one. I am not sure DS would go for wearing one, he was so happy to get out of the 5 pt harness and him crabby in the car is no fun!!
 

beetlemama

New member
I'm going to throw another wrench in your thoughts. I know you weren't looking for opinions on what vehicle but SIL has a prius, but doesn't use it for longer trips because the highway gas mileage is only so-so. For stop and go local driving it's great since the way a hybrid works is that the battery recharges using the energy from braking. For highway driving, when you aren't braking frequently the gas mileage isn't bad but isn't great. MILs civic, which has a wider backseat than SILs prius, gets better highway mileage than the prius. And I have two kids and we borrowed the civic for a 10 day road trip last year. We very comfortably fit all four of us with our luggage and double stroller in and MIL sat in between the two radians a few times. If you're looking for good mileage for trips I would look into the civic instead of the prius.
 

bnsnyde

New member
What is the definition of side impact protection?
I am just envisioning a car slamming into the child, busting through the door and such. I don't see that a vest would offer much of anything. So we stopped using the Safe-Guard Go without a shell, but I honestly don't see a seat on the market that would seem to offer much side-impact protection, in any country.

I went with Recaros and Radians, or seats with steel bar/side cushions because that's the best I could find.

Or maybe if a car slams into the seat it's not good news anyway.
 

mlohry

New member
beetlemama said:
I'm going to throw another wrench in your thoughts. I know you weren't looking for opinions on what vehicle but SIL has a prius, but doesn't use it for longer trips because the highway gas mileage is only so-so. For stop and go local driving it's great since the way a hybrid works is that the battery recharges using the energy from braking. For highway driving, when you aren't braking frequently the gas mileage isn't bad but isn't great. MILs civic, which has a wider backseat than SILs prius, gets better highway mileage than the prius. And I have two kids and we borrowed the civic for a 10 day road trip last year. We very comfortably fit all four of us with our luggage and double stroller in and MIL sat in between the two radians a few times. If you're looking for good mileage for trips I would look into the civic instead of the prius.

We have not ruled out getting a Civic either. When I look up stats on the Civic and Prius, it says the back seat are the same dimensions. Do you know what kind of gas mileage you got with the Civic, Hwy driving?
 

beetlemama

New member
I don't remember the exact number, but it was over 30, closer to 35 mpg (possibly even slightly over 35, it was over a year ago and a borrowed car!). And you're in luck that SIL and I both have radians so I have seen RF radians in both the civic and the prius. In the civic there is more front to back room with an installed radian.
As a side note, I've sat in front of RF radians in the prius, civic, outback, volvo S40 and beetle. The civic was by far the best followed by the s40, the prius and beetle were about the same (not great) and the outback was the worst. In the civic my 6' tall husband was able to sit comfortably in front of the RF radian. I'm 5'1" and had her RF behind me from NJ to KY and there were inches between the back of my seat and the radian. It fit nicely in the volvo S40, but not as nicely as the civic and the civic has a wider backseat. In the prius and beetle it pushes the passenger seat up quite a bit leaving the passenger closer to the windshield and airbag than I like. In the outback DH couldn't fold up tight enough to even get into the car with a RF radian (although I can't verify that wasn't due to a poor install as BIL installed it and I don't trust his installs so it may have been loose, which would take up a lot more room than a tightly installed seat).
 

mlohry

New member
beetlemama said:
I don't remember the exact number, but it was over 30, closer to 35 mpg (possibly even slightly over 35, it was over a year ago and a borrowed car!). And you're in luck that SIL and I both have radians so I have seen RF radians in both the civic and the prius. In the civic there is more front to back room with an installed radian.
As a side note, I've sat in front of RF radians in the prius, civic, outback, volvo S40 and beetle. The civic was by far the best followed by the s40, the prius and beetle were about the same (not great) and the outback was the worst. In the civic my 6' tall husband was able to sit comfortably in front of the RF radian. I'm 5'1" and had her RF behind me from NJ to KY and there were inches between the back of my seat and the radian. It fit nicely in the volvo S40, but not as nicely as the civic and the civic has a wider backseat. In the prius and beetle it pushes the passenger seat up quite a bit leaving the passenger closer to the windshield and airbag than I like. In the outback DH couldn't fold up tight enough to even get into the car with a RF radian (although I can't verify that wasn't due to a poor install as BIL installed it and I don't trust his installs so it may have been loose, which would take up a lot more room than a tightly installed seat).

Good info, thanks, guess we would just have to try seats out. When I have done crazy 3 acrosses in our van, it's always what I didn't think would work, which does :)
 

Pixels

New member
The Prius is 51/48. The Civic hybrid is 44/44. The difference between 44 and 48 mpg is less than 200 gallons over 100,000 miles. Even at $4/gallon, that's less than $1,000 over the life of the vehicle.

I've gotten over 40 in stop and go (mostly stop, half the tank I didn't even get my foot off the clutch) with a fully loaded vehicle. Not bad for a non-hybrid vehicle rated about 30 mpg.
 

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