recommendations for honda civic pls

cathy123

New member
Hello,

Due to a recent move to Canada, I'm currently in the market for a carseat for my 4 year old daughter who weighs 37lbs & is about 41.5" tall. We have a 2009 Honda Civic (leather seats). Ideally we'd like to keep her in a forward-facing car seat that could recline as she still naps a lot during car trips & we'll be making the journey from Montreal to Toronto once/twice a month.

My husband likes the look of the Britax Advocate 65CS as it reclines & he likes the look of the safety features. Would this be suitable for our car? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Cathy :)
 
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snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
At your daughter's age and size, I'd suggest looking at the Frontier XT if you can find one in stock. It's going to have more of a natural recline, and much higher top harness slots than the Advocate. Your dd isn't super tall for her age, so she'd still have some growing room in it, but it is amongst the shortest of the infant/child seats out there and for families who will never use the rf'ing aspect of a seat, I can't see many situations where I'd suggest buying a $400 seat.

Usually at that age kids tend to do ok in most seats. If you decide to go with an infant/child seat, then the EFTA and the TF both will last longer by height than the Britax, and they both have a good recline to them. I know my kids never had difficulty sleeping in either of them. The TF will have a lower profile than the EFTA so that would make loading and unloading easier.

But for her age and what you're looking for in terms of recline, I think you'll find the Frontier XT to be the most bang for your buck.
 

mommycat

Well-known member
Hi!

The Advocate is probably fine but it is $$ and seriously wide - you could get basically the same seat without the "airbags" if you bought the Boulevard, or even the Marathon which is quite similar. Another option I believe would be the Evenflo Triumph65 or Evenflo Momentum. I think they have different recline positions.

Honestly though, at your DD's age she could probably sleep quite comfortably in a number of seats, even without additional recline. My older DS has slept comfortable while FF in a Civic (2001 and 2007) in a number of seats, without headslump, including the classic Marathon (installed fully upright), old style 3in1 (base removed), Radian, TrueFit, and now in boosters as well (Turbobooster and ParkwaySG). DS2 sleeps comfortably in the Graco MyRide, which installs VERY reclined in most vehicles when FF. The only one we had headslump issues with in this car has been the Graco Nautilus.

Are you planning to have another baby (or already have one) to hand the convertible down to? If not, it might make more sense to spend the money on a combination seat, although they do sit more upright and can be a bit harder to sleep in. The Nauti has reports of headslump in some cases and it definitely did in our Civic, so I would avoid that, but maybe the Britax Frontier would work better. I don't remember seeing (as many?) complaints about headslump in that. I installed the original Frontier in the Civic once just to try and it was a nice install, not sure about the new XT but I would think it would be similar. The Evenflo Maestro is the only other combination I ever really recommend but if you are willing to spend the extra money I prefer the features and the feel of the FrontierXT.

Oh and another note - some seats have different recline positions but they are to be used only to make the seat sit flush against the vehicle seat back and should not be changed for comfort especially during use. Not sure if the EF or Britax seats have any rules about this. So check that in the manual before you commit. :thumbsup:

ETA I type too much, and too slowly. Good points made by Trudy. :D
 

cathy123

New member
Thanks Trudy & Cat for your thoughts & suggestions. It's greatly appreciated.

I will look into EFTA & TF as suggested by Trudy, as well as the Frontier. Any thoughts about the Frontier XT vs XT SICT?

Cat, yes we are planning on having another baby so we would be happy to spend $$ on a seat that could be passed down. Oops, I guess I should have mentioned that in my OP....

I'm off to look up these suggestions now...

Cathy
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
I will look into EFTA & TF as suggested by Trudy, as well as the Frontier. Any thoughts about the Frontier XT vs XT SICT?

The SICT adds the white side pillows to the side of the seat that the Advocate has. There is likely more benefit to passengers seated beside the seat than to the actual occupant of the seat, but Britax says those side pillows decrease the forces to the child by 50%. That is their own internal testing number though, so I'd treat it as an advertising feature without necessarily considering it as a fact.

I tend to look at the side pillows as peace of mind. They may make a difference in less than 5% of collisions if I were to make an educated guess. That number may be even lower, but still - they make the seat much wider and with the Frontier XT already being a wide seat, the only reason I'd pay for the extra pillows would be if you regularly had passengers back there without a booster or carseat. And then you'd have to consider the extra width it would take up...

What I always tell people when they're comparing a blvd and an Advocate is that there is the possibility that it might make a difference if they happen to get in just the "right" type of collision, and if they're the type of person who would always worry about "what if" if they hadn't bought the seat with the side pillows, then it's worth the extra money to give themselves peace of mind. Otherwise? I don't consider them a necessity, that's for sure.
 

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