Would love advice on new seats

I haven't had to buy a carseat in almost 2 years, so I would LOVE some advice! This is such a wonderful forum, any advice is welcome!

We are expecting #3 in May and were recently in an accident with #'s 1 and 2 (Regent and Roundabout), so need new seats.

The goal is to fit 3 across in a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid.

For DS (almost 5, 46+" and 42 pounds), I am looking at the new Britax Frontier (depending on shipping date) or the Graco Nautilus. He's tall for his age, and seat depth is important since his legs fall asleep in the Radian we use for travel.

DD (2, 34ish", 32 pounds), was in a roundabout rear-facing in the accident. Since it was rear impact (spun around on an icy bridge on an interstate and hit rear of car on barrier), she was the only one w/ injuries (minor, though), she has been totally freaked out being rear, so we moved her to our extra radian forward-facing. We can keep her in this seat, or buy another. I was thinking of leaving her in the Radian FF for now, and then seeing if we can fit the new Britax Frontier in for her w/ the two other seats in the fall.

For the new baby (due at the end of May), we WOULD be using the Roundabout, since we've never had an infant car seat - used RA from birth for both kiddos. We could get an infant carseat, or we could go for a new RA or the Diplomat or something similar. I really think we'd have trouble fitting a marathon rear-facing in our car - it would have to go behind the passenger seat. DH is 6'4", so the driver-side or middle is out.

Any suggestions would be welcome. I really appreciate it!!

Oh, and another note, we tend to have pretty long babies. DS was 23" at birth, and DD was 22" - so, if we did do an infant seat, it would be really great if it had a higher length limit - both have been over 95% in height since birth. When my DS was born, the limits were so low, but I think they are higher now.

Those are all WONDERFUL seats but I have no idea about getting them three across! No one has played with the frontier yet so we're not exactly sure how it fits next to other seats. Would your second child be okay to stay in the FF Radian? Since the Radian is narrow it might be possible to fit a Frontier or a Nautilus in next to it... but that's total speculation. You can try out the Nautilus in your car at a local store that has it in stock, bring the RA along and see how much room you have left over... that might give you a better idea.

I would definately choose the roundabout over the diplomat if you have long babies because for some reason children outgrow the diplomat sooner than the roundabout (rf especially) even though they have the same shell. Ideally I would get a Marahon as they have a long rf lifespan.

Here are the measurements for the '07 Hybrid Escape:
rear hip room: 49.10
rear shoulder room: 55.90

The frontier is 19.5" wide and the Nautilus is 19", the roundabout is 18.5" and the radian is 10" at the belth path and 17" at it's widest point, the Marathon is 19.5".

I'm not sure if it's doable, but a radian, frontier and roundabout (but I'd really try for a Marathon) might work. Ideally I'd do two radians and a marthon for the baby. Too bad DS's legs fall asleep :thumbsdown:

The beauty of the Nautilus, Radian, Roundabout/Marathon is that you could try it right now as opposed to waiting for the Frontier. I am personally not a fan of the radian rearfacing, so I'm hesitent to say a rear facing radian, but try it out and if you don't mind Frontier/Nautilus and two radians I'm sure that would work.

Also, I loved my snugride. With the third child it might be worth it. It was one less harness to deal with adjusting when we were out and about. But width wise and longevity wise I would go with the Chicco Key Fit 30. One inch wider than the snugride, but goes up to 30 pound and 30 inches!

Even with the measurements, I am doubtful that the Frontier will be 3-seats-in-a-row friendly, but I hope that Britax proves me wrong.

Sorry this is sooo long

What about 3 Radians? A RF radian would fit a newborn MUCH better than a Marathon due to the lower bottom harness slot height.

I agree that a Radian would fit a newborn better than Marathon.

Thinking about this some more, I think I would get a chico key fit 30 and two radians. Then you can assess the use of the radian with the oldest child after the baby outgrows the chicco and decide whether you want a third radian or if you'd prefer to get a frontier for one of the older children and move the baby into their radian.

BW1426 said:

I agree that a Radian would fit a newborn better than Marathon.

Thinking about this some more, I think I would get a chico key fit 30 and two radians. Then you can assess the use of the radian with the oldest child after the baby outgrows the chicco and decide whether you want a third radian or if you'd prefer to get a frontier for one of the older children and move the baby into their radian.

Click to expand...

Thanks everyone!

I would love to do two radians for the older kids, but my DS (almost 5) really hates sitting in it because his legs always fall asleep. I think that the seat hits him at the wrong point on his (really long) thighs. We use it for air travel (we travel quite a bit) and he is always miserable in the rental car at our location. I would really like to put him in a different seat so make him more comfortable, especially since we head to the cabin a lot in the summer and that's a 3-hour drive.

I'm so confused! I think we'll pick up a Nautilus for him this weekend and see if we can manage the Radian, RA and GN. If we can, then I think I'll pick up another RA (or Diplomat - I like the side impact, especially if the baby is by the door and not in the middle) or a Chicco. One of those combos should work!

I've gotten three across in my 06 Escape Hybrid...but mostly boosters and the Radian in the center. You might want to consider getting a Britax Parkway sooner rather than later, because so far it's been the easiest-to-buckle booster of any we've tried in that car with three kids, and it's discontinued (no armrests make it easy to buckle, but unappealing to the booster buying public, so it's not a hot seller).

Using the seatbelts rather than LATCH can make things fit better...I had no problems with a Safeseat 1 (LOVED the Chicco even more, but it's a bit wider in the foot area and not so great next to other seats in tight quarters) or Roundabout rearfacing next to two boosters as long as everything was installed with seatbelts.

Good luck! (and one good thing about that car is it's easy to find a place to top tether a rearfacing Britax!)

Unregistered said:

I think I'll pick up another RA (or Diplomat - I like the side impact, especially if the baby is by the door and not in the middle) or a Chicco.

Click to expand...

I agree about the SIP of the Diplomat. However, remember that babies often outgrow the Diplomat fast, especially RF. If it were me I'd chose more time RF over SIP. If the Bouelevard fits, I'd choose that over the Diplomat. From the measurements Britax give it looks like there is only an inch different between the two seats. Check it out. If you choose a Safe Seat or Chicco, it should be easier to put the baby in the center as you don't have to fumble with a harness.

We tried last night, and we can fit the Radian (FF Driver's Side), Nautilus (FF middle - so the oldest can help hand things to the 2 year old and check on the baby) and a Marathon or Keyfit (passenger side) - with NO problem at all!

I'm not convinced that the Marathon was at a 45 degree angle - but DH and the installer said that it absolutely was. I'm shocked, because I was still pretty comfortable in the front seat.

Now, I am thinking that we might get one of the smaller infant seats just to use for the first 2 or 3 months, just for ease - we've never used one before (went straight to RA), but for #3 I think it might be useful. We have long babies, so I would expect that it would just be for a few months, and then we can give it to one of my siblings as an extra seat when they start having babies.

My question: If we can fit a Marathon, will we be able to fit a Boulevard? They didn't have one at the store to try, and I would prefer the SIP since the baby will be outboard.

Thanks!

If a MA fit, you shoul be able to fit a Blvd easily. You might not be able to fully extend the headrest, but by the time the headrest would need to go above the shell, you could have less recline