Question URGENT! What kind of rental car will my 28" tall RF Radian65 fit into?

at0micgirl

New member
Oh my goodness, i should have posted this a few days ago, but I've been swamped. :eek: Anyhow, my sister is getting married, and since she's conveniently located the reception over 15 miles from the church, we can't bike there like we planned. (Sorry, getting my vent in too!)

Anyhow, so now we're going to have to fork over the big $$ and rent a vehicle, but since they are picking us up in the car we're going in, I need to make sure my son's carseat will fit into it!!! (But also be a cheap rental!)

We're using Enterprise since they can pick us up, so here is their website to see the different classes of vehicles. I think it will make you select details to get to the page showing the car. Just enter 55404 for zip code, 110 10th St for location selection, and dates from June 19th at 2:30pm til June 21st at 1pm. (sorry!)


http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/branchDetails.do


I also took a snapshot of the details:
RentalCarOptions-vi.jpg


Can you advise which is the lowest price class that will fit a Radian65 REAR-FACING, which is 28" tall?

Right now, the customer service person thought we would be fine in an Intermediate class. I have no clue. Your thoughts??? Thanks!!!
 
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bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
How many people need to ride in the car? Just you and baby? Because you can probably get it into any size car if you are willing to give up the front passenger seat and just tilt it forward. That measn you would have room for a driver, and the radian behind the passenger side, and one more person behind the driver, possibly even a person in the rear center, since the radian is narrow.
 

skipspin

New member
How many people need to ride in the car? Just you and baby? Because you can probably get it into any size car if you are willing to give up the front passenger seat and just tilt it forward. That measn you would have room for a driver, and the radian behind the passenger side, and one more person behind the driver, possibly even a person in the rear center, since the radian is narrow.

I agree.:thumbsup:

We rented a compact (Kia Rio, I think) on our trip with just DS2 in his infant seat. It fit just fine in the center with plenty of room up front. If we had a RN and it didn't fit well in the center I could have sat behind the driver with DS's seat behind the passneger seat all the way forward, or even slightly leaned forward.
 

Guest

New member
I think you're gonna have to go standard or full size. Even then, they might give you some tiny car and claim it's "full size". I think I was supposed to get a Standard size car the last time I rented from them (car accident thing). They gave me a Kia Optima. That is not a big car. Luckily, I wasn't driving DS around in it so I ended up not fighting it since it was only for a couple of days and I wasn't installing a seat in it anyways.
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
I'd go for full-size, especially since there is barely a difference in price between that and the others below. The height of the Radian really doesn't matter, what matters is the angle of the vehicle seat bottoms and how the Radian sits in the particular vehicle. You won't know that until you get it which is why I'd want full-size.
 

ctbcleveland

Well-known member
I am pretty sure that Judi has a RF Radian in her Malibu, so that might be a good standard option.

I'd suggest you print the "successful radian install" thread and just tell them if one of the models in the class you choose won't work for you.
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
I think you're gonna have to go standard or full size. Even then, they might give you some tiny car and claim it's "full size". I think I was supposed to get a Standard size car the last time I rented from them (car accident thing). They gave me a Kia Optima. That is not a big car. Luckily, I wasn't driving DS around in it so I ended up not fighting it since it was only for a couple of days and I wasn't installing a seat in it anyways.

hey! car snob, no dissing my car! it *IS* a standard size car, in rental terms, "midsize" in EPA terms. It's the same size as a camry, accord or altima. :p
 

Guest

New member
hey! car snob, no dissing my car! it *IS* a standard size car, in rental terms, "midsize" in EPA terms. It's the same size as a camry, accord or altima. :p

Hahaha. THat's my complaint. That it's not "midsize" car. I knew it was stupid to think so, but the lady assured me I was getting an equivalent size car. I was thinking Pontiac Grand Prix, Ford 500... something like that. The Kia was a LOT smaller than the car I was expecting.

Nissan Altima, Camry, etc are NOT full sized cars! :rolleyes: Still, I think the Kia looked even smaller than the Altima/Camry. Maybe the 1st gen altima is about the same size?
 

Pixels

New member
It depends on if you can get a good install in the middle, or passenger side and give up the front seat. DD is RFing in her Radian in my Civic (compact car), center rear.
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
If the rental company would guarantee you could reserve an Impala (probably not if you book by class but booking the Impala's class would improve the odds of getting one), it has a set of dedicated lower LATCH anchors for the center rear seating position and thus would likely facilitate a center RF LATCH installation of your Radian.
 

elle7715

Member
We have a RF Radian in the center of our Chevy Cobalt. It's a size up from the Aveo but smaller than the Malibu. It's decently upright because DS is 2 but we have no problems with head slump whatsoever. It rests between the two front seats. I have had a RF Radian outboard, passenger's side, but it leaves very little room for anyone riding up front. There's three sets of LATCH anchors too. If you can have it in the middle I think you could fit it in most cars.
 

at0micgirl

New member
Thank you guys for your responses! Sorry I couldn't respond since it was too late to get to a computer, but I read some of your posts on my cell phone. ;)

Since I didn't have all your posts in time, I just went with Intermediate and figured if it didn't work the way I wanted, that we could switch at the agency.

She picked out a black PT Cruiser! I stuck with this because this seemed stylin! :cool: for a ride to a wedding. We only had 2 adults, plus a bunch of gear (stroller, etc.) and I really wanted him to be center RF. I had to push BOTH front seats forward to do this, and since daddy wanted to sit next to my son, we could do this.

I'm really not a big fan of installing a seat on the sides if not absolutely necessary b/c of side impact possibilities.

The seat was nice and flat, and the lady was very patient with me while I had to install it and redo it since it wasn't getting tight enough. I think I want to buy the seat grip for in the future, because while I very high standards and it was probably within proper installation, i'd rather it couldn't even budge a .25" at the base.

Speaking of which, when I'm in tight situations like this (front to back that is), how many inches of space are required/ideal between the back of the carseat and the back of the front seats? We definitely had room to clear just by pushing on the top down, but curious how that's measured.

I think a lot of the problem was coming from the fact that the seatbelt female end in the center was sticking out and being held in place by a band of elastic. :eek: So the seatbelt itself could move side-to-side quite a bit - is that really allowed in seatbelt design???

Wishing I would have read the post about the Impala LATCH sooner, that might have worked better.

Anyhow, it's over, and he's safe and sound, sleeping after a VERY full day of a wedding and 5 hour reception! :thumbsup:

Thanks!
 

Pixels

New member
Glad it all worked out for you! As for measuring, well, you really can't. It depends on a lot of factors, such as the slope of the back seat, the space between the front seats, the height of those front seats, etc. Really you just have to try it to find out.

That little bit of elastic is for convenience, so that the buckle is easier to find. In my brother's car, it's so that the buckles don't get lost when you fold the seats (the seat bottom folds up). In a crash, those elastics would most likely snap. You can just take the buckle out of the elastic, it will make carseat installation much easier. It also eliminates a false sense of tightness if the elastic is fully stretched, but the seatbelt isn't taut. Oh, one other note about those elastics with a RFing Radian-make sure the toes of the Radian don't get caught in one of the elastic loops. Talk about a false sense of tightness.

When you say seat grip, do you mean shelf liner? Even if it feels tighter to you, it won't actually make a difference in a crash. Also, there have been some reports of it melting into vehicle seats. Save yourself some hassle and skip it. ;)
 

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