Need help choosing a convertible for mazda3

right now my set up is described in my sig.

since i have a relatively small car, i am looking to replace the RF evenflo triumph with another convertible that is possibly more slender. as it is, the triumph at about a 35 degree incline is contacting the driver's seat (i realize that's a good thing), but i am forced to keep the driver's seat a tad more forward than is optimal for me. what convertibles would you recommend that may allow me to kick my seat rearward one or two notches?

my other criteria would be:

FF compatibility to >40 lbs, as i have learned since purchasing my recaro that FF 40 is not really ideal in the long run.

comfort. we take some long trips and i want a seat that is as anatomically correct and comfortable as possible (another reason i love the recaro-- my daughter is comfortable in it for hours at a time!).

TSIP or equivalent. after seeing the recaro in use i just love the side impact protection. plus the recaro SIP allows my daughter to sleep very peacefully without drooping her head.

price is not so much an issue, and i would love to just get a britax boulevard for the TSIP but i'm thinking that's just going to be way too big for my car. is it much bigger than the evenflo triumph?

lastly it should be available in a charcoal/gray/black pattern to compliment my interior. what can i say, i'm a car guy and aesthetics does have to be taken into account.

should i wait to see what recaro's new convertible will be like? i'm not in a super hurry, but i would prefer to have a solution within a couple of months. basically i would buy a boulevard in a heartbeat since it meets all my other criteria but i'm guessing it's not going to work given my space constraints. so let's hear your thoughts!

Can you get to a BRU to try out the blvd? You'd be amazed at the spaces it can fit! Can you place the seat on the passenger side (is the passenger shorter than you?)? I have a marathon rfing at about 40-45 deg and I think the passenger seat is almost all the way back. If I were to install the seat a little more upright, I think I could push the passenger seat all the way back. I have an 05 elantra, BTW.

I really think you will be able to fit the blvd in your car. It is pretty rare to find a car it won't fit in. Plus, there are no other seats that fit your criteria!

Yeah, she's right--the higher weight limit convertibles are the Britax MA/DC/BV, the Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe and the Sunshine Kids Radian. Of those, the Britax will take up the least amount of room RF.

As a side note, I don't believe Evenflo allows the Triumph to touch the front seats. It's worth a call to Evenflo to find out. They have this restriction for a few models.

The new Safety 1st Uptown may be worth consideration even though it is a 40 pound weight limit seat because it looks to be narrower than a Triumph by a bit, but has a 35 pound RF weight limit and a tall-ish seat shell, plus it has EPP foam (like EPS foam...some think it's even better than EPS foam), lots of padding and top slots of a decent height for a 40 pound weight limit seat. It won't compare to your Recaro, though. That's a NICE seat.

I agree with the others. Also, how much does Magdalena weigh? I see she's still quite young and already forward facing. I know she's in a FFing only seat that's a bit on the pricy side, but if she could still fit RFing she'd be much safer for it.

Wendy

thanks folks.

scatterbunny said:

Yeah, she's right--the higher weight limit convertibles are the Britax MA/DC/BV, the Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe and the Sunshine Kids Radian. Of those, the Britax will take up the least amount of room RF.

As a side note, I don't believe Evenflo allows the Triumph to touch the front seats. It's worth a call to Evenflo to find out. They have this restriction for a few models.

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okay, so if the britax BV is the smallest of those mentioned, that will remain on the top of my list. another question then: how does the britax BV compare directly with the triumph in terms of size/bulk? i do live near a BRU and will try to test fit one.

as for the triumph touching the seat... hmm... that's not mentioned in the manual at all. i will give them a call. and if that's the case, then i have to get rid of it ASAP since i can not move my driver's seat forward any more.

wendytthomas said:

I agree with the others. Also, how much does Magdalena weigh? I see she's still quite young and already forward facing. I know she's in a FFing only seat that's a bit on the pricy side, but if she could still fit RFing she'd be much safer for it.

Wendy

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yeah, i realize that, but she's already hit 30 lbs, which is why we switched her from the triumph RF to the recaro FF, and switched isadora from a snugride to the triumph RF. we decided not to buy another convertible for her just for the next 5 lbs of growth. i know you're all advocates of maxing out the RFing to 35, but 30 was our decision point.

The Boulevard isn't the smallest of the ones mentioned and I'm not sure it's any more slender than the Triumph (I have one, but my cousin is borrowing it right now, so I can't compare). The Marathon, Decathlon, and Boulevard are all the same size (same seat shell), but the Boulevard is the only one with true side impact protection (head wings). Britax's, when rear-facing, can be braced into the front seats, whereas others can barely touch...so even though they seem huge, they fit very well in most cars.

You just install the carseat as normal, then push the front seat back into the carseat (not so much that you move the carseat up off the seat or anything) and then you tigthen the tether, which pulls the carseat into the seatback and bracing it.

I have a 2-door Cavalier and have a Graco Snugride outboard RF and a Britax Marathon center RF. Once my little one outgrows his Snugride, both boys will go outboard in Britax's (1 Marathon, 1 Decathlon). I played around with the seats to make sure I could get a good install that way, without too much interference with the front seats, and I can...and pretty easily too! Your backseat may be even smaller than mine...but if it's close to the same size, you should be able to fit a Boulevard for your little one.

And great job for keeping Magdalena rear-facing to the limits of her Triumph!

Sam & Pacey said:

I have a 2-door Cavalier and have a Graco Snugride outboard RF and a Britax Marathon center RF. Once my little one outgrows his Snugride, both boys will go outboard in Britax's (1 Marathon, 1 Decathlon). I played around with the seats to make sure I could get a good install that way, without too much interference with the front seats, and I can...and pretty easily too!

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S&P, you have me conpletely intrigued about your outboard and center configuration. how the heck have you achieved that in a cavalier without interference between the two carseats???!!! i am certain that my rear seat is as wide if not wider than yours, and one of the reasons i chose the recaro for magdalena was for its slender width, as i wanted to max out any free space in the back seat. i have dreamed of having two car seats in your configuration so that we can have another outboard adult passenger in back on occassion, but never attempted it because i assumed the car seats would contact each other and not be firmly/safely secured as a result. just looking at the LATCH/seatbelt points gave me the impression that this was simply not possible.

do yours touch each other? if so, do they angle outward from each other? and is it acceptable to have the car seats to touch each other? i also would think you are using LATCH for one and seatbelt for the other as you can not "double up" on any of the LATCH points.

According to the measurements page, the BV is only 1/2 narrower than the Triumph. But, really its hard to say as they are such different shaped seats overall. The BV is up on a high base that is quite narrow, then it widens out up higher on the ovearall seat. Sometimes it puzzles together well with other seats that are wider at the seat level because of this.

Is the Recaro behind the driver seat?

the recaro is behind the passenger seat. it's moot though because my wife and i both drive the car interchangeably... i suppose we could move the recaro behind the driver's seat since the driver needs to have the seat positioned more optimally than the passenger does. on the other hand, we did want the recaro on the right side because of ingress/egress issues in our urban jungle since we do a lot of street parking-- since maggie is walking and isadora is not, we felt it safer for maggie to enter/exit curbside as opposed to in the street, in the not-so-unforeseeable event that she broke away from our grip and ran. with isadora, there is no chance of that so we have her on the traffic side.

Don't give up hope re the HWH seats! While the BV isn't a small(er) seat, many times the HWH Britax convertibles will fit RF better in the the same space as a shorter seat, simply because they are taller and don't bump into the back of the front seat at the same point. I don't know if that makes sense or not and if not, just tell me ;-) and forgive me for being short-spoken atm - I'm nak a wiggly baby w/a stuffy nose lol. Good luck!

Amy CPST & Mom to 4 great kids, all in seats

Ah, urban jungle thing makes sense. I have the FF seat behind the driver for the driver's comfort, but I don't have that aspect to deal with.

I think all you can do is try it out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I've gotten a RF MA (same size as a BV) in a VERY small, very old 2-door Accord. It was tight, but it did fit.

southpawboston said:

S&P, you have me conpletely intrigued about your outboard and center configuration. how the heck have you achieved that in a cavalier without interference between the two carseats???!!!

do yours touch each other? if so, do they angle outward from each other? and is it acceptable to have the car seats to touch each other? i also would think you are using LATCH for one and seatbelt for the other as you can not "double up" on any of the LATCH points.

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I also did not think I could fit 2 seats next to each other. The first few tries, I couldn't get them in, but I kept working with them and got 2 great installs!

I don't have LATCH in my car, so both seats are in with seatbelts. The Marathon (center) is installed with a lap belt and tethered to the front passenger seatbelt stalk. The Snugride is installed with a lap/shoulder belt.

I found it easier to install the outboard seat first, which was the Snugride...got a great install, no movement. Then I installed the Marathon right beside it...great install, no movement anywhere. The seats do touch, but barely. They don't press into each other...they are 2 independantly tight installations and this is fine. The important thing is to make sure that each seat is tight. Sometimes when 2 seats are next to each other, they can make each other seem tight when they aren't...if that makes sense!

I don't know what other configuration would work, but I know that I cannot get 2 Britax's or a Britax and an Evenflo Triumph next to each other in my car (RF or FF...they won't go next to each other). I CAN get a FF Scenera outboard and Britax Marathon RF center...very tight fit, but possible. If your backseat is wider than mine, I think you'll be fine with a Boulevard and you may very well be able to get the seats next to each other (preferrably the FF child in the center and RF outboard). If you can find a store near you where you can take seats out to your car and try them out before buying, that would be great. You just have to find the right combination and they'll puzzle together!

I hope that answers your questions...if not, just let me know what else you need to know and I'll try to explain better!

yep, thanks. i will try and see what works. if i can get it so that an adult can sit in one outboard seat in back, then we won't have to switch to a dreaded minivan for at least a couple of years!!! (no offence to minivan owners, i just have a lot of personal issues with minivans!)

Just wanted to add, I had a Mazda 3 as well and my Britax Marathon fit just fine rearfacing in it. I also got three across in that car a few times, but only after ripping up my hands and I don't suggest it to anyone I did have one rearfacing snugride in the middle and a forward facing covertible on the side a few times and they fit ok. The back seat is strange in the 3 with the middle being slightly raised. Good luck!

great info, thanks everyone.

dsunny-- that's especially encouraging to hear about the mazda3. yes i know about the raised center... we'll see how that goes...

Good to hear someone with your same vehicle got a big Britax RF! Installing these seats more upright for older kids RF is really, really easy. It's all about where you place most of your weight when tightening the seatbelt down. If you place more weight on the seat area of the carseat it will install a bit more upright than if you place more weight on the top/back portion of the carseat. Being able to completely brace the seat helps, too.