Question Best choice for 3 seats in my 96 Subaru Outback?

[rivkaselin]

Hi! First time poster here
I am newly pregnant and trying to plan ahead for the possibility of 3 carseats in my little old 96 Subaru Impreza Outback. I'm asking as a shot in the dark if anyone has any experience. I know it's an old car but it's worth a shot, right?

By the time the baby comes in July-ish,
DD will be 5. She is currently a waif of a kid, 32 pounds, 40 inches. Still fits her Cosco Scenera.
DS will be 2.5. He is 25 pounds, 34 inches. He's also in a Cosco Scenera.

We used to use a Graco Snugride (RF obv) and the Cosco Scenera FF and they barely fit together -- little tilt. As far as I remember, they did NOT fit both RF unless they were both outboard, then my husband couldn't drive
The Cosco Sceneras fit RF/FF as a pair next to each other, but not RF/RF or FF/FF next to one another, without tilt/not solid fit.

I'm wondering what you guys think, try a new narrower infant seat? Upgrade daughter to some kind of a booster even though she's shrimp-y? Upgrade all seats to something? I'm open to all your ideas! (except buy a new car, lol, we're working on that as fast as we can. I hope we'll avoid this problem completely...but....)
Thanks in advance!

 

[rivkaselin]

anyone? anyone?

 

[Kaitsmom]

Your going to need at least 1 Radian, if not 2 if your going to use a bucket seat maybe look at a Chicco Keyfit30.

Check out the 3 across thread, im pretty sure there are a bunch of Subaru threads, I am mobile and cant link any. A Scenera also fits avg size newbors pretty well so you could us that for the baby. An Evenflo Maestro for your oldest may work as well, then a rfing Radian for your middle child.

 

[svsuengel]

I am just watching the thread out of curiosity to learn as I also have a 1996 Subaru Outback, Impreza version, though our first is due in May. My SR32 won't fit behind driver or center, I don't even think anyone can ride in front of it in the passenger seat! 203k miles and counting...the car will have to die before we get anything newer.

 

[rivkaselin]

Kaitsmom -- is your opinion based on experience with older subarus? I can't afford the $$ or energy to go buy 1 or 2 radians just to test at this point. (I'm just at the research stage here.) I did a lot of searching and I found lots of stuff for newer subarus -- 98 they changed and again in 00s. So the 97 and older are really a lot different, there is NO hump in the older outbacks, which is a lot of the trouble newer subaru owners talk about.

Do the radians work well with infants? They rate fine for weight but are they comfortable/support their necks well enough? anyone have experience?
Also I'm worried that the radian is too tall for RF in the subaru, anyone know?? The old snugride nearly touched and the sceneras are close to touching also and the radian seems much taller.

svsuengel -- i hear ya! it's not a good time for most people to be car shopping right now. no one I know can afford anything except used
ours has 199,500. getting close to it's 200K birthday
Our snugride is now expired, but it looked pretty much the same as the new ones, size wise. Did you try the snugride in the center with one front seat all the way up? We never used it behind driver side. Did you try it without the base? I'll be interested to hear, since I was thinking of replacing our old SR with the new one. I hope it's not a different size.

 

[rivkaselin]

Anyone read this? Have any good advice on Radians vs. Chicco keyfit vs. snugride and other combination for me?

 

[safeinthecar]

The Keyfit takes up less room front to back then the Snugride. Since your kids are shrimpy, maybe try a combi coccoro. You could probably do a Radian for the 5yo, then use the Combi for the 2 year old (preferably rfing) until the baby outgrows the bucket. Then pass the combi to the baby and get another Radian for the 2 year old.

 

[rivkaselin]

Is there any reason you suggest the Combi first and then up to the Radian? Why not just the Radian for the 2 year old?
I'm also curious on the measurement forum page, it says that the Baby Trend infant seats are narrower. Is that true? Or is that not including the way it pops out/curves out on the sides?
I feel like I'm getting more options and less answers I guess that's the way it goes

I guess what I'm really after is which TWO carseats would fit well RFing in center and outboard positions (for newborn and 2 year old) together since I was not happy with a snug ride and the scenera together... Will a snug ride with its curvy sides fit with a Radian?
My nearly 5 year old is still RFing as well but unless one of the RFing seats is short enough to fit behind the driver's side, she'll have to FF. If she's gonna be FFing, can she be in a 5 pt harness booster now?? Like a Frontier? Would that fit in the vehicle better or worse than a Radian? Are 5 pt boosters and combination seats equally safe once they're FFing??
I hate that this is SO complicated

 

[safeinthecar]

Is there any reason you suggest the Combi first and then up to the Radian? Why not just the Radian for the 2 year old?
I'm also curious on the measurement forum page, it says that the Baby Trend infant seats are narrower. Is that true? Or is that not including the way it pops out/curves out on the sides?
I feel like I'm getting more options and less answers I guess that's the way it goes

I guess what I'm really after is which TWO carseats would fit well RFing in center and outboard positions (for newborn and 2 year old) together since I was not happy with a snug ride and the scenera together... Will a snug ride with its curvy sides fit with a Radian?
My nearly 5 year old is still RFing as well but unless one of the RFing seats is short enough to fit behind the driver's side, she'll have to FF. If she's gonna be FFing, can she be in a 5 pt harness booster now?? Like a Frontier? Would that fit in the vehicle better or worse than a Radian? Are 5 pt boosters and combination seats equally safe once they're FFing??
I hate that this is SO complicated

I recommended the Combi because it takes up the least amount of room front to back of ANY seat and has the most chance of fitting rfing behind the driver. This way, you could continue to use one of your sceneras if you wanted and only have to purchase 2 carseats at a time.

IE: start off with Combi (2yo), scenera (5yo), keyfit(noob) then move to Radian, Radian, Combi. Sometimes it is easier to spread the purchases out, right?

You could certainly just replace more off the bat. The 5yo can be ffing in a combo, but the Frontier is probably way too wide.

BTW, the angle adjuster for the Radian is a real space saver as well. With that you could probably even keep the oldest rfing if you want. (BTW2, I'm amazed that you have kept your 5yo rfing this long. awesome!)

 

[rivkaselin]

I recommended the Combi because it takes up the least amount of room front to back of ANY seat and has the most chance of fitting rfing behind the driver. This way, you could continue to use one of your sceneras if you wanted and only have to purchase 2 carseats at a time.

IE: start off with Combi (2yo), scenera (5yo), keyfit(noob) then move to Radian, Radian, Combi. Sometimes it is easier to spread the purchases out, right?

You could certainly just replace more off the bat. The 5yo can be ffing in a combo, but the Frontier is probably way too wide.

BTW, the angle adjuster for the Radian is a real space saver as well. With that you could probably even keep the oldest rfing if you want. (BTW2, I'm amazed that you have kept your 5yo rfing this long. awesome!)

Ok! Thanks! That makes so much sense now, I was just not reading between the lines very well Pregnancy brain maybe?!
I would love to have the option of keeping her RFing longer... We do put her FFing when she says she's feeling carsick or just wants to change, and as long as we give her the option and we've told her it's safer to stay facing the same as brother, she usually chooses to go back to RFing soon afterwards So proud of her
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your help!

 

[cmcki737]

Do you want an infant seat for the new baby or is a convertible an option for you? I ask bc if you don't care about the baby being in a convertible from go you could do a Combi and the 2 Radians (Combi behind the driver so hubby has room) and avoid having to buy the infant seat. Also Combi does make a Flash (their name for a snap n go) that is compatible so you could move the baby in and out of the car in the seat if you needed to, but it is a bit of a pain so it would not have the easy of an infant bucket.

 

[kam1011]

I would only get one radian for the 5yo that can later be passed down to the younger siblings when the oldest is big enough and mature enough for a booster seat and a younger one is too big for their smaller seat, and put the radian in the middle. I've never had a scenera, so maybe someone else can comment on the fit of the radian and scenera together? When my youngest was in an infant seat, we had the Combi Shuttle infant seat and it worked up against the FF radian. When it snaps into the base, the carrier is higher than the radian, so they don't touch. I would first evaluate the possibility of Scenera-Radian-Scenera, so you only have to buy one new seat (esp. since it's expensive).
The combination seats that convert to a booster are very wide and are usually difficult to fit in a three-across situation. So that's why I would recommend a radian (tall enough for an older, but small, kid) and you'd certainly get use out of it with three kids.

 

[rivkaselin]

Do you want an infant seat for the new baby or is a convertible an option for you? I ask bc if you don't care about the baby being in a convertible from go you could do a Combi and the 2 Radians (Combi behind the driver so hubby has room) and avoid having to buy the infant seat. Also Combi does make a Flash (their name for a snap n go) that is compatible so you could move the baby in and out of the car in the seat if you needed to, but it is a bit of a pain so it would not have the easy of an infant bucket.

I am fine with the baby being in a convertible, I'm not sure we could afford a combi and 2 radians all at once though, we'll have to see when we get there

Anyone know if Radians ever go on sale anywhere?

 

[rivkaselin]

I would only get one radian for the 5yo that can later be passed down to the younger siblings when the oldest is big enough and mature enough for a booster seat and a younger one is too big for their smaller seat, and put the radian in the middle. I've never had a scenera, so maybe someone else can comment on the fit of the radian and scenera together? When my youngest was in an infant seat, we had the Combi Shuttle infant seat and it worked up against the FF radian. When it snaps into the base, the carrier is higher than the radian, so they don't touch. I would first evaluate the possibility of Scenera-Radian-Scenera, so you only have to buy one new seat (esp. since it's expensive).
The combination seats that convert to a booster are very wide and are usually difficult to fit in a three-across situation. So that's why I would recommend a radian (tall enough for an older, but small, kid) and you'd certainly get use out of it with three kids.

If the weather is nice tomorrow, I'm going to go check out and see if the Scenera can be behind driver's seat at all. I didn't think it did. Or if they can be side by side center and pass. outboard. I don't think they worked there either, but I'm going to check since this would be an easy answer

Anyone want to comment about how big and/or mature a kid should be to be in a 5 pt booster??

 

[kam1011]

Many states require a child in a booster to be at least 4yo and 40 pounds. (A 5-point harness is what you have on the scenera, where the straps are attached to the carseat, rather than the vehicle's seatbelt.) More importantly, the child has to be mature enough to sit still 100% of the time. A booster is just as safe as a harnessed seat if used properly, but not if the child is out of position at the time of the crash. I would not put a 32 pounder in a booster yet. Most kids are somewhere in the 5-7yo range when they're ready to start riding in a booster, size-wise and maturity-wise.

 

[kam1011]

Oh and if you look for a Sunshine Kids Radian, rather than the Diono Radian (new company name) you can find good deals as stores are trying to change over their stock. SK's are around $200.

 

[rivkaselin]

Oh and if you look for a Sunshine Kids Radian, rather than the Diono Radian (new company name) you can find good deals as stores are trying to change over their stock. SK's are around $200.

Thanks for both little tidbits of info there. That's helpful