Question Evenflo SureRide Compact Car

[Unregistered]

I am in the market to replace our Chicco Keyfit30 for our super long and skinny (30" and 16lb) 8 month old.

The problem that I am running into is that I drive a Kia Spectra and my husband and I are both tall (5'9" and 6'3"), so moving seats up is not an option and rear facing size is an issue. Given his off-the-charts height percentile since birth, I am honestly more concerned about the height limit on carseats than the weight limit at this point. We are on an extremely tight budget, so our price limit is somewhere under $150.

Taking all of that into consideration, I am seriously interested in the Evenflo SureRide seat, but with all of my research, I have not been able to find any comments on fit in a compact car. Does anyone know if this seat can be installed in the center position touching the front seats?

The other seat that we are seriously considering is the Safety 1st Guide 65 since it seems to be much smaller for rear facing, so any opinions on that seat would be appreciated too. We also have an explorer, so if we go with this seat, we will likely still buy the SureRide and when he turns forward facing, we will switch them in the vehicles as the Kia is our primary vehicle.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[montanamama]

I haven't tried the sureride in a compact car yet so I will bump this for you to see if anyone else has, If you have a Babies R Us near you can go and try out seats in your car before purchasing them.

 

[creideamh]

For touching, you'd have to be able to slide a piece of paper between the seat and the front seats.

Having had both, I'd say the Guide takes up less front to back space (as much as it kills me... I like the SureRide much better.)

If you can't try them both out in store, you could order from Amazon or similar with free returns and just return the one you don't like.

 

[2BunniesMommy]

If I am not too tired after work tomorrow night I can try it out in my Honda Insight. I would offer to tonight, but I know I will be too tired. I will post back tomorrow night or Sunday and let you know.

 

[rin2809]

Thank you all for the info and the insights. We went to Babies R Us today and tried a bunch of seats and the SureRide would make us move the front seats up beyond the point where the car was drivable for either of us or neither of us would fit as a passenger (the curse of a small car and tall people... too bad my early 20s self wasn't thinking about car seats 6 years ago!).

We also tested the Safety 1st Complete Air 70 because my hubby liked the look of it... there was absolutely no chance even outboard with the passenger seat all the way up.

Ended up purchasing the Safety 1st Easy Fit 65. We full on installed the test seat in the parking lot because I have heard that people have issues and it looks good (though it may need a pool noodle or two for recline). I think we are going to like it. Will be installing it permanently tomorrow.

 

[2BunniesMommy]

Glad you found something that works

 

[rosey2007]

I was wondering what year Sprectra you have?

 

[rin2809]

It is a 2007