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has anyone been able to fit a convertible baby seat in the back??
my kid is about 16 pounds, little over 3 months old; don't want to buy an infant seat bc he'll outgrow it, soon. so, looking to get something rear facing that i can convert to forward facing after a couple years.
We currently own 7 baby seats for our various cars since I got sick of moving car seats around! My reasoning to my wife is if I scratched just one car once, it would pay for all 7 seats so here we are.
We own seats from MaxiCosi, Radian, Recaro, Britax, and Clek
Although when I had my IS-F I never had any baby seats in there the basic rationale is the same - for sporty cars with high bolsters you need seats with narrow frames. In general most cars you don't want the kids to sit too high or everything you load them in the car they will hit their head on the roof.
I don't want to get into each seats merits here but just want to say:
Recaro seat is the lightest seat on and easiest to use the LATCH system with their dual buckles on each side. Almost every other Mfr. uses only one besides Clek who has their stationary setup. Recaro does sit a bit high so in cars like the IS-F, M3 and s4, they are not the best choice. Also forgot about putting any of these seats 3-across. You will only get one seat in each window seat. Don't try to put one in the middle cuz it won't work.
Radian RXT is the best overall seat for modern sport cars and sedans. It's narrow base and frame makes it fit in in the back of smaller sedans like the IS-F. I use this seat in my sports cars too and fits great. I have never tried but I think this seat would fit 3-across if you really had to do it. We have 3 Radian seats and this is also the best travel seat since it folds up and has a backup strap. However this is a heavy seat so plan accordingly.
here's the Clek and Radian RXT seats side by side so you can see the size and seating position height differences:
thank you s4play! you've been extremely helpful. i was also considering the Combi Coccoro, as it's one of the smallest convertibles out there. i'm going to check the dimensions of the Radian RXT in comparison.
Thanks s4play and everyone else! Great info! Just found out we have a little blessing on the way, so I'll definitely be referring to this thread. I have an F and she has an IS250. The 250 can go for something bigger, but I really wasn't ready to part with the F yet.
I need to get an rear facing infant seat soon, my daughter is due in Aug. What is the consensus for best option of rear facing seat that will fit?
When your child is smaller and needs a rear facing, many parents opt for the snap and go type units with the base that is attached to your car. Those take up the most space so usually most parents put them in the middle since that leaves you more legroom up front. Your child will grow out of those really fast and in a smaller sedan like the Lexus it's a tight fit.
There are many convertibles that are designed to work in both rear and forward facing positions such as the Radian RXT I showed earlier. Those seats basically can go from birth till they are fully grown. The only thing is it's troublesome to get them out of the seat each time if they fall asleep hence the popularity of the snap and go seats.
A key factor as any parent you should plan ahead such as how many kids will you have and their ages. In general most kids will need a car seat till they are at least 6-7 years old so this is a long term investment. Don't buy odd colors and stay unisex such as green, brown, colors.
And most importantly take your child so you can let them try it out since my kids definitely have preferences on what they like.
The Clek Foonf and Oobr are two of the coolest safest and strongest seats on the market. They do cost more but it's my kids favorite seat.
Clek is way too heavy and now that DOT is putting weight limits on LATCH, your child will be too heavy for the Clek long before you're finished with car seats.
I opted for the Cybex Aton 2 when he was an infant. The Aton 2 is for babies 4 lbs. to 35 lbs. and up to 30" tall. Unfortunately, he was too tall at 6 months, but most people won't have that problem. The Aton is also the shortest front to back so it fits and leaves a lot of room for adult sitting in front. If you sit like I do with your knees almost on the dash (racecar driver style), you'll never know it's there. Best of all, it's one of the lightest seats available. Some of them are horribly heavy.
I got the Recaro for him once he was too big for the Cybex. I have to agree, ingress and egress are no picnic. But again, if you want to use the LATCH system, it is one of the lighter models and offers pretty impressive side impact protection. I'll be happier when he's big enough to face forward.
^The Clek is HEAVY no disagreement there but in comparison to all my other car seats including the brands you listed, this is the bullet proof one in terms of construction.
Steel bars, energy absorption foam and many other cool technological features make this the strongest and safest seat for your baby. I would never recommend this seat as a travel seat due to it's weight but it's not that bad:
btw for current parents or future parents don't dwell too much on rearward facing. One year passes by really fast and before you know it they will be forward facing and we already have a Clek Oobr (full seatback booster seat) in waiting for my daughter who will be turning 4 end of this year.
The Clek Oobr is much lighter since it's essentially a booster seat but it attaches via the LATCH system.
For rear facing infant seat, my vote goes to the Cybex Aton (or the current iteration Aton 2). It is one of the lightest on the market today, has a shorter front to back length than most other infant seats, and has a base that is super easy to install correctly (and quickly!). I'm 6' and I can fit the Aton in the seat behind me while still being comfortable to drive.
As for convertible seats used for rear facing, I really like the Britax Marathon we have. It has a lower stack height so it makes ingress/egress much easier than the Recaro ProRide convertible we have. The front the back length of the Britax is also a bit shorter, so the passenger in the front seat will have a little more breathing room. With the tight rear seat room in the IS-F, these two things make a world of difference.
The AAP recommends keeping a toddler rear facing until at least 2 years old. If you go on some of the car seat forums, some people keep their kids rear facing until 3 or 4 years old.
At that point, you can get a forward facing seat for the older kid and pass the convertible rear facing seat to the younger sibling.
Rear facing till 3-4 years old???? That is something new for me...unless your kid is like 30 percentile or smaller having them face rearward at that age is crazy.
I know every parent has their own rights to do as they please but I just have to laugh when I imagine my 4 year old in a rear facing seat with her legs hanging out.
Once my son turned one he was in a forward facing seat. He was around 28 lbs at the time and was already barely fitting into some seats.
Thanks for the posts guys. This thread came in handy when my wife complained that the ISF would be too small to fit any baby seats. Sent her all these pictures and as of yesterday, officially the owner of a 09 ISF
I just bought a Graco rear facing infant seat, had Babies R Us test fit it before I bought it and it fits but only when passenger seat is almost fully moved up. Car will def not fit a passenger in the front seat. If it bothers me a lot then I will buy a cheap daily driver like a Civic to use when taking baby places and skip trying to fit seat in the F.
06-16-14, 04:33 PM
