We have 2 Britax car seats, a Diplomat and a Boulevard. We are looking to buy a car that will fit both in the back seat with the ability to fit someone in between, possibly a booster seat. Instead of a minivan or something with third row seating, are there any sedans or station wagons wide enough to fit? I thought I'd check with ya'll before we try going to each dealership and trying to fit everything. We are partial to Honda's and Toyota's but are willing to try something new but it has to be reliable and safe. Thanks! =)
I have a toyota corolla with 2 of the regular carseats and one small boosterseat in the back seat. Now it was VERY tight. Infact, If one of the kids had there hand on the side of the carseat and I shut the door there fingers would get smooched so I had to be careful. It is do-able in almost any car. Just look for the slim style carseats.
Not sure of your price range, but check out the Toyota Avalon (if you really want a car)...they are surprisingly HUGE on the inside.
My sister in law has an acura mdx and she has three car seats in the back row. It does have a third row but she doesn't use it for seats, just folded down for cargo. Good Luck
My advice is to get new carseats. The Radians 65 and 80 are low profile slim carseats that are made to sit 3 side by side. they get the same safety ratings as Britax and would be much cheaper than getting a new car. The only problem is they only sell them online so you can't really see them before you buy. We have the Radian 65 for my 3 year old and he loves it. It is also super easy to get him in and out of since it is low profile.
We can fit 3 car seats in our Impala. We put the booster seat in the middle.
We bought a Safeguard go to work with our two Britax car seats. Maybe that would work in a Pilot?
Not sure of the size of your car seats, but I drive Lincoln Town Cars. I've always been able to fit 2 car seats and one adult in my back seat. I also drive my TC's for years and put up to 200,000 miles or more on them with only regular maintenance.
We own an 8 passenger Toyota Sienna minivan. It was the only van option that could fit 3 car seats next to one another. We had a 2 year old and needed to accomodate newborn twins. This worked well. We only recently moved our oldest to the back seat. That was our only option as cars may have accomodated the seats but not the strollers an other gear that we needed. We have had the mini van for 3 years now and I can honestly say that I don't regret getting it (even though I had to give up my Neon R/T for it). A mini van will give you more bang for your buck.
Have you tried any of the message forums for moms of multiples. They always have lots of posts regarding your question. Also, I know that you can "borrow" a car that you are seriously considering off the lot and take it to Babies R Us (or Toys R Us). They'll let you take the displays out to test in your car (with an associate on hand). Doing that helped us figure out that while we technically could fit 3 car seats across in our Trailblazer, we would never have been able to buckle the seat belts once they were converted into boosters. Good luck on your search.
Honestly, the problem is that you have 2 very big car seats. There are some that are more narrow, but it is highly unlikely that you will find one that you can fit 2 seats of that size, and a booster seat. It will be quite difficult for that middle child to even buckly his/herself into the booster. I have had 3 carseats that my husband worked hard to install in the back of my mini van, but we had to put our 4.5 year old back into a 5 pt. harness seat so that she could buckle herself. It is not easy, and honeslty, not worth not getting a mini van for. We had to measure the car seats when we purchased them, and realized that while some were only 2-3 inches different..that made a differnce as to wether or not we could even fit them. Good luck..this will be a tough challenge, but you may find something perfect with some good searching! ~A.~
We have an older car right now, a 1999 BMW 5 series. I have a Britax Frontier and a Britax Parkway (booster seat) and I can still put down the arm rest thing in the back so a third child can sit in the middle. Or, if I take out the Parkway then I can get 2 smaller booster seats (the backless kind) in. It is difficult to buckle them and I have to buckle both kids in that way, but it can be done.
I think you need to test drive cars and take your 2 carseats plus the other seat you may want to use and see how they fit. We will be looking this summer for a used car and needing the same thing, room enough for a 3rd child in the middle just in case, and also room enough for me to squeeze in between the 2 carseats.
from what i remember from a friend that is a car seat safety tech, impala's are very wide. but, you do have two massive car seats, i know - i have had 7 britax car seats! personally, if i were you, i'd get a minivan, but you have said that's not what you want. if you find a sedan that will fit an adult in the middle, what you need to consider is HOW the adult is going to get in the middle, they'd basically have to climb OVER the carseat on the side, b/c i know the britax seats sit up quite a bit. another option that was mentioned was the sunshine kids radians - i have two radian 80s in my husbands car b/c that is really the only carseat that you can fit three across, and we just had our third child. the kids are rarely in his car, but you never know... they are NOT sold "only online", there's a few stores in this area that have them - the one that comes to mind is lonestar baby in frisco. in my opinion, they are not as safe as the britax, but they'll do. we use them for hubby's car and for travelling(they fold flat for easy backpacking through the airport). anyhow, good luck - hope you find a solution that works for you!
