My Graco fits fine in the middle of the rear seat. The base of the Graco allows the car seat to face either the front or rear. Of course with the leather seats I need to put a towel underneath to protect from marring the leather.

 

DaveB, one word: LAWSUITS.

 

I have all three of my girls in the back seat from time to time. All their seats fit but just barely.

 

Ah, Lexusk8, your pix brings back memory (towel and all). I have the same type of Greco seat/base and it fits fine.
When I have my 2nd kid, the older one sat in a Britax Marathon convertible seat behind the driver side and the infant sat on the Greco rear facing seat on the passenger side. All I need to do is tilt up/move forward a little bit. Front pax still has lots of room.
Now that my kids sit on a booster and the Britax, we have no problem at all.

 

Since we're on the topic of child car seats I'll point you all to this TED video, which I think is a wonderful look on the child car seat industry and crash tests. Most interesting is when the presenter shows crash test videos of a toddler in a child seat vs. not using a child seat.

 

We checked out the baby forums and the Britax Marathon seems to be the most popular, but the Britax roundabout is also very popular since it is smaller than the Marathon. Anyone use the Roundabout in their sedan?

 

Great video shakin!

Here's what the rear-facing Maxi Cosi Mico seat looks like behind the passenger seat. As you can tell, the passenger seat is moved so far forward that it's barely usable.

 

I had the Britax Roundabout, and it fit, but it doesn't use the Latch system. I could never get the seat stable enough for my liking. I now use a Britax Marathon with the Britax Latch system. I can get the seat anchored to the point where it doesn't move at all. My 3 year uses a Britax Regent, and loves it. It also uses the Britax Latch system w/ seat belt type connectors, and not just hooks. (Much easier to connect & disconnect) The Marathon is reversible, but the Regent isn't.

Hope this helps,

Ian

 

looks like the handle is a big part of the problem, rastasteve. In any case, you really should have it in the center of the rear seat, both for the baby's protection AND to provide more legroom for both passenger and driver. Although I know you said it doesn't fit in the middle ... maybe its just that particular pic, but it doesn't look THAT wide.

In any case, as I've said in other similar threads, don't worry about it. The seat is not rear-facing long enough to warrant changing cars. Now that my son is forward facing, we have no problem with him in any car, including my wife's E30 (in which the backseat is probably half the size of the G).

 

Rostasteve, Try moving the handle up like you are going to carry it. It will give you a bit more room, and will also act as a "roll cage"

Ian

 

Moving the handle up frees up about 2", but that's not enough to make the front seat comfortable. My goal was to to put the seat in the middle but I had to move the driver seat up so much that I couldn't drive.

Oh well, I guess I just have to tough this one out. Sounds like Britax will be a good front-facing seat for when the time comes though.

 

Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but what model of seats are they that fit 3 wide in the back? I'm getting into that situation now where I might need 3 seats in my sedan from time to time.

 

yup, we started doing that when my son turned 1 (it should vary upon weight, and he is hefty guy too).

they design the car seat to be strapped in that way, just look at the pictures on the side of the car seat.

personally, I think it is safer, b/c if the car rolls (which happens rarely with sedans), the child will be farther away from the ceiling, thus reducing the chances of being crushed.