Easiest booster to buckle in a 3 across situation?

[LiLStar]

Our van is dying a slow painful death and isn't very safe to drive right now, so we're switching to our little car as our "main" car. I wish we could get a new van but its not happening unless we save for a few months :( I have a a 3yo and 10mo rf in radians, and a 5yo who just barely outgrew the harness in her nautilus so now uses it as a booster. She is tall. Just under 48"! I know 3 across CAN be done in our little car! We've put dd in the baby's radian and the baby in a borrowed keyfit when he was brand new. It was *cozy*.. but it worked :) So we're going to turn the 3yo ff in the other car, since 2 rfing seats just doesn't work in that car. He's about 40lbs last I checked, so he had a pretty good run rfing :) So the baby in the middle, 3yo on one side ff in radian, and dd on the other side in...?! The nautilus is sooo out of the question! Any tips on what boosters we should try out? I know the difficult part is the buckling and unbuckling for every trip :/ ick. I've been so immersed in the keeping-rf-as-long-as-possible-then-in-a-5pt-as-long-as-possible world for so long, I'm kinda clueless about the boosters on the market! And also various features that we might want to consider. Like I just saw last night that the britax parkway has an antisubmarine strap? Anyway, would love any suggestions on what to track down and try out! Ooh, what about radian monterey? Does the radian rxt harness longer than the nautilus? Because harnessing 3 across is easier than using a booster. I'm just not sure whether its worth $300 for a feature that will only be useful for her until she hits another growth spurt.

[HappyHappyMommy]

Bumping this up attention. Anyone have recommendations to share?
 

[brigala]

It's really tough because a lot depends on the shape of your vehicle seat. You almost just have to try it yourself unless you can find someone with exactly the same make, model, and year who has dealt with the same issue. 

In my Civic, the only booster I've been able to wiggle into the tiny space between the RF Radian and the door is Britax Parkway SG. But OMG, it is HARD to buckle. It takes me about 3-5 minutes every time. Thankfully I rarely need to use it since the child that rides in it isn't mine. A Bubble Bum would also work, I suspect. A Ride Safer Travel Vest is another option. 

[LiLStar]

I'm thinking the parkway or monterey are the best bets. I hear the parkway is narrower, but the monterey tends to be "Compatible" with squishing next to the radians. I'll try them both. But we have a lot of annoyances first. We need to replace two of the tires, then pass emissions testing, then renew the registration! And then we can take the car to a store to try the floor models. I've accepted that if its too tight, we'll just leave it buckled and teach dd to slip in and out of the seatbelt.

[Nursingnaturalmom]

The Radian would be perfect for 3 across.  Check out to see if yoiu can get a used one??

[chickabiddy]

A child who has outgrown the Nautilus by height won't fit in a Radian.