Best long-rear-facing seat for small car

[HannahJ]

Needing a seat in which I can rear face as long as possible.  My boy is a year old and about 30 pounds.  His current carseat says I can only rear-face him up to 40 pounds or up to a year, which ever comes first.  So although he appears to fit in it just fine, it looks like we need a new one now.

but space is a major issue (front to back space- the width shouldn't matter too much), as we've got a very very small car.

thoughts?

[chickabiddy]

What carseat does he have?  I am not aware of any carseats on the US market with a rear-facing age limit.

[HannahJ]

I stand corrected, chickabiddy.  I just remember reading the details on the side of the seat and making a mental note that we definitely needed a new seat soon.  So I just looked it up again and it is not because of his age as I had remembered; it is because of weight.  It's got a 33 pound weight limit.  The 40 that stuck in my mind was a 40" height limit.  The sticker on the seat itself is a little misleading because it says you can rear-face to a year, but in looking at the details/specs online, it does not say that there is an actual age limit.

Thanks for prompting me to clarify, so that there isn't misinformation out there!

So I still need an extended-rear-facing seat for a small car!!  Anyone have thoughts?

thanks, all

[fruitfulmomma]

Yeah, really wish they would not word it the way they do. "Rear-facing only until 1 year" is confusing to parents and makes it look like they have to ff at a year, when what they mean is that you can not ff *before* a year.

Anyway, not sure about your small car question. We have a MyRide65. It is pretty wide, might work if you only have 2 across, but not sure about how much room the passenger in front of it would have then.

[chickabiddy]

What's your budget?  The Diono Radians are pricey, but with an angle adjuster (suitable for a 1yo), they can be installed very upright and take up not a lot of front-to-back space.  They have a tall shell and a 45# rear-facing limit.

[brigala]

What car (including model year)?

[HannahJ]

oh, thanks for the help, you guys.

Brigala, it's a 2008 Honda Fit.  Do you have some kind of tool (or website! that would be awesome) that can help people figure out which seats will fit?

And, Chickabiddy, thanks for the recommendation.  That seat looks great and even with the big pricetag, looks like it would really last us (and as long as there is value, i can justify the cost).  There is the R100, the RXT, and the R120... so I'll have to see how all of those models differ, but that looks like it could work great for us.  Off to take some measurements...

And yes, fruitfulmamma, i can't remember exactly how it was worded, but I definitely did not interpret it as "don't forward face before 1 year."  That's really too bad, because I bet your'e right that lots of people go ahead and turn the seat at a year because they think they're supposed to.

would still love more options if there are any more out there, just for comparison

thanks so much, everyone