Need a convertible soon

[cristeen]

Baby girl is fast outgrowing her Graco bucket and BRU's trade-in event runs through this weekend. 

I had a TFP for DS, which was way too large for our car.  While RF, the front seat was unusable.  We just sat in the backseat next to him, which is obviously no longer an option.  It has since been trashed after being in an accident, so needs to be replaced anyway. 

DS outgrew the TFP RFing at 2 yrs by weight.  If he hadn't, it would have been by height very soon thereafter.  When I got in the accident around his 3rd bday, he was about to outgrow the TFP FFing by height.  DD is looking to be of a similar stature, since her feet are overhanging the end of the Graco and she's only 8 mos. 

So what can I get that is not HUGE to fit in my smaller car (PT Cruiser), that is going to allow her to RF until her 2nd bday, and can be put next to a Marathon?  And preferably can be found at BRU. 

[chel]

Is your son ff in the marathon? Could you put the baby in the marathon and oldest in a combination seat

[DahliaRW]

Do they carry the radian?  A radian with an angle adjuster (to let it install more upright) might be your best bet for the baby.  Or like the pp said, you could pass the MA on to the baby and get your older child a nautilus, argos, or frontier.

[cristeen]

Whoops.  It's not a Marathon DS is in.  It's a Frontier.  That's what I get for trying to post at midnight. 

[chel]

Check out the size4me (?). Has several names. Takes up less room than radian, not sure how it compares to tf.

[brigala]

If you want to have a prayer of squeezing it in directly next to a Frontier, you'll go with the Radian. Even then I can't guarantee that it will fit next to the Frontier. I've done it in some cars, but I know it doesn't work in my Civic.

If you're OK with having one car seat on each side, the new Graco seat may be as good or possibly a better option. The name of the seat at BRU is the Graco MySize 70. Don't confuse it with the MyRide which takes up a ton of space and isn't nearly as tall as a True Fit or Radian. 

Another seat you could consider at BRU is the new Safety 1st Complete Air 70.

[cristeen]

Thank you ladies.  I wound up getting the Marathon, which is SOOOO much smaller front-to-back than the TFP it's ridiculous.  And I only have it on the middle angle notch. 

And then I had to take the car back to the store where I bought the Frontier because I couldn't get it reinstalled.  Over an hour of trying (both me and DH), 2 calls to a friend who has that seat, YouTube videos and lots of cussing, I took it back to the store and they had it solid in under 5 minutes. 

[jocelyndale]

Doesn't the Marathon need to be in the fully/most reclined position setting when RF?  You can vary the angle of install by putting more pressure on the front of the seat where the feet go (to make more upright).  One of the techs can chime in or someone can check the manual

[mama2soren]

Originally Posted by jocelyndale 

Doesn't the Marathon need to be in the fully/most reclined position setting when RF?  

YES.  It can't be in the middle reclined position.

For your Frontier, have you tried the long belt path installation?  That's the way that works best in my car.  It's important that you know how to install it correctly on your own, too.

[cristeen]

The manual specified to adjust the recline to your seat so that it was between 45 and 30 degrees.

Why have it reclineable at all if not for RF? It's useless FF.

As for the Frontier, my belt isn't long enough for long path. She talked me through installing it, turned out to just be a brute force issue.

[mama2soren]

The manual states that the only RF position is the most reclined setting.  You can adjust the recline as you install it so that it's between 30 and 45 degrees.  To make it closer to 30 degrees, push on the front of the seat (where your child's feet go) as you tighten the belt or LATCH straps.  The middle recline mode is for FF only, with certain weight restrictions.