Radian80 in an Outback?

[AnamCara]

The time has come for car hunting. My preference is for an Outback wagon. Anyone know if a Radian80 will fit well rearfacing in the middle of the backseat?

What cars do you have a Radian80 in comfortably? I am more for sedan and wagon types...no SUVs. Crossovers are new since I have been out of the states, but still appear overkill for one lo.

Do you brace? tether? LATCH?

Thank you!

[BAU3]

I have an 05 outback and truth be told i don't find it to be a very child friendly car. This is my EIGHTH subaru.. so its hard for me to say that.. my old 98 outback was great.. i could fit three car seats in it.. the 05 and probably beyond, the back seats are very contoured... theseat in the middle is sort of a bump.. kind of tippy for a car seat.. (although thats where ours is.. latched in.)

I would bring the car seat to the dealer and try it out...that way you'll know for sure.

[midwestmeg]

Originally Posted by BAU3

I have an 05 outback and truth be told i don't find it to be a very child friendly car. This is my EIGHTH subaru.. so its hard for me to say that.. my old 98 outback was great.. i could fit three car seats in it.. the 05 and probably beyond, the back seats are very contoured... theseat in the middle is sort of a bump.. kind of tippy for a car seat.. (although thats where ours is.. latched in.)

I would bring the car seat to the dealer and try it out...that way you'll know for sure.

That's what I've heard! And it totally bums me out...

Although we need a van anyway. Oh goody... :

[Mere]

We had an '01 Outback, and we had to look really hard at carseats to find a combination that would allow us to fit three across in the Outback. Lo and behold, the Radian allowed us to do that. Ds1 is in a Radian 65 right now, and as soon as ds2 gets a little older we have a Radian 80 waiting in the wings for him. That bump in the middle seat is a pain, but when we tested out the seat and the fit, we were able to latch it in quite securely (using the latch attachments for the left and right side; ds1 can't use latch anymore anyway because he's over 40 lbs.).

The one bad thing about the Outback is that unless you're extremely short, you can't put a Radian rearfacing in the middle at the amount of recline that a newborn would need. There is simply not enough space between the front and back seats. Even in a regular recline position it's going to be a bit of a tight squeeze for us, but oh well...If you're on the shorter side you wouldn't even notice it.

[annettemarie]

Moving to Family Safety

[AnamCara]

Ahh bummer.... I LOVED my outback. I kayak and had pups.. it did it all for me. We do have the radian in a civic right now and it is on the edge of comfortable. I was hoping it would be narrow enough for between the front seats in an outback.

We are moving from out of the country and really won't be able to test any out first ourselves. We are probably going to be relying on family or a close friend to do the dealing for purchase. There are just too many things that have to get done for us to spend time car hunting.

Since we will be in CA, it seems a good idea to have a newer car (3-4 yo) for their requirements.

Any recommendations for sedans that work? Mazda perhaps??