Cars for two car seats

[Anonymous]

We unexpectedly need a new car but will also soon be needing a second car seat. Our primary car is a CX-5 that fits car seats in both back seat spots but makes sitting in the passenger seat very uncomfortable. It’s not great but tolerable as a driver because I sit more upright when driving.

Any suggestions for cars that are comfortable in both front seats with car seats in the back seat? Its a second car so don’t want anything fancy, just safe and as cheap as possible.

[Anonymous]

So your issue is the space between the back of the driver/passenger seat and the rear seat car seat?

The spacing has been generally fine for the two cars i have had with car seats - a Toyota Highlander and a Honda Pilot. The Highlander was a little tight though with my gigantic convertible car seat when it was rear facing....I wouldn't be able to recline the passenger seat back.

You are probably better off changing car seats to find ones that are less bulky...that or just wait out the rear facing days. There is much more space to adjust the seat went they face forward.

[Anonymous]

Get a used minivan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a used minivan

Seems like overkill for a commuting car, no?

[Anonymous]

It sounds like both car seats are rear facing? The issue may be you need different car seats. I think that a bigger car is obviously going to have more room in the back seat - what about a used camry or something like that?

[Anonymous]

Put your newborn/infant in an infant bucket seat for the first year. They're smaller than convertible seats and will give you more room. Then when your older kid turns front facing (many do it at 2, you can generally wait until 3 or even 4), put them behind the passenger seat. Any non-compact car should be comfortable with this config

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put your newborn/infant in an infant bucket seat for the first year. They're smaller than convertible seats and will give you more room. Then when your older kid turns front facing (many do it at 2, you can generally wait until 3 or even 4), put them behind the passenger seat. Any non-compact car should be comfortable with this config

We’ve tried both with our CX-5 and both are uncomfortable for the passenger seat. We even bought the narrowest rear facing seat we could find.

[Anonymous]

A backwards car seat is miserable in many cars.

Instead of buying the car around the car seats, buy a car seat around the car. So buy whatever car makes sense for you, and then invest in a new car seat that isn't such a space hog. Our Diono RXTs were awful backwards. They took up SO much space. I wish I'd shopped around for something shorter, but we just powered through for 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Are you super tall or do you otherwise sit with the seat pushed far back? We had two rear facing Diono radians in our CX-5 without issue. But my wife and I are both pretty average height so maybe the seat was as far back?

[Anonymous]

We have a CX-5 and it was definitely tight with rear facing seats, but I think that's going to be true of anything smaller than a Highlander/Pilot/Minivan size. I think you either need to size up or deal with being uncomfortable for 2+ years until the new baby is old enough to be forward facing.

[Anonymous]

if you watch Alex on Autos on YouTube, he does an incredible job (in general) but laying out very clearly the important dimensions of all sorts, and how they compare, including this dimension that would affect rear facing child seats. You don't get this just looking at car specs online because they're measured differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So your issue is the space between the back of the driver/passenger seat and the rear seat car seat?

The spacing has been generally fine for the two cars i have had with car seats - a Toyota Highlander and a Honda Pilot. The Highlander was a little tight though with my gigantic convertible car seat when it was rear facing....I wouldn't be able to recline the passenger seat back.

You are probably better off changing car seats to find ones that are less bulky...that or just wait out the rear facing days. There is much more space to adjust the seat went they face forward.

The Highlander is HUGE! And in excess of $50k. And that size comes with a 3rd row which doesn't address the issue. Other than that, you nailed it!

[Anonymous]

The Porsche Cayenne has good space in the rear and you can slide the rear seats fore and aft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Porsche Cayenne has good space in the rear and you can slide the rear seats fore and aft.

If I had $70k to spend on a commuter car I wouldn’t be commuting!

[Anonymous]

We never had two rear facing at a time. This is a newer problem. Also my husband is tall so a rear facing seat doesn’t fit behind him. And when #2 was born we got a minivan. No one said it was easy or cheap to parent.