Jan 27 2012
The Great Car Hunt
If you’ve got me on Facepoop or twitter, you’ll have seen my recent car-hunt adventures. It’s surprisingly hard to find a car that is both small (physical size and engine) but also big enough enough to hold a rear-facing car seat.
In 2010, we made the decision to keep Isabel rear-facing for as long as possible, and bought a rear-facing “Volvo” (re-badged Britax) seat. It’s a fantastic car seat, but as with the majority of rear-facing seats, it has a bigger footprint than a forward facing seat:
As my completely unscientific diagram shows, FF seats fit with the shape of inner car seat whereas RF seats fit almost at opposites, requiring clearance in between the back seats and front passenger/driver. Also, in the event of an additional support leg (which the MultiTech we bought has), that’s another bucket load of space required too.
So anyway, faced with this quite specific requirement, I got a lot of questions on why I don’t just buy a new seat and turn Isabel around. *headdesk* I have no idea how to begin explaining why keeping my daughter 5 times safer is important to me.
Anyway, so after much trawling of second-hand cars on the ‘net, local dealerships etc we settled on a Skoda Fabia. It’s an older version but with a 4 star Euro NCAP rating for passengers satisfies my safety-conscious side. It’s in fantastic condition, full service history, low tax (compared to Karl’s), yadda yadda yadda. Most importantly? It fits all the major rear-facing car seats. Rock on!
8 Responses so far
-
if I’d have known you wanted a small car thats big on the inside I would have suggested a hyundai getz. a 5 door 2l would be absolutely perfect for you. Its a hatchback too and you can fit SO MUCH stuff in it. and the passenger seat has so much room you could have a car seat that lay out flat and still have leg room in the back!!
Skodas are good too though!
-
2l! Hardly small engine size :P
-
-
I’m so pleased that Izzy’s tank (car seat) fits in your lovely new car. Stick to your guns regarding keeping her rearwards facing as long as you want and stuff those that think you are being over protected.
-
Will carseat no 2 fit as well? My car’s a microcar so it’s fine for one seat but would definitely require an upgrade for two. …yes I am thinking five years ahead to my next car purchase :p
-
Car seat #2 will be a little ‘bucket’ jobby for the first 12 months (as long as #2 baby isn’t HUGE) so will easily fit behind my seat or in the front passenger. After that Isabel will be 3.5 or thereabouts so I’ll defo be more comfortable about turning her round, so space will not be an issue. Hopefully I’ve timed this just right, heh.
-
-
We have a Britax Two Way Elite in a Ford Focus. Luckily, as my partner doesn’t drive, I’m never the one who has to squash into the front passenger seat in front of the carseat!
-
Yay! I’m glad you found a car that suits you and fits the carseat. Though your diagram may not be completely scientific, I think it makes complete sense and illustrates your point which is its purpose. :P
-
Yay! I am so glad that you found car that suits your needs. I’m rather indignant at the fact that people expect you to sacrifice your daughter’s safety to get a far inferior car. :( I’m embarrassed to admit that I had to google your car to see what it looked like. :) It looks like it will be good on gas.
Leave a Comment
Please read the comment policy before leaving a comment.
