Ive got 2 Britax Boulevards in the 3rd row and it works for me, gotta kneel in to buckle them but they like the slider windows. Best part is, I fold up the second row and it gives them leg room and they cant kick my seat while I drive.
Britax car seat in the 80
- Thread starter phatairman
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I'm on child #4 right now. Number 1 and 2 had a Britax. Number 3 and 4 both have Recarro's. I use the seatbelt with the rear tether to secure them. This method seems to work very well to keep the seat from moving, even in the rocks! Slight hijack here, but I think the Recarro's stay put better than the Britax in the 80. In our van it was a non issue since both brands could use the LATCH system, but the 80's don't have that option so you are stuck using a seatbelt and rear tether.
We have used the Marathon until fairly recently when our kid hit 40 pounds. Now have this one: IH8MUD Banner Advertisingseats.com/SafeGuard-Go.pro
its a SafeGuard GO-seat, which is fairly new to the market. Its a five point harness careseat or booster, and they wont outgrow it until they are over 100 pounds, so our daughter may still need it in college.
Seriously though, some of these newer designs are more compact and offer more features in my opinion than the Britaxes that we had formerly in all of our cars.
The go seat folds up VERY compactly for travel and fits in its own bag that was included with purchase and the kids seem to love it!
its a SafeGuard GO-seat, which is fairly new to the market. Its a five point harness careseat or booster, and they wont outgrow it until they are over 100 pounds, so our daughter may still need it in college.
Seriously though, some of these newer designs are more compact and offer more features in my opinion than the Britaxes that we had formerly in all of our cars.
The go seat folds up VERY compactly for travel and fits in its own bag that was included with purchase and the kids seem to love it!
MTBGUY,
Have your kids try to fall asleep in one of those yet? Looks like it might not offer them much support for their head.
Have your kids try to fall asleep in one of those yet? Looks like it might not offer them much support for their head.
fzjconvert
one hand, two ducks
Another reason I went Recaro.. They are good to 80lbs with the adjustable head rest you can't go wrong,
Good point. That is a nice feature.
THe Radian 80 (Identical to the 65, except in weight and capacity) is also rated to 80 pounds.
fzjconvert
one hand, two ducks
Yeah! That is the one that sold me when I had the Radian and the Recaro next to each other. The Radian is still a very nice seat.
Testimonial on a Recaro... I know this girl (and her kid) personally: VWvortex Forums: RECARO Young Sport toddler car seat saved my sons life
Had two Huskys in the third row they fit fine. We pulled out the passanger side second row seat to make it easier for the kids to get in. At one point we also had the two Huskys in the second row. They fit fine in either row, they just suck to move around due to size. My kids never had an isue with sleeping in the car with the husky seats.
We have one of the older models which has a different head rest. The new version looks to be more substantial. Bobble head was a problem with a booster seat we had been using prior to this. Once a child nods off in a booster, they can slip out of the shoulder harness, so we got this 5-point which can be used with kids much taller/heavier than the mass market seats allow in their harnesses.
Of all of the car seats we've gone through, this is a kid favorite and very babysitter/carpool friendly due to the ease of adjustment. I can adjust the seat to any (appropriate) kid size in seconds without removing it from the vehicle. Anchor points in the 80 are another issue...
(Although it isn't legal on an airplane, but it is easy to check with it's own little bag.)
It is not recommended to purchase a used car seat b/c you do not know the history of the seat (i.e. has it been involved in an mvc).
My son was rear facing in a Marathon for about 6 months in the 2nd row passenger-side. Yes, the front row passenger seat does not have a lot of leg room; however, my wife is 5'6 and she was fine, but we did not use the 80 for long trips. Now my son is forward facing in the 2nd row driver's side and it works awesome.
The big trick to putting a car seat in an 80 (no latch system), is to use a locking clip instead of the seat belt locking mechanism on the seat.
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VFRMAN
SILVER Star
I think I posted this in another thread, but here is our Britax in my 80. Works great in both 2nd and 3rd rows, but it's kind of a heavy pig. If it's going to stay in there all the time it's no big deal. If the wife had to take it in and out, it would be kind of a pain. Maybe they are all like that now? Works great though. 
Matt-
I have two Boulevard models. One for the back of the LX, and one for
's Passat. The Boulevard fits well (forward facing) behind the driver's seat. My almost 3 year old is very big for his age, and his legs easily reach to the back of my seat. He's well behaved, so kicking the seat is usually not an issue. Few other points...
I have not tried mounting it rear facing.
I tried using it on the passenger side for a while, but it seemed like the cats radiated a lot of heat on long summer trips. My son is usually warm, so the seat got moved to the driver's side.
The Boulevard models made circa 2006 have a less than stellar safety belt friction clamp. The newer models use a quarter turn mechanism that is far superior.
HTH,
-KK
Like Gotmud I have had both the Recaro and the Britax and I swore by the britax until I got the Recaro and I would never go back!! Recaro all the way! every bit as safe it not safer and takes up MUCH less space and as your kids grow it gives them A LOT more leg room. GET A RECARO you wont be sorry.
alia176
SILVER Star
We have the Marathon in the 2nd row of the 80 for our toddler. We also use this thing for airplane traveling GoGoBabyz.com - Welcome to GoGoBabyz.com to go with the car seat.
For those of you who has a child car seat in the middle, do you hoist the kid into the seat from standing on the ground? This sounds like a back killer!
For those of you who has a child car seat in the middle, do you hoist the kid into the seat from standing on the ground? This sounds like a back killer!
I had the Britax Marathon in the middle of the second row on 4 trips. But the difficulty of hoisting my toddler up and me getting in the truck to place her in the seat put a stop on that.
Now she's seated behind me and I usually know it because I do get the occasional kick behind my seat with shoe scruffs too as evidence!
Now she's seated behind me and I usually know it because I do get the occasional kick behind my seat with shoe scruffs too as evidence!
There seems to be an overwhelming preference toward either the driver side or the passenger side in the second row. Is there anything fundamentally wrong with mounting a car seat in the middle of the second row?
Oh, this may explain it. I'm 6'5" so it's never been an issue.
Oh, this may explain it. I'm 6'5" so it's never been an issue.
There seems to be an overwhelming preference toward either the driver side or the passenger side in the second row. Is there anything fundamentally wrong with mounting a car seat in the middle of the second row?
Oh, this may explain it. I'm 6'5" so it's never been an issue.
We tried to always put our car seats in the middle until the second child came along. Before we got the '80, it wasn't possible to fit a car seat in the middle position and in an outboard position; they always had to be in the outboard seats.
In cars, we found that it was hard to put a car seat in the middle and buckle an adult into an outboard seat because the car seat would overlap the seatbelt buckles. In those cases, we would move the car seat, but that can be a pain in non-LATCH cars.
Putting car seats in vehicles without the proper tether point is a pain, too.
