What car seat would fit best in a Volkswagen Beetle?
Does anyboy have a really tiny car? I am wondering if you could tell me which car seat would fit best in my New Beetle. I love my little car not to mention I can’t get rid of it because it’s only a years old, so if you have/had a little car and had good luck with a car seat let me know. Thanks.
It is a tight fit, but you CAN fit car seats in there, and most should work. The trick is getting a car seat tech to help you (call your police station and ask about car seats, they’ll direct you to whom you need to speak with.) And realizing that while doable, it certainly is NOT as easy as a bigger car. I have a 2 door ’99 Honda Civic, have had it since my now 3 year old son was born. It definitely has not always been easy, but there really was no other option for us. Installing the seat in the middle can help, so that perhaps the child’s seat might fit through the middle of the 2 front seats rather impeding one of them from moving back any. If you have a convertible I would definitely put the top down to install the seat!! If not, prepare yourself for some grunting and squishing. 
Check your manual, most cars do nOT allow using LATCH in the middle. You can only use the middle seatbelt. Actually, do beetles even have a middle seatbelt? LOL If not, put the seat ont he passenger side and whoever sits there will have to deal with having no room. 
A car seat tech on a forum reminds us all the time that she has successfully gotten a Britax Wizard (about same size as Britax Marathon) into her husband’s Porsche 911. So it CAN be done in a beetle! Realize too, that the seat will take up more space for a newborn, but if you get a convertible seat, once baby can sit up and hold her head up, you can put it more upright giving the front seats more room. I don’t think I’d even get an infant carrier seat – its not a required stage in car seats and would be a massive pain to get in and out of such a small car. It would be MUCH easier to get a convertible seat that will fit a newborn (more on that later) and just put baby in and out. I used to put my son in by either climbing into the back seat with him or holding him in the front seat, and scooting my seat all the way back so I could put him in his.Either was easier to do than trying to squeeze the carrier in and out every time. there’s other reasons I HATE carriers, but more later.
OK – not all convertible car seats will fit a newborn, here’s the best 2 for your situation:
Cosco Scenera – $40-$50 at Walmart, Target and KMart. Great deal for what it is. Rear faces to a whopping 35lbs, which is important b/c kids should stay rear facing as long as possible, the American Academy of Pediatrics says keep them rear facing preferably for their first 2 years of life. Then it goes to 40lbs front facing. It won’t last child as long forward facing as some others, but for $40, its a great deal.
A solution that will last longer is the Evenflo Triumph Advance. Its a rather wide seat, but that shouldn’t matter much, no one’s going to fit back there with the baby no matter what seat you put in! The Evenflo Triumph Advance (not the original Triumph, make sure it says Advance) is a great seat. $150 version at Babies R Us has padding similar to Britax seats, top slots of 17″, harnesses to 35lbs rear facing, and 50lbs forward facing. $120 Walmart version just has little less plush padding. Wide open belt path, easy to install, though it doesn’t have built in lockoffs. The harness adjusts at the front of the car seat, you don’t have to take the car seat out of the car just to raise/lower the straps. It’s one of only 2 seats that does this (The Britax Boulevard is the other, I believE), and it has infinite harness adjustment so the harness always fits perfectly until its outgrown. No more tugging straps to tighten them either. You tighten and loosen the harness using knobs on the side of the seat. As a major bonus, it can be used in a recline position even in forward facing mode. Awesome for kids who still sleep in the car. I LOVE THIS SEAT! LOL My son, who is too big for every other car seat at Walmart has the same amount of room in this as the Britax Marathon.
As you’re shopping, Remember these rules:
1)the BEST seat is the one that fits your child, fits your car, and will be used correctly 100% of the time. (This is why convenience features DO make a difference and ARE worth the money! If its easy to use, you’re more likely to use it correctly.
2)Children should stay rear facing AS LNOG AS POSSIBLE!!!! The 20lbs/1 year rule is outdated and provides a bare minimum for turning kids forward facing. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration both recommend keeping kids rear facing as long as possible, up to the limits of their seat, preferably until at least 2 years of age. For good reason: A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 4 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age. A child’s vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone. In other countries, rear facing 2 – 3 – 4 year olds is standard, they understand that its safer. Here, we turn them as soon as we get to, seeing it as a right of passage thing or something. Ridiculous. Most convertible seats have a 30lbs rear facing limit, Cosco/Dorel/Safety1st/Eddie Bauer seats rear face to 35lbs, Britax rear faces to 33lbs.
3)Once you do turn them forward facing, they need to stay in a 5 point harness as long as possible. 4 years/40lbs is the minimum for riding in a booster, and most 4 year olds have no business using one yet. If they can’t sit upright for an entire trip, they need the harness of a car seat still. And, even if they do sit properly, a 5 point harness is safer, so you want to keep them in one as long as possible. This is important to consider b/c most car seats only forward face to 40lbs. My son just turned 3, and is in the 95th% for height and weight – 40″ tall and weighs 41lbs. He outgrew the 40lbs seats shortly after his 2nd birthday. It was a total waste of money. He now has a Britax Marathon, which goes to 65lbs, and will be able to fit it for some time yet. If I’d have bought it when he was born, I could have had one car seat this whole time instead of the 3 I wasted money on. They are more expensive for many reasons, this is one.
How to Install an Infant Car Seat
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