THSCC Forums

FORESTER! awd, room to put stuff, and possible turbo h4 motor iwth the right options. True, it wont be a canyon carver but it can take anything mother nature can throw at it.A certain rallycrosser has a forester, and does well with it. or, a legacy wagon h6. they cna be roooomy.

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hey yall,watch this...

In 2008 when my daughter was born, we ran into an issue with our 2006 Mazda3. I simply could not drive it with a rear facing baby seat behind me, and my son (who was bigger) sat on the passenger side due to school drop-off rules. I understand the new Mada3s are a bit bigger than the old ones, but there is really only one way to be sure what is going to work and that is to try out the seat (or seats) in the car. We tried putting the seats into several cars and having both me and my wife drive them.

This is because the size variations of car seats can be astounding. Buying an "all in one" or convertible seat that is rear facing and then becomes a booster seat might save some money on the seat but those models tend to be really, really large. Buying a dedicated car seat for rear facing phase and then spending another $100 to buy a good forward facing seat that includes a 5 point harness mode and booster is the way to go. Early on, the little rear facing ones with the detachable base are huge, because you can get two bases, put one in each car and just snap the seat into them as needed. Trust me, moving a car seat is a huge pain the butt, and will involve pool noodles, blood, sweat and tears. As an additional bonus, the upper parts of the newborn rear-facing models also fit well on most shopping carts and the wooden restaurant booster chairs if you flip them upside down. You look like a parenting pro the first time you flip the wooden booster upside down and rest the car seat on it, by the way.

With all that said and done, my wife wound up in a Mazda6. There is a reason why mid-sized sedans are so popular. They might not do anything very well but they do a bunch of things well enough. If we had been able to find a Mazda5 while we were looking, we may have gone for that. Lots of Mazda3 parts bolt into them to reduce the mini-minivan kind of feeling.

Now, keep in mind that rear facing seats are a temporary thing- in a few years you can go forward facing if you are so inclined, and the space you get back when you do that is profound. Shuffling the car seat back and forth might seem like a hassle now, but you have to ask yourself how much avoiding that hassle is worth to you. Keeping the car you have vs. buying a new one might save a lot of dollars.


I have the Forester Pete is talking about. It is a 2004 and it does everything I ask it to. If I were getting one for my wife I'd get a 2009-2013 model, though.

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2004 Subaru Forester XT
1992 Sunburst Mazda Miata
1990 Mazda RX-7 (work in progress)
2000 Xterra SE

And then you look like a fool when your child rolls across the floor and under the table the first time someone bumps into the chair. Which, I've personally seen happen twice. There's a reason there is a warning sticker on the bottom of those chairs that tell you NOT to do that.

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In need of car.

So the car seat we ordered fits as long as a give up a small amount of recline angle. Worth it. The seat was expensive but cheaper than a new car. If anyone else ends up in a similar situation it is called the 'cybex aton 2'

I did some research on this, and there is conflicting information. Apparently there are types of booster seats: Some that can be flipped (square top) and types that can't (have a raised back, get wobbly when flipped). If the place has the type that can't be flipped, they ought to have the car seat sling:

http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/fur ... c5570.aspx

I also read that ALL new boosters have the raised back and warning stickers to prevent flipping due to tipping concerns and if they can be flipped they are "old style" and probably don't have a sticker.

It's been years since we had to worry about this; times may have changed. It was never a concern where we ate because the place had tables and chairs and we used to put the seat/stand combo against the wall and out of the way/

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2004 Subaru Forester XT
1992 Sunburst Mazda Miata
1990 Mazda RX-7 (work in progress)
2000 Xterra SE

A second seat base, so you have one on both sides?

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Legacy 2.5 gt. Its what Jeremy and Courtney have, and that thing is unreal.Legacy 2.5gt parts, in a wagon body.Its faster than it looks.

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hey yall,watch this...

You get a seat base for each car. The portable part detaches and becomes a "carrier", and just snaps into each car. It's much easier than monkeying with the belts or the LATCH system each time.

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In need of car.

Pretty sure a baby isn't going in an NA Miata with 700# springs. :v

I understand that. What I was saying is, if the hassle is having to move the base from left to right depending on who's driving, what about two in the same car?

Obviously, if the decision is to leave the base in the middle, that won't work. But then I wonder if you've now got the same problem regardless of who's driving the car, because both seats will be blocked when the carrier is in place.

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Lol. we had a discussion about that. I voted for welding in some eye bolts to function as a latch system but it was deemed unsafe

We still might get a new DD after the kid is born. Now it just isn't as much of a surprise cost and we can plan around it. Also, two seat bases is a really good idea and I don't know why I didn't think of that.

Mazda 5, based on a Mazda 3, comes with a manual transmission, decent MPG, sliding rear doors (will be important when your kids figure out how to open a car door), third row seats, comfortable second row seats that slide back/recline/fold flat, sturdy built-in roof rack mounts, reasonably fun/sporty to drive (if you get the manual, the automatic is not so sporty). It's like having a minivan, but still having a small car. I love mine.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

I rented one of these on a trip to FL. I has plenty of room for kids and suitcases and stuff yet gets good gas mileage and satisfies those that don't need a suburban to go to the grocery

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1990 Faded Reddish CSP Lite Miata
2002 Electron Blue Corvette Z06
2005 Mazda 6 Wagon
2003 Nissan Pathfinder DTV (Dog Transport Vehicle)