Kids car seats in my Jetta sportwagen TDI.....

Lucihula

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Location
Sunny Southern CA
TDI
Jetta Sportwagen
Thought I'd post for those parents looking for something not so bulky like a Britax this one might be one to consider(like how they don't stick out past the seats in the back). Here are some pictures of my two Diono Radian RXT carseats (one is actually a sunshine kids same company they just changed it to Diono late last year). I came from a 2010 Ford Flex so it was a kiddy limo with lots of room. I was worried that my 3 & 5 year old would be uncomfortable in the back (leg room) and also worried that they'd be kicking my seat. These seats are great. They aren't cheap, but love the fact they are low profile and have a steel alloy frame for safety. If you're wondering about the space inbetween the two carseats I'm just under 5 feet tall 105 pounds and I could fit inbetween, but it was snug LOL! If I had our two old Britax seats in the place of these two there'd be no room period. Here I can at least bring down the console thing so they can put their cups in the cup holder.

High performance birth to booster car seat from 5 to 120 lbs. Convertible 5 - 80 lbs, then booster to 120 lbs. Rear-facing to 45 lbs which is the highest rear-facing seat available.





If your wondering what the mats the car seats are sitting on they are called seat savers and well worth it. Some people don't like them they feel they might cause the seat to slip, but if your car seat is installed properly it's not going anywhere. It' snot gonna slip and slide if it's in nice and tight.


For more info you can check out the website:
http://us.diono.com/en/car-seats
 
Last edited:

roblatham

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Location
Chicago
TDI
2010 VW Jetta SportWagen
radian rear-facing?

thanks for posting the pictures. I'll be picking up a new car seat soon, and the compact size of the Radian is really attractive to me.

Your kids are a bit older, but do you have a sense how "big" the Radian seats are when installed rear-facing? The Evenflo Triumph I have is big enough that I cannot put it behind me rear-facing and still drive comfortably.
 

Lucihula

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Location
Sunny Southern CA
TDI
Jetta Sportwagen
I'm not sure. I think rear facing in any carseat is going to be difficult in a sportwagen. I know that the Evenflo Triumph is big. Sorry not much help with rear facing. A angle adjuster might help to with giving the passenger up front more room.


Here are some videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0i1qyLsoys&feature=related

Angle adjuster:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcPh2ORw9LY&feature=related

Informative:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH5jRA2nsS8&feature=related


thanks for posting the pictures. I'll be picking up a new car seat soon, and the compact size of the Radian is really attractive to me.

Your kids are a bit older, but do you have a sense how "big" the Radian seats are when installed rear-facing? The Evenflo Triumph I have is big enough that I cannot put it behind me rear-facing and still drive comfortably.
 
Last edited:

Fordcougar

Veteran Member
Joined
May 19, 2011
Location
Mid Florida Ocala/Orlando
TDI
2011 JSW DSG (SOLD)
We have the same seat, for our newborn(well he's 6 months now)
We love it, Rear facing on the pass side, we were going to put in the middle
but when I drive I just didn't have enough room(5'10")
When I first put the seat in the pass side, I couldn't fit too comfortably
up front, but we took the seat out at some point, and reinstalled it..
now I can ride just fine up front.

I do want to get one of the seat protectors, most of them are "rubberized" so
slippage isn't an issue for me.

As for the angle adjuster, I'm not sure about the new models, but my
Radian has one built in, and they do not recommend putting anything
else under it to adjust angle, I believe that the manual says not to exceed
45° angle

Best part of this seat besides the safety is that it will quite possibly be the first and last seat we buy.
Some folks balk at the cost, but if you add up 3-5 seats over time you'll spend alot more.
 

Lucihula

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Location
Sunny Southern CA
TDI
Jetta Sportwagen
We've gone through 4 Britax decathlon and a Frontier and while they are gret carseats they are seriously monsters ( very big, bulky, etc.) The angle thng is from that same company sunshine kids now known as Diono So I would think it would go through testing before they decided to put this out on the market. I don't need it, but was just sharing. My seat saver does have a rubberized bottom and there has never been a problem with any slipping we really like them.





We have the same seat, for our newborn(well he's 6 months now)
We love it, Rear facing on the pass side, we were going to put in the middle
but when I drive I just didn't have enough room(5'10")
When I first put the seat in the pass side, I couldn't fit too comfortably
up front, but we took the seat out at some point, and reinstalled it..
now I can ride just fine up front.

learned the hard way on the carseat thing.
I do want to get one of the seat protectors, most of them are "rubberized" so slippage isn't an issue for me.

As for the angle adjuster, I'm not sure about the new models, but my
Radian has one built in, and they do not recommend putting anything
else under it to adjust angle, I believe that the manual says not to exceed
45° angle

Best part of this seat besides the safety is that it will quite possibly be the first and last seat we buy.
Some folks balk at the cost, but if you add up 3-5 seats over time you'll spend alot more.
 
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