Convertable + infant seat in a small-ish car: what to do?

[writermama]

Help! I'm trying to figure out the best, safest way to arrange the car seats when the baby arrives. We have an 01 Camry (no LATCH, no side airbags, but good crash ratings, roomy, and a trunk for cargo) and an 03 Subaru Forester (LATCH and side airbags, but smaller and no trunk for cargo). For carseats, I have a Graco Snug Ride and a Britax Marathon.

My DD is 2 and a half and a petite 28 pounds, so we plan to have her rear facing for a long time (perhaps until she's 15 or so).

I would like to have enough room in the back to ride next to the baby sometimes. So, I'm going to need to put the infant seat center and the convertible seat outboard.

Here are the options I've thought of so far:

1. Camry: Infant seat belted center, convertible belted RF outboard
-- with no side airbags, though, I'd want to buy a new seat with Side Impact Protection.
Will that fit?

2. Forester: Infant seat belted center, convertible RF LATCH outboard.
-- Will a Marathon even fit next to a Snug Ride?
-- Since it's a LATCH install, would a Radian work?

3. Forester: Infant seat LATCH outboard, convertible RF LATCH outboard
-- Both seats would fit, I could sit in the back when my DD is not in the car
-- LATCH would make taking out and reinstalling the convertible much easier

Which option seems best? Any other ideas out there?

[writermama]

OK, so we won't be using the 01 Camry. I just checked the ratings at http://www.iihs.org and it rates poor in side impacts.

So that narrows it down to the 2 Forester options.

[o_mom]

Since you are down to #2 and #3, I would say option 3 is most likely to work. Subaru's are notoriously hard to install any seat in the center position. They have a big "hump" in the middle and long buckle stalks.

I wouldn't worry too much about not having side airbags if DD is still rear-facing. They gain alot of protection that way, but if you want to get a BV, go for it. :-) I love any excuse for a new seat.