3 carseats in backseat dilemmas

[triviaduckover]

Hi,
I need help with juggling 3 seats. I have a 5yo-33# and 43", 3yo-35# and 39", and a 1 yo 17#. We have a Sienna minivan 2005 8 passenger which had Britax Marathon, Britax RA and Graco Snugride. Got rid of the snugride, put the RA rearfacing and bought 2 new Britax Regents. The problem is our second car, 2001 Suburu Legacy wagon which we only use about 1-2x per month to transport all 3 but have to have 3 seats (for work,daycare,doctor's appt unexpected trips, etc). It has a Graco Ultracargo, Graco snugride and Britax RA (all of which barely fit but worked). I tried the RA rearfacing with the Britax Marathon and the Ultracargo - no go, won't even come close to fitting. I'd like to keep the Marathon at least. Seems like a narrow BPB like the Britax Starriser is worth a shot, but I really would like to keep all kids in 5 pts. I've read posts about the SK Radian, which imply it would fit, but the specs say 17" (the Ultracargo is 17" and the Marathon is 18" and they don't fit)and given the price, I hate to take the chance (not to mention I just spent $500 for the Regents). I'm thinking there must be some way to juggle all these seats and hopefully only buy one new seat for the Suburu. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

[CPSDarren]

That is a tough vehicle for 3-across. We have a 2000 Outback wagon, which is essentially the same. We also have a rear-facing RA for our baby. Our other kids are a bit older, 5.5 and 7.5 years. I have a Starriser base and a Nania High Ride booster that Julie recommended. The Starriser is actually narrower, but the Nania has a cutout in the middle that gives more room for your hands to buckle.

No matter what I did, it's almost impossible for a child in a booster to buckle themselves- even if you can get the three seats to fit in the first place. The best arrangement we had was when we had the RA and a Wizard outside and the Nania in the middle. The thing about the RA, WZ and Marathon is that they have pedestals that are narrower than the seat itself and those give you a little extra room for a child in a booster to buckle.

I've since moved the Wizard to our van. We try to take the van anytime we need all 3 kids in the car because of the hassle. We can cram the two backless boosters next to the RA in the Outback, but it takes us extra time to help the kids buckle. I have not tried a Radian, so if you buy one please let me know how it works:-) A harness or vest might also be a consideration.

Darren
www.seatcheck.net