Rear Facing Car Seat in a FiST

[dur3ndal]

So I'm looking into getting a FiST as my daily driver, but the car seat I have for my 11 month old son is pretty bulky. I'm heading to the dealership this afternoon to test it, and see if it works. I'm not anticipating a success, however. I tried it in a FoST and it fit pretty well in the middle, but it looked like about as small we could go. I'm really leaning towards the FiST, because I can get a few options instead of just the base model FoST, but I have to be able to fit my son in a rear facing car seat in the middle of the rear seat.

I'm not trading in my current SUV, so the FiST isn't gonna be a regular family hauler. That means I can pick up a second car seat just for it, and leave the bigger one in the SUV. Does anyone have any recommendations for rear facing car seats that'd fit in the middle seat of a FiST?

 

[Etyrnus]

You have me tempted to try some, the company I work for makes some. Don't know if they'll let me try them in my car, but I'll ask.

 

[Etyrnus]

[MENTION=2744]dur3ndal[/MENTION] I checked with the supervisor for that section of the company. They won't let me do this in any official capacity, but she gave me some relevant info. All of the manufacturers are supposed to list the dimensions of the seats on their websites. Theoretically, any of them "should" fit, but best bet is to get the measurements of the rear seat of the FiST, then see which models will work. Another recommendation was go to a retailer like Babies R Us and see if they will let you try fitting them in the car. That maybe up to management's discretion though.

She's willing to maybe let me try a couple as long as I'm not posting the info publically as a rep of the company, but I'd need to conduct that through PMs.

Best I can do for now.

 

[Brick]

Base seats are easier than the recaros. I'm 6 feet tall, with recaros, and I'm fairly close to the wheel if I want my babeh in the middle seat, rear facing. It's doable, especially as a secondary car. That's exactly why I bought the Fiesta ST. Still a fun car that can do daycare duty.

 

[dur3ndal]

Hey all, just wanted to update everyone now that I had a chance to try some.

I looked online and found a comprehensive rear facing space guide. Their number 1 seat was the Maxi Cosi Pria 70, so I picked one up from Amazon and it showed up yesterday. The Fiesta manual says to not use the LATCH system in the center seat unless the car seat manufacturer specifically says that you can use anchors that close together. I went ahead and used the seat belt. In the middle recline position (fine if your kid is old enough to sit/support his own head) rear facing in the middle, it fits incredibly well. This is not a small car seat, it's robust and well cushioned, but with my seat set to fit me perfectly (5'11") and the passenger seat even farther back, it fits without touching. There's a 2-3" gap on my side and about a 1" gap on the passenger side. I have the standard seats, not the Recaros. That being said, I count this as a tremendous success. It actually fits better in my Fiesta than my Evenflo Symphony does in my Mazda CX-5. I did have to bolster the seat a little bit to adjust the angle, but that's common in a lot of car seats I've seen.

The only thing I've seen is that the shoulder belt is torquing the seat slightly to change the angle from totally straight, but the seat is in there very firmly after liberal downward pressure while tightening it.