Hi all, I just got a 2005 Prius so I'm new around here. We have twin infants and I'm wondering how much room the driver and passenger will have with rear facing Graco Snugrides installed behind each seat. I'm 6'3" 285 lbs so I prefer my seat back all the way...anyone with experience here?
We have a Graco SafeSeat which we put in the center since it interfered with seat back recline on either side. My wife and I keep both front seats as far back as possible for legroom. The SafeSeat is a little bigger and bulkier than the SnugRide if I recall correctly so you may be OK, but my guess is that you will have to have the front seats less reclined than you are used to. The only way to be sure is to install the seat and give it a try. Most stores will humor you with the floor model if you ask to try and test fit. Good luck. -Jon
We almost purchased a reverse seat but decided against them for numerous reasons. Not nearly enough room in the prius. Plus it blocked driver peripheral vision. The strangest thing is the child's legs having to be pulled back into their laps because the child seat butts into the car's second row back seat making no place for the child's legs to reside. Lastly it wasn't very sociable for the child/parent.
It's going to be tight. Anything short of a full-size car will be snug with rear-facing seats. Any decent store will let you test the seat fitment out before you buy it - highly recommended.
hopefully someone that has actually tried it will chime in, but... I had no problem with my britax and grace either direction in both a dodge neon and s-10 blazer, both of which had less room between the f and r seats. i i currently use the graco in my prius foward with no problem with the seat all the way back.
I use a graco rear facing seat in my prius and it is behind driver seat(so that I can drop off the older from passenger side at school). I would say it would be pretty tight, may be almost unusable for your height. I am not tall, and room is not enough for me, it is a compromise for me. But again I think it is the case with any mid size car. If it is single rear facing, then middle of rear seat is the best bet.
I'm 6' and have used both a Britax Boulevard and a Graco - both rear-facing in 3 different cars of similar size: '95 Civic, '03 Impreza WRX, '08 Prius. Prius has the most room, but rear-facing required us to move the front seats up from where we normally put them with both child seats. My wife was OK with it, though, but she's a lot shorter. With the Boulevard rear facing on the passenger side and the seat as far back as it goes, my knees almost touch the glovebox. Cramped, but livable for the year my kids were facing backwards.
Wow, hopefully we won't have to use the Prius much for the kids! It will be secondary to our Flex anyway for family travel.
Hah, a topic I can answer. We have twin 7 month olds that we took when we test drove our '05. The only thing is, I'm only 5'8". There's enough room between the back seat and the rear facing carry along that they never touch... but then, I'm only 5'8" . If you put the seat all the way back, it's not going to work out. We have the typical graco seats with the click in base, but for test drive we just used the car seat without the base.
I have a photo of a rear-facing convertible in a 2010 Prius here Safety 1st Complete Air Review Followup Comments . I'm 5'10" and it did not interfere with my seat adjustment. If you have longer legs, it could be cramped. Rear-facing is quite a bit safer, even for toddlers. It allows for keeping the head, neck and spine in alignment in a crash and also contains the head within the shell better in frontal and side impacts.
So I have my answer. I have to slide the seat one notch forward from my regular position (all the way back) and I have the seat reclined one notch forward from the way I would usually have it. This is fine for regular trips around town but wouldn't work for road trips. I was also amazed that our double jogging stroller fit in the back when we all went to the park!
As a side note, you may find another benefit is that your head restraint is more correctly positioned with less recline on your vehicle seat. It should be very close to the center of the back of your head. Too far back and even the active head restraints won't help much to prevent whiplash.
My husband and I own a 2008 prius, we have a 4-year-old, a 16 month old and a new baby. We all fit in the prius. It is a very tight squeeze. I wouldn't recommend long trips! We commute 25 miles a day to work and daycare and we make it. My husband is 6'1/240 and I am 5'6/110. The seat doesn't go all the way back with the infant seat behind him so the infant is behind me.
