cruzdreamer

Anyone with a toddler that has to put a car seat in the back? Curious to how it fits and ease of getting them in. Thanks!

offdaheeze

I had my 3 year old, my 6 month old and my wife in the car on the way to the dealership to pick up my old car, I left it at the dealer when i picked up the 8. Everyone was comfy, the 6 month old fell asleep and the 3 year old could not kick the back of the front seat like she could in my GTI. I would say that it's an adequate small family hauler but we also have a Toyota Highlander when we need to look like a normal family. As far as getting the car seats and kids in, it was much easier than my 2 door GTI and the tethers on the rear deck also make it easy to get the seat nice and tight.

msrecant

I have a 5 year old and my wife's requirement for a back seat is was caused me to buy an RX-8 and sell my 10 year old Miata.

Sarah uses a booster seat, normally secured by the standard seatbelt threaded through the back of the seat (she still uses the five-point harness) and a top teather. The RX-8 console makes it virtually impossible to install a car-seat in the rear using the seat belt. The seatbelt recepticle is just too hard to reach with the console blocking access on one side and the car seat blocking access on the other. This kind of attachment scheme was designed for a bench seat, where access from one side or the other is available. Even using the same booster seat with the seat belt across the front was hard. It was just too wide at the base to allow access to the seat belt recipticle.

Never fear, a quick trip to USA Baby resulted in purchase of a Graco LATCH adapter strap that works on almost any car/booster seat. The RX-8 has the LATCH anchor points (the two vertical slits in the rear of the bottom seat cushon). The LATCH adapter clips on one anchor, threads through the back of the car/booster seat and then clips on the anchor on the other side. You then tighten by pulling UP on the spare portion of the belt. Very easy and very quick. Note that releasing the LATCH adapter strap is not easy but, hopefully, you won't have to do it often.

The LATCH adapter worked perfectly. The seat has never been more secure. I connected the top teather and I was done. Note: tightening down the top teather will crush the rear head-rest. From my reading, it should be enough to simply remove the slack from the top teather (which results in less than 1" of play) and it will do its job.

If you need to use a booster seat with the standard lap belt across the front, then look for a seat that is a thin as possible with minimal arm rests. That should improve the chances of hooking/unhooking the seat belt in the hole between the console and booster seat base.

RX Guy

You might also want to check the below thread.

http://www.rx8forum.com/showthread.php?threadid=7621

bwayout

Thanks for replaying this additional link!



Note to any Mod - maybe we should have a seperate new section for all of this great rear seat child info and advice? Make it easier to search for it ...

B-Nez

My twins are large enough for these slick booster seats, which fit very nicely in the RX-8.

B-Nez

And here's the 2 angels now, itching for a ride. :D

Good Duck

Hey B-Nez, did you pull your kids out of bed just to show off your cool baby seats? :D

red_base 95

Where did you get those booster seats from? They complement the interior perfectly. Did they come two-tone just as pictured? and how much?

I heve a 4 year old, and I need to transition from car seat to booster.

Thanks.

B-Nez

I ordered them 6 months ago from Amazon.com. I looked on the site today, and they still have them: Graco Turbo Booster $49.99. The cover is not as foam-rubber like as it appears on the website. It is more of a mesh-like cloth, and the center section is more of a burgundy, but it matches much better than anything else I've seen anywhere.

wakeech

...which one thought i was the hulk??

B-Nez

LOL! I forgot about that. It was Daniel - the squinty smiler in the foreground.

cruzdreamer

Thank you so much for your responses....and the pics seal the deal for me. I am going tonite to order the silver w/blk/red leather. I have seen the turbo booster seat at Babies RUs, too. Thanks much! Yippee!