Hi,

 

How have you found with the space in the back and a child seat?

 

We've 1 child at the moment and both the baby seat and now infant seat are standard size. We have it behind the front passenger seat and that seat has very little room when sitting in it given the child seat behind it. 

We're planning a 2nd child and there's no way I'll be able to put up with the driver seat being wedged forward to accommodate a seat behind which is making think about changing to an Octy or maybe superb in early 2020.

 

At the same time, I'm wondering if when the first kid is a bit older and forward facing, the child seat orientation shouldn't take as much space facing forward (as when rear facing it leans back at an angle).

 

Anyone else faced this annoyance?

Just bought our travel system, and having only had our Fabia Estate 2 months from new I was mortified with the non existent passenger front legroom.. love the car and the boot size, but just cannot believe the limited space up front. 

It is pretty tight on the driver's side with 2 kids seats and 2 6yr olds in back but it's ok just for me and I'm 6ft, but I usually just put my daughter in the passenger side rear when she is on her own most of the time so it's fine. If you have long legs or like the seat way back it would be a problem.

Surprised that anyone would not know the size of Fabia since they have been on the go since 1999.

Are they smaller now than the Original and the Mk2 and the various Facelifts?

 

Driving or sitting inside one before buying one usually lets them know how much room behind with their seat where they need it.

Yes, most small to medium cars don't cope well with a full-sized, rear facing infant seat.  We had one in a MK6 Golf estate and the front passenger was still scrunched up against the dashboard.  So don't assume you can trade up to an Octavia to resolve this problem when you have 2 kids.

 

The other thing I'd say is that most people don't need to have two kids rear facing at the same time, unless they have twins.  Check the manual for your car seat.  On our Diono one, you can switch to front facing from 1 year/20lb minimum.  So when you get #2 you can put him/her in the passenger side rear facing and switch the other kid to front facing driver's side.   We now have our kid in a front facing seat in a fabia estate and it's fine. 

 

Of course, the longer you can keep them rear facing the better, as it's a safer position. In a front-end crash their weight spreads across the whole seat, not just the straps.  We kept our kid rear facing until he was two and a bit. Were glad to switch him in the end because he got bored and scratchy on 20+ minute car drives. Once forward facing he was much happier!

 

 

 

 

On 21/11/2018 at 20:36, Offski said:

Surprised that anyone would not know the size of Fabia since they have been on the go since 1999.

Are they smaller now than the Original and the Mk2 and the various Facelifts?

 

Driving or sitting inside one before buying one usually lets them know how much room behind with their seat where they need it.

 

Nah I just built it on the configurator and bought it....not. Of course we sat in it, but life changes and thinking of rear-ward facing car seats at different stages and how much they affect things space-wise is not at the front of people’s mind.

In fact, most people who I know of with/wanting kids check for isofix and safety ratings. I’ve never heard anyone talk about this problem until I discuss it and people then say it annoys them, they’ve changed car or something similar to Frontiersmans last post.