Mazda CX-7 Car Seats

achrist

I've been looking at the crossovers and am intrigued by these two vehicles. In fact, we're considering one of each. Has anyone installed car seats in these cars? Was it easy? And in the cx-9, have you put child seats or boosters in the third row?

vbbuilt

My kids have long grown up, but I have no recent experience. But may I suggest that while you're car-shopping, that you take your car seat into the show room and have the sales person demonstrate how your seat can be put into the 7 or 9? You'll find out real quick whether or not if they're compatible.

You also might check with Edmunds, Consumer Reports, Road&Track, Car and Driver, etc. Their reports and reviews sometimes touch on child safety.

Good luck! Vince.

carlitos92

I only use the seat-belt method for car seats since I move them between cars occasionally.

In either car with leather, I recommend a towel in between the car seat and the child seat. I found that when you get the child seat tight like it's supposed to be, it can leave pretty good dimples in the leather. I keep a couple of black bath towels in my CX-7 (black interior) for this purpose and they have worked out well. They also make it easier to shake out the crumbs, crayons, snot rags, and everything else that mysteriously accumulates underneath a child seat.

-c92

ridr

I've installed a graco snugride. You can put it on 3 positions with the LATCH system (left, right and center of the backseat). Only at the center position the backseat is sturdy enough to hold the seat so that it just meets the specifications of this specific car seat. On the left and right side the seat is way too soft to carry the car seat the right way. It's position is too much upright in those cases.

ridr

Sorry, I put the car seat in a CX-7

nastacio

I test-drove a CX-9 with my toddler twins back there. Not a problem to install the car seats, but bear in mind there is no latch or tether anchors in 3rd row:-(

In 2nd row I'll have yet another car seat for our upcoming kid (due on November :-)

kbedwards

Had no problems installing a Graco snugride and a toddler booster in the 2nd row. However, the Snugride DOES seem "off" (though it feels tight and secure, and I haven't really tried to adjust it), so I will try center to see if that helps. Having my toddler RIGHT beside our 5 month old though...hmmm.

albluirod

I was very excited about the prospect of owning and driving a CX-9 but reality hit me hard even before test driving. I have two children and a third on the way in March 2008. The realization was that I would not have enough cargo room for a double stroller, a single stroller and at least one bag. With the 3rd row bench up I could not fit my double stroller which is 35" in height. My single is 40" in length. Dropping the far right seat in the 3rd row and sliding the double stroller would cause serious injury to the third row passenger in the event of an accident. Needless to say I am researching MiniVans now.

kbedwards

I agree. 3 small/young kids/babies or more imo requires a minivan, if only for the sliding door action and ease of inserting and extracting car seats.

While the CX9 handles the third row better than anything else I have seen, I would not want to use that everyday for a carseat. Depending on ages of your kids I guess. With a toddler booster in back and two infant carseats in the second row, that would be fine (esp. since my toddler can get out of her booster by herself now).

But yeah, if I had three young kids all in carseats, I would def. pass up any CUV and go for the Odyssey.

myvanny

We have a rather big 1 year old.. Does anyone know if the a car seat can go in the middle seat of second row seat in the CX9? Also when there is a car seat in middle is it diffcult to access the third row?

baggs32

I don't have a CX-9 but it does have a 60/40 splic second row. That means you could put a car seat in the middle of the second row and still be able to easily access the 3rd row from the "40" side of the split row.

That being said, we have a 4 year old and a 22 month old, who is also rather large, and found that the car seats we are using for them are a bit wide in the base. When we put the two of them next to each other they almost blocked the "40" side from folding up in our '06 Explorer. So if you have a seat with a wide base in the middle of the row then it could hang over the split and make it difficult to fold the seat for access to the 3rd row. That goes for pretty much any vehicle except a minivan so choose your car seat wisely if you plan to put it in the middle of the 2nd row of any SUV/CUV.