Christina has three children, ages 4, 6, and 9; she can frequently be found ferrying them to soccer practice and play dates in her Honda Odyssey minivan. If your family is larger, you may wonder how multiple 4Ever 4-in-1 car seats will fit into your vehicle. We graco convertible car seat drive a mid-size SUV and are able to fit two Graco seats and an infant car seat across the back row without any issues. Sometimes, depending on who’s in the car, we leave space in the middle of our backseat for toys, books, and the occasional adult passenger.
So you have to manually tighten the seat belt and engage its locking feature (video) by pulling the seat belt all the way out and and then slowly letting the slack back in, while holding tension on the seat belt. (Because it can be tricky to get the seat belt tight and locked, we prefer the LATCH install method for this seat.) When you’re done, the Extend2Fit Convertible shouldn’t move back and forth more than one inch, if you grab it at the belt path and wiggle it. In terms of overall size, convertible car seats tend to be some of the largest car seats on the market as they must be versatile enough to convert from rear- to front-facing and beyond. The Graco is 21.5 inches wide (with the cup holders being the widest part), 20 inches deep, and 24 inches high.
For the LATCH install, the NextFit Zip has a so-called SuperCinch system, which allows you to tighten the straps with minimal effort. However, once your rear-facing child reaches 35 pounds, you must switch over to a seat belt install, which isn’t as easy. (You have to pull the seat belt very tight and then maintain tension while you slide the seat belt into a piece on the side of the seat.) And we found that it can be difficult to get a child in and out of the NextFit’s deep, egg-shaped seat. Also, when the seat is in forward-facing mode, the depth of the seat seems to make a kid’s legs point straight out, rather than hang down, which can encourage the kid to (annoyingly) kick the seat in front of them. Knowing your baby is both safe and comfortable is key to finding a reliable car seat. For first-time parents, finding the right model can be a challenge with the multitude of features, options and stages available.
With many car seats, getting a tight install relies on human force or skill. Not so with the Boulevard, since the ClickTight system is doing all the hard work—which makes this seat an especially good choice for anyone struggling with strength or dexterity issues. That said, for the uninitiated, the ClickTight system may take a few minutes to understand, since the key and seat belt lock-off could be counterintuitive for parents familiar with a LATCH system. For first-timers, we think a video demonstration may offer a clearer overview than the diagrams in the seat’s manual.
Without the base, this seat weighs about 10½ pounds—the heaviest of all our picks, and a pound and a half more than our upgrade pick, the Clek Liing, which is the lightest model in our lineup. We didn’t find that extra weight to be particularly noticeable, but because babies get heavier over time, it can definitely be an advantage to start with a lighter seat. Courtney and I took turns installing the seats in our own cars parked in Gina’s driveway on a freezing-cold winter day, and then Gina evaluated our installs. Babies outgrow most infant car seats by the time they reach 30 to 32 inches in length or weigh 30 to 35 pounds, whichever comes first. The average baby reaches that height range sometime between 12 to 19 months.
This seat comes with a one-year warranty and has a lifespan of 10 years. It performed well (PDF) in front-impact crash testing carried out by the NHTSA, with good Head Injury Criterion (HIC) and chest graco car seat acceleration scores. Many people seem to be under the impression that the tether is optional, but that is not the case. Check your vehicle manual to confirm the location of the tether anchors.
Many cities have designated times or events open to the public that include free car seat inspections. Move the crotch buckle to the outermost position and tuck it into the storage area. Then, lift the entire graco turbobooster back off the bottom, harness and all, and move the red tabs back to their original position. Finally, replace the seat pad and secure the two remaining elastic loops onto the tabs at the back of the base.