In the market…Tilt and Slide Seats question

[sammiles86]

Hello all! First time poster

I'm a current '16 Mazda6 driver, but we need to trade up into an SUV and put two carseats in the 2nd row. We're between a CX-9 and a VW Atlas (we looked at others, but it'll be one of the two).

Am I correct that any '20-'23 CX-9 Touring (or better) with a 2nd row bench has tilt and slide seats that allow a carseat to remain in place as someone enters the third row? A video example below.

Mazda CX-9 - The Car Seat Lady

2016-2018 Mazda CX-9 The CX-9 was redesigned for 2016. The 2016 CX-9 adds a tether...

thecarseatlady.com

Additionally, I assume that this is *not* possible if you were to have captains chairs there instead of the bench, and would instead have to slide both the 1st and 2nd row passengers seats up to get in there with carseats affixed?

Thanks in advance!

 

[youri]

I have a 2018 with the bench seat. And only the passenger side (right side seat) as that fonction.

There is a few caveats however. This is only really useful if your children seat is facing forward. Every car seat is different, but typically when rear facing the car seat takes so much space that they would hit the front seat almost immediately when sliding the seat forward.

Also, if you use the seatbelt to attach the car seat (instead of the latch system), then the seats cannot slide forward with the seat attached. This is not an issue if you use the latch system.

The left side seat will still slide forward with a car seat i believe, but won’t be a le to slide as far forward because it won’t angle down and the car seat will hit the front seat faster.

Captain chairs in theory should allow someone to go to the back Without sliding the seats trough the middle, but with car seats in the way it might be a tight fit.

 

[youri]

In her video she has the front passenger seat all the way forward. I recommend you bring your seats and test it out in both model.

I didn’t need the third row seat very often in my 5 years ownership. When i did i either moved the oldest car seat to the third row, or put the front facing seat on the passenger side.

 

[sammiles86]

In her video she has the front passenger seat all the way forward. I recommend you bring your seats and test it out in both model.

I didn’t need the third row seat very often in my 5 years ownership. When i did i either moved the oldest car seat to the third row, or put the front facing seat on the passenger side.

We'll need the 3rd row on occasion for short trips (mother-in-law will join up front, wife will kick to the back with 2 carseats in the middle).

Any idea whether the captains chairs tilt? I assumed not.

 

[sm1ke]

We'll need the 3rd row on occasion for short trips (mother-in-law will join up front, wife will kick to the back with 2 carseats in the middle).

Any idea whether the captains chairs tilt? I assumed not.

I think your assumption is correct. In the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 CX-9 Owner's Manuals, none of them mention that the captain's chairs tilt to allow access to the third row. They only mention sliding the second row captain's chairs forward.

I also have a 2018 and @youri's advice is spot on. To add, I'll note that even with two car seats in the second row bench, either me or my wife can sit in the middle of the bench. That said, my wife is more comfortable than I am back there because my shoulders are more broad. I'm still fine to sit back there for short trips though. For reference, we have two Diono 3RX seats, and I'm 5'8" and around 210 lbs.

 

[sammiles86]

I think your assumption is correct. In the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 CX-9 Owner's Manuals, none of them mention that the captain's chairs tilt to allow access to the third row. They only mention sliding the second row captain's chairs forward.

I also have a 2018 and @youri's advice is spot on. To add, I'll note that even with two car seats in the second row bench, either me or my wife can sit in the middle of the bench. That said, my wife is more comfortable than I am back there because my shoulders are more broad. I'm still fine to sit back there for short trips though. For reference, we have two Diono 3RX seats, and I'm 5'8" and around 210 lbs.

We looked at the 2nd row bench seats, but now apparently need to go look at the captains chairs, per my lovely wife

Anyone have an idea how hard it is with captains chairs to make it into the 3rd row for a 5'8" woman (with hips!) past two carseats (one of which is an infant, and the other will be forward facing soon). I'll find out when we go in, but just curious! Does the front passenger seat need to slide forward and go down the aisle, or can you tilt the captains chair enough?

Thanks in advance!

 

[youri]

Forward facing seat shouldn’t really be much of an obstruction, but this isn’t a minivan, the floor is high and ceiling low. She will be hunched over to get behind there. That may still be easier than going through behind the seats though. A regular adult in good shape shouldn’t be too bad i think. When you go try it, try both options. You can slide the captain chairs and go behind it, and you can try the middle path and see if it is worth it. I personally prefer the bench seat, i find i like the option of the middle seat better and the extra cup holder location ( folds down from the backrest of the middle seat) is perfectly located for children in car seats to access. On long trips i can also have toys, blanket, etc on the middle seat that the kid can reach for.

People want captain chairs, but honestly i don’t really understand why personally.

 

[sammiles86]

I really appreciate the both of you.

And between us, I also *strongly* prefer the bench. If this was a family of four adults, captains chairs, sure. But I'm also not the one squeezing into the third row, so whatever makes her happy.

 

[sm1ke]

We looked at the 2nd row bench seats, but now apparently need to go look at the captains chairs, per my lovely wife

Anyone have an idea how hard it is with captains chairs to make it into the 3rd row for a 5'8" woman (with hips!) past two carseats (one of which is an infant, and the other will be forward facing soon). I'll find out when we go in, but just curious! Does the front passenger seat need to slide forward and go down the aisle, or can you tilt the captains chair enough?

Thanks in advance!

Shouldn't be an issue. If anything, she might need to fold the armrests down to pass between the seats more easily. I'd probably try sitting in the middle so that I could stretch my legs out, otherwise the seat behind the passenger would have the rear facing seat, and both of those seats would be moved up enough to make sitting behind the captain's chair as comfortable as possible.

 

[gphin]

I just had my daughter and granddaughter with her rear facing baby car seat in our Signature with rear bucket seats. We had four adults and 8 month old in the car for our trip. The car seat was in one of the second row buckets with my daughter sitting in the 3rd row. She entered and exited thru the other side of where the car seat was sitting. You really need to have the middle row bucket seat slide all the way forward and tilt the seat back forward for easy entry exit to the rear if you are an adult. A child or slim teenager could probably squeeze in without tilting the seat back. The seat wont slide forward without also sliding the front seat with a rear facing car seat. It would be ok if front facing. Another option might be one car seat in the middle row and the other in the rear if you really want the rear buckets but the bench is probably more realistic if you need to have two car seats in the back. FYI, we drove Toyota minivans when we needed car seats......very easy and practical
This article also might help.

2020 Mazda CX-9 Touring

FIVE full-size child seats will fit in the back of the 2020 Mazda CX-9 and single or compact prams fit in the boot with shopping when using all seven seats

babydrive.com.au