Ok well I found out yesterday that we are going to be having a baby. My daily driver is my 03 Mach 1, which is a big no go for toting a baby around since 1 it is loud as all hell and 2 it has no back seat. I had a 97 F-150 Scab but I know that with the infant seats that face them towards the back the front seat had to be almost all the way forward for it to fit, not to mention that with the extra narrow rear seat, to me atleast, it did not seem like the base fit on the seat very well.

Now I am looking into getting another truck to drive around when I have the baby. Since I am having a kid the chances of me going out and getting a brand new SCrew loaded are probably slim to none considering I am getting my wife a new Explorer within the next month. I started looking at used 05+ SCrews which could be the ticket, then I noticed how much cheaper the SCabs are compared to the SCrew and it got me thinking. I can probably get a loaded FX4 SCab for the same price as a 2wd semi-loaded SCrew.

So do any of you guys with an 05+ SCab have any experience putting an infant seat in the rear?? Do the 05's rear seat area have more room than the 97-04's?? If you have put a rear facing infant seat in the back of an SCab how stable was it and did you have to move the front seats all the way up to do it??

 

I dont have a kid, but there is alot more room in the 05 Scab than your old 97. Have you been inside one yet?

 

I have an 05 Screw and 2 Kids. The Screw is the family vehicle. The only problem I have ( not even really a problem because I am the one that drives ) is that my wife couldn't recline her seat as for back as normal with the rear facing baby seat behind her. But if she moved the seat up one notch she could recline it the way she wanted. Once they get into the front facing seats ( like the one that my son has behind my seat ) there is plenty of room.

 

Debi and I hauled around some neices and nephews in the back seat of my scab, but yes, the passengers seat has to be fairly forward in a super cab. You will most likely want a Super Crew IF your wife / fiancee / girlfriend is long legged. For my needs the Super Cab is perfect (Debi is 5' 2", God how I LOVE short women!) but won't work for many of my friends that are married to taller women.

And FYI, the current body style started in '04, not '05. The '04 Heritage models were basically a run off of old parts Ford needed to use up I would guess. The current body style Supercab is WAAAAAYYYYY roomier than the '97-'03 models. If you haven't been in one yet, check them out.

I do know this... With only ONE rear facing baby seat in the center position, the driver and front passenger have all the room they want. We opted to put the baby seat in the outer position to help pin a squirmy 5 year old in the middle...

Basically, if I didn't FREQUENTLY use the bed of my truck for hauling, I would have opted for a Super Crew, instead of a Super Cab. I can make do with the SuperCab until the kiddos get into the forward facing seats, them we are fine. But in the rear facing situation, it is a little tight.

 

I think the SuperCrew would be the best option for ya... here'sa pic of my sons seat rear facing before i he got big enough to turn him around...

 

Hey Danielle, not sure if you knew it or not, but the F-150's are equipped with LATCh in the outboard seating positions in the back seat, and they actually do not reccomend you put a rear-facing child seat in the middle position, more risk of injury.

 

Thanks for the info guys I figured in the middle it would work out perfect. My wife does have long legs(5'11") but chances are her and the baby would never be in the truck at the same time since I am getting her a new Explorer we would just take that anywhere when we have the baby in tow.

I knew the 04's were when the new body started but I was trying to avoid the heritage model so I figured I would just ask about 05+ to eliminate what I already knew from experience with my 97.

 

In my 04 Scab when my daughter was in her rear facing car seat I put the car seat in the middle of the back seat. Now that she's in a forward facing seat there's plenty of room behind driver/passenger seats. You only need the rear facing for the first year then you can use the forward facing which doesn't take up nearly as much room. Sounds like the Explorer will be the "family vehicle", so I'd go with the Scab.

 

Your best bet will be a supercrew. My kids are 4 and 2 and my 2 year old is kicking my back seat. I wanted the scab fx4 but settled for the xlt screw and im glad I did.

 

I know an S Crew would be the way to go and believe me I would love to. Only problem is between the wife's new Explorer, and my Mach, I am trying to spend as little as possible on a truck that I will probably only be driving a few times a week at most. Might start looking into an 02-03 SCrew????? COnsidering the Mach will be paid off in about 1.5 years, then I could trade it and get an 09 SCrew FX4

 

What is your budget? That's the first thing to nail down, then you can go from here.

 

He was in that position for about a month, and the latch system doesn't work if he is rear facing... because the straps won't reach, and I read the directions and that is what it stated... He is forward facing now... and yes i use the latch system...

 

We have the same seat and no the straps aren't long enough for LATCH.

To 01TruBluGt, no problems with getting a rear facing to fit in the middle of the back seat on a SCAB. We had a Graco Snugride with it's base and it fit snugly between the sides of the front seats. But as others have said, getting it to one side or the other will create a pain for the front passengers, seat forward and seatback in it's most upright position.

The SCAB would get you by, especially with the new Explorer to fill 85% of the family duties. We did for a year with the SCAB I had and the Grand Prix.

 

I think we're all glossing over the obvious here. CONGRATULATIONS 01TruBluGT!!!!!

 

Well quite honestly I haven't established that yet. I was trying to keep it between $10-$15K so that in two years most of it would be paid off and I would not be upside down on a trade.

My plan was to be done paying for the Mach in about a year and a half then go out and get a brand new FX4 SCab or whatever full size truck cought my eye at that time. For now I want to just get something used to hold me over that I could trade without taking too big of a loss.

At first I was looking into 2000-2003 SCrew 4x4's, then I thought about an 04+ Scab 4x4. I guess now that I know I can make due with the baby seat in the back of an SCab that will in reality only see about 10% of baby toting time I can atleast look at a broader range of trucks that can fit in my price range.