If safety is your issue then the safe and sound capsule is actually the "safest" car restraint for newborns due to it's 2 part system and how it reacts in an accident (the capsule actually sinks into the base altering the angle that the baby ends up in and spreads the load more evenly over the whole body). It is also smaller than a car seat in the rearward facing position by a good few inches. Have you thought of hiring a capsule for 6 months then going for the meridian car seat when baby can go forward? This would solve all your problems by having baby in the safest travel system possible and the good seat fitting cos when you turn it forward it won't take half the space that rearward facing does. HTH