rear-facing side or forward-facing middle?

Cam's finally outgrown his infant car seat and yesterday we upgraded him to the Britax Boulevard 70 convertible one. It's supposedly a top-of-line car seat and should be because it was not cheap!

It's convertible so you can put your child rear-facing up to 40 lbs and then forward-facing up to 70. They say if your child is 1 year and 20 lbs, by law, you can put them forward-facing but it's safer to keep them rear-facing for as long as possible.

But here's our dilemma. In my Altima, rear-facing in the middle seat (the safest place in the car) would not work. Brian spent 2 hours trying to install it so it's tight and flush, with no luck. The way the car seat is made, the clamps make it impossible to install snugly in my car. The seat ends up tilted to one side and feels loose.

So, we had three options:

1) Put the car seat rear-facing on either the passenger or driver side back seat. The issue here is yes, rear-facing is better but the side position in the car is worse. I want Cam rear-facing but don't feel comfortable having him close to the door where he can easily be hurt if we get side-swiped -- a common thing to happen if there's a car accident.

2) Put the car seat forward-facing but in the middle. Forward, the car seat installs great. And it's where is should be, in the middle back seat. And yes, Cam CAN be forward facing. But if we're rear ended or something, it would be better for him to face the other way so more than just his little neck absorbs the impact.

3) Buy a new car seat. Well, this would be ideal but I bought his seat on Amazon. I don't know how I'd return it without a huge headache. So, thanks for the great advice, car seat gurus. Send me a money tree with those words of wisdom and I'll happily comply.

So, what did we decide? Well, yesterday anyway....

...we put him forward-facing in the middle seat. I'm still a little concerned but on the plus side, Cam LOVES IT! Rear-facing, he's been crying and fussing while we're out cause I think he's bored and is done with staring at the back seat of the car. But forward? He was all smiles and even laughing up a storm!

Brian says we should factor "quality of life" into our car seat placement equation too. Cam happier during car rides makes for a less-stressed driver, and that's also a good thing. But, I'm still not 100% convinced. I'm debating putting him rear-facing on the side. He sure was being cute yesterday facing forward, though. Hmmm....what to do, what to do?