Long car journeys with 3yr old - uncomfortable

[scampimom]

We've got a couple of long (4hrs +) car journeys coming up and am a bit worried about my DD (age 3). We've recently done 2x5 hour car journeys, and both times she woke up screaming and crying because she was so uncomfortable.

I think the problem is her car seat. Now she's 3, she's in one of the more grown-up sort, that's very upright. It's perfectly comfy for short journeys, but she inevitably sleeps in the car, and ends up slumped forward or to the side, and can't sleep well. We got her one of those round-the-neck cushion things, which helped her FALL asleep, but sleeping sitting up would be uncomfortable for me, let alone a little one with a heavy head!

What should we do? We've done long journeys in the past by leaving at bedtime, so she sleeps through the whole thing. But that's not working any more. I wish she could lie down somehow, but I can't find a car seat for a toddler that even reclines a bit. Should we travel during the day so she's more likely to be awake? But then she'll be bored and fidgety AND uncomfortable after a while.

Any wise and experienced MNers got any ideas?

[Janek]

We have an Britax Evolva 123 - it has a wedge under it which folds out, making the seat recline a little. Dd2 always manages to sleep in the car if necessary in this, dd1 has struggled for years and invariably fails to sleep in a more upright one, despite her best efforts. Luckily dd1 does not remember that the comfy carseat was once hers...