I've read a few sporadic posts from people that have small children and MINI's. It seems that most of the rear facing child seats that people here have used pretty much kill the front passenger seat for usefullness.

Are there any rear facing seats that allow for an average-sized person, say 5'8" to sit confortably in the front seat for a long drive? our other car will be an RSX which doesn't exactly have a roomy back seat either, and I'm trying to figure out if it would just be ridiculous to even consider a MINI in my situation.

As many of you have no doubt figured out by now, I we are planning for our first child, so we have absolutely no experience in these matter. I'm not even sure how long a rear-facing seat is needed. We both value our driving pleasure a lot though, and aren't sure we're ready for a four door yet. Perhaps we're just being too naive.

Thanks for any insight that anyone can give me.

Mike

 

I'm using the Peg Perego infant seat, and am very happy with it. My wife was pissed when I showed her the seat she'd ordered didn't really fit in the Mini, and when she saw the PP was like $130 or so she wasn't happy either. Then we bought it. We have a Mountain Buggy and got a bar it clamps to.

Another way to go (I'm gonna do this for the next size up) is to get the Mini seat from Europe. It's very expensive, but leaves more room as it's tailor made for the coutours of the seat. For the infant, they even have a collapsable stroller.

Cheryl and I have been happy with the Mini with a baby, but it's not our only car, and with all the baby accessories, the MDX is better for very long drives, but much less fun....

Matt

 

Thanks Dr. Obnxs. I've looked at the Peg car seat online based upon the comments in other posts on this site. How is that seat for front seat room when it's installed in the rear facing position?

Also, where you can you get the MINI seat? A car seat made by and for the MINI seems like it would have been the most obvious thing, and I'm surprised that MINI hasn't marketed something like that here since they have so many other MINI items for sale. Can you point me to a site that sells that seat, or has pictures of it? Does that seat leave any more room in the front?

Mike

 

I just got the Peg rear-facing seat and test-fit it in the MINI. I learned 2 things:

1. We're not coming home from the hospital in the MINI.
2. My wife cannot sit comfortably (or possibly at all) in the front seat with the baby seat in place.

Our plan is for her to ride in the back seat next to the baby until we can get a forward-facing seat.

The rule, I believe (and it probably differs by area), is one-year or 20 pounds, whichever comes last.

Where, indeed, can one find the European MINI seat, and is it legal in the US?

 

If you look at www.mini.co.uk in accessories, you can see the Mini car seats.
http://accessories-uk.mini.com/inter...alePath=/UK/en

This is one of them. Don't know if they're "legal" here, but they use IsoFix (latch here in the US). For my wife and I, we found that the passenger front seat needs to be a bit more upright than normal, and that there isn't tons of leg room in the front, but it's doable.

Also, I found the forums on Mini2 to be a bit more complete for car seat discussions, but some brands go by other names here in the US, and some items discussed just can't be bought here at all.

Matt

 

If you haven't found this thread..there is some commentary from the resident experts:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...light=stroller

 

Thanks for heads up Purple. I missed this one when searching last night. I've subscribed to that thread for later purusal.

Mike

 

The infant seats in rear facing mode consume a great deal of legroom on the front passenger seat. Fortunately, your child will get to switch to forward facing within 8 months to a year and at that time, a great deal of space is recovered. I'd say a person no taller than 5'5 or 5'6 can be comfortable up front in rear facing mode--maybe shorter. Once forward facing, it's not an issue any more. And trust me your kids will grow fast, your life will be consumed as parents and the time goes by quick!

 

Thanks Octane. I see you're considered quite the resident expert on this subject. I'm glad to see that you've done so well with it.

The best part of our story, relative to the rear facing seat part, is that we're going to be adopting from China. That means she'll be almost a year old when we bring her home. Her weight might still be a little less than the recommended 20#, but probably not by much. I'm assuming that means a matters of weeks and not months until the forward facing seats can be used.

I have to ask though, how much do you use the MINI with the kids? Is it a primary car for the kids or a secondary car for the kids? I'm kind of positioning myself as the driver of the kids when we get to that, and I want to make sure I have a car that is usable so that I'm not kicking myself for buying three months after we get home with the first baby.

We are dead set against the minivans that people feel the need to have. I almost lost it when my brother told me they were shopping for a minivan since his wife was pregnant with their second child. He said they needed it. I say hogwash! I'm a car guy, and want something sporty that I'll enjoy driving. I see no need to keep enough crap in a car to need a minivan for one or two kids. At the same time, I don't want to have something that's too small to be truly dependable as the primary kid car. If the MINI isn't right, I'll head over to the Subaru dealer and pick out a WRX STi instead.

Again, thank you for your valuable insight into this subject matter.

Mike

 

Hey Mike!

Congrats on adopting a girl from China!! That's very courageous. A good family friend of ours adopted 2 girls, or hmm, I think it's 3 girls from China. She started with one, and later discovered she had some siblings.

I think I'm considered the expert cause I have a big mouth and tend to talk a lot about my experiences here on NAM.

We have 2 cars. My MINI and a Nissan Murano SUV which is the wifes car. Before the Murano--during the first year of birth, she had a Lexus LS400, which got sold and replaced with a Lexus IS300 SportCross.

I take my son everywhere in the MINI. He's been motoring since 4 weeks--when his neck wasn't so fragile. Speeds got faster as he got stronger. He's been on lots of MINI runs with me, as well as day to day driving and he loves riding in the MINI. Before he could talk, he would say BrrrrOOOOM, BrrrrOOOOM, everytime he saw the MINI---thanks to good ole dad who provided him with lots of MINI toys to play with, not to mention teaching him one of his first words being MINI. MeeeNeeee. And now at 19months he says MeeNee KuuuPaw!

As far as a reality check goes:
1.) You buy a small car, you adapt. You buy less items from Costco. If you're going to get a case of diapers or toilet paper, consider that consumes lots of space and buy items that are easily squeezable. With some planning, we can fill quite a bit in the MINI. The wife usually sits in back behind me with my son. The front seats and floor become storage as well as the boot. The floor space in front of my son also becomes storage on these runs.

The Peg Perego stroller fits great in the boot and you can stuff quite a bit more in and around it. Umbrella strollers are quite nice, but I have yet to find one that fits in the boot with the storage lid in place. Most are about an inch too long.

re: 20#.
It's also about size/length. We actually changed around 8months I think to forward facing. He was younger than the 1 year that's recommended because he was in the weight/size range, and I was dying to recover some space back!

Ohhh life changed forever once he went forward facing---no longer did he fall asleep the moment he got in the MINI because now he could see what I saw, and that kept him awake and alert!

re: Minivans
My MINI does about 85 to 90% of family duties. It's more fuel economical than the Murano, and the wife doesn't mind being chauferrered around. It is nice having a larger car when necessary, but atleast at this point in his life--at 19months---the MINI has been perfect, and the wife knows neither one of us are Minivan material, despite what well meaning family and friends say!

Richard

 

My 2 yr old "monster boy" loves to ride in daddy's race car...no problems with the booster sieat, at all.....and he is over 40lbs....it is easy for him to crawl in the back, and he has the cubby holes for his "Stuff" too.

 

Kudos to all of you for not giving in to the "I need a Suburban now because I have a kid" syndrome. This is a uniquely American thing, and relatively recent at that. I grew up with two other siblings just fine in sedans and the rest of the world gets by too with smaller vehicles.

 

Ditto to this remark. We are getting our second Mini and we gave up a nice roomy Audi for it. My soul is with a sportier car and after driving hubby's Mini for a while I fell in love with it. I am more than willing to work with the lack of space and inconvenience for a year or so once we finally have a kid (trying now, well not this second, but you get the idea )

My mom and dad both had a sport coupe while I was growing up and it never was a problem. Heck my best friends parents had an old SL 500 with no back seat and we used to sit on the speakers!