can we get some info on what fits and what does not in one place?

i have been searching....an ran across a little info.

wife is 23 weeks. i'm freaking out. first kid.

we have an audi wagon as a second, but i want to find something that working in the mini as well just in case.

babys! aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

thinking on this...orbit baby.
due to the small mounting ring size even tho i hate the rims

 

that clicks into a base and fits the Mini. The seat won't go all the way back, but close. Others have found stuff that works as well. OctaneGuy may have used a different seat, I don't remember. There's good info in Mini2, as more Europeans use small cars as family cars. But not all models you find will be available here. There is an infant seat for Mini/BMWs, but you have to grey market it, and they aren't cheap after conversions and the like. Not sold here!

Matt

 

Rear-facing seats are a real bear. Every forward-facing seat I've tried works fine, but the length of the seat in the rear-facing position means that you'll either have to forbid passengers from sitting in that forward seat (to allow it anough room) or they'll have to be short. Of course, of you normally drive with the seat about 4" forward, you can always put it behind the drivers side...

Note that the air bag sensor will deactivate the bag with a light passenger (kid-sized) in the front seat and the few injuries/deaths I've heard about were caused by the air bag striking the car seat, but even still the rear is safer statistically no matter what.

 

Any of the infant carriers with base units should work. Especially if you use the latch system, which is now standard on all car seats. It isn't a big deal, until you step up to the rear-facing seat, which I just had to do yesterday for my 7-month old. We're using a Graco seat for that now. It is a huge P.I.T.A. to put him into it--requires lots of unnatural contortions on my part to get him into the car without tripping or bumping either of our heads. Ughhh. I can't wait until he's 1 year old, and I can make the seat forward-facing!!!

 

before Alison was born. I couldn't even get it in the back of the car. It was massive. I did some research and found that the Peg was as good a fit as any, and better than most. There are almost no contortions required to pop it in and out of the base, and it allows the most front legroom of any I researched. Bummer is its not cheap. But they come up on Craig's List for much less than new....

Matt

 

I am using the Britax in mine with no troubles at all. My oldest son just got into a booster seat that was really nice. So it is just the 4 of us in the MINI. One thing that I think people forget is the stroller, have to find one that fits in the boot, and is not going to fail you.
Good luck and Congrats on the first baby.

- KP