Help finding car seats

[ShocknAwe]

OK folks. First kid is on the way and talking with the wife about keeping the 1er as our solo car for another year or two vs getting a second car.

I need your recommendations for a rear facing car seat that fits our 1ers. I know several of you tote your kids in your car! If you have one, or had one, which one was it, what did you like, did it have any major flaws, and would you recommend it?

[zx10guy]

Will there be anyone in the passenger seat? And if so how tall will that person be?

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Will there be anyone in the passenger seat? And if so how tall will that person be?

Wife rides passenger. 5'4"

Also looking at the utility of one of these "convertible" car seats like the Maxi Cosi Magellan (https://www.maxicosi.com/us-en/car-s...tible-car-seat), vs the more traditional clip in clip out car seats meant to pair with strollers. Not sure which would be easier, moving an infant in and out, or the whole seat. The utility of the convertible seat is undeniable being able to switch it and not having to purchase 3 different car seats as they grow.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Wife rides passenger. 5'4"

Also looking at the utility of one of these "convertible" car seats like the Maxi Cosi Magellan (https://www.maxicosi.com/us-en/car-s...tible-car-seat), vs the more traditional clip in clip out car seats meant to pair with strollers. Not sure which would be easier, moving an infant in and out, or the whole seat. The utility of the convertible seat is undeniable being able to switch it and not having to purchase 3 different car seats as they grow.

I have something similar in my 1 right now. But it's not oriented to face rearward. My daughter is 3 now. When she was an infant we did all of the transporting around in the wife's RDX.

I think we started off using the traditional clip in and out car seats. We eventually moved to a different one. Can't remember the brand that's being used in the wife's car which is still being used now that she's 3.

The issue you might run into depending on the type of car seat is the passenger seating position. Since your wife is only 5'4", this may work. There's really not that much room to play with when a car seat is installed in our cars. Because the trick is you'll want to have some sort of incline to the car seat to prevent your child from having his/her head flopping around. With the car seat I have now even with it facing forward, I have to move the passenger seat pretty far forward with my 3 year in the car seat. I do this to one give her enough leg room and two to minimize her from kicking and dragging her shoes on the back of the passenger seat. Although, she still manages to do it.

[Enoe Ulbeht]

I like the recaro seats for my kids. I have used them succesfully in my 1 convertible. you should have no issue with forward facing seats and a 5'4" person in the passenger seat.
For rear facing ones I have no experience with the 1er. I sense you will run into some space constraints. if you are out of space perhaps you could put the baby in the front seat facing backward like you would in a two-seater and then your wife could seat at the back? it's not the safest baby seat location but should be ok.

[Hops128i]

My wife is the same height, and we used the Chico key fit 30 rear facing, she had to push her seat forward some, but it was doable

[10"]

shocknawe: first of all CONGRATULATIONS!! having and raising a kid is the wildest ride around!

Here are my thoughts as someone whose now soon-to-be 3 year old son was picked up from the hospital in our 1M and it's the ONLY car he's ever known. Yes it is totally doable but it also needs a plan of action.

So firstly the car seats that are on sale in the US are horribly bulky compared to those in Europe which in-part contribute to the problem of people buying really big and fat cars in order to raise a baby. I laugh when i see young parents buying HUGE SUVs to put an 8 lb baby in. We can laugh all we want but it's done ALL THE TIME. You have already won by not caving into the excessive gluttony of american "family living"!

You have 2 choices:
1. Buy a infant car seat (first 4-6 months) and then buy a rear facing convertible car seat
2. Buy a rear facing convertible car seat now that is compatible from newborn

ALSO: AVOID bulky and poorly designed seats like Recaros they are just gimmicks. There are far better seats around for fitting and safety.

We went with option 1 and used a Cybex Aton Q which is one of the smallest infant, rear facing car seats (baby carrier) which also mounted on our stroller. The baby carrier/infant car seat is very convenient because if you're going to someone's house or going anywhere you can leave the sleeping baby in the car seat and simply press a button to detach it from its base and remove the car seat and carry it in hand. They can sleep for at least 1-2 hours easily in the seat and it adds convenience. You can also easily buy a number of stroller options that will just snap on the baby carrier. The Cybex Aton is a great car seat and lighter and smaller than other options with the highest safety...highly recommended. They say you can use these up to 12-18 months but the babies get too heavy to use it like a carrier after this....but totally up to you and depends on the size of the baby.

In option 1, our son was a looooong baby so he soon outgrew the confines of that seat and we bought a Diono R100 rear facing convertible car seat. Firstly Diono car seats are heavy and built like tanks. You're not going to remove this often once you install it. They have a thin and compact profile but most remarkably IF you use the ANGLE ADJUSTER these things are remarkably well fit inside the tidy backseat of the 1-series. The angle adjuster changes the incline a bit and makes the baby slightly more upright however it makes a huge difference in fitting these seats rear facing in the back seats of a small coupe. Please note though that the angle adjuster can only be used AFTER the baby has full control of the neck which should be around 4-5 months so it worked perfectly for us as we moved him into this after 9 months.

so that is choice 1. 2 seats but worked like a charm for us. My wife is about 5'5" and she actually enjoyed sitting in the backseat with the baby when he was small so it was really easy for us that way.....she didn't have to worry about lack of front seat room, etc. Later on my wife started sitting in the front seat and that too was totally doable with either setup. The reason why we kept the infant car seat behind MY seat in the first photo below is because my wife wanted to be able to check on him easier. If your wife wants to sit in the front however, it shouldn't be any significant issue with either of these choice 1 seats assuming you do it right.

We have a Diono R100 but the R120 comes with more features/padding and i'd probably recommend that over ours in hindsight: https://us.diono.com/product/radian-r120/

CHOICE 2 is if you just bought something like a Diono R120 Convertible seat (see link above) from newborn all the way through forward facing later. You can use a seat like that for a newborn from 5 pounds, however make sure you note that on full recline (which it will be without angle adjuster) the front seat will have to be considerably pushed forward to accommodate the baby seat back. You would also miss out on the functionality of the infant car seat/baby carrier without that option. It's doable but will be harder as rear facing convertibles are considerably bulkier than infant car seats when an angle adjuster cannot be used like they can be after 6 months (neck control).

A lot of people think we are nuts for ONLY having a 1M as our "family car" but a lot of people also think we are cool as f*ck for it too. Our son? Well he loves the 1M and i'm so happy that i was able to give him an experience of riding in something small and cool growing up. It's much better than the 1977 lime green Buick Lesabre i grew up sleeping on the floor in!! lol. My only advice is make sure your wife is on board with your plans...it's a comprimise to live with a small car as your only car but in some ways it's good because it limits the amount of junk you travel with and makes you focus on living rather than 'stuff'.

good luck and feel free to let me know if you need any further advice.

here are some photos of the Cybex Aton Q & Diono R100 installed. And a photo of our son who is a total petrolheadbaby! lol

[jsublime]

Originally Posted by Hops128i

My wife is the same height, and we used the Chico key fit 30 rear facing, she had to push her seat forward some, but it was doable

Wifey is 5 foot nothing, we also had Chico keyfit 30, like Hops said, she had to sit closer to the dash than she would have preferred, but it works. Later (for kid 2) we got a britax bsafe 35. Older kid would sit behind me in recaro proride forward facing and britax behind passenger. It worked fine. Not sure exactly why but I never liked the bsafe as much as the keyfit.

Bottom line - the 1er is surprisingly practical.

Enjoy the ride and congratulations!