1 Series and Baby Seats?

[MrRoboto]

Can anyone comment on weather or not a rear facing child seat is possible in a 1 series?

[JimBeemer]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

Can anyone comment on weather or not a rear facing child seat is possible in a 1 series?

Yes it is. I currently have a rear-facing seat for our newborn, and a front facing seat for our 4 year old. However the rear-facing seat takes up alot of space so I cant put it behind the driver seat (unless I move the driver seat way forward.).

[MrRoboto]

Originally Posted by JimBeemer

Yes it is. I currently have a rear-facing seat for our newborn, and a front facing seat for our 4 year old. However the rear-facing seat takes up alot of space so I cant put it behind the driver seat (unless I move the driver seat way forward.).

Thanks Jim. Would it be too much to ask for a picture of the rear facing seat? Trying to gauge the room required.

[3onDubs]

Originally Posted by JimBeemer

Yes it is. I currently have a rear-facing seat for our newborn, and a front facing seat for our 4 year old. However the rear-facing seat takes up alot of space so I cant put it behind the driver seat (unless I move the driver seat way forward.).

this

The person sitting in front of the rear facing seat will have to be really short lol, but it works. I currently have a booster seat and forward facing in mine. With the forward facing seat fully reclined my seat touches it (I like to sit pretty far back). I scoot up a couple inches when the baby is the car.

[Gimlet]

I have a Graco infant seat/carrier behind my passenger seat. It works, as long as no one is riding shot gun. The passenger seat pretty much has to be all the way forward and upright for it to fit. It's somewhat difficult loading in the kiddo, but do-able. My vehicle is only used for the random ad-hoc p/u from day-care, otherwise the wife's SUV does all the duty, so it works just fine.

[cvandenhaute]

Most of the time we use my wife's SUV but occasionally we put our Maxi Cosi Mico in the rear seat, a bit snug to enter it but it works, not too enjoyable for the passenger as she needs to be fairly forward and has a close view on the windshield but doable. I look forward to be able to use the front facing seat since it will make things much easier (except for taking my daughter in and out of the seat due to limited access). Doable but not great. I anticipated the fact that I always drive a coupe or a sport car by buying a rather compact seat (Maxi Cosi° and a VERY compact stroller (Quinny Zapp, you can even carry it in a Miata or in a Lotus Elise)...

[MGoBlue]

we have Britax seats, and unless the passenger seat is all the way forward there's no way it would fit....thankfully both my kids are in front facing seats and don't ride in my car much.

[Lubo]

I have Britax Marathon installed behind passenger seat in rear facing position. The seat is moved up all the way forward but my wife don't mind as she is only 5'4"

[Unkie]

This is probably the key reason I chose the 135 convertible over the coupe... the ease of by which I can drop the two baby seats and the kids in with the roof down!
And by drop, the kids really just drop straight in!

[dknybmw31]

Has anyone thought about putting the front facing seat in the middle? I dont have any kids ans not sure if thats even advised.

[blackbim14]

you can only put 2 seats on the passenger seats (lateral) technically unless you want to use the middle slot for each seat to put one in the middle but improvising with car seats makes me nervous and I wouldn't do that. You can put a rear facing car seat but it is difficulty and I only did it once when my wife was out with the minivan. Front facing booster seats are very convenient and easy to use when they get a little older.

[Diver]

To all of you with small children, congratulations. The days are long, but the years are short. From the answers above, it looks like you are out of luck with twins, LOL.

[3onDubs]

Originally Posted by dknybmw31

Has anyone thought about putting the front facing seat in the middle? I dont have any kids ans not sure if thats even advised.

no, that's not even a seat and it is not designed to work that way.

[psalm40]

Originally Posted by 3onDubs

no, that's not even a seat and it is not designed to work that way.

Agree. In the coupes isn't there a plastic tray between the seats? In the vert there is a leather ridge. The 1-Series is at most a 4 seater.

[BrokenVert]

Originally Posted by psalm40

Agree. In the coupes isn't there a plastic tray between the seats? In the vert there is a leather ridge. The 1-Series is at most a 4 seater.

I've had 11 in my 1er

[3onDubs]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

I've had 11 in my 1er

that's what she said?

[Diver]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

I've had 11 in my 1er

All midgets from Tibet...

[MTribe]

The Britax Chaperone, one of the larger rear-facing infant seats (the largest we saw), fits nicely in the center position using the latch anchors. The latch anchors appear to be properly spaced and the seat can be mounted there very securely. Both front seats are able to be adjusted to "normal" locations (for a couple six-footers) when it's in that location. See photos. I did find you need to place a wedge beneath the front end of the carrier base to get the proper seat angle since that middle "seat" is so flat. Also note there is no latch tether up on the rear parcel shelf in the middle position if you need that.

It also fits on either side in the rear, but the seat in front of it has to be roughly at it's maximum travel forward. As a six-footer, it was really tight, but barely do-able. It'd be tight but more do-able for sub-six footers.

As for hoisting the seat in and out, I found a breakthrough was to step with one foot in the rear footwell, with the seat moved all the way forward (the power seats "remember" where they were, and I think the manuals do too). In a sense I find it easier to carry the seat in and out compared to my wife's 4-door because you can't step in the rear footwell and tilt the seat forward like that. But access is tougher getting the seat in and out through the door, and you do have to move the seat forward every time (not too bad with shoulder-height fore/aft button in the 135), so all-in-all I found the 135 versus a compact 4-door a wash convenience-wise once I got the hang of it in the 135. I had previously ruled out coupes thinking they'd be too impractical with an infant seat, but was happy to discover otherwise.

(Note: Infant seat mounting, your infant's safety in general, and whether or not you use the center "seat" to mount an infant seat is your responsibility. These observations are for reference only. For additional reference, a car seat technician mentioned it is safest to carry your infant in the rear center position whenever possible. The dealer was not aware of any restriction precluding use of an infant seat in the rear center position, and it does not make mention of this one way or the other in the car's owner's manual).

[MTribe]

Since it's loosely related to carrying kids in cars, here are some trunk shots using the Baby Jogger City Mini stroller as a reference (and the Britax Chaperone infant seat in some) for relative trunk size between the 135, current 3 series, Toyota Prius, Audi A3, and VW GTI (in that order).

*With the rear seats up*, as would generally be the case when carrying an infant around, I found the 135, 3 series, and Prius to be roughly tied for usable trunk space (the 1 and 3 series appear to have very similarly-sized trunks).

The Audi A3 and VW GTI were much smaller (again with the rear seats up--there were be much more usable "trunk" space in those with the rear seats down).

[NFIDDY5]

I rock an EvenFlo babyseat for my daughter and it fits fine. Her seat is now front facing though. But it fit as a rear-facing seat when it was required to be by law. Damn. My daughter is spoiled now that I think about it. She spent the first six months of her life in an E46 M3 and now the 135i. When I was that age I was stuck in a farking Chrysler Cordoba and LeBaron. Maybe that is what is wrong w/ me

[noro]

Back when I had my E92 I purchased this seats http://www.amazon.com/Combi-Zeus-Tur.../dp/B000ZJS6MA.

The fact that it spins 360 degrees makes all the difference. But eventually I had to give up the coupe as it was getting too difficult to put my boy in the back.

[228iconvert]

Originally Posted by Unkie

This is probably the key reason I chose the 135 convertible over the coupe... the ease of by which I can drop the two baby seats and the kids in with the roof down!
And by drop, the kids really just drop straight in!

No I am happy I didn't get the convertible because I would of never fit my kids boster seat and car seat in the back. What I do is put the booster behind the passanger seat and I put the baby seat rear facing in the middle using the one clip from one seat and one clip from the other. The seat stays snug in the middle and I just use the regular seat belt for the booster. This way I don't have to move the passenger seat all the way up. The rear facing sits in the middle of the two seats.