How bad an idea is an infant car seat in a two door

93EXCivic said:

It would be an EP3 Si and little 93EX isnt born yet. A couple weeks away. I haven't bought one. I just have wierdly wanted one since they came out. 

 

As far how often, I don't even know if it would be 2 times a week. The daycare is on the way to my wife's work so she would be picking them and dropping them off. I'd only be getting them if they needed picking up in the middle of the day. 

 

The baby seat is a Graco with a base. 

It will be terrible.  If the EP3 is minty, you should trade me for my 4 door Yaris. 

Take this for what little it is worth and a huge grain of salt...   a two door car and baby cost me a knee surgery.  Yes, I should not have made that turn with my foot planted, but then I heard the big pop and my meniscus was torn in two places.  Even an MRI did not see the tears since they were on the inside and I was super healthy with tons of cartilage still and strong legs. 

You see Mustangs have really long doors and when in a garage with two cars, you can't really get in out or access the back easily. 

I used to weigh 50 lbs less, and could survive a 1.2 mi swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile jog, walk, death march.  Then I blew up my knee not swimming, not biking, and not running but fiddling with newborn in back of 2 door car.  I sold my last Mustang after this: 13GT.  I then bought a 4 door with my busted knee for daily duties.  I've been rocking 4 door dailies ever since. 

I still have two door cars, but kiddo can climb in the back seat herself now or she can ride in the front of the 2 seaters.

My knee took way longer to recover than the doc said it would and my workout mojo left in a big way.  I am trying to recapture it in a different way now and it's good but frustrating too. 

Never ever plant your foot and twist, always raise your heel and twist on the ball of your feet.  When I went to the doc, he actually said the #1 cause of this was being older and getting up off a toilet and doing the same thing (planted foot twist).  At least I didn't do that. 

So no, I do not recommend 2 door cars and carseats for young kiddos.  Once they are in a boost and can climb back there themselves, sure. 

had the neon ACR when my daughter was in a standard leave in type carseat for both rear and front facing and my son was a newborn for the bucket type with a leave in/clip in base.

for rear facing on the standard carseat that was the worst... especially if she was sleeping... open door all the way, seat fully forward, kneel in the footwel and get her sitting in the seat then buckle her up... we turned her around a little before 12 month (not uncommon 17 years back) and it was MUCH easier... 

for the son in the basket type... it was just reaching back and making sure it clicked in... the most difficult part was putting the handle down.

make sure the car has enough room for you to get the driver/passenger seat as far back as you need and still fit the carseat... some cars are tighter than others (add that wife and I where/are tall didn't help)

I used a 2dr Toyota Echo as our 'main baby car' (rear facing 20mo old) for the past month while our Cayenne was getting some bodywork. I have a decent full size wagon sitting here but wife wanted to practice her manual trans skills so we took the Echo 95% of the time. Everything everyone has already said is true, and it must be said that a 2dr Echo has a huge back seat considering it's a ~2000 lb coupe. The worst thing about it for us was just that we kept the baby seat on the passenger seat because it pushed the front seat up enough for 6' me to be uncomfortable driving, and that had the nasty side effect of having to get in and out using the driver seat which doesnt have the same 'tilt and slide' functionality or the rear release lever that the passenger seat had.  Overall we still found it 'ok' but that's due in large part to how good the rear seat in an Echo is. My 6' fit just fine back there in terms of head and leg room.  Other 2drs I've experienced with surprisingly massive back seats are old Dodge Avengers and GC Imprezas. 

I remember having my two kids in car seats in the back of an 06 mustang.  But I think they were in the stage where they would seat themselves.  I used to tell my patients to order small suv's for ease with car seats.  Now I think everyone should just make it work, because before you know it, they will be climbing into the seats themselves.  Besides, my son is now driving the same car that had his car seat.

I'll add, the taller you are , the harder loading kids into the back of a 2 door will be. Simple matter of leverage on your lower back. 

Every situation is unique, but I bought a car that I despise (beige Camry... seriously) because I thought I would need good access to the back seat for loading a car seat.  It was also cheap and has been amazingly reliable for the last 115,000 miles.  Anyway, that was right before our first kiddo was born.  We now have three kids, and I have had a car seat in the back of that car maybe a half dozen times in five years, and I have never had more than one car seat in it at a time.  I absolutely would have been fine with a two door, and almost always would have been fine with a two seater.

I have an E92 M3 coupe and routinely haul my 2 kids (ages 2 and 3.5) in the back using front facing seats. 

Watkins Glen opening day is coming up and I am considering putting my daughter's front facing child seat in the front passenger seat of the M3 for the tourist laps so she can have a better view. The idea would be to slide the front passenger seat back as far as possible. 

The is not illegal per NYS law, but they discourage it in vehicles where the airbag cannot be disabled. 

Thoughts on safety? 

nsogiba said:

I have an E92 M3 coupe and routinely haul my 2 kids (ages 2 and 3.5) in the back using front facing seats. 

Watkins Glen opening day is coming up and I am considering putting my daughter's front facing child seat in the front passenger seat of the M3 for the tourist laps so she can have a better view. The idea would be to slide the front passenger seat back as far as possible. 

The is not illegal per NYS law, but they discourage it in vehicles where the airbag cannot be disabled. 

Thoughts on safety? 

Airbag can't be disabled? 

HUGE no-go. That airbag goes off, it will be tragic. You would also possibly have legal repercussions. 

That is what I need to determine. Apparently the E92 had an option to have an airbag disable switch at some point, but my car is in storage now and I'll have to check in the spring.