Baby on the way and not sure what to do. Help!

[Billylammerkins]

Save a few thousand dollars and buy a car that is cheap and reliable for your baby

[djmm]

Originally Posted by husker741

Sell it and buy a Prius. This starts the age of nothingness for daddy.

I don't think selling baby is legal nowadays.

[amilleri]

Father here, my son was born when i had a 2000 eclipse gt, he fit fine even with carseat that had the extra base to make it easy to take in and out.

The passenger seat needed to just be pushed up a bit and no reclining back.

I now have a 99 celica and 2 children in car seats, they both fit just fine in the back seat with there car seats. Children don't need a lot of room. i would suggest getting one of those protectors for the back of the seat once they turn around though as they do like to push on the seats.

[Andrew025]

Originally Posted by Billylammerkins

Save a few thousand dollars and buy a car that is cheap and reliable for your baby

Or save a few thousand dollars by not buying another car since the one he has is perfectly reliable although not the most practical.

[jjaisli]

When my daughter was born, just coming up on 8 years ago, I was driving a 2002 Mini Cooper S. It was small, two door and the suspension was considerably firmer than my FR-S. A lot of our friends started buying SUVs and minivans when they had kids--something I found ridiculous. If you have a family of 4 or 5, fine, but because of one child? Yet they all seemed surprised and rolled their eyes when I held onto the Mini.

But to be fair, we were a two car family. (Actually we WERE a three car family but I had gotten rid of the MX-5 not long before my daughter was born). And my wife had a Volvo V50 wagon at the time. So the majority of the time, when all three of us were together, we took the Volvo. And given the choice, it was simply a matter of practicality. If you want to lug around a stroller, a playpen, bags full of diapers and toys, etc, and just the constant ingress and egress, you may find the FR-S a bit of a challenge, especially if it's your only car. If not, you may get along fine. I wouldn't worry too much about the suspension. If the exhaust is TOO loud, it may wake the baby, and likely won't be good on his or her ears, but in general terms, it's amazing what newborns can sleep through.

[thill]

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2...seat-fail.html

Rear facing will work if you have no passenger. When your child is older, you can definitely fit a couple boosters in the car, but just like the article says, the kids have no place to put their feet if you are an average sized adult sitting in the front seat(s).

I had to sell my BRZ just for this reason. I was in denial for awhile about it but the fact is the backseat in these cars is pretty much useless and not ideal at all for carseats and kids.

If you don't ever have a passenger in the car you can make it work, but as your kid gets bigger it actually gets worse, and there is no way to have a passenger and the rear seat at the same time.

[n2oinferno]

Almost the first? No way. How bout two years, with an absolute minimum of one year and 20lbs before considering turning them around.
http://www.parenting.com/article/car-seats-safety

Look, I know it's inconvenient and can be a hassle getting your kid into a rear facing seat. But when statistically children under 2 are 75% less likely to die because their seat is rear facing instead of front facing, I'll take the safety of my child over a bit of inconvenience.

That said, if you scoot the seat all the way forward you should be able to fit a rear facing seat. If you put the baby in the front when there is a rear seat available they're at higher risk, as are you of potential child endangerment charges.

We sold our Yaris hatch when we were expecting our first. We weren't going to but the seat just didn't fit at all rear-facing, and we bought a compact seat. And even though we had a compact convertible seat we still had no issues at all keeping him rear facing until he was 2. Shortly after that he outgrew it though so he went into his Recaro front harnessed/booster convertible.

I've been in a test drive with the FRS with my son's car seat now to see if it fits. He doesn't have a whole lot of leg room with the front passenger seat scooted most of the way back, but my wife could slide the seat up enough for him, or he can cross his legs which is something he does anyway now even while he has ample room in the Camry. I think a lot of people sit farther back than they need to while driving, but that's personal preference. To give an idea of how much room there is back there, I'm 6'3", don't fit in a NB Miata because of leg room, and I was still comfortable with the seat far enough forward that a salesman fit behind me during the test drive. He might not have been the happiest back there but for a short trip it's not bad.

[raul]

As long as you can deal with loading/unloading the child from the back, their legs won't outgrow the car's lifetime. Your kid will remain small enough for the backseat for the next 10 years.

[thill]

Originally Posted by raul

As long as you can deal with loading/unloading the child from the back, their legs won't outgrow the car's lifetime. Your kid will remain small enough for the backseat for the next 10 years.

As long as you have one kid and no passenger, then yes. Or unless your passenger is about 5'5" or less.

[GTHachiRoku]

Originally Posted by husker741

Sell it and buy a Prius. This starts the age of nothingness for daddy.

NOOOOOO! I did the exact opposite. I sold my stupid hippie 2012 Prius for the FR-S. I couldn't take the monotony any longer.

Granted, my son was already frontward facing. But, it's worked out perfectly fine. I believe others have been able to get slim seats that worked out rear facing. Just do some research. If you go to a baby store they usually will let you try out the display model in your car to see if it fits. Once your kiddo is front facing there are a lot of options and it's not hard at all to get them in.

As many have said, no need to worry about suspension and exhaust bits. It won't bother them at all.

Congrats, and please, please don't give into the one kid means lame ass car mentality. Americans always tend to tell you a kid means you need MiniVan/SUV etc, yet in most other countries they're running around in kei cars.

[raul]

Originally Posted by thill

As long as you have one kid and no passenger, then yes. Or unless your passenger is about 5'5" or less.

The mother will be the one riding on that seat. And on average, women tend to be 5'4 - 5'7, so he's got a pretty decent chance unless his wife is extraordinarily tall.

[Frost]

I am not so much concerned about the stiffness of the ride than the noise from the exhaust. How loud are we talking about? Kids ear drums are still developing at this point, there is no need to subject it to loud noises.

I don't have kids but I have watched plenty of friends go through their first child and noise is an issue for the baby. Please don't subject it to sustained loud noises.

People forget their is a difference between surviving an ordeal and not having long term effects. Just because the exhaust doesn't kill the baby, it doesn't mean it won't have long term effects. The first two years of the baby sets up a lot for the future.

[Demandred7]

Rearward facing car seats are not really feasible unless your wife is less than 5' tall. Mine is 4'11" and it would be cramped. Luckily, I got my FR-S after both my kids were front facing. I actually thought it would be better with a booster seat, but, my daughter's knees don't bend at the right spot until she grows a bit - then it will be perfect. My son sits behind me because he is still younger and shorter (I am only 5'6").

Best thing is to probably get a really cheap car to tie you over until your kid is front facing.

[tbertran]

Originally Posted by Bach415

And since this hasn't been pointed out, you might wanna change you car exhaust back to catted. Those exhaust fumes are no good for a baby! :P

Yeah... Having been a baby in the catless 70's totally messed me and my entire generation up. Oh, wait...