DD/track car. Difficulty: Rear facing child seat

Requirements: Under $15,000, 4 doors, fun to drive but doesn't need to be all that fast (however, fast is a plus), I need to fit in it with a helmet on (6' 3" with a long torso), and MUST fit a giant rear-facing kid seat without having the front seat stuck to the dash. No compacts so MS3, gti, SRT4, Cobalt SS, Impreza, etc are out.

I thought I'd be able to get by with the 2 door GTI, and it's been fine up until now. My son has outgrown the infant seat with the detachable base, and the big seats don't really work in there unless I have the passenger seat all the way forward. Not to mention it's a major PITA to get him in and out of the seat while it's still in the car.

I really need to go around and try a carseat in all these to see if it fits properly.

The contenders, listed in order of what I'd be likely to buy: - Keep my '06 GTI and deal with it. - E39 M5/540 sport. - E34 M5/etc... - Audi A4/S4. - G35 Sedan. - Cadillac CTS-V. - Pontiac G8?. - Legacy GT?. - Passat?. - Mazda 6?.

What did I miss? And yes, I probably made this same post a year ago.

94-96 Impala SS

Does it have to be that new?

Volvo 740/940 Turbo.

At least with the Impala you could install the police issue vinyl rear seat and divider for his teenage years.

How huge is this seat? I would think a CTS-V would be depreciated out a bit unless you're talking about the latest one. The G8 would be cool if you can find one.

when you say s4 I assume you mean b5, and as an owner I can tell you that the back seat is very small, probably putting it out of the question for your needs. If you were going to go the a4 route, a b6 would do nicely.

We put a rear facing recaro como child seat in my wife's 2000 bmw 328i sedan (e46). It's in the rear middle, and doesn't impact the front seats. It's far easier to shuffle the baby in and out than in the cramped back seat of my e36 M3 coupe.

In reply to skruffy:

Big cars are too heavy for ther track - skip the 5 series and go for the 3 if the car seat will fit. A 4 door E36M3 would fit the bill perfectly if you can find the rare low milage unmolested one. Audi's are nice sedans (German Buicks), why bother when BMW's are in the same price range. A 330 or G35 would be good choices too, as is an LGT.

I also have a recaro como seat in our wrx and it fits fine in the center in rear facing mode. Though it doesn't help with sightlines. If it fits in a wrx wagon it would fit in an S4 easily. Having had both the audi and wrx, the audi has a ton more room in the rear seat area. I'd consider a legacy turbo, even if it were a wagon.

As for child seats, my recaro como is damn big. We also have a britax diplomat, which I like better and it fits the car better. The difference is the recaro will last my son to a heavier weight than the britax, so that is why it is bigger. I can't wait to turn him around so he can see the road, but he just doesn't want to pack on the weight yet.

The Impala SS is fun in a different way than I'm looking for. It's the sledgehammer VS. surgical scalpel thing.

Another car that's struck my fancy is the E46 330i ZHP sedan. They're a bit hard to find in my price range, good to know a kid seat will fit in the middle. Since I'll end up switching out the struts, springs, and wheels (down to a 16 or 17 if they'll fit over the brakes) it's probably not worth the premium for the ZHP package anyway.

I don't really think the midsize sport sedans are too big for mid ohio and putnam, I'll just have to budget more for tires, brakes, and other consumables.

"What track car can I fit a rear-facing car seat in?" Gotta love this board!

Besides, you already know the answer!!!

(Please, do not try this at home. It was Photoshopped. The Miata however, is real. Please, do this to your Miata.)

m4ff3w wrote: Does it have to be that new? Volvo 740/940 Turbo.

Doesn't fit without moving the front seat forward from my 6'1" driving position. I put him in the middle.

Gotta ask though, if he outgrew the detachable base, why is he still rear facing? We flipped our first kid around when he got to be 22 lbs or something just a hair under it because they typically outweigh the rear facing requirement about the same time they outgrow the dimensions of the seat. His little racing set fits in nearly everything quite nicely.

SRT-4 should work. My ex has a Neon of that vintage and we put a rear facing carseat in hers. Use the center seat belt and you should fit. I am 6'2" and I didn't have any problems. Put the older child behind the passenger seat, and you still have room for diapers and stuff behind you.

My wife insists he be rear facing as long as he can. He's only 5.5 months old and already 21lbs. Our infant seat with the trick detachable bases is only rated for 20lbs.

The are pushing to have kids rear facing up to 16 months these days regardless of weight. Mine is at 14 months, and he's barely at 21 pounds. I think he has more to do with having a relatively big head and poor neck muscles at that age. They are just too squirmy to put a hans device on, so a rear facing seat makes more sense.

skruffy wrote: My wife insists he be rear facing as long as he can. He's only 5.5 months old and already 21lbs. Our infant seat with the trick detachable bases is only rated for 20lbs.

I feel your pain. My son outgrew the clip in base style seat due to height at 6 months. In hindsight, I wish we shopped for a clip in that could handle his size ... it's super convenient for lugging around a sleeping baby. Just quickly looking around, this clip in handles up to 30lbs: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3792567 $100 could buy you 3 more months of time to shop for the perfect car ;)

skruffy wrote: My wife insists he be rear facing as long as he can. He's only 5.5 months old and already 21lbs. Our infant seat with the trick detachable bases is only rated for 20lbs.

You bought a crappy seat, man - ours was 25 lbs. Little man could kick the seat at 21, and that wasn't safe at all, so we spun him around. She really wants you to replace your whole car for the sake of two lbs or whatever?

Better yet, define "as long as you can", because theoretically, he could be 18 and still sitting rearward. - it's safer, right? At some point a line must be drawn.

By the way, our youngest is 4 months old, so it's not like I am using some outdated information regarding weights and ages.

Be sure to get vinyl seats. Any kid who has to face backwards during a track day event is sure to puke his guts out. He'll probably crap his pants, too. Damn kids.

We just sold out 2004 A4 because it was too small for 2 child seats. We did have a single one in he center for my 3 year old. I am 5'10" but like to drive with the seat way back. My wife is the type of person who spends 30 hours researching the safest car seats, so ours was the size of a lazyboy. It worked well enough, my daughter is tall for her age (40") and could kick me in the ear, but otherwise one kid in the car was fine.

We have a 2nd kid on the way and I am looking at a CTS or CTS-V as they are the only larger car* that can fit the two seats and come in a stick.

• that is not European. We were lucky to get out of the Audi without having to make too many big repairs

In reply to tuna55:

I'm with you but ultimately the wife makes the call here. As long as I still get to play with cars I'll make some child safety compromises to keep her happy. I don't have to get a different car, it was more a convenient excuse to buy a M5 or something.

I can't recall ever having been in a child seat, so I know I wasn't in one when I weighed 70 lbs.

You won't fit well in an E46 BMW with a helmet on. I'm 6'2" moderate to longish torso and my helmeted head always pushed hard against the headliner, even with the seat laid back a bit and even when I swapped the standard premium package out for the awesome M3 seats.

How often is the baby in your car? If it not every day I say live with it - the rear facing stage will pass before you know it. Invest the money to get a higher pound rating clip in seat to buy you a little more convenience time, then by the time the baby is in a standard rear-facing seat he won't be rear-facing for that long. Probably not worth it to change cars for a year of occasional inconvenience.

If it's every day (or you're just itching to change cars) I'd say E39 540i/6. Another option I don't think was mentioned is a Volvo S60R - easy to sell to the Wife on Volvo = safety grounds. Or the V70R for a stealthy family hauler.

I have a rear facing child seat strapped in the passenger seat of my miata. It works perfectly and with the top down it's really easy to get her in and out. When 3 or more of us need to go somewhere, we take my wife's p5.

It really is the answer.

We've got a little shaver on the way now, but your question was the same one I had two years ago before Mrs. Clarty and I got serious.

I had a Volvo 740 that was a bit past its prime, but I thought it should easily fit the car seat. Another good choice is the BMW 5-series. I wanted a 5, but found a 2003 V6 5-speed Passat for about half the price.

A great car that nobody's mentioned yet is the Saab 9-5 Aero. Yeah, they're fwd, but they've got acres of rear-seat room, and are FAST! The 9-5 can be an attractive used deal because Saab resale is perennially in the crapper. But they can have quite a lot of electgrical problems. My dad has 250,000 miles on a 1999 9-5.

The 1998-'05 Passats have more rear-seat room than an Audi A4. You can get the V6 with the 5-speed, but the 4-motion V6s are all auto. There was a short window around '04-'05 you could get the 1.8t engine with 4-motion and a manual gearbox. The 1.8t is more tunable, but my VW/Audi independent mechanic told me the V6 has better reliability, and still 190 hp stock.

Have you considered an early Volvo S60 (or V70) Type R? I'm not sure they have the rear-seat room you need, but they are cool and fast.

Another idea is a Subaru Forester with the turbo engine. But I don't know a lot about these.

Good luck!

CTS-V's may be a bit out of your defined price range. That being said, they are interesting cars and there will be one in my garage in the future.

how about a Mazdaspeed6? They are stick and turbo. I don't know if a big guy with a helmet will fit.

Mazdaspeed6

Wait, has anyone tried attaching seatbelts to the floor of the package shelf behind the front seats & strapping the childseat to that? Seems like it'd be the safest part of the car & there is a remarkable amount of space back there.

That's where my folks stowed me in their Triumph GT6 about 30 years ago..seems to have worked fine. Mom's car was a 67 Mustang fastback with the pass. seat removed & Perego stroller-top affixed, for long trips..