MX5 or MINI + carseat?

I have no experience with car seats in a Miata, but I believe you could also eliminate the seat rails to lower the seat further.

Also, perhaps you could look into adding additional side impact protection. I don't know what Miatas have in the doors and how much it varies by year, but something else to consider if you want to improve the safety of a Miata.

If a Miata is what you want now, I say go for it. I own 2 Miatas and they're awesome. Cheap to buy, cheap to operate and repair, and driving a light car is a lot different than everything else.

If it doesn't suit you whenever you have a baby, sell it and get something else. I hope everything goes as planned with your family, but some people take a lot longer than expected to conceive.

Regarding the Mini - if you're choosing between the Mini to the Miata, it seems irrelevant how much the front seat of the Mini has to go forward to fit a child seat in the rear. If you're considering a Miata, that means you don't require the need to carry the baby and another passenger.

With all that being said, a WRX or Legacy wagon would also make a great do-it-all vehicle and is easily within your budget. I put 130k miles on a WRX wagon and have now put 50k on my Legacy wagon and they are both fantastic cars with lots of versatility. The Legacy (2005) is just a bigger, nicer WRX. I bought my 2005 Legacy GT 5-speed for about $17k a couple years ago with 65k on it. I'm sure better deals exist today.

The biggest issue with a Miata or any other two seater is that if you're taking your kid anywhere, Mom needs her own ride. This was no big deal for us as the Miata isn't a primary vehicle, but your circumstances may be different. That said, kids love convertibles!

It sounds to me like the Honda Fit is the primary "family" vehicle and he's looking for a replacement for his Civic that either (a) has more utility (Honda Element) or (b) more fun.

My assumption is that if Mom is going, they'll take the Fit.

We had an '06 Cooper S that worked fine with a car seat in the back, just choose the right size stroller and you'll be fine. I loaded the kid through the hatch. If you have a giant stroller put it on the roof, sort of like the rat rod VW guys with their BBQs on the roof.

Porsche makes a kit to disable the passenger airbag in a Boxster for car seat use. You'll need something like that for a Miata with a kid seat.

fwiw, NB Miatas have key slot on the center console which disables the airbag.

I have two car seats in the back of my MINI. No problem.

My kids don't ride in my MR2s or Miatae until they're big enough to sit in a booster. Not judging, just not my choice. No rear-facing seats in the front of a two seater, especially if it has a passenger airbag.

A classic folding stroller will fit behind the seats, but you can forget the Graco uberstrollers.

I might be able to help out some. I have an '06 Miata as a daily driver, and my wife's daily driver is a Honda Fit. Our situation isn't exactly like yours because we have 3 kids, the youngest being a set of twins that are 3 1/2 years old, and we also have a boat of a minivan as the primary transport for the kids.

I've driven my oldest, who is almost 7, in the Miata a few times. Just on shorter trips at low speed, and his booster seat fits just fine. A rear facing car seat will fit, but it'll be tight. As has been discussed, safety would be a concern, but I also agree that you can't "safety" a kid to death. Your Fit should do fine as primary transportation for the little one. We've put all 3 of our kids in it with little trouble.

My advice is to get what you want right now. The Miata is always fairly easy to resell, so if 2 years from now you determine that it's just not working out, you can swap cars out then. As long as you can be sure the Fit will be the transport vehicle 99% of the time, then you're fine. You can use the Miata for a short trip on a sunny day, just don't bring anything more than a small diaper bag, because it won't fit. No stroller, no big bags.

You want the truth?? Convincing the better half that buying a Miata is a smart decision when raising a family is your biggest obstacle. Trust me on that one....