Baby hauling wisdom needed

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Was that a two or four door M3?

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I know I've posted a similar answer to this before... but I couldn't locate it so here goes: Babies don't need a bigger car. For about a year you need to be able to fit a stroller, rear facing car seat and a big duffel bag of E36 M3 into something. After they get to the point where they can walk - the stroller gets to be a tiny fold-up unit you hardly use and you don't need more than a bag of diapers and some cleaning supplies. And there you are you are stuck driving around in a big boring POS van due to irrational nesting thoughts a year ago when you had no idea what you were doing. I fit a wife, 2 kids with car seats and supplies into an E36 M3 and, really, it was all fine. I wasted a lot of money on a brand new wagon I didn't need learning this.

This is a good point, the stroller goes away after a year or so if you are lucky. And so does the diaper bag after 3 years.

My wife and I seriously shopped four door E36 M3's when we had two kids. We figured that we could do it quite easily with two. In the end we decided to have more kids instead of get the M3. There aren't many cars that will fit three car seats in a row at the same time. At our peak we had four. A rear facing, a front facing, and two booster seats. Down to just three booster seats now.

Fletch1 wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: Was that a two or four door M3?

2 door... and I followed it with a '90 911 C2, which a 7 & 10 yr old fit perfectly fine in the back of if you are callous enough of the law to forgo the car seat (911 rear seats are child sized already ;) ).

I won't go as far as recommending a 911 as a kid hauler... but it can be done easily enough so a Honda Civic is plenty of car to pack one rat into.

Cosco Scenera - a baby seat that fits 911's. I have two...

I'm not going to lie - E36's SUCK for rear facing seats. You can put one in the middle 'ok'. They are only just 'ok' for front facing seats. The door shape is not conducive to loading kids, and there really isn't that much room back there.

First, choose your car seat. We had seats given to us as hand-me-downs, only to hear that they wouldn't pass the go-home test at the hospital. A quick call to the state's traffic highway safety center run by the HP revealed that there were three recommended for their safety marks. Britax B-Safe (which we bought), Safety First something-or-other, and one more.

The Britax is pretty big, but I have two, so no middle seat option. That said, would not fit without adjusting seat to scrunch the driver in a MKIV Jetta. Would fit easily in the huge cavernous back seat of my Evo IX that I was selling. Fits fine with a six-footer driving my E90 330i. All four door sedans, you'll notice.

You're going to need the car seat, so get it, and sit it in there WITH THE BASE on any car that you will be looking at. Then remember that this simulation is taking place without a 15lb weight in it (6-9 mos), and judge how easy it is to get in and out.

Edit: and congratulations, it's the best thing in the world.

mazdeuce wrote: You need a car seat, a dozen changes of clothes, diapers, wipes and somewhere for the little beast to sleep.

For who, the OP, the wife or the baby?

As you can tell, there are a lot of us parents here and all have had different experiences. Mazdeuce is right, it's fairly trivial. Go what what you think is best for you and the family, and if you find the car situation isn't working out, change it. Personally, I would have never wanted to try having a baby and a coupe. But that's just my preference. For just one child, once they learn to walk, you can rely on the stroller less, but an umbrella stroller is still a nice thing to have. They're small and will fit in most any car bigger than a Miata.

Talk about stroller struggles, after our twins were born, we bought this beast. Holy E36 M3, talk about inconvenient. It's heavy even when empty. Folds down on itself, so even when folded was about 6' long and near impossible to steer when inside a store. We used it for about 6 months and quickly sold it.

I don't know if it has been mentioned, but a HUGE advantage of the latch system is other kids wont accidentally unbuckle the baby seat. The buckle for the center seat is right next to the buckle of one of the side seats and with the width of a baby seat often the older kids are unbuckling by feel.

Mazdeuce is right about not needing so much stuff, and the kid would fit fine in most cars, two doors or four. I saw one review where the tester fit a baby and its stuff in the backseat of the new FR-S. The convertible rear-facing child seats are bigger for the most part than the infant ones.

I personally never use the stroller. I got the Infantino front carrier, and our 10 month old is much better behaved and easier to manage in that. I do have the Mazda5, but we only need the extra space for long trips. The Honda Fit is way more than enough for day to day.

This is all I ever need to pack:

And rarely a pack and play, if we're spending a long time somewhere. But again, all that would fit in a very small car, like the FR-S.

Don't let anyone try to convince you that a WRX is big enough. It's not. I found that it was actually easier to load a kid into the back seat of a two door than it was in the back seat of a four door. With the two door, you are lifting the kid back. In a four door, you are going across and then turning 90 degrees to get into the car seat, which is exponentially harder.

I just thought of something. I'll keep the Civic and buy a 1st gen Tsx or Mazda3 hatch and do a long term comparison test. I'll rotate each week and write a blog about it along with pics

Well, the baby isn't going to make it. Trying to comfort the wife. We'll have to keep on trying. She's tough.

Oh, man. So sorry to hear this.

I am so sorry.

My goodness. I am sorry.

Dang. So sorry to hear that.

I can't express how sorry I am. It's not talked about, but we've been through it too. Let me know if I can help.

I'm so sorry.

I have been in your shoes. Words fail to express.
One bad experience that we had was at an early Gyno appt, we got signed up for Parenting Magazine and therefore another ton of mailing lists.
The baby never comes but the monthly reminders make it to the mail box without fail. I have tried to get the magazine canceled and now I just throw them away before she sees them.

So sorry Fletch1

Thanks guys. The wife is doing ok. It just wasn't the right time yet I guess. I guess going through hard things in life help you be sensitive and understanding to what other's have to go through. If it was going to happen, I'm glad it happened early rather than her having to carry the child for months and lose it at the end. At least we can have fun trying again

I am so sorry to hear Fletch. My condolences to you both.

So sorry, Fletch! It's not an easy thing to go through, the most important thing you can do is to be there for your wife. Sending some prayers your way!

Very sorry. I can't imagine what that would be like.

Reviving my old thread because we had a boy come on Christmas Eve. He was 6.5 weeks early but healthy. We got a Britax B-Safe 30 car seat. I ended up getting a 2004 Double Cab Tacoma a few months back. It's nice,but uncomfortable and I was concerned about the back glass. Now I am thinking of a SUV. I can't believe I'm saying that since I'm a car guy. Gotta have something that will take drifted backroads in the winter. I think the truck will be fine, but thinking maybe having everything enclosed with a SUV might be nice too.