seattle951

I would never put my 2 yr old in a 944. The vision of a 6,000 lb Suburban pancaking the car is unacceptable. The 944 is too light, too low, too old, and doesn't have enough shock absorbing material between the child and what is being collided with. Cars are cheap, kids are priceless.

I concur with the Honda kid hauler.

peterr

I appreciate your focus on the real potential harm to the child rather than the narrow legal requirements, and indeed my main concern has been the negative effect of a seat that does not fit properly and moves around. I agree that I would have a substantial concern about how the booster positioned a child's head relative to the window or any hard object. My preference would be if something with substantial Side Impact protection would fit.

However the critique of the 944 structure is specifically off topic and factually incorrect.

The Kid hauler is a 2008 Mazda5
I actually do have a 2000 Acura Integra as my winter/second car. It has a booster fitted.

Again, not the point. The issue is the "honey can you pick up the kid at day care" or whatever.

On the structural aspect of the 944 I am speaking of my experience in being hit by a flatbed truck (a whole heck of a lot bigger than a 6000 lb Chevy Suburban) at 70mph on a 10 lane highway, spun around, hit again, spun across 3 lanes of traffic to come to a stop when my rear corner hit the concrete median. Ten seconds later I was typing up details on my laptop to make a record for any legal implications while the memory was still fresh. Completely unharmed.

These things are built like tanks. If I was in my wife's car at the time (a Civic sedan) I expect I would have been severely injured or killed. Worse I could have been in some flimsy top heavy van like "kid hauler" which absolutely would have flipped. What saved me was the low centre of gravity and incredible structural strength of the 944.

I was held in place by the fantastic Sport Seats, didn't budge an inch. The fortunate lack of airbags in my canadian car saved me a broken nose and allowed me to do a little steering as I neared the end (backing into the median as opposed to side swiping the mother.)

The car was a write off (as an insurable road car). Three of four corners were mashed in and the torque tube was shoved about an inch forward. However after frame straightening it did provide a nice foundation for a track car. It is probably being tracked this weekend, as I write.

So back to the subject, anyone know a currently available booster for the rear of a 944?

sawood12

I got a Brittax St Anton a few years ago. This was a discontinued model at the time but was on Britax's online car selector under 944/968. I managed to find someone on Ebay selling end of line ones still boxed and brand new. However even though this seat was specifically for the 944 rear seats though the seat fitted perfectly in to the deep rear bucket seats I was far from satisfied from it's fitment. Modern baby seats (non ISO Fix ones) seem to rely on tension of the seatbelt against the springiness of the seat to hold the seat firm. The problem with the 944 is that there is no springiness in the rear seats, they are practically solid. Due to this I found it impossible to tension the seatbelt and I couldn't get the seat to be held securely. In the event of a crash the seat would rotate forward significantly before the seatbelt would lock and stop any further rotation. Also there is precious little room for the child in the back - there is literally only a matter of a few inches between the childs face and the back of the front passenger seat. I always used the seat in the front passenger seat (the wife will rarely to go in the 944 anyway). I have no airbags in my car.

944's are very tough cars. I've seen a few down a specialist Porsche breakers near me after some pretty horrendous crashes, but the occupants have always got out relatively unscathed. Though the biggest problem i'd forsee with the nose of the car being so low relative to much higher 4x4's and SUV's, is the other car riding up the hood and crashing through the windscreen.

GuyKeefer

I am also interested in finding out a modern/less rare form of booster/safety seat that will fit in a 944's rear seat. While I never plan on driving the car long distance with my son in it, when he gets a little older I'd like to be able to cruise around the block with him or just drive a few miles to have some fun.

I also agree that 944s are built like beasts. There was a thread on here several years ago about an 18 year old kid and his girlfriend riding in his 951 that he just bought. First day he ran straight into another vehicle and the front of the car was basically smashed into the firewall. It didn't look like anyone could have fit in the carseats much less survive the crash, but both kids came out of it alive with minor injuries.

peterr

sawood12, thanks, I don't think the St Anton was sold on this side of the pond (or perhaps was sold under a different name). And given the pace of change in versions of these things it would be hard to be sure exactly what you are getting. Nice tip on the car fitment utility, they don't have that on the Canada or US site. I checked the UK Britax site and the only seat it lists currently for the 944 is the Prince, and then only for the front seat. I did however derive the subsidiary pleasure of calculating my son's weight in "stones" which has always struck me as one of the funniest archaic units of measure anywhere.

I am still interested in foreign product because the selection available in Canada is terrible. Most of this is not due to safety standards, although that does affect availability of some lower volume product. Many are just not available because of things like Bilingual labelling. If I can import something considered safe under US or EU rules and actually works with the 944 I would be much happier than using something blessed by our bureaucrats but entirely unsuited to the use.

GuyKeefer
I will try to document my experience with anything I try.


Tried so far
The kid's main seat in the 2008 Mazda5 is a Britax Marathon. This has the full 5point harness. Not looking to relocate it.

The booster seat in the Acura Integra is an EvenFlo Big Kid LX High Back. If it were not for the width of the base not sitting properly on the 944 rear seat it would be fine. As it is perched on top of the curve of the seat in the 944 it would be unstable and it does not allow sufficient room.

Also have an older 2002 Cosco Scenara convertible. The width and irregularity of the base make it unstable in the 944.

Considering:

Recaro Vivo by online
Maxi-Cosi Rodi XR available locally
Watching eBay for discontinued product that others have indicated work

gt37vgt

it looks to me like the rear seat is made for 5 year olds as it is ..

bigdeano

Believe it or not I've had 4 adults in my 951 before and all 4 of us were properly wearing our seatbelts. Granted the two adults in the back seat were 5'3" 20 year old girls but somehow they managed to squeeze in without too much bitching and moaning haha.

GrantM

This works well for my 4 year old now, ridesafer vest.

http://www.safetrafficsystem.com/newsite/index_.php

nofalls

I have a Britax Wizard/Marathon in the back passanger side. Just removed the base plate and it fit snugly in the hollow of the seat. Changing the seat belts to something that actually locked and could be tightened was a trick but also absolutely necessary to hold the seat firmly.

Ethan (5yr old ~48lbs) fits fine but in all fairness I do not think anyone could sit in the front seat at the same time he is in the car. I have to fold the seat and move it all the way forward for him to be comfortable. He likes it, and so do I as we are almost side by side in the car. He puts his feet up on the back of the passenger seat and I complain about foot prints He can see out the windshield and we can easily carry on a conversation.

I have fond memories of ridding in the back of my father's 912s and 911s but there were no kid seats back then.

Mark Knoepfle
'86 951

peterr

Nofalls

Yes, I can imagine the Britax Marathon in the back would make the front passenger seat uninhabitable. That is my son's main seat in the Mazda5, but I can hardly imagine he would still fit in it in 2 years.

The only time I have had Mr. Baby in my car was in a rear facing PegPerego in the back seat. That was only possible moving the seat as far as it could go.

I have ordered a Recaro Vivo which I hope will work.


Bigdeano

I'm jealous as I have only had one 20 year old girl at a time in the back seat of a 944. But I may have trumped you in total passenger load:
Driver: Me, 6ft, 175 pounds
Front Passenger: 6ft, 210 pounds and a bad back
Left rear, 5'10", 160 pounds
Right Rear, 6'2" 180 pounds