nota_troll

PV and Shark. I have an M3 with a Cosco forward seat. The rear is 'commodious' for a coupe. Having said that I wish I had a 996 to shoehorn my family into.

Re-animator

Greg's baby seat how to

Shark

First, none of the dealers in town has a Targa for sale and they claim they only see 1-2 per year so that is out.

At lunch today I went and looked closely at the cab seats. It does appear like both the upper seat pad and the lumbar area located pad can be removed which would save 2". Along with shaving an inch of useless plastic of the back of the car seat would now make the 996 rear seating area longer in leg room than any other import cab I've measured.

Next step is to find a baby to measure leg length from the back to the knees and knees to bottom of feet to see how far the legs would protrude from the car seat.

"Maam, can I measure your baby?"....Is that how Michael Jackson started out

Chads996

May I request pics of this setup? My wife is due in Sept. with our first. I am quite interested in this.

Chad

Ekename

Hey Shark,

My wife is a prodigious record keeper and I bet we have measurements for our youngest from all of her various well-baby check-ups. If you really want some baby measurements I'll get her to find ours for you.

Ekename

Congratulations on your upcoming arrival! You're in for a lot of fun. I was really nervous when we had our first but I love being a Dad.



Tim

Shark

Ekename,
Yes, I'd appreciate any information you have

You can reach me at john_gor@msn.com

Thanks!

PV

Thanks for confirming those numbers of the S4, M3 and 996. I tried to find them via the manufacturers without success. I didn't measure, but indeed created some interesting faces when I stepped into the dealships with a couple of kids and let them disappear into the rear seats.

I checked almost the same list, except the Lexus.

Yes, indeed in H-town.

PV

I bet there is a internet forum with all the details discussed off every bone :-)))

nota_troll

Congratulations! Wanna trade cars?

Clarity is a little off b/c I had to resize but you get the idea.

Shark

The dealer has confirmed that the seatbacks are easily removable, and will get you an extra 2" of leg room for a front seat passenger

I think other than grinding excess plastic off the back of the seat, it won't get any better

Does anyone have dimensions (length & width) for the Porsche car seats? Neither of the two dealers in town can get measurements from the factory

itradem

Shark,

You might want to double check that the seat will still be stable once you remove the seat backs. I had the same thought on my coupe, and it did significantly improve the distance between the back of the front seat and the front of the child seat. The problem I had was with the tether strap. My Britax Roundabout install was MUCH more stable when I installed the seat with the seat backs on, AND used the tether strap to the rear deck connection point. Use of the tether strap was key to a solid install in a coupe IMHO.

When I removed the rear seatbacks, I couldn't succesfully use the tether strap... it would simply pull the top of the child seat back because there were no seat backs to prevent this tilting... I'd prefer the no seat back approach, but I could not get it to work.

This may not be an issue with a cab, but just keep this in mind and let us know what you find.

Also, I'd say that you will need ~6-12 inches between the front seat back and the front lip of the child seat at a minimum...

roberga

have you considered a Targa? I know a guy in Seattl that has two kids in Recaro carseats in the back which works fine.

Shark

Itradem,
You bring up some good points. When you had trouble with stability once the seat back was removed were you using a rear or forward facing seat?

Yes, the use of tethers is important for seat fit. Where is the rear deck tether connection located? Still having a hard time figuring why the baby seat was unstable just because the seatback was removed.

Depending on the age of the child I agree with the 6" spacing

Shark

OK, after a week of seeking out and measuring car seats I bought the smallest I could find, a Cosco from Walmart ($40). Took it to dealers of both cars I'm looking at, a 996 & BMW M3 and the observations are:

M3: Easy fit, no trouble with the wife being comfortable.

996: The first thing the salesguy did was remove the lumbar-located pad and seat bottom (both are velcro'ed on). Understanding that removing the upper back seat will free up another 2" we jammed the car seat against the rear seat back. The wife was a more cramped than with the BMW but feels for weekend fun stuff she would be OK.

So bottom line we feel we can all fit into the car

Now have to decide WHAT to buy and WHEN.

Thanks for everyone's input on this