johnnyd1979

Hello,

I am debating on buying a 996 next year when my lease is up on my current vehicle. My wife and I have a six-week old son but don't plan on having any other kids at this time. We have a four door hatchback we are keeping for longer family trips but I have always dreamed of owning a 996. I would love to know the following:

1. What carseat fits in the backseat of the 996 (front and rear facing)?
2. Is there any stroller on the market that fits in the trunk?
3. What are some compelling arguments (i.e. safety) I can tell the wife to convince her there is at least an ounce of practicality in owning a 996? After all, it does have a backseat.

Whether I buy an early C2 or C4, I plan on making it run forever and hopefully one day my son will be driving it to his prom.

Thanks for your advice!

John

Marc Gelefsky

John,

Do a search, there is a recent thread on car seats, I get my 2 year old daughter in the back in a britax... I think it's a roundabout.

ivangene

my boys are 10 and 11, they still ride in the back of the 996 w/o any concerns. There are two things I have discovered. Fixed back seats only work until they are too big to squeeze thru...and they dont fight in the Porsche. I think there isnt enough room for it as that doesnt seem to be the case in the SUV..?


all in all I would say its at least good till pre-teen years in the back, then they will want to be up front.

Dennis C

I think it all depends on how big you and your family are, and how much gear you plan to haul around.

I'm 6'4", and so the driver's seat is all the way back in my 996. As a result, nobody can sit behind me, unless they don't have legs. As you would imagine, my boys are tall. My 16 year old is now 6'5", and my 14 year old is 6'1". The backseat in our 996 is essentially useless, at least for hauling people. We take the Cayenne when we all four need to go in one car!

Marc Gelefsky

As Dennis said, it's a tough sell if it's your only car but for a fun drive with the wife/Kid you can use it for sure!

Just wish I could fit my 2 German Shorthaired pointers in there as well

Eric - Plug Guy

When I got my first 996 ('99 C2 Cab), my son was about 6 (other two daughters were a few years older). We solved that problem quite easily:

ivangene

someone needs to start making "see thru hoods" so the kids can look around

gota911

Or just put a hood scoop on it with some front and side "view slots" cut into it.

Marc Gelefsky

Bolt this to the hood!

ivangene

thats perfect and barely noticable !

quickxotica

Back to the OP -

I use a Britax Roundabout (forward-facing in the rear jumpseat on passenger side) for my 16-month-old daughter. It's great as long as you don't need to have a really tall person (over 6 ft) sit in the front seat. I drive her to daycare 2x per week in the car. No probs. There are anchors for the top-tether beneath carpet cutouts on the rear deck behind the rear seats, which when combined with a nice tight 3-point seatbelt install, will hold the carseat in nice and tight.

But until your kid is 1 yr old, they must be rear-facing (at least in CA), and that is harder to accomplish. The 996 is a second car for us, so I never bothered to figure out how to get a rear-facing carseat into it. I'm sure it can be done, just not a 3 minute task like installing the Roundabout is.

Note when choosing between a C2 and C4 that the C4 has much less room in the front trunk (due to the front differential) so fitting the wife & kid's bags is way easier in a C2.

At these prices there's no excuse for a 996 being just a "dream." Do it.

BTW: Nice "16-ventiler" in your avatar!! I had an '87 944S for 9 years. Great car (especially after I put an S2 motor in it).

Cheers,
Q

UCrazyKid

Britax Roundabout here too:


Makes a great playpen too:

Torontoworker

You would almost sware that this was Porsche's master plan all along - make it small so they could sell you a second vehicle that was bigger!

It could be worse for seating...


Or this one looks cramped...

Or how about a ride to jail in this one if your 6'5"...

not even a second seat in this one...

Our only real chance is to e_x_p_a_n_d the model line up...

ivangene

That 2nd pic is COOL !!!!

johnnyd1979

Where did you get the pic of the kid in the mini Speedster? I want to buy one of those mini Speedsters for my son!