Okay. Am I SOL? I'm average size (5'9" 165lb) with 4 children (11, 9, 7 & 5). My wife drives a Z71 Suburban. The 911 will be my business car (lawyer), but occasionally I'll need to pick up kids from here and drop them off there. Will one child fit in the front passenger and another in the passenger rear?

YoungTurk

 

Any 2 of your children will fit in the rear comfortably.

 

The rear seats are plenty big to fit pre-teens in, even behind you for short rides (your comfort will suffer). It actually seems a little bigger than my Audi TT was and I managed with that.. You can fit 2 good sized humans on the passenger side in "relative" comfort..

 

My kids love riding in the backseats of mine, 8 and 6. They feel 'closer to Daddy' than they did in my last car, Lincoln LS. Don't worry there's plenty of room for three of your kids in the car.

 

Just remember to get the airbag deactivation kit before you place any child in the front seat. It just is not worth the risk to put them there before you get the kit.

 

Test it out at the dealer - even though he may not let you take it out with 3 kids in there (meaning he is left behind), you can always get comfortable together in the showroom. My M3 is very roomy and I don't even have to move the seat up for my 13 year old daughter who sits behind me (15 year old son is behind my wife). The Porsche will be different - I know I'll have to move my seat up.

 

This might be more for the 911 forum but what are the restrictions for the older (84 911 Carrera) coupes? I have a little debate with the wife that the kids are fine in the back. In fact, without an airbag what's wrong with the front (obvious risks notwithstanding) Besides, the boosters don't even fit. Are 20+ and older cars exempt from some of the child restraint laws? I'm new the the forum so my apologies if I should be posting to the 911 list.

Jeff

 

Theclaw,

I have no actual experience with this but I have been reading up on your question and I read somewhere that the newer (i.e. 996, 997, and I believe 1993) cars do indeed have more room and are more family-friendly than the older 911's, which btw also are absent of any shoulder belts in the rear as well. See various and sundry threads in the other forums such as:
https://rennlist.com/forums/993-forum/175660-stroller-in-a-993-urgent-help-needed.html

 

Theclaw,

When my daughter was born we had an '87 911 Targa. The major problem was the rear seat belts. They are the old style lap belts with retractors that were called inertia reels (I think this is the right name). The belt stays loose until force is exerted (as in an accident or just tugging on it), then it locks up. There was no way it could hold the car seat in. Needless to say, once our second child was born, out went the 911, in came the Volvo wagon. Even if you don't use a car seat, the belts don't seem to do the greatest job holding someone in, imo. Our children are 16, 14 and 13 now and are looking forward to riding in my 997 when it arrives in a couple of weeks.

Tom