ELUSIVE

Does anyone have a Recaro child seat in the 997?
http://www.babyuniverse.com/Como-Con...7/INstock/Y/D/



This one looks like it might fit nicely because it has a narrow base.

Anyone?

ELUSIVE

Anyone?

JP_in_CA

Elusive,

I just ordered a Recaro Signo (same dimensions as the Como) from Elitecarseats.com and should have it by this coming Friday. I'll let you know how it fits. I have tried a number of seats and I can tell you some that won't work. As you probably know already, finding a booster is much easier than a convertible.

In addition to the seat fitting in the back, you also need to worry about how the seat belt fits through the back and whether the seat is flush with the back. I tried a Sunshine Kids Radian 80 in the back and it appeared to fit beautifully. When I tightened the seat belt, though, I discovered that the fit wasn't safe. The issue had to do with the position of the seat belt receptacle which is 4 or 6 inches from the seat back. When the seat belt is fully tightened, it wants to rotate the car seat so that the seat belt is straight. I could get so that it looked like it was tight and facing perfectly forward, but then I could easily rotate it. This would be very unsafe as you can imagine.

I did find a booster that works - the Recaro Start. My older daugher looks a little upright in this, but it does fit well. If the Recaro convertible works, I may send the Start back since the convertibles are good to 70 lbs.

For convertibles, I've tried two from Evenflo, one from Graco, and one from Britax. The most promising one was the Britax Diplomat which was almost good enough. The way the car seat reclines, though, made it stick out too far off the seat. It was probably safe, but I had to move the front seat up way too far for comfort.

I'm going to call the dealer on Monday to see if there are hidden LATCH attachments under the carpet.There is a Safeguard Go seat that fits absolutely perfectly but requires LATCH. It is a very different approach to a car seat and is extremely flimsy but has a great harness system - the approach being that you really just want to hold the baby in place anyway.

I'll post again after I try out the Recaro.

JP

ELUSIVE

JP_in_CA - Thanks so much for the detail information.
Please do post again after you try and fit the recaro.

1Carnut

I have two Recaro booster seats in my Range Rover, best car seats we have used so far.

JP_in_CA

Elusive,

I received my Recaro Signo this morning. It was absolutely beautiful in Desert Midnight, but alas it doesn't even come close to fitting in the back of my 997 coupe. The issue with this one isn't the width of the base, but the height of the seat. You can see from the picture you posted that it sits up a bit. Combined with the high back, this makes it impossible to fit even on the lowest seatback setting. The top of the car seat hits the roof near the rear window.

On the positive side, I did discover that the Britax Parkway fits much better in the back than the Recaro Start. Although the Recaro "worked" and looked extremely well made, my daughter was sitting very upright and wasn't very comfortable. She sits much further back and at a better angle in Parkway. I'm going to switch to that.

I'm still on a quest to find a convertible that fits for my youngest daughter - 20 months, 30 lbs. I'm going to head off to a very friendly kids store today and try every convertible they have to see if I can find one that fits. Some of the older posts on this site point to the cheapie Cosco ones as fitting so maybe that's where I'll end up.

If your kid(s) are old enough for a booster (3 years in California), I'd suggest the Parkway. If you need a convertible and find one that works, please post again.

Best of luck.

John

funcars

I went through the same search a few months ago when I got my 997tt. Tried several seats that we had around the house: Britax Boulevard (not even close), Britax Roundabout (better, but I still didn't like the fit), and the Recaro Young Style (best, but needed to remove the backseat pads for reasonable room).

I ended up with the Porsche Junior. Fits really well in back with the rear cushions, easy to get the kids in/out using the impact table, and the kids like it. It converts to a booster when needed. Only downside I could find was the cost. But I told the wife when I bought the car that it would be my daily driver, and that means that the kids need to fit into it. So the Porsche seat was ordered.

I got a decent price at Sunset Imports in Oregon.

ELUSIVE

JP_in_CA -
Thanks so much for the update.
My daughter is 13 months old, so I'm a ways off from a booster. I guess my quest for a seat to fit in back will continue...

funcars -
Any chance you could post a pic of the Porsche Junior seat in the back? What was the price?

thanks!

funcars

Don't have a pic but you can see it on renn team. Search for the pics from bdballa in the "Porsche Zoom Child Booster Seat Pictures" thread.

This is the seat in "booster mode". There is also a crash/impact table that the shoulder/lap belts got through, resting on the lap/chest of the little one for "car seat mode". My kids liked the table they could rest their arms on, although I'd also think it wouldn't be comfortable for all. There is no 5-pt harness on this one in "car seat mode".

I think I paid something like $500 for it delivered. Too much, but again, how much is a perfect fit worth?

JP_in_CA

Funcars: I think I may end up with the Porsche Junior Seat as well. It isn't the price as much as the strangeness of the impact table. From the pictures, it looks both uncomfortable and unsafe. Did it seem like it was a secure seat when you had the table installed? And your kids actually liked the table?

One last question I have if you don't mind is how much leg room this afforded for the front seat passengers. As it sounds like you discovered, one of the issues with the non-Porsche seats is how far forward the kids sit requiring the front seat passengers to scruch forward themselves. Could you drive comfortably with the Junior Seat installed behind you?

JP

JP_in_CA

Funcars: After posting my last message, I did a Google search and came across the following post on "The Autobahn" forum. Sounds like this guy was pretty upset. How old/big were your kids when they used the table?

JP

Here's the quote:

"Don't bother buying the Porsche Junior Seat. According to Porsche, my child needs to be in the Junior seat that I paid $450. He starts screaming when he even sees it. Its the absolute worst design I've ever seen. There is no way the child could be comfortable. I even contacted Porsche about this issue and they pretty much told me nothing. $90000 for a sportscar, you think they could design a better system than a foam brick that catches my kid under the neck, and you then have the choice whether you want his arms pinned at his side or straight up in the air signaling field goal. The dealer even told me they've had issues with the design. what ever happened to a simple five point system. The picture of the child that Porsche uses in this seat looks to be approx 5yrs old. They don't show you a 17 month old thats 23lbs. What a dissapointment."

funcars

Different strokes for different folks. My kids both (2 YO and almost 4 YO) are excited to get into the daddy's 'fast' car with Junior seat. They have never complained or started screaming when we need to head out. In fact, sometimes I get home from work, and my 2 YO son comes running up to the car, asking "ride? daddy's car!" (translation: take me for a ride now in the turbo )

Yes, the 4 YO fits better than the 2 YO, but the 2 YO is still happy and uses the table as a drum. And he's 50th percentile, so he's not overly large.

As for the impact table, I think they are secure behind it. As I see it, in a crash they will bend forward, crushing the table 'til they stop, with the pressure spread evenly over their chest and legs. This is generally the same idea as the 5 points belt, which stretch to decel but put pressure on specific points of the body.

In any case, I'm sure this chair passed all applicable child seat tests/certifications, and the same seat is for sale all over Europe incl Germany. If it can pass Europe's nanny laws, then it is pretty safe. BTW: BMW is selling the same seat but in different colors. I haven't found the OEM (Britax?) selling it yet for a reasonable price.

As for legroom: the bottom of the seat ends at the rear seat forward edge (except for a wing on either side). So if you can position the front seat so that their legs fit with the stock rear seat then this seat will work too.

The only thing that I do special is no shoes with anything sharp in the back seat. They would be able to kick/scratch/whatever the rear of the front seats. I have the adaptives with the painted backs, and I don't want buckles etc ruining the finish. So they wear runners, or I have take off their shoes...

JP_in_CA

Thanks for the details, funcars. Glad to hear even your 2 YO loves it. I may end up giving it a try.

For the benefit of ELUSIVE, I did find a Convertible with a 5-pt harness that I think will work. It's the Graco ComfortSport. I got it in Granite and it looks like they tried to style it after the Britax Onyx pattern (black and dark gray). It fits extremely well in the seat and offers much more leg room than the Brittax Diplomat I tried. The only catch is that I had to thread the seatbelt through the slot that is for "rear facing" instead of forward facing to enable it to work with the rear seat seatbelt receptacle. I want to take it out of the car again and triple check to make sure this is going to be safe configuration before I declare it a "go". If you are interested in the outcome, I'll post again after I've checked it out and driven with my daughter in it.

Here's a link to one - this isn't the same pattern as the one I picked up at Babies-R-Us. You'll see the reviews are mixed.

http://www.elitecarseats.com/Graco-ComfortSport.pro

synergy

Thanks for this post, I have been searching and searching for the right child seat for the back of my 997 for my 22 lb 1 year old daughter. I am ver curious as to how this worked out for you in the rear of the 997 forward-facing. Any pics would be great and appreciated. I saw the Britax Diplomat and was going to try this one but per your comments it sounds like that may not be a good option...

ELUSIVE

Excellent.
Thanks so much for the continued followup. Please let me know how it ends up working for you and your daugter. Are you taking out the bottom seat cushion for installation of this seat?