US Infant Car Seat for use w/Base for 2005 Mini

[dduffey]

I know there have been many posts on the car seat issue, but I haven't found any with a solid answer for my situation.

We have a 2005 Mini, not an S, and not a convertible. We live in the US, and my wife's having a baby within the next few weeks. We want to get an infant car seat that we can use with the base and ideally with the LATCH system, which I believe our car has. (Car is not immediately accessible right now, and the manual's in there, so I haven't been able to check.)

What's the safest seat that will really fit safely? Some of the bases look like they'd hang over the front edge of the seat, which doesn't seem safe to me. I'm also reluctant to use one without the base for safety reasons, even though I know it'd make for an easier fit. Of course we'd like one that would leave us with a useable front passenger seat, but we're willing to give that up for safety if need be.

Any advice would be welcome. Hope this may be useful to others as well, and that there's not another thread out there that treats this that I've missed.

Thanks.

[Rakey]

the only point I can answer is that the seat will fit in the rear of the car, this is the safest place in the car, and the place that the latch system will be if you car has this fitted.

[dduffey]

Thanks for the response. To clarify--I do understand that the car seat goes in the back. When I was talking about having a usable front passenger seat, I was just thinking of posts that have said that with a rear-facing infant seat in the back, one has to move the front passenger seat so far forward that it's not really usable. Some other people have said that's not a problem, but they seemed to be using the car seat without the base, which I'm reluctant to do.

Thank you again.

[RN3403]

Hi! I have a two year old daughter that arrived after the purchase of my MINI. We used the Graco "Snug Ride 2" Infant seat until she was 1 Year old. After one year we bought the Evenflow 'Triumph" convertible car seat that faces forward.

For the infant seat I rolled up a full size bath towel and adjusted the base (this stays in the car all the time) to it's highest setting to get the hieght adjustment right. For the convertible Infant/toddler seat I did the same thing with the towel and put the seat to setting 2 or 3 (i can't remember) and this seat works awesome! For both applications I used the anchors that have the little covers over them in the back seat.

From what I can remember, the infant seat caused a little bit of a seating issue when the seat(with baby) was actually in the car. The base alone does not. I didn't really worry about this because I was just picking her up from daycare and never really had anyone as a passenger at the same time she was in the car.

Both of these seats are available at babies'r us. I hope this helps you out and congratulations!!!

[dduffey]

Thanks for the response and the detailed info. My spouse heard about some recalls of Graco car seats and is now kind of spooked about them such that they're off limits--I know pretty much every brand has recalls and that it's usually just certain manufacturing runs that are recalled, but spousal comfort with the device we choose is of course very important. (Otherwise we may not leave the house.)

Any other recommendations would be much appreciated. Thank you again for the input.

[ecofem]

Congrats on your impending delivery!

I'll be in your position in three months , so I still have bit of shopping time left.

After much research...I'm looking at the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio SIP, Combi Connection and the Chicco Keyfit rear-facing infant seats. From what I can gather, the Peg is the most compact and will interfere the least with the forward position of the front passenger seat. I could be wrong, however. Responses?

My goal is to get a safe, easy take in-and-out infant seat that will fit in my MINI without severely compromising the comfort of a adult sitting in the passenger seat. Maybe I'm asking for too much!

I'll be watching this thread with interest... and if I actually get a chance to get to the store this weekend and test these out I'll let you know what my results are. I'd like to hear about what seat you ultimately choose, as well.

[dduffey]

Congrats to you too! Thanks for the recommendations. The Peg Perego was on my radar screen but I didn't realize it was the most compact.

Incidentally, I did check out the car and the owner's manual and my 2005 car does have the LATCH system.

I didn't see, though, whether one can use the LATCH system in the center position in the back seat. If anyone knows about this, please enlighten me. I saw that Consumer Reports said it's preferable to use the center position even if one can only use the seatbelt rather than the LATCH system in that position, but of course I'd ideally like to use the LATCH and the center position, if that's doable.

Thanks again to all the those who have responded (or who will in the future).

[ecofem]

I have an '06 Cooper S, and the LATCH system is not in the middle of the backseat - only in the right and left positions. I don't think MINI has LATCH in the center position for any model year. I'll probably end up using the rear-seat passenger-side LATCH connection.

Been shopping yet?

[Ferroequine]

Quote: Originally Posted by ecofem (original)

After much research...I'm looking at the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio SIP, Combi Connection and the Chicco Keyfit rear-facing infant seats. From what I can gather, the Peg is the most compact and will interfere the least with the forward position of the front passenger seat. I could be wrong, however. Responses?

Got one of those in use, and am quite happy with it. The base snugs in nice with the LATCH system, and it also has a knob and level indicator that allows you to adjust the angle of the base.

I wouldn't put it in the center with just the seatbelts. Sounds more dangerous than using the LATCH on one of the sides. I'm surprised that CR would say something like that. Then again, they don't have much credibility with me anyhow...

[Rakey]

Quote: Originally Posted by ecofem (original)

I have an '06 Cooper S, and the LATCH system is not in the middle of the backseat - only in the right and left positions. I don't think MINI has LATCH in the center position for any model year. I'll probably end up using the rear-seat passenger-side LATCH connection.

Been shopping yet?

maybe because the back seat is only for two seating positions, not three which is when there would be a central latch point

[dduffey]

We ended up getting a Britax Companion. The base does overhang the front edge of the seat a bit, but the rebound bar on the other side helps hold the whole thing in place in a way that made me feel comfortable with this. We're also planning to take it to the fire or polce station and ask them if they think the overhang is a problem. We tried out the Peg Pergo and the base on that fit with no overhang, but we went with the Britax anyway for the rebound bar and the side impact protection, and because some friend of my wife's had one and liked it.

The front passenger seat seems like it'll still be usable, though it'd be uncomfortable for a tall person (including my wife, but she's thinking of riding in the back with the kid anyway).

As for the center-position LATCH issue, that didn't seem feasible because the seatbelt apparatus in the center and the raised area around it made it seem impossible put a base down there.

MiniVee--I'm interested to know why your view of CR's credibility is low. I'm not inclined to take anything from anyone as gospel, but I'm curious to know what has led you to be skeptical about them. I'm reluctant too to go with the center position-and-seatbelt over the side-and-LATCH (and probably won't given that I won't be able to use the base in the center).

If anyone has thoughts or comments about any of this, I'd be glad to hear them. Thanks very much to everyone for the feedback!