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Baby car seat input and also am I crazy
Quoth
the RavenMiami, FL FOR REALRegistered User regular
the RavenMiami, FL FOR REALRegistered User regular
I currently drive a 2003 Honda Civic coupe and have a baby on the way. It is already a bit of a pain for people to get in and out of the back seat of my car, so I am somewhat concerned about how annoying it will be to do the same with a baby or one of those infant car seats. Has anyone else dealt with this and how much of a hassle is it?
Having said that, I was thinking of getting a new (four-door) car today because it is allegedly the best time to do so. All kinds of sales and deals and whatnot because it's the end of the year. I've been trying to go over the pros and cons and I can't help but wonder if I am just being a prima donna about the whole thing given that my primary motivation is convenience. My current car is perfectly fine, which means that I could either ostensibly keep it for a while yet, or get a good trade-in value should I opt to buy.
Help me be logical about this, please.
If more detail on my current thoughts will help:
Having said that, I was thinking of getting a new (four-door) car today because it is allegedly the best time to do so. All kinds of sales and deals and whatnot because it's the end of the year. I've been trying to go over the pros and cons and I can't help but wonder if I am just being a prima donna about the whole thing given that my primary motivation is convenience. My current car is perfectly fine, which means that I could either ostensibly keep it for a while yet, or get a good trade-in value should I opt to buy.
Help me be logical about this, please.
If more detail on my current thoughts will help:
I have enough money to pay cash for the car but would finance if I could get a good deal. My credit is excellent. I would likely get another Honda Civic or go all pretentious and get an Insight. My car is 7 years old, so it's not like it's brand new or still under warranty or anything.
On the other hand, my husband's car is the one that has been giving us trouble. However, he has no interest in getting a new one because he loves his car. We could afford two new cars if we HAD to, but obviously that would not be preferable and would tap out our savings.
And I know that obviously people get babies in and out of coupes all the time, but in my experience it's a righteous pain in the ass to get stuff out of my car. And people. Complaints have been lodged. But I could do it if I had to, of course. So part of me thinks I'm being an uber tool whiny preggo nutjob.
On the other hand, my husband's car is the one that has been giving us trouble. However, he has no interest in getting a new one because he loves his car. We could afford two new cars if we HAD to, but obviously that would not be preferable and would tap out our savings.
And I know that obviously people get babies in and out of coupes all the time, but in my experience it's a righteous pain in the ass to get stuff out of my car. And people. Complaints have been lodged. But I could do it if I had to, of course. So part of me thinks I'm being an uber tool whiny preggo nutjob.
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Do you see fitting a car seat, a stroller, and a diaper bag in your car. What about adding in a passenger? Is your car seat going to be one of those detachable ones so it's your baby carrier too? If not, can you fit the car seat, the baby carrier and a diaper bag comfortably? If you have to take the baby grocery shopping can you fit that stuff and a week's worth of groceries?
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As for the car seat thing, I know that they recommend putting a newborn in the center of the backseat instead of one of the sides to maximize safety in a crash and that's a bit of a hassle in a four door so it could definitely be a pain in a two door. It's not like it's required but it's something to keep in mind.
We did the whole "travel system" thing with out baby and while the stroller is great it's also a mammoth beast, which is another thing to keep in mind with a smaller car. If you're looking at reviews for those things and they say as a con that they can be a bit heavy pay attention, our Graco car seat gives us a nice workout when we're carrying her around and she's just 10 pounds.
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The biggest concern in having an infant/child seat in a coupe is that if the infant falls asleep in a carseat/carrier and you're trying to transition him/her into or out of the back of a coupe it'd be harder to do w/out waking the infant. Your child may be a sound sleeper or easy to get to sleep so it may be a non-issue, but you won't know til he/she arrives, and evenso that may change over time. Both our kids tend to fall asleep in a running vehicle so driving around town just to get/keep the kid asleep was not uncommon for us, nor was letting the engine run while parked somewhere so as to extend naptime.
Having a carseat that is easily transitioned between vehicles is very handy. Moving carseats (w/or w/out children installed) is a pain, not so much b/c it's heavy, but because it's bulky and you cannot really position it so it's near your center of gravity.
FYI, in our X3 (4 door SUV) I have to move the driver's seat forward of where I'd prefer it to be to accommodate infant car seat (installed in a base). This only became an issue when we had to have 2 carseats, and thus neither could be in the center of the rear bench where there's more forward clearance.
We got a combo set (car seat, bases, and stroller) and I'm of the opinion that it's better to buy individual pieces that best suit your needs. The stroller that permits the carseat makes a lot of compromises. It IS sturdy, but doesn't handle bumps or speed as well as a jogger, nor is it very compact even when folded down. We still use the carseat part (infant sized), but not so much the stroller. Infant gets carried on the body mainly and for the toddler we use the umbrella stroller if anything.
Can you do it in a two door? Sure! Other people do, why can't you? You'll get better at it in time. However, a four door will certainly be easier.
Yes any decent store should let you test fit their car seats in your car before you buy one. This is extremely important tbh as not all car seats fit all cars and it ensures you can be shown how to fit it safely and securely.
A definite no no if there's a passenger airbag. Of course not all cars have them (I've only had older cars though, maybe all new cars do). I've no idea if a airbag can be disabled by a shop so you can use a car seat.
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I went to a car dealership yesterday and checked out some cars but actually didn't like any of them too much, so nothing happened. Also my dad said that the whole thing about dealers making deals at the end of the month/year is bull and they don't really care.
Blake, I CANNOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE but he is being super stubborn. He insists there is no other car that he likes. For all I know, his car will die in a few months and that will be that, whether he likes it or not. :P
Most recent cars have some way of disabling the passenger seat airbag for exactly this reason. Usually it's a switch on one of the door pillars operated by the ignition key, that is only accessible with the door open.
For a few years most cars that had passenger airbags had no way to disable them, looks like the Civic was/is one of them (without digging into the wiring loom at least), and for some manufacturers (notably Ford) an airbag deactivation switch was an optional extra for some reason. Something to bear in mind if you're car shopping.
Where it's going to be a PITA is where they move up to "Stage 2" where the car seat is stationary (the clip n' go is only up to 20 lbs or so), but has to be rear facing still. I would go through the back of the wrangler to get my daughter in and out, which I don't think that will be an option in your case.
Once they get to be forward facing (1 yr I think?), it's much better, you can just reach back and un clip them and they can get themselves to the front for the most part. Maybe that's a bit later, 1 1/2 to 2 years or so. If you think you can make it the 4 - 8 months in the stage 2, then you should be good.
What kind of car does your husband have? Are you going to be primary with the child and he is going to be secondary or will it be a 50/50 travel time with each car? You say you have enough $$ to buy another car, could you get a nice 4 door used car and trade in the civic? It's way easier to car shop before the little one gets here, than after and they are fussy or bored in the dealership.
My first car was a Ford Capri, 2 door, and that was such a pain putting LewieP's sister into her baby seat!
I know we Brits drive much smaller cars than you Yanks do, but I absolutely hate putting children into the Micra, cos of having to climb into the back to fasten child seatbelts, and that's without having to carry the car seat (we use fixed child seats, well, they are detachable, but stay in the car whilst we have younger children staying with us) with a baby in and out of the car.
I'd definitely only use a 4 door car with children if I had the choice.
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As for the travel system, they're just a beast. There is a smaller version which is basically just a frame your grab-and-go car seat locks into.
Honestly, the travel system doesn't seem all that necessary. You can make do with a much more compact stroller and a diaper bag, rather than trying to haul around that monstrosity.
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So you'd all generally recommend one of the systems that has the piece that stays in the car, and you just lock in the seat? Sounds good to me. I looked at the convertible seats but it seems like it's better to have the infant one because if the kid falls asleep, you don't have to yank it out and risk waking it up.
On to the point though, if you're going to get a base then you should check the cars that you're looking at to see if they've got the rings built in the back seat that you can attach it right to. You can buckle the bases in with the car's seatbelt but we've found the built in straps get a lot tighter and our Versa has rings built into the back seat that you can hook it right onto, I think most newer cars do.
We have a travel system (infant carseat, plus bases, plus carseat/stroller), a convertible, and a couple extra carseats for other family members (these can only really accomodate a newborn if you provide additional bolstering, which we needed to do to get the newborns home without them lolling about in the carseat).
For our 1st baby (and 2nd) we very much appreciated the ability to move him in and out of the car while still strapped into the carseat, particularly when moving sleeping baby out of the car. He outgrew that carseat (by length/height, not weight) within the 1st year. I think our convertible is good til he's around 60-65 lbs.
The convertible, in which our toddler resides, very easily moves between vehicles, which is convenient (though it mainly lives in the suv). However, you have to strap the kid in directly. I don't know of any system where you can have the kid strapped into a carseat which you can carry around and snap into a base, but also use beyond about 12-15 months.
If you're looking for the carseat anchors, they're called LATCH. Any carseat or base ought to be able to be installed in a car without LATCH, you'll just need to use the seatbelts. It takes a bit of doing to get it right, but if it's for a base you'll only need to do it to install the base. I wouldn't want to have to remove and re-install using the seatbelt each time I needed to go somewhere with the kid, that would be a PiTA.
My convertible seem sto be anchored better (3 LATCH points and it has tensioners), whereas the bases we have only attach to 2 LATCH points and are cinched tight, so even when it's tightened down as much as possible the carseat/base still moves around more than the convertible.
I had a 2000 Dodge Avenger when she was born and that thing was a nightmare, luckily we mostly used my wife's 4 door Mazda 3, which is still a SMALL car but it was a hundred times easier to deal with than my Avenger, and despite the Mazda being a generally small car the car seats haven't been an issue at all.
I now drive an '09 silverado crew cab and the four doors and the front facing carseat is an easy combo in both cars.
The mammoth strollers that the infant carries lock into are nice when the kid is a baby, but once they get old enough to sit-up, and want to look around all the time you'll find yourself buying an umbrella stroller because it's so much easier to manuver with inside places and it takes up almost no room in the car while the big (while smooth ride and nice for carrying things) graco stroller we had took up almost the entire trunk and we started using it less and less until we stopped entirely and now strictly use the umbrella stroller if we have to use a stroller.
Maybe if we knew we could find something similar that he wouldn't be opposed to getting.
I think this is the best approach, personally. I'm sure that both of you are great people and will make great parents, but he needs to get over this stubbornness.
Can you drive his car? (as in, maybe it's a manual and you can only drive automatic, etc.) Force him to switch with you for a week, since it sounds like he'd get your car. At some point his car is going to die (or be financially stupid to repair) and he'll be in the same boat.
I'm a big fan of parents remaining a sense of self during pregnancy and parenthood, but there's a reason that cars are kind of the standard "things we have to change for the kid" trope.
edit: Wait, I thought PT Cruisers were good for kids?
Oh... well, he may be beyond helping then...
Thats a very different car... and its odd that he'd love it since its one of the most widely hated cars...
What does he like about it?
Would something like a Honda Fit (different stylistically but similar kind of shape), or a Chevy HHR work for him?
Maybe even just a better condition PT Cruiser.
We checked out the Fit and neither of us was too impressed, and he does not like that Chevy. In his words, he wants a car with "character." I believe he is okay with the new Scion xB, and the look of the Subaru Impreza but that is out of our budget. I honestly don't care, as long as he is happy and I don't have to drive a stick (he also loves manual cars but I will not budge on that).