New babies and driving sports cars?

Re: New babies and driving sports cars?

• delujm0 member

  October 2015

  One of my girlfriends has a coupe as her vehicle - her husband takes their primary vehicle, a Subaru outback, to work during the week, so when she needs to bring her son somewhere she puts him in the 2-door civic (they live in a walkable part of a major city, so they only take the car when their location is more than walking distance).  It isn't easy, and she said she wouldn't want that to be their primary means of transportation, but for the small amount that they use it, like 2-3 times a week, she said it's fine.  Do note though that a rear facing carseat takes up a lot of space, so the passenger seat is almost worthless when she has her kid in the car.  Fine for just the two of them, but the family cannot take that car together anywhere (and they don't need to). 

   

  A lot of this is perspective...if you're expecting it to be a light annoyance to get LO into the car, you'll adapt.  If you're going to be in and out of the car with LO several times a day though, you might prefer a 4-door vehicle.  Doesn't have to be a minivan or SUV, a standard sedan is more than sufficient for one baby (I drive a Jetta Sportswagen currently and it has plenty of space).

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• SmrBrd2012 member

  October 2015

  I would think it will also depend on your height and the side of the car itself. I have a 4 door hyundai elantra. I thought there'd be plenty of space but H and I are also 5'10" and we can barely sit comfortably in the front of the car. Getting the car seat in and out isn't a problem though.
  

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• fourtsixand2 member

  October 2015

  delujm0 said:

  One of my girlfriends has a coupe as her vehicle - her husband takes their primary vehicle, a Subaru outback, to work during the week, so when she needs to bring her son somewhere she puts him in the 2-door civic (they live in a walkable part of a major city, so they only take the car when their location is more than walking distance).  It isn't easy, and she said she wouldn't want that to be their primary means of transportation, but for the small amount that they use it, like 2-3 times a week, she said it's fine.  Do note though that a rear facing carseat takes up a lot of space, so the passenger seat is almost worthless when she has her kid in the car.  Fine for just the two of them, but the family cannot take that car together anywhere (and they don't need to). 

   

  A lot of this is perspective...if you're expecting it to be a light annoyance to get LO into the car, you'll adapt.  If you're going to be in and out of the car with LO several times a day though, you might prefer a 4-door vehicle.  Doesn't have to be a minivan or SUV, a standard sedan is more than sufficient for one baby (I drive a Jetta Sportswagen currently and it has plenty of space).

  Thanks for the input!  My husband works construction, so him taking my Challenger instead of his truck to work isn't really an option, and honestly his truck is too tall for me (I'm almost 5'2" - haha!).  

  
  

  These are things to think about - thank you!

  
  

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• delujm0 member

  October 2015

  SmrBrd2012 said:

  I would think it will also depend on your height and the side of the car itself. I have a 4 door hyundai elantra. I thought there'd be plenty of space but H and I are also 5'10" and we can barely sit comfortably in the front of the car. Getting the car seat in and out isn't a problem though.
  

  That's a good point.  I'm 5'3" and DH is 5'9".  In the Jetta I am perfectly comfortable in the passenger seat with the infant seat behind it but DH is a little uncomfortable when I am driving.

   

  Another thing to consider is the size of the car seats - there are a variety of sizes so you can always get a smaller one.  Also, typically, convertible car seats take up less space than a separate infant seat, so if you don't want the convenience of the infant seat as a carrier, you can jump right to a convertible seat to save space.
  

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• tracij12 member

  October 2015

  When DD1 was born my husband drove a 2-door civic that was his baby. I never expected him to get rid of it and he opted to after a short time because it was our daily commute car and just too much of a pain getting LO out. I think the largest consideration is how often you will drive with LO on the car and how much in and out there will be.

  Married DH 08.28.10

  Pregnancy #1: BFP 04.10.11 EDD 12.23.11 DD1 Born 12.4.11

   Pregnancy #2: BFP 5.12.14 MC 5.20.14 @ 5wk4d

  Pregnancy #3: BFP 11.1.14 EDD 7.5.15 MC 11.13.14 @ 6wk4d

  Pregnancy #4: BFP 1.31.15 EDD 10.5.15 DD2 Born 9.23.15
  

   

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