DallasDz

It's been a few months. Curious to know what you've decided.

We had two children in car seats at the same time, twice. The first time, we had a VW Golf 1.8T 4-door. Space was tight but quite fine, even with rear-facing seats.

No affordable coupe at the time was large enough for rear-facing Britax seats. I had to pass on what I really wanted, a Honda Prelude.

Some years later, I bought a Prelude, then an Audi S5, and missing the purity, traded that for an S2000. I made the mistake of letting the Prelude go, and fortunately, circumstances allowed me to correct it, and even improve my situation. My wife has shared the journey with me, and we will never, ever sell the S2000. There isn't anything like it, except perhaps for a Miata. Keep what you love. Do not let it go, because life is too short for compromises.

All the while, we had either a large SUV or a minivan.

Remember that rear-facing is a very temporary situation, and car seats get progressively smaller as children age. Your back will strengthen with repeated movement. Before long, your child will be able to hop into that front-facing seat without your assistance. Time passes quickly. Focus on the long-term and do not make hasty decisions which you may be compelled to reverse later.

ndfan

Thanks for reading my thread and following up!

Though my updates are minimal, I did post my S2000 for sale on craigslist and test drove a couple BMW 1-series.

I had a local specialty dealer offer me $21k for my S2000, which I thought was a good (though not great) offer for a pristine 2004 with 27k miles. Ultimately, I declined his offer, though I might revisit it if the right 1-series pops up.

The 1-series vehicles I drove (both a 128i with sport seats and 135i with standard seats) confirmed that a rear-facing child seat would indeed fit in the back with either my wife seated in front or beside the baby seat, though only for relatively short trips.

As mentioned in another thread I started here in "Car Talk," I have had a hard time finding a 128i convertible with a manual transmission (non-negotiables) along with the sport package (highly preferred).

HwangTKD

Have you driven a chevy SS with the manual transmission? Wonderful engine, good handling, and plenty of space. It even gets decent gas mileage on the highway. With the 1 series you will be wishing for more space when that inevitable second child comes along.

ndfan

The SS seems like a great car... people debate the looks, but I like understated looks and it looks good to me. I already have a larger car (a Lexus wagon) and the SS is a little too speedy for me.

I had to chuckle at that 2nd child speculation... sometimes my boy does something that makes me want to have another, but almost as often, he drives me crazy and makes me glad we only have one!