So, my wife and I are planning to start a family and I'm at the point with my IS of either spending some $ on it to bring the suspension back to stock from f-Sport (I have a bad back that's gotten worse and I need a softer ride) or selling it for something else.

One of the considerations is whether or not the backseat will fit a baby car seat. If not, it probably won't make sense to spend any more money on the car and just keep it as is.

I guess my question is, has anybody been able to fit a baby seat in the rear of the car and still have the front seats be in a normal comfortable position? I'm 5'11" and my wife is 5'8" so we don't need ridiculous front legroom if that matters.

Thanks all.

 

Its doable, I've done it without issues but we also have a Tahoe and Chevy truck that we drive daily. So when we had one that young we just moved the pass seat up alittle. But we didn't drive it daily. My wife was fine with it and she's 5'8" also. Her knees didn't hit and she had room for the purse also.

 

You will have less room at first cuz the baby seat must face backwards. After about 1 year, you can turn it around and you'll have a little more room. However, some recommend 2-3 years for turning around.
You may have to step up to a GS if you want to get real roomy.

 

Best way is to test fit by yourself.

 

Absolutely true. You'll definitely will loose front passenger leg space due to the car seat. I used a Peg Perego seat in both rear and front facing position without any issues. Luckily, my wife is only 5'3" so her front leg space wasn't compromised significantly.

If your wife travels with you, she'll most likely will end up sitting in the rear beside the baby. And, not in the front passenger seat. So, you can actually move up the front seat all the way to free up some space. However, if you wife sits behind you, that will be a different story with you being 5'11". I suggest that you place the child seat behind you so that your wife has sufficient leg space.

 

My IS is slammed on coils and i daily drive the car and I have a 6 month old daughter, the bar seat fits fine in there just a little tight once I move my seat back cause i'm 6ft tall. getting in and out is a little pain but all in all its not so bad. Once I can put her in a forward facing car seat, it will be cake.

 

I was in the same situation as you 2 years ago. I put the rear facing car seat in the back seat with the passenger seat all the way to the front while having my wife sit behind me which there isnt much room. It was quite uncomfortable to get in and out especially when you can't put anything else in the trunk once you have a stroller in there. Like some others suggested, go to Babies R Us and test out the car seat before buying it and see how much room there is, but long term would be a bigger car. The ES loaner we got had plenty of room, but it's not sporty at all. Hope this helps

 

I have 7days old baby and I have PegPerego rear facing seat. I'm 5'9 and my wife is only 5 haha.
With car seat, I can't seat in the passenger seat. Well, I could seat but it feels like my head might hit the front windshield and my knee touches the glove box.

however my wife can seat in the passenger seat and she can also seat back of the driver's seat...

 

my daughter is 18 months and I just went to a forward facing seat which does give you more room, but with a rear facing seat, I had to move the front seat all the way forward as far as it would go, and almost impossible to fit in the passenger seat, so my wife had to sit in back with the baby. trunk space with stroller is almost nothing. She drives an suv, so 90% of the time when we take the baby, we take her car. no problems if it's just you and the baby for short trips. hope this helps, if yu want I could take pic, pm me.

 

I'm 5'10.5" and my wife is 5' 4". My daughter is just over 3 years now. We have a 06 is250 awd that we bought specifically when my wife was pregnant cause of the 4 doors. Our daughter used to sit in a Graco (one of the biggest) backward facing baby seat because it was rated really high in safety and fits the bugaboo stroller. It was always behind the passenger seat with my wife in the front and wasn't a problem at all. We routely drove all over the place (5 hrs. drive to Portland, Oregon) with it. Granted its a little more work taking that Graco in and out.

When she reached around 30 lbs. we switched over to a forward facing seat. Its a slimmer design Shineshine Kids seat, again highly rated for safety due to it having a still frame.

Overall , it is a little more work because its not as roomy, but my wife loves her car and the extra little bit of effort wasn't really that bad.

 

Main reason I'm selling mine ... Already parted, now it's going bye-bye this weekend .... It may work for some people but the money I dumped into the car, just wasn't practical ... The car was definitely not made for 4 adults to ride COMFORTABLY in, let alone a baby seat in the rear. But everyone is different!

 

wow, thanks for all the insight guys. We'll obviously see what its like if/when we have a kid. Until then, I probably won't spend any unneccessary $ realizing i may need to sell it and get an SUV. Good news is she has a g35 so I can dump the kid carrier on her and drive something somewhat sporty.

At one point I had wanted to keep the IS as a track/weekend car but I got laid off so being reasonable is now a neccessity

 

My son is 2 and he fits fine behind my wife who is 5'2". He hates riding in my car because he can't see out the window like in my wife's 4Runner so we never drive it.

 

Here is your solution:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBlfu1atn10