And I thought finding a place for my surfboard was a problem. I have three months to figure out a good infant seat and stroller for the obvious space limitations of the convertible. I believe others have recommended a Peg Perego Aria stroller, but that was for the tintop. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

 

I know from experience that the Aria does NOT fit in the boot of a MINI Convertible. You could fold it and stick it in the foot well of the back seat standing up if need be... But other than that I don't know.

The trouble is the Aria is too long to fit in the boot...

 

Life is even better butt naked. How about a backpack with leg holes.

 

the Peg Perego rear facing infant seat fits nicely in a Mini. But my wife and I use a Mountain Buggy that requires the other back seat to be down to get it in. Real ungainly, but wonderful stroller...

Now that Alison is about 5 months, we just put her in a real cheap folding stroller when we went on a trip to Victoria and didn't want to hassle with taking the MB as luggage. It worked great, but it's not near as safe as having her in her infant seat on the other stroller.

Check Mini2. When I was looking, there were some interesting product references posted there.

Good luck!

Matt

 

Just FYI,
I saw the title of this thread and though, "I can help him with the MCS, but he's on his own with the baby."

 

Hey Congrats!! - Actually, I'm in the same boat

My wife Caroline and I are expecting, and our little bundle 'o joy will be arriving (Please goodness) first week of September.

I'm not sure about the stroller, but I've had people recommend Graco stroller/car seat combo's... they've said the base fits in the back of the MINI well.

Good luck - - m

 

I think your biggest problem will be finding a stoller that will fit in the boot of the convertible. Unfortunately the way the rear of the convertible is designed not only is the boot itself smaller than the hardtop, but the boot door is smaller to. I'm not talking the obvious part about the lack of a hatch, on the convertible the opening into the boot is narrower than on the hardtop.

An infant seat in the back of the convertible probably won't be an issue though...

 

One of our local club members with an MCSC has a car seat in the back of it, however they had to switch their 2 cars seats because the one they had in the old MCS hardtop did not fit in the new MINI. Fortunately the one in their Prius did fit and vice versa.

 

Mini2 were raving about this combo. The Quinny Zapp gets really small - would easily fit in the boot with room to spare. Has anyone heard of these Dutch made gear? The website has no US distributors and appears to be backordered.

I sure was lucky to get my MCSC two months before the baby news or I might be driving a dreaded MINIvan !!!

Mike

 

You know, you don't need these monstrosities modern parenting seems to require to cart around a small child and the requisite life support systems. My wife and I did fine in a Renault 5, umbrella stroller and a spare diaper in my wifes purse.

On the other hand, I have as much luggage space on my motorcycle as in the MCSC

 

That's not completely true. Until an infant is almost 3 months old, a small cheapie umbrella stoller won't cut it, at least at that point the child should be able to hold it's own head up. But even still, good luck getting an umbrella stroller in the boot of a convertible. It's too long to work.

The Aria is one of the smallest travel systems on the US Market (the Metrolight is probably just about as small) it fits snugly into the boot of the hardtop. Greatest benefit to a travel system? The ability to snap a sleeping child out of the base in the car and right into the stoller without waking them up and removing them from the seat. Just snap the seat right on the stroller.

1 Diaper? I assume you never strayed too far from your home. Hate to tell you, but until almost 6 months you'll be feeding and changing the kid every four hours, and if your wife can't breast feed for some reason (and it happens quite often) that means toting bottles and formula as well.

Your kid must not have blown out their diaper ever either...

 

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Tell me about it. It's not much fun clean poo from ankle to shoulder.

 

I recently fit 2 Britax Marathons in my MCS (non-vert). I removed the rear head rests and they fit perfectly.

I layed down a piece of rubber foam, cut from the kits that have the teeth on the edge to connect them together. It does not compress much and the seats do not damage the Vinyl at all. I installed everything then had it looked over at the fire department. Other than the fact that a rear end collision would be bad, the inspector felt it is a safe installation.