>>I have a boy who will be 3 this summer -- photos are actually in the 2003 BMW Annual Report in a section about MINI called Opening Up Segments -- and I have to say...
>>Just my two cents.

Dude you kinda pissed me off by posting your little story right after my post about the birth of my son with out the courtsey of acknowledging me and my family's proud moment.

Are you always so self centered and freaking myopic?

This thread is titled 'Expectant Fathers and their MINI' is it not? Go find a thread about 3 year old's and their jackass fathers or better yet save your stupid two cents.

Me and my 2 week old are tempted to come to Colorado and teach you some manners. :evil:

 

>>We had our boy on 05/05/04. His name is Wilson Thomas Rodgers and we love him. I'd post a pic but no time to try and figure out how.
>>
>>We are using my wife's civic for family outings but are looking forward to taking a spin in the MINI soon.
>>
>>Peace!
>>
>>Matt

Hey! May 5th is my birthday too! Congratulations and enjoy your new little Taurus!

 

Thanks!

My only experience with Taurus' comes from my little brother and he can be a real pain (I'm a Libra) but lets hope for the best anyway.

 

We had to abort our first attempt at a cruise in the MINI over the weekend cuz I could not figure out how to install the rear facing infant seat. The owners manual call for a forward facing seat.

I think it will work though...will give it a try again soon.

 

>>We had to abort our first attempt at a cruise in the MINI over the weekend cuz I could not figure out how to install the rear facing infant seat. The owners manual call for a forward facing seat.
>>
>>I think it will work though...will give it a try again soon.

Which rear facing seat did you get?? I've taken Lukas out on a number of spins, and he just sleeps! Those rear facing infant seats are just huge! They take up a lot of room, no matter what car you put them in. LOL. I sat in the back of our LS400 with Lukas in the middle of the rear seat, and I felt cramped. My MINI felt like I had more room. LOL.

Figure spending up to 30 minutes tweaking the passenger seat. Actually to make it really simple, just make sure the passenger seat back is straight up, and pull the seat all the way forward, to the front. Put the infant seat in, return the seat to it's locked position, and "attempt" to sit in it! Assuming you can fit, then tweak the controls to your comfort. At most, you'll be able to move the seat back one notch, and maybe recline in 1 or 2 clicks.

 

We have a Peg Perego seat that works with the stroller and has a base that can remains in the car.

I was confused by the O.M. which only mentions a forward facing seat.

Let's hope it works cuz my wife's civic 4cyl automatic is no LS 400.

 

Oh then you probably have the same set up as me then. It fits! The LATCH equipped base is great--snap in/snap out. Just move the passenger seat all the way forward when installing the base, install the infant seat, then see where the passenger seat is. Trust me, it'll fit, and I MUCH prefer putting him in the MINI over the LS400.

 

Octane,Congratulation's. Glad to see everything turned out well. There is nothing like being a dad.Enjoy! Jaydawg. :smile:

 

>>Octane,Congratulation's. Glad to see everything turned out well. There is nothing like being a dad.Enjoy! Jaydawg. :smile:

Thanks Jaydawg!! I agree!!! It's been an absolute joy---uh, never mind about the lack of sleep...

But seriously, it's been great. Last night, Lukas was really fussy, so I took him to my MINI, sat him in the drivers seat (propped him up carefully), and said this will be yours when you are old enough to drive. He stopped crying. Looked up and around, and was good for atleast 10 minutes before he was ready for something else.

 

Ok fathers who have kids older than 4 months and have outgrown their infant seats, please chime in, please! My son at 10 weeks is growing fast, and am concerned that by 4 to 6 months, he'll have outgrown his infant seat. What then? My Peg Perego Infant Seat already takes up a lot of room in the back, and I'm not so confident that a larger seat is going to work.

Tell me what you are or have done, except drove a different car?? It's my understanding that the time after Infancy and being old enough to fit a Booster Seat is the toughest. Please comment!

Thanks

Richard Lin

 

Evenflow Triumph 5...

Fits in the back seat, however the passenger seat needs to be all the way forward. You'll need to in through the drivers side and strap her in while sitting in the back seat, but it works.

We just flipped the seat around in the MINI from rear facing to front facing two weeks ago. It was a month early but he hit 20lbs it's so much easier to get him in the car now...

The front passenger also gets a little more room with the seat turned around...

I've also seen a Britax rear facing convertible seat in somebody's MINI as well...

 

Cool, I'll take a look. Hmmm, I never even thought I'd need to get a larger baby seat after getting my Peg Perego. But everyone is telling me that at Lukas' rate, he'll need a new one soon! Thanks!

Richard

 

My how time flies!!! Lukas is 7 months old now--just 2 days ago. He's using a Cosco Convertible car seat. I like it, though I wasn't sure at first. It uses a pull down bar like on a roller coaster--and attached is a 3 point harness.


In rear facing mode, it's a tight fit. And getting to the straps to tighten the harness is a bit awkward. When I lift the arm up to remove my son, it helps to tilt his head forward before the harness clears his head. After doing this a few times, he does it automatically. It's very cute.

This seat should last him until 40 pounds which if he's like his 6 year old nephew, that should be quite awhile!

Also, I saw on MINI2 that Paul Mullet got the new ZAP stroller. I've been considering buying one of these--but it's not sold in the US. They are distributors all over the world though. Here are some pics. It looks pretty good, and a lot smaller than the Peg Perego--but of course, it's not for infants.

 

I thought these were bad, don't remember why, but I though that this style of car seat isn't the recommended style anymore.

BTW, every seat will be a tight fit in rear facing mode, we were so happy when we could spin David around. He liked riding in he MINI before, now that he faces forward, he loves it. He spends a lot of time looking out the windshield as well as the side windows and the sunroof.

We've got the Evenflow Triumph 5, again very tight when rear facing but much better when it's flipped around. I'm not particularly thrilled with how secure it is in the MINI though. Thanks to the short length as well as the dip of the seat bottom I had a hard time getting the seat situated so that it didn't seem like it was dumping David forward. In our Subaru though, that thing is so secure that I don't think a linebacker moving at 50 MPH could move it!

When we get the seat back (it's in my in-laws car 900 miles away right now) I plan on playing with it some more to see if I can position it more to my liking...

 

You know, I recall something similar as well, but I couldn't find much info on the net, and Cosco is a pretty big/reputable Baby product manufacturer. This seat comes in 2 versions--a cheaper one that seems to have the most complaints and this one.

If you come across something, please let me know, as I'd like to know as well. We're considering getting a second one for my wifes car.

re: Forward facing
Yeah I can't wait! LOL. I put my son in the shopping cart--here's the first time he's ridden in the shopping cart without the infant seat. He loves it, and in the stroller I have him forward facing too, which he has a blast.



I'm going to take a second look at the Evenflow before we decide on a 2nd car seat.

Thanks!

Richard

 

Well, after talking it over with the wife, we decided to return the Cosco Convertible car seat and try another one. We found another model also from Cosco that was even less expensive--around $60, had a 5 point harness, and was a bit more compact.



Turns out it fits very well in the MINI and I found the trick to removing the latch anchors, so while it's not as convenient as the Peg Perego, it's tolerable. We bought a second one for my wifes Lexus IS300 Sport Cross.

My son enjoys this seat more, and he doesn't fall out of it like the last one.

 

My 2 year old, Nolan is already pointing out cars. He knows when he sees a 911 and he knows when he sees a Mini. My wife says I'm turning him into a little version of me...he prefers Hot Wheels to just about anything except maybe Barney.

As for the Stroller, I've just been using the standard umbrella stroller (about $15.00 at Walmart.) It fits in the back, you just have to take out the boot cover and it works fine for most trips. If I need more room I just put the other seat down or take the station wagon. I don't know if there's a Minivan in our future with another on the way–we have a dog too so we're just playing it by ear. But I'm keeping my Mini. By the way, getting rid of those runflats–I replaced them with BF Goodrich Traction T/A's–has really helped the ride. I miss the quick steering (tires are slightly taller profile) but with a 60,000 mile warranty, they're had to beat.

-Jake

 

I am now among the masses that have a baby on the way! We are excited, and we have been wondering about what strollers and baby seats to use. Since it has been a while since the last post, have there been any new revelations on what is good/bad for the MINI and, more importantly, the baby?

(My wife won't let me name the baby Cooper if it's a boy )

Thanks

 

Well just wanted to post an update in my thread. My son is now 4 years old. He's been motoring since he was 3 weeks old or so. The MINI has been a big part of his childhood. He "inherited" my die cast MINI collection. He gleefully points out a MINI on the street and knows the difference between a MINI an a Scion Xa, lol.

In the continuing saga of trying to keep him entertained on family road trips, I hung a portable DVD player around the headrest which worked ok until we hit a bump and the screen started to close, or my son was tired of the same DVD and wanted a new one. Our last road trip was a few weeks ago and was a 9 hour drive. With the forthcoming MITM and an 18 hour drive coming up, I decided to take action and installed a headrest LCD monitor for my son. I only did one headrest partially because I wasn't sure if the one I ordered would fit, and also because nobody sits behind me when I drive. The wire is currently pulled down the back cover. I might try to hide it further but for now that's where it's staying.

http://www.qualitymobilevideo.com/HRM5MASG.aspx


This display is made by Accelevision and I chose it for the large buttons and tilting display so it didn't matter what angle the seat back was set to. This was the smallest screen I could find--seems most screens are huge these days, and our head rests are tiny! Another thing I wanted was an infrared transmitter in the monitor, but I couldn't find any that were in the 5-6" screen size. And I didn't want to trade my OEM headrest for a fake "custom" headrest that doesn't even use a factory headrest.



Seeing is only part of the battle. Of course he wants to be able to hear the DVD too! While I could channel the audio into the whole car, there are only so many episodes of High 5 I can listen to. So I found a child sized infrared headphone set.

I came across a cool looking transmitter and knew the perfect location.

http://www.qualitymobilevideo.com/R1T-302.aspx





I chose these headphones

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00164DNSA

So now all I need is a DVD player. At first I thought I would use the Toshiba portable player but I found it cumbersome to use. In order to get the video out, I had to hit the MODE button twice. First for AV IN, Twice for AV OUT. But you had to press it and wait until it activated before pressing again. Then I had to deal with power and cables--so I came across a compact DVD player that has a memory as well for restarting after shutting down. I ordered the player and won't have it until the end of the week. I'll have it installed sometimes next week. It'll be going into my glove compartment.


http://www.qualitymobilevideo.com/AV-HD1.aspx

And this is how I can travel in the MINI to my events and still have all the family support gear as well as show gear in the MINI. Once I arrive at my destination, I can remove the rack and enjoy my MINI! In this pic I've got the Mont Blanc rack, but I just ordered the factory rack and will be installing that soon.

 

Awesome work as I mentioned in your other thread. This is exactly what I'm planning to do for my 4 year old daughter. My daughter too points out mini's all the time. She wants a pink one with polka-dots when she grows-up. We'll see what color my baby boy prefers.

 

Y'all are my MINI parent heros.

I'm sure sometime soon we'll go the DVD route too... The headphones are brilliant. Gavin's only 6 months, but I can only handle so much Backyardigans or Dora...

 

If it was just 1 baby on the way, I'd be doing the car seat in the MINI, in through the hatch as I know others have done. but with 2 babies coming in November, a 4 door is necessary.
So...my wife is finally learning to drive a manual, she'll take the MINI, I'll use the Subaru to take the Georges (we don't know genders yet, so they are George and Georgie coz we will hug them and squeeze them and call them George) to daycare.

We're registered for the Graco Snugride system. It's really nice for babies. You put them in the baby carrier inside the house, the carrier clicks into the car seat base, then clicks into the stroller. No need to wake them up to move from feet to wheels.

Once they outgrow the infant carrier, we're going with Recaro child seats. If they're good enough for F1 drivers, they should protect the Georges.

Oh yeah, gotta get one (or maybe 2) of these:

 

Are there studies that show the Clubman is more or less safe than an R50? More convenient, yeah. But safer? (starts to consider trade while under warranty...)

 

For the occupants in the car or the person you are running over??? Yeah I know that sounds silly, but the new look of the R56 and Clubman was a response to European pedestrian laws to try to kill less people when they are run over--by raising the bumper height.

As for the occupants-- are you thinking that it being longer than maybe it's more safe in a rear end collision?

 

No, I'm considering getting a bigger MINI. The Expectant father thing. I'm thinking safety of the baby and a buddy asked the Simple question: which MINI is safer?

Personally, I don't care for the (safer) look of the bonnet, but the length of the Clubman makes the car more proportionally MINI (imho).