Aw I see. Well, I'd say if this is your first child, the 1st gen MINI does pretty well for a 3 person family travelling on vacation. You do have to pack wisely. The Clubman is attractive to me for greater legroom which is a bit cramped..if the wife is driving the MINI, and I'm sitting in the front passenger seat with my son sitting behind me in his car seat, it's tolerable, just not ideal. Would be worse if I were taller than 5'11.

I haven't seen any safety studies comparing the safety between models. The Clubman isn't significantly longer than the 1st gens, but I always thought the new R56 look--looked better on the Clubman.

 

Wow, I'm surprised I haven't seen anything on the news about "expectant fathers", usually the woman gives birth.

 

damn, OG's MINI's like a house!

 

One answer for those "soon to be" fathers...



AWESOME, and is keeps the kiddos safe.

 

I did. It was on Drudge a couple weeks ago.

Thanks for this topic, OG. After reading up, my wife doesn't balk anymore about the possibility of an infant seat in Car 84.

 

You're welcome. The thread didn't go very far, but it's been a fun thread to look back upon..can't believe it's been 5years already...
Hahah, and it's bursting at the seams!!!

 

Today I finally completed the "Toddler Entertainment System" consisting of an LCD monitor mounted in the passenger headrest, Infrared headphone system, and mobile DVD player. Everything is now integrated works great! Now either myself or my wife can change DVD without having to stop. I was going to originally mount the player in the glovebox until I realized how difficult it is to lower the glovebox while you're sitting there, potentially with all kinds of bags and other travel items on the floor.

The player integrated perfectly!

 

Looks awesome!

 

Our first baby was born on July 14th, six weeks early, and has spent the time since then in the NICU. However, everything has gone amazingly well, mom and baby are healthy, and we've been given the go-ahead to take home little Addison this evening.

My '06 MCS isn't the primary car, my wife's Escape will handle most of the baby hauling duties, but I expect that soon enough I'll be fitting that car seat into my car.

First off I'll have to put the back seat back in! For the past year or two I've been running around with a cargo board in the back. Makes it easier to take weekend trips, and the dog fits in nicely. Since the rear seat is so easy to remove I might rebuild my cargo board to be a bit lighter and easier to install . That way when I do need it I can make the switch more easily.

We have the Chicco infant seat /stroller combo. It fits very easily into the Escape, but I haven't given it a try in the MINI yet. Anyone have this model and know if it fits? Since she is only a little over 4 lbs, it's one of the few seats (name brand) that the hospital will actually send her home in. If needed I don't mind getting a special seat later if I need one in the MINI, but it'd be nice to know that all I need to do is pick up an extra base for my car.

I know the stroller that goes with it won't fit in the car (it's huge), however I did see that there are some lightweight frames (Graco, and Baby Trend) that allow you to put the "baby bucket" on them and use them as a stroller. Those look like they will fit in the back.

 

I can get my family around just fine. I just can't pick anything else up.
Both my kids fit okay in the back, they are 11 and 9.

 

I have the Chicco Travel System and while the stroller won't fit the car seat fits just fine. The passenger seat will have to moved up pretty far so I hope your wife is not too tall! My wife is 5' 2" and she fits just fine. We also have a frame stroller that will fit if you fold down the rear seat on the drivers side. For any around town trips and to/from daycare we take the MINI. The Highlander is only used for long trips and trips to the mountains.