My 3 1/2 year-old goddaughter and her mommy will be visiting me soon, and I'll need to put her carseat in my MINI. Mommy assures me this should be easy, since I have the latch, but I am concerned about creasing/scratching my seats (leatherette). Advice?

 

I would just put a towel or something down on the seat and then not worry about it too much.

Although I don't have lots of experience, I did have a car seat in my MINI for a week with my niece visited this summer. I went to the local fire department and had their trained guy install it.

 

Lots of carseat experience here, just put a towel down under the carseat and you will be fine.....

 

Thanks! I had already figured the towel was the way to go, but I wanted to let those with some experience chime in. I'm not terribly concerned or anything, just want to do my best (without obsessing) to keep Stacy in good condition.

 

My three yo rides with me all the time. I put a towel down first.

 

Towel is good. Generally speaking, the leatherette seat material in the MINI is EXTRA TOUGH and it seems well tailored for heavy duty use. My 5 year old nephew has ridden several times in the back of our MINIs with his forward facing car seat and I haven't had any problems with the leatherette deforming, scratching or creasing. It is a great material to have when you transport kids and less than careful adults in your MINI.

However, the leatherette, like any other materials, have their limits. As long as you don't carry a box cutter, knife or screw driver in your pants' back pocket, you should be fine.

 

Dont scratch the leather!

I say throw the kid in the boot!

 

Will your goddaughter be sitting forward or rear facing? If she will be seating forward facing, keep in mind that her little feet/shoes will be bruising against the plastic back of either of the front seats. While the plastic cover in the rear seats seems to be scratch resistant to a point, it is possible that the plastic may get scuffed with the shoes. Don't act crazy about it, but you may want to remove her shoes while she is back there or put some towel, cloth over the plastic back seats to protect them. Not a big deal really, but if you are quasi-obssesive about your car, you may want to do this as well.

I wish MINI would have used a different material, other than a hard plastic shell, for the backs of the front seats.

 

Kids LOVE riding in the back seat of the MINI! Be prepared for some cute laughs when you make turns in the car.

Have fun.

 

Oops, too late.

The leatherette is quite durable, so go with the towel and don't fret, batterupgirlgonewildonecatonahottinroof. You WILL want access to a car vac after the visit, to evacuate the leftover goldfish, gummy whatever, etc. Pretty much anything you give her will be left as a momento to her dear godmother. Now here's the tough part - NO JUICE! It should wipe right off the seats, but makes a mess in the carpet. You should be able to sell her on the 'Aunt Jenny only drinks WATER in the car! You want to be like Aunt Jen, don't you, batettechildADHDkitty?'

 

That cracks me up

I put my daughter in a booster seat in the back. My wife bought a seat protector made for car seats. it's made of vinyl and has a soft backing that touches the seats. Works great and i doesn't cost much.

 

Right on! There's already hooks back there, and I've got a few bungees.

She should be fine with just water. We're not driving cross-country, just up to Disneyland. She enjoys taking her shoes off, so that's also a possibility. I'm not sure Mommy will find that terribly convenient, but we'll see. I am looking forward to sharing the MINI experience with them!

 

Get the boot net! That'll keep her still and well centered on the boot mat. That's what those hooks are for anyway!!

Rawhyde

 

I often put the car seats in the back of my Mini W/O a towel and it doesn't leave any creases after but the towel is a good idea... The main problem is that since the backseat isn't flat, the car seats that i own fit poorly and really need to be cinched tight to keep them from moving.