Using a Baby Seat in Convertible
 

How would one go about Using a Baby Seat in a Mini convertible?

It may be somewhat different than a coupe due to the kick out rear head 'roll" bars which extend during a roll over.

If no one responds to your question, why not stop in to your local MINI dealer and paruse the Owners manual.

Move to convertible section for more exposure :)

For a small infant or for todders...I have an MCc and fit 2 car seats in my car 1 for a 4 yr old and the other for a 2 yr old...They weren't little car seats...and there wasn't room for anything else. This was a just for a week while I had a friend with kids visiting.

The R57 is equipped with LATCH car seat anchors in the rear seats. The best place for babies and kids is in the rear seat.

You will have problems fitting a rear-facing baby seat in the back because it will require you to move the front seat all the way forward and tilt the front seatback far forward. Also, the back seat gets much windier than the fronts when you're topless.

An alternative is to place the rear-facing baby seat in the front but: this may not be legal in your state, you must check that the airbag is disabled (there is a sensor in the front seat cushion and an indicator light located by the windshield toggles), and there are no LATCH anchors in the front.

Best advice is to take the car seat to the dealer showroom and check how it fits. Also check how other passengers fit when the car seat is installed.

Look at instructions in the Owner's Manual, page 40 here: http://www.motoringalliance.com/pdf/...onvertible.pdf

The convertible is no different from using a child seat in a MINI hardtop, and the fittings are all the same between 1st and 2nd gen MINI, so you can search for discussions in those areas as well.

There's also a sub-forum over on MINI2: http://www.mini2.com/forum/minis-children-parents/

So, I was the first one to use two toddler seats in a 2009 Convertible. Check out some of the pictures I've posted.

URL = https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ni-she-is.html

Couple of thing you should note:

(1) The rear seat of a Mini can only occupy two adults, which means those wide toddler seats won't fit. The Recaro Youngsport is narrow enough that two can fit perfectly without any touching. Ofcourse, the kids will sit right next to each other, so I'm sure they'll be fighting as do mine on semi long road trips

(2) You should use the ISOFIX or LATCH as it's called that is built into the bottom of the seat. The top most ISOFIX or LATCH is in the boot, just make sure to take off the head rests, and slide the strap down the back where it won't interfer with the popup roll bar system. You can see the pictures in the above URL of how NOT to put the strap over the head rest :)

(3) Yes, it's a tight fit. My twins were 2 years old when we got the Mini, an dnow they are just past 3, and they still fit. Their feet to touch the backs of the Convertible seat, but they haven't started to complain just yet. It's a good thing that Mini decided to put plastic in the back if the seats as my kids sure to leave shoe prints all over it.