Another car thread

[ysette9]

We put our baby in her new car seat in "the other car" earlier this evening for the first time and I am now thinking we need to replace it. As much as I have loved this 2005 Scion tC, getting the kid into the back of a coupe is ungainly and I banged her poor head on the glass getting her out of the car seat since the hatchback is sloped so low in the back. So....

Our family car is a golf TDI which works well. We love small cars that handle well, are fun to drive, and are hatchbacks. Manual transmission is a must and I have a strong preference for six-speed. What recommendations do you have? I would prefer to spend less than $10k. Thanks!

[TerriM]

If by new baby, you mean infant, I'd just remove the whole infant carrier from its base--then you might bang the carrier, but hopefully less likely the infant.

Also, give it a week or two--sometimes this stuff requires practice.  Is this your first kid?

[ysette9]

First kid, yes.  We are not using the infant carrier type of caf seat but the convertible ones which stay in the car and can be used for the first couple of years.

[TerriM]

Might be cheaper to replace the car seat than the car :)

But I don't have a good way to envision how getting a regular infant car seat in/out would work.  Can you borrow one from a friend and try it out?

[FarmerPete]

We used the baby seat with the base that you leave in place.  It made putting the baby in and taking the baby out crazy easy.  Baby was completely protected so the only risk from banging the seat on the glass was waking the baby up.  I agree, I'd look at other seat options.  The nice thing about the removably seats is that with the right stroller, they just lock in place.  You can take the baby from the car to the stroller very quickly/easily.  I could never remove an infant from a car seat and put them in a stroller without waking them without the snap in seats.

[ysette9]

I think since it is not my car, I'll wait and see how my husband ends up doing. I know I barely made it in and out of the back seat with the kid so I would not be able to do it physically with an infant seat. We could try to borrow one to check it out but she would only be able to use it for a little while longer anyway. I think wait and see is probably what we will do for now.

[TerriM]

+1 to what Farmer Pete said.  Let a sleeping baby sleep.... as loooooong as you can. :)