C5Longhorn

My wife and I in the process of deciding between a G35 and IS350. This will be her car and one thing that will be important down the line is the ability to put a child seat in the back.

Anyone done this? Does it fit easily? Any input is appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick

DRivera250

iTrader: (6)

it did for my nephew, but keep in mind that he kid kick the back of seat in front of him which is just annoying.

C5Longhorn

Do some child seats face the rear seat and not the front?

15951

Installing a rear-facing seat for an infant will be difficult, but not impossible. You'll have to push the passenger front seat up quite a bit to make it work.

I have a forward-facing Britax seat installed for my three year old son. It fits just fine. They will kick the seat back, similar to if there was no child seat installed at all. I usually have my son in the car with only myself, so I set one of the passenger seat memory settings to move the seat all the way up when he's in the car (#3, easiest to press when I open the passenger door in the morning). If I'm going to have others in the car between the time I drop him off and pick him up, I lean over and hit memory setting #2, which returns the passenger seat to a comfortable setting.

You'll hear from others that you can put the seat in the middle and use both inboard LATCH anchors for the seat. This isn't recommended, as I recall, so I never went this route (although I understand the rationale).

I bought the IS with the knowledge that we have another vehicle more suitable for kids. I would never want the IS to be my only car, even with only one child. The G35 has much more rear seat room, and IMO, is more appropriate for heavy use with carrying a child in a rear-facing seat.

15951

It's the law to keep infants in rear facing seats until they reach a weight and age threshold. It's simple physics - an infant's neck is easily injured, and rear facing seats are thought to minimize the chance of injury from whiplash.

Having gone through driving with a "brand new" baby, it's amazing how paranoid one becomes when transporting their own kids. I think I would have put him in bubble wrap and filled the back seat up with foam peanuts if that were the prescribed safety measure.

C5Longhorn

Thanks for all the replies folks. I don't have any kids yet, so wasn't familar with the laws/good practices. We will have an SUV also, so this may not be an issue.

AlexusAnja

You mentioned front seat, back seat, car seat, front, back... how old is the child? I test drove the IS at the Taste of Lexus event this year, and I brought along my daughters and their car seats and my 4-year old (taller than average for age) could barely fit back their. Her feet was on the back of the seat the whole test drive and she just kicked and kicked. Drove me crazy. A rear facing seat will definitely fit with no issues, and you'll have good room to spare. The rear seat room on the IS was really a deal breaker. I could not justify buying that car for anything but a "for me" car because I would feel so bad having passengers taller than 5' back there.

likwid8

If I had to do it again, I would've gotten a bigger car. It's a tight fit for child seats in the IS.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

A rear facing infant seat will make it virtually impossible for someone to sit in the front passenger seat comfortably.

tex2670

Front/rear facing is not the law. The fact that a child less than a certain age or weight must be secured in a child seat is the law. When you can go rear to front facing is a medical issue.

C5Longhorn--while I agree, you may not have an issue if your other car is an SUV, you may put yourself in the situation where you wouldn't be able to use the IS if the whole family wants to go somewhere. I used to have a Saturn SL, and I had the rear facing seat in the middle of the rear seat. If it was in the left or right, I would have had to move the front seat forward. It's harder to get an infant seat truly secure in the middle seat of the IS because of the contour of the seat and the tranny tunnel. See likwid8's response as to whether it's the right choice. There are other cars out there that are competitive, that have more room in back (G35, CTS). I have 2 kids, but we are done with the rear facing seats--I brought the car seats with my on my test drive to check for fit--it works ok.

tex2670

While I never tried to fit a seat rear facing in the back of the IS, I have to disagree with this logic. Maybe an infant car seat (the kind where you snap out the seat and carry it with you) would fit ok, but a "convertible" seat (i.e., a toddler seat), which is turned around rear facing from the time a baby outgrows the infant seat, until 1 year old, in no way shape or form will fit "better" than when the convertilbe seat is turned around front facing at 1 year.

Big Willy

I have a nissan Murano and an IS.
My daughter is 3yrs old and loves the IS.
It is a snug fit and she does kick the back of the seat at times, but it's not bad.
If you have a SUV you will be fine. It's a nice change, from one to the other.
I was in the same boat.
My wife drives the baby and the SUV most of the time, but the both of them enjoy the IS when take it.
Good luck.

jdoolitt

I have zero problems fitting a car seat for our granddaughter into the backseat of our IS. There is no problem with front passenger room either. I have to wonder if many of the respondants to this thread have actually used a car seat in their IS. It's no problem. There *is* a little bit of fanagelling you have to do, to get it in. That is, you have to move the front seat forward to install, but after it is in, you move the seat back. This is a rear-facing carseat.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

You're in the minority,my friend.
My daughter sold her IS to me and bought a new 4Runner because of infant seat issues.
Issues like getting the baby in and out and front seat comfort for a 5'7" or taller passenger.These are facts.Fanagelling as you say, equals difficulty and that's a problem.
I'm on two other IS forums and there's issues with rear facing infant seats on those forums too.
Perhaps you found the perfect rear facing infant seat.Give the brand so others can benefit.

tex2670

I think that, by the fact that the title of the thread uses the word "car seats", most posters are those with car seats or concerned about them--so I'm quite confident that the advice given is by people that "actually" used a car seat.

Maybe your passenger is short enough to have the front seat very far forward?