Coupe VS Sedan - Which will baby better?

I think Woody mentioned that he had better luck with a coupe and children in the back then with a sedan. This has got me thinking and I wanted to see if others have had direct interaction with the situation. My reasoning is that there will probably be a little slammer around by this time next year and I have been cleared to buy something nicer (probably $15k) after baby stuff is paid off. Originally, I was probably just going to get a nicer sedan (550i would be sweet) and move on but the thought of having an easier time of loading kids in a coupe has opened my options up a bit. So will a mid sized coupe vs sedan be easier to put kids in the back, nevermind the trunk FYI.

I'll defer to Woody, but I think coupes are only better once you can put them in a forward-facing seat. Might be better starting off with sedan for the rear-facing they'll be using at first.

edit - this is all speculation and hearsay on my part. I don't feed any parasites... yet.

Putting kids in the back of most coupes sucks bad. You'll twist your back in some crazy ways. Hell, I can't get anyone to want to climb into the back of the E92.

But it is nice knowing they can't open windows or doors.

My wife's daily is a sedan, and she does most of the kid hauling duties. We occasionally take my SAAB 900 (coupe), and I have no trouble getting my daughter into the back of it. I am physically fit and limber though, and I can tell you that is a requirement. I personally love NOT immediately giving up and buying a minivan or SUV when we had a kid. It is a point of pride for me.

Much prefer a 4 door to a 2 door (of whichever definition you chose to use for sedan)when it comes to children. Same with the baby buckets.

If for no other reason than the doors are smaller so I can open them wider in parking lots.

Yeah the space that a rear facing infant seat takes up is rather limiting. If you are cool removing the front passenger seat then you will have plenty of room.

Really though THIS!!! 5 DOOR YOu will thank me when you have to carry the baby in the car seat and diaper bag and your wife's bag (she is healing up from her awesome job being pregnant!) Serious lower back pain potential all the time. So make it easier on youself. They have have manual transmissions too.

Okay, I'm going way back for this story. (The baby in question is now a senior in high school.) When we had our first child, my wife owned a 1990 Pontiac Grand Am 2-door coupe. Getting the baby into the back seat was such a pain that we bought an Escort Wagon with four doors. And that Grand Am had very large doors.

My own personal take, as the father of 3 young kids, a sedan (4 door) is unquestionably the way to go. Coupes are a royal pain...sometimes literally...to stick a young 'un in. 4 doors are relatively easy, and sliding door vehicles are cake.

I have four young kids. I have always used a sedan/wagon/minivan, so the evidence is not exactly firsthand, but I would not want to do a coupe and a reverse facing for sure. I am not sure I'd want a coupe at all with kids.

Kids = sedan > coupe.

I am 6'4" to bend down and put a kid into a coupe - NO THANK YOU!

I am getting tired of putting things that arent kids in the back seat of my car and I want a Sedan....

Here are some questions:

1) How many children?
2) What car seats? (i.e. infant carrier, rear-facing convertible, front-facing convertible, booster.
3) Car seat locations (i.e. center, left, right)?
4) How often (i.e. is this the primary child hauler)?

Advan046 wrote: Yeah the space that a rear facing infant seat takes up is rather limiting. If you are cool removing the front passenger seat then you will have plenty of room. Really though THIS!!! 5 DOOR YOu will thank me when you have to carry the baby in the car seat and diaper bag and your wife's bag (she is healing up from her awesome job being pregnant!) Serious lower back pain potential all the time. So make it easier on youself. They have have manual transmissions too.

I think this is the last year for these, so shop quick if you want one.

Coupe vs. sedan? If you're a two car household, have one of each. The easier becomes the 'family' car.

My experience is that it is fine, once the kiddo is big enough to get in and out themselves. Otherwise 4 doors is where it's at(other than a van). I think the cars with the suicide style door, like the veloster, rx8 and the like might be the best of both worlds.

To further elaborate. Your kid is always going to have something in their hand, whether its a stuffed animal, or sippy cup. When you buckle them up in a booster seat, you have to pull the belt around them, and insert on the buckle that is more inboard. So you have to reach around the little tike. The tighter it is in the back seat, the more of challenge it can be. Its always a moving target. It's easier when they are in a rear facing cartridge type seat where you buckle them into the seat inside the house and just insert them into the seat holder in the car. In a 2 door, the front seat folds forward, it allows me to be further forward to get around the kiddo and buckle him in.

Had two kids with a coupe E36 and later with a sedan E36. The coupe was a real nightmare when they were rear facing and still a bad dream when they faced forward. The sedan is way better, if only because you've got direct access to install seats or buckle them in. Doing it from in front is harder than from the side.

sachilles wrote: My experience is that it is fine, once the kiddo is big enough to get in and out themselves. Otherwise 4 doors is where it's at(other than a van). I think the cars with the suicide style door, like the veloster, rx8 and the like might be the best of both worlds.

True. Once they're big enough to get themselves in and out, by all means. Have the coupe. They're nimble little buggers and will have no trouble climbing back there.

But you don't want to deal with child + car seat + seat belt while you're twisted sideways on one foot, hanging halfway out the door because you DON'T FIT.

I got sick of loading the rear facing child seat in the back of my 2 door very quickly. That was the main reason I have switched to the 4 door car variety. Especially now that they are older they can get in and out without any assistance from me. I roll up to the curb at school and they jump out, reverse process for pick up.

once kids can get in themselves, agree it makes no difference.

Since you're talking about having a baby though, yes 4 doors is waaaaaaay easier than 2.

My daughter just turned one.

What you may not know yet is that they start off in a rear facing car seat. That isn't terribly difficult as you load them in the carrier, and then clip that into the base.

Where it starts to really suck is when they outgrow the baby seat carrier, but are now required to remain rear facing. So now you're manually loading a squirming toddler into a rear facing car seat that's already latched in place in your car, requiring a contortion of body/agility to get them in place with yourself half hanging out of the car since you're holding onto child while doing this contortion.

I just got rid of my coupe, and got a 4 door.

Much.. much... easier.

I have 2 kids. My son is 5, and he is in a booster and can buckle himself. I did his whole upbringing with a 2-door. It's certainly doable, but having now gone from 2 to 4, having direct access to car seat is remarkably easier.

xflowgolf wrote: once kids can get in themselves, agree it makes no difference.

Disagree!

Kids wait until you're seated to remember they need to go get something. With a 2 door, you get to get out along with them, or scrunch up to the steering wheel. They are very good at remembering three different things, one at a time. Then needing to go pee. This gets old fast in a 2 door. They will also tangle themselves up in your seat belt, every time.

Kids invariably swing the door open wide. A 2-door coupe has longer doors than a 4 door sedan. Denting will happen with both, but especially with a 2-door.

i've done the HB, Sedan and minivan, and 4doors is the way i'm keeping it. i actually perfer the van over the sedan for the extra trunk space. I have an eddie bauer stroller and it was a 1 way only fit in my sedan.

Just to be clear then. The concensus among ALL the parents in the group is that two doors with small kids is inferior to 4 plus doors. Sorry Woody, the group has spoken

Fun safety reason to have kids behind their own doors: when I was a wee lad of about 5 or so (in an era before these silly "car seats") dad drove a E36 M3 box Nova. He got out to do something and I tried to slip out behind him (as kids will do). He slammed my left hand in the door.

Thankfully build quality was so loose and sloppy back then that nothing was broken, just sore for a while. A modern car likely would have left me with a stump and ready for a hook fitting on my way to a career as a pirate.

I had an early-'80s Supra (coupe, obviously) when I had my first kid. 4 years later when I had my second, I had ditched it and bought a Neon sedan. I know Woody is adamant about preferring coupes for this application, but the 2-door just did not work for me with car seats. The 4-door was way better, both to put car seats in, and particularly a few years later when they were able to get in and out by themselves.

I put the grandkids in the MINI...once. um...never again.

I managed to get 2 kids (infant + toddler) in the back of a '98 M3 and I don't recall it as painful. Well, not as painful as giving up an M3 for some blah sedan would have been anyway. Later I did the same thing with a toddler and 5yr old with a '90 964 so... priorities my man. Have them. You can get stuck with a E36 M3ty car longer than it takes an infant to grow enough to be able to buckle his own damn seatbelt.