Just How Useful Is It With a Rear-Facing Infant Car Seat? - 2015 Porsche Macan S Long-Term Road Test

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Just How Useful Is It With a Rear-Facing Infant Car Seat? - 2015 Porsche Macan S Long-Term Road Test

It's easy to like our 2015 Porsche Macan S when you're just driving it. But how likable is it when there's a rear-facing infant car seat in back.

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nate001

on a $62,000 car they should change the headrests if the rear seat entertainment is not ordered, instead of leaving the big blank plastic rectangles reminding you that skipped an option.

ebeaudoin

I hear what you're saying Erin. My wife and I have a 2010 Honda Odyssey. Our 7-month old is 21 lbs. and 29" tall, so he's already in the convertible car seat, albeit rear-facing. My wife is 5'10" and I'm 6'2". Even in our Odyssey, we had to compromise front passenger legroom (more often than not I'm the one driving) to make the rear-facing convertible fit. I can't wait until he can be forward-facing and he can sit behind the driver's seat again.

fordson1

Said it before and will say it again - the failure of the convertible seat designers to design products to fit comfortably inside an 85th percentile vehicle is dangerous and should be investigated by something like the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

I'm sure there is a way to design such a seat that will fit inside of passenger vehicles that people actually own. And saying oh, just buy a $40,000 minivan is a let-them-eat-cake argument.

emajor

Car seats are absolutely freaking enormous now. We had to ditch a b-segment subcompact for a midsize sedan in order to accommodate rear-facing convertible seats. In the subcompact I could sit behind myself and have a solid 2 inches of knee clearance and I'm 6 feet tall. Didn't matter, stick the carseat in there and I could hardly drive the car anymore. Fortunately, unless you are over 6'3 or so, an Accord, Passat, Mazda6, and Camry SE will allow you to put one of these in the outboard position without infringing on front seat comfort, and they are still decent to drive.

juddholl10

nate001 said:

on a $62,000 car they should change the headrests if the rear seat entertainment is not ordered, instead of leaving the big blank plastic rectangles reminding you that skipped an option.

Those blocks aren't designed for rear seat entertainment--I don't think it's even a Macan option. The blocks are designed to accommodate the fore/aft movement of the adjustable headrests.

lip2

Thought I'd add my experience with both a 2011 Grand Cherokee and 2010 CTS with Recaros. We only mount the seat in the center on both cars. I'm 5'10
In the GC, I can mount the seat in the center position easily; We use an UppaBaby Vista(?) rear facing. Doesn't impact either driver or passenger comfort and the baby seat doesn't touch either the driver or passenger seats. In the CTS, the baby seat touches the seats a bit, though doesn't effect driver comfort. If I were taller, might have a problem- Guessing the Macan is smaller than the CTS?

chol92594

nate001 said:

on a $62,000 car they should change the headrests if the rear seat entertainment is not ordered, instead of leaving the big blank plastic rectangles reminding you that skipped an option.

I'm not sure if that's the reason for them being there. I've seen a lot of other cars that have that plastic backing for the headrest (some BMWs come to mind) and I don't think they had available rear seat entertainment. I think it's just part of the design.

cjasis

The good news is: (1) today's car seats are much safer than even a few years ago and light years better than what we had as kids and (2) the window where you have to deal with monsterous, rear facing seats is relatively small. Once your kid(s) are turned around it gets a lot easier.