Car seat?

[RickOKC]

Hey, congratulations!

[Riff Raff]

Nah, leave the VX as is (unless you plan on going 4-wheeling with the newborn).

Instead, sell a couple of your "extra" cars and buy the new 2012 HYUNDAI - "VELOSTER" 3-door Coupe (the Right-Rear door was specifically designed for small 1-child families). It gets a whooping 40 MPG and I'm sure it will become your instant daily-driver and for all road trips with child due to the easy 3rd door loading/unloading. Besides, everybody knows the Right-Rear seat location is the safest for a child seat.

http://www.hyundaiusa.com/vehicles/2012/veloster/

Use the next 9-months to try and sell your "extra" cars and acquire a new 2012 Hyundai - Veloster in advance of the big day. Hmmm, time to ponder.

[vt_maverick]

Right now we have 3 2-doors, VX, Scion TC, Firebird one or two of the later may have to go to make room for something else. We just sold our 05' Explorer less than a year ago. I am thinking Axiom if anything.

I would caution you to take a close look at your financial situation before you make any decisions on buying/selling cars. Depending on your insurance, just the birth of a child can be very expensive, let alone all the follow-on expenses once they're actually home. If you have the title on all your vehicles you're probably good to go since you can use them as trades or sell them private party before buying something else, but if you owe on them you might be better off to wait. At the time we found out we were pregnant with our first child we owned FOUR two-door vehicles. We ended up selling three (2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe, 1965 Mustang, 2004 Honda Accord) to buy our 2004 Axiom. We owned the Mustang outright, owed just a little (like $~2K) on the G35, but owed a lot (like $12K) on the Accord. What I regret is that we hurried into the decision to buy a four-door vehicle which had both a short term and a long term consequence. In the short term, we found out that the CarFax on the Accord was bogus and did not indicate the frame damage that was on the AutoCheck report, so we had to come up with $6500 in cash just to get out from under the loan at trade-in. In the long term I probably didn't do as much research on the Axiom as I should have, and we bought the 2004 model with the direct injection engine because of the (slightly) better HP and MPG, as well as the fact that it was simply newer and would hopefully be reliable for longer. Last week the engine developed a tick/knock and although we don't yet know if it will require a new engine, I've been doing a TON of research just in case. Turns out the 2004's have an above average failure rate, and since the direct injection engine was only used on the 2004 Isuzu Axiom (not shared with any other years, models, platforms, or manufacturers) the cost of a remanufactured engine is phenomenally expensive. Availability of used engines is a problem too, since there are so few of the DI engines still out there. If you do decide to go with an Axiom, my recommendation would be to look for an 02 or 03 which share the basic 3.5 with the Rodeo and Trooper. Those engines are more than plentiful by comparison.

Second....
A car seat in the VX is surprisingly awesome.

When the car seat is rear facing, load from the rear door.
-Put the seat down backwards and load in, click, then put the seat back up.

When the car seat is front facing, load from the passenger door.
The process takes some getting used to, but its pretty easy after the first couple times.
...
I anchored to the OEM Child saftey anchor.

It is VERY easy to install the car seats and strap in the kids through the rear door. It is also doable if you can't use the rear door, but it is harder (less so if you're tall though). A quick hint on the anchors: the 1999 and 2000 models don't have the LATCH logo on the floor, but the anchor POINTS are there under the carpet cut-outs. Only 2001 models came with the actual anchors, so you may need to get those from somebody. If you want mine let me know, I've found the seat belts are more than sufficient so I'm not using mine.

2. You may not want a step back there for loading. I found it best to get very close to the back door and lean in, not climb in.

+1 - The step is totally unnecessary unless you're a midget or something.

Another thought....If you haven't already purchased one, I would HIGHLY recommend anything in the Britax family of car seats.

http://www.britax.com/

We have a Recaro seat and have been VERY impressed. They cost about the same as the Britax and get similar reviews, but I bought the Recaro mostly to match my OEM Recaro seats. Link to Recaro Child Seats:

http://www.recaro-cs.com/us/product/convertibles.html

Although if you are going to do this, you should probably invest in a rear door popper so you don't break your key off opening the back door all the time.

I have a popper on my VX and it is definitely nice but not required.

Instead, sell a couple of your "extra" cars and buy the new 2012 HYUNDAI - "VELOSTER" 3-door Coupe (the Right-Rear door was specifically designed for small 1-child families). It gets a whooping 40 MPG and I'm sure it will become your instant daily-driver and for all road trips with child due to the easy 3rd door loading/unloading. Besides, everybody knows the Right-Rear seat location is the safest for a child seat.

http://www.hyundaiusa.com/vehicles/2012/veloster/

Use the next 9-months to try and sell your "extra" cars and acquire a new 2012 Hyundai - Veloster in advance of the big day. Hmmm, time to ponder.

Regarding buying a new car, reference comments above. As for the right-rear comment, that is up for debate. The following is an excerpt from Car-Safety.org's website:

The center of the rear seat is usually safest since it is farthest from a possible side impact, but only if your carseat fits well in that position. Any position in the rear seat is acceptable unless prohibited by the vehicle or child seat owner's manual. The seat behind the passenger may be slightly safer than the seat behind the driver, since it allows you to unload the child on the curb side, allows you to see your child more easily from the driver's seat and is very slightly less likely to be hit on that side in a side impact. There is also a small risk that a front seat-back could collapse in a severe rear-end crash, and the passenger seat is less likely to be occupied by a heavy adult who could crush a carseat in this situation. The front seat is generally not advised for children 12 and under, especially if an active airbag is present.

If you have more than one child, the safest arrangement may not be obvious. Usually, it is preferable to put the child with the most protection in the outboard location; rear-facing seats offer the most protection from side impacts.

I've also heard that the driver's side is actually the second safest (behind the middle seat) because you're instinct is to protect yourself in an avoidance maneuver (e.g., you'd likely turn the wheel to the left in a skid to put the passenger side of the car between yourself and the other object). Regardless, buy yourself a nice seat (Britax or Recaro certainly qualify) and the position won't be that big a deal.

Congrats and best of luck!

[Riff Raff]

Woo-Hoo!!!



My local Hyundai Dealer just got a few 2012 "VELOSTER" models on their car lot and they are frickin' sweeeeeeeeeeet!!!

I encourage everyone to venture on down to your nearest Hyundai Dealer and take a hands-on look at this new car. If you like the VX, then you'll love the Hyundai - Veloster, as there are many simular traits in styling (headlights; tail-lights; narrow rear window).

[Ldub]

If you like the VX, then you'll love the Hyundai - Veloster, as there are many simular traits in styling (headlights; tail-lights; narrow rear window).

I dunno what yer smokin' Riff, but I'd be willing to drive to WA state to pick up a couple O-Z's...
Headlights?...taillights?...OK, it has the same number, in roughly the same location, but...

http://www.hyundaiusa.com/veloster/exterior.aspx

I'm guessing in person it must look better.

IMO, it looks like a 3 dr pontiac vibe, with a neat-o sunroof.

I DO like the exhaust tho...

[Riff Raff]

Dubster, the only thing I'm smokin' is your passive smoke (j/k my friend). But seriously, the Hyundai - Veloster looks waaaaaaaayyyyyy better "in person"!!! Please check it out when you get a chance.

[Ldub]

Dubster, the only thing I'm smokin' is your passive smoke (j/k my friend). But seriously, the Hyundai - Veloster looks waaaaaaaayyyyyy better "in person"!!! Please check it out when you get a chance.

I'll do my best to exhale towards the east from now on...