The 2013 BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe is a head-turner with its matte finish exterior and striking white leather interior. The fun continues under the hood: the swoopy four-door coupe's 445-horsepower, twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 engine offers pin-you-in-your-seat excitement. Putting two child safety seats in the back of the Gran Coupe was less than fun, however.
For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide 30 rear-facing infant-safety seat, a Britax Roundabout convertible child-safety seat and Graco high-back TurboBooster seat.
The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver's seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are installed behind the passenger seat. We also install the infant seat in the second row's middle seat with the booster and convertible in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit. If there's a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible.
Here's how the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe did in Cars.com's Car Seat Check:
Latch system: There are two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats and their setup is somewhat unusual: They sit behind zippers in the leather. This sounds great — just slide the zippers down for access, right? Not so fast. The zippers were embedded in the stiff leather and required a lot of yanking. After the zippers are down, the anchors are located about an inch into the seat bight. We had no issues accessing the tether anchors; there are three of them on the rear shelf under removable plastic covers.
Booster seat: This sedan supposedly seats five passengers, but the middle seat has no legroom thanks to a large, floor-mounted console; it also doesn't have a head restraint. The outboard head restraints are fixed, and they pushed the back of our booster off the seat. The seats are also bolstered, so the booster sat at an angle. The buckles are on stable bases and recessed into the bottom seat cushion.
Convertible seat: The fixed head restraint also pushed the forward-facing convertible far forward on the seat, but the base still fit on the cushion. In the rear-facing position, the seat didn't have enough room. We moved the front-passenger seat forward to accommodate it and the passenger's knees were resting against the glove box.
Infant-safety seat: This seat was easy to install but required a lot a space. We had to move the front passenger seat up even more than with the rear-facing convertible. Our front passenger was pretty uncomfortable.
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two
Editor's note: For three car seats — infant-safety seat, convertible and booster seats — to fit in a car, our criterion is that a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat.
Related
Research the 2013 BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe
More Car Seat Checks on Cars.com
More Safety News on Cars.com
No comments:
Post a Comment