2012 BMW 6 Series: Car Seat Check
This Car Seat Check was originally published in August 2011 on MotherProof.com.
While the redesigned BMW 6 Series has more rear legroom for the 2012 model year, we found that it wasn’t enough to fit some rear-facing child-safety seats. We tested the 650i, a four-seat soft-top convertible. The 6 Series also comes as a coupe that seats four.
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.
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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 2012 650i did in MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check:
Latch system: The 650i has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the rear seats. The anchors are difficult to use because the seat bight, where the back and bottom cushions meet, is really deep, and the large seat bolters get in the way. The inboard Latch anchors were more difficult to use than the outboard anchors because there’s not as much clearance around the inner anchors. Like many convertibles, the 650i doesn’t have tether anchors.
Booster seat: The fixed head restraint kept our high-back booster seat from resting against the rear seatback. While the seat belt buckles are on stable bases and just high enough for kids to use independently, the seat belt was positioned behind the booster seat, which could be difficult for a child to grab.
Convertible seat: The combination of the deep seat bight, fixed head restraint and the seat-bottom cushion angle made it nearly impossible for us to install the forward-facing convertible. When in the forward-facing position, our Britax convertible doesn’t fit in the 650i. Other car seats might fit better. With the rear-facing convertible, we had to move the front passenger seat forward a few inches to create enough room in the second row. The front passenger had just enough legroom to sit comfortably.
Infant-safety seat: We managed to get the rear-facing infant-safety seat to fit, but to do so our front passenger had to move her seat so far forward that her head was too close to the windshield and her knees were pushed against the glove box.
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.
