2017 BMW X4: Car Seat Check
CARS.COM — When introduced as an all-new luxury SUV for the 2015 model year, the BMW X4 failed to make a compelling case for its existence — why not just buy an X3 for less money? The 2017 X4 M40i answers that question with 55 additional horsepower and performance worthy of its sports-coupe inspiration. For families, the five-seater’s aggressive exterior styling translates to compromised utility due to the low roofline and stingy cargo space. However, with just one notable exception, it’s a Car Seat Check champ. Here’s where the X4 excelled (and where it fell short) …
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two
What We Like
- Two sets of Latch anchors are located in the outboard seats; they’re positioned just inside the seat bight and the leather seat cushions push out of the way for easy installation. Also, the top tether anchors are well-labeled and easy to find on the seatbacks.
- Our convertible seat in both the forward- and rear-facing positions installed with ease and fit well; we did not need to move the front passenger seat forward to accommodate the latter.
- Our booster seat also fit well, and although the seat belt buckles are positioned low in the seat cushion, they’re not so low that the booster slides over them.
What We Don’t
- Although our rear-facing infant seat installed easily, we had to move the front passenger seat so far forward to accommodate it that the 5-foot-8-inch-tall tester’s knees were jammed into the glove box.
Grading Scale
A: Plenty of room for the car seat and the child; doesn’t impact driver or front-passenger legroom. Easy to find and connect to Latch and tether anchors. No fit issues involving head restraint or seat contouring. Easy access to the third row.
B: Plenty of room. One fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing third row when available.
C: Marginal room. Two fit or connection issues. Difficult to access third row when available.
D: Insufficient room. Two or more fit or connection issues.
F: Does not fit or is unsafe.
About Cars.com’s Car Seat Checks
Editors Jennifer Geiger, Jennifer Newman and Matt Schmitz are certified child safety seat installation technicians.
For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide Classic Connect 30 infant-safety seat, a Britax Marathon convertible seat and Graco TurboBooster seat. The front seats are adjusted for a 6-foot driver and a shorter passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant and convertible seats are installed behind the front passenger seat.
We also install the forward-facing convertible in the second row’s middle seat with the booster and infant seat in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit; a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. If there’s a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible. To learn more about how we conduct our Car Seat Checks, go here.
Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat, and that Latch anchors have a weight limit of 65 pounds, including the weight of the child and the weight of the seat itself.
