How Do Car Seats Fit in a 2023 BMW 840i Gran Coupe?
The verdict: BMW’s lineup is peppered with Gran Coupes that are actually sedans with sloping rooflines. The 2023 840 Gran Coupe is the biggest one in the lineup and as its large car status suggests, we had no trouble fitting two car seats in the backseat. However, we struggled with the sedan’s fixed head restraints, which prevented our car seats from fitting flush against the seatback and seat bottom as they should.
Does it fit three car seats? No.
Take a look at how the Latch system and each car seat scored below in our Car Seat Check of the 2023 BMW 840i Gran Coupe.
Related: Search Car Seat Checks
A Grade
- Latch: The sedan’s two sets of lower anchors sit under an easy-to-use cover. Three top tether anchors sit on the rear shelf. We had trouble accessing them and lowered the forward-facing convertible’s grade because of connection issues.
- Infant seat: Latch connection was easy and our 5-foot-6-inch front passenger had plenty of legroom in front of this car seat.
- Rear-facing convertible: As with the infant seat, installing this seat was drama-free, and our passenger was comfortable in front of it.
B Grade
- Booster: The fixed head restraint pushed the booster off the seatback; it should sit flush against it. The outboard buckles are on stable stalks, which should make them easy for kids to grasp and use independently. The middle seat should be avoided as there’s no legroom because of a large floor hump. There’s also no head restraint. Lastly, the middle buckle has an odd two-piece setup with an extra, strange little buckle that needs to be connected for it to work.
C Grade
- None
D Grade
- Forward-facing convertible: We had no trouble connecting to the lower anchors, but we struggled to connect to the top tether anchor. The three tethers sit on the rear shelf; because they’re just behind the fixed head restraints, it’s tough to access them. The owner’s manual says to go over the head restraint. This is still difficult because there’s not a lot of room to maneuver and the sloping roofline prevents you from seeing what you’re doing. Also, the fixed head restraint pushes the car seat off the seat bottom and back cushions, making it really tough to get a snug fit. The seat should sit flush against both.
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: One room, fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing the third row when available.
C: Marginal room plus one fit or connection issue. Difficult to access the third row when available.
D: Insufficient room, plus multiple fit or connection issues.
F: Does not fit or is unsafe.
About Cars.com’s Car Seat Checks
Editors Jennifer Geiger and Jennifer Newman are certified child safety seat installation technicians.
For the Car Seat Check, we use a Chicco KeyFit 30 infant-safety seat, a Graco Contender 65 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. Learn more about how we conduct our Car Seat Checks.
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.
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