997 Space for the kids?

[Steve Devaney]

I will be in the market for a 997 Turbo within the next few weeks. My question is how much rear passenger space is lost in the convertible over the coupe?
My kids are young (3 & 5) so ideal 2+2 car size but something tells me that the tight space in the rear of a convertible is compromised over that of the coupe due to the folding roof deck area?
My old 964 Targa had plenty of space - same as the coupe I believe and I retained the Porsche kiddy seats that are fine in my current soon-to-go M3.
I may have to consider a coupe with sunroof if the difference is reasonably significant.

[pete]

It's the seat backs which are the most different between coupe and convertible in the 996 and 997. The convertible has rear seat backs which are basically vertical (if not actually canted *forward*) which can make fitting child seats and booster seats more difficult - or will rob you of even more passenger legroom. My 4 year old uses a Recaro booster in my 996 coupe, and it's already a lot more upright than in our family car; I'm not sure he would want to sit any straighter for long periods.

I think you'll have to find a friendly dealer and try your seats and kids in each to see the difference. It can be done, but the coupe is likely to be comfier.

Anyway, not a bad problem to have either way :-)

Pete

[Steve Devaney]

Having thought about it, am I right in thinking I could remove the rear seat backs on a convertible and just sit the kids Porsche seats on the seat pads? it may not be possible or a safe option if the kids seats will move about.
Is ISOfix an option on these cars and will it work with the back pads removed?
I should be happy with the M3 but it just lacks the P-car thing.

[Adam B]

Haven't seen ISOFIX as option on any rear 997 seats, my 7 year old fits fine in rear now she no longer needs a car seat, it was a bit tight with a car seat in my coupe - so I would avoid the cab, even ignoring that the cab turbo looks odd and the coupe turbo looks great IMHO

edited to add - its a tight fit if she is behind me (just over 6ft) but is fine behind the missus

Edited by Adam B on Tuesday 6th October 13:41

[Shewie]

I think you may struggle with the convertible as from what I have seen the seat backs are more upright. I have a 997 Turbo coupe and my two boys (4 & 5) fit in a treat. I have a couple of the Porsche high back boosters and even without removing the seat backs there is enough space.

As Adam say's the coupe looks better anyway!

[Steve Devaney]

Thanks chaps.
To justify getting the Turbo, the kids would have to fit for a few years to come. Looks like the Cab is a non-starter so I will now start honing the search accordingly :-)
Not sure that I totally agree the the Cab looks awkward but I will concede that the coupe does indeed look superb.

[Whoozit]

Helping you to plan ahead, my daughter is 11 and fits fine in the back seats of a 997 coupe, including 3 hour nonstop trips. I think she'll be fine until she nears 5 foot tall, then she may start feeling cramped. Having a short front passenger helps of course.

[Whoozit]

Helping you to plan ahead, my daughter is 11 and fits fine in the back seats of a 997 coupe, including 3 hour nonstop trips. I think she'll be fine until she nears 5 foot tall, then she may start feeling cramped. Having a short front passenger helps of course.

[Steve Devaney]

Whoozit said:

Helping you to plan ahead, my daughter is 11 and fits fine in the back seats of a 997 coupe, including 3 hour nonstop trips. I think she'll be fine until she nears 5 foot tall, then she may start feeling cramped. Having a short front passenger helps of course.

Information like this is great ammunition for when the Mrs asks me how much I am spending on the M3 replacement. She has already stated that she did not know that it was up for sale and has enquired as to what I would be replacing it with. I threw her a cheeky curve ball by saying that I was thinking Aston Martin so as to soften the blow when I 'only' end up spending 997 Turbo money :-)

[dimmy]

seems like I will have this issue soon, I have a 4yr old and a 18 month old, will go mothercare this weekend and see what can fit, I think a cheap booster will be fine for the 4yr old but the 18month will need some kind of seat, all those maxicosi isofix seats and base all wasted .
ps mine is the cabrio and seats do face slightly forward!

[hondansx]

I am not sure of the safety implications, but the previous owner of my GT3 had child seats in the back of it! As i'm sure you are aware, the GT3 has no rear seats, merely just a shelf, but the seatbelts are easily retrofittable. Assuming it is safe, it actually seems like quite a good idea to free up some space.

Just an idea!

[The_Doc]

got two of these in the back of my 997 coupe, fit very nicely with no modification

http://i1.adis.ws/i/washford/711388?$pd_zoom_v2$

£7.50 each, one red one blue.

NB kids are >22Kg and only do short trips

[dimmy]

These seem ideal for the older kid, where did you get them from?

The_Doc said:

got two of these in the back of my 997 coupe, fit very nicely with no modification

http://i1.adis.ws/i/washford/711388?$pd_zoom_v2$

£7.50 each, one red one blue.

NB kids are >22Kg and only do short trips

[The_Doc]

dimmy said:

These seem ideal for the older kid, where did you get them from?

The_Doc said:

got two of these in the back of my 997 coupe, fit very nicely with no modification

http://i1.adis.ws/i/washford/711388?$pd_zoom_v2$

£7.50 each, one red one blue.

NB kids are >22Kg and only do short trips

Sorry, stripping out the image link removed the important info !,

Halfords.

They are good, but high G corners still means fairground style sliding around and giggling