Kids in the back of an E92?

[Luckyone]

How easy it would it be to get my 8 & 10 year olds on the back of an E92? We had an F13 a couple of years ago but it was a right pain getting them in the back as the electric seats took ages to move forward. They were smaller then so very much still needing car booster seats, they are just about both now tall enough not to need them anymore, I’m not sure if that makes much difference.

We have a Cerbera that they can just jump into the back without moving any seats as the doors are so long, but I don’t really want to use it over the winter too much. I have a 200sx as well but it's a bit too modded for carrying them easily.

Our E39 is the car used for carting them about mostly but they would need to get in the E92.

I’m thinking of getting a 330 probably D as there are more of them, obviously would rather a 335d but it seems to limit choices in the run around price bracket. Is this the best place to search for the more usually asked questions, or are there other 3 series forums?

[Darlo74]

My kids are now 11 and 13 and can fit in the back of my E93 no problem. It is a little tight, but I think there's slightly more room in an E92. The seat does need to come forward and is electric to enable them to get in/out easily but it isn't much of a burden, takes about 5 seconds to move.

I wouldn't use it for longer journeys as I suspect it could get uncomfortable, but having said that I took 4 adults to Le Mans a few years back with luggage and it wasn't a problem!

[Luckyone]

Darlo74 said:

My kids are now 11 and 13 and can fit in the back of my E93 no problem. It is a little tight, but I think there's slightly more room in an E92. The seat does need to come forward and is electric to enable them to get in/out easily but it isn't much of a burden, takes about 5 seconds to move.

I wouldn't use it for longer journeys as I suspect it could get uncomfortable, but having said that I took 4 adults to Le Mans a few years back with luggage and it wasn't a problem!

Thanks, the seats sound the same as I think I remember the F13s being then, latching forward by hand very quickly but having to wait for the base to move to give proper access.

I guess if one of them is usually in the front then the passenger seat would be most of the way forward already so you could then just latch the seat forward very quickly without moving the base? 5 seconds is a long time when you’re in a hurry or it’s raining!

A friend had an E93, it was very nice but I was surprised how much boot space you lost for the roof, even with it up. I guess the rear seats could be even further forward too.

[Andy70]

my 6 and 10 year old are in the back of mine all the time, no problems. seat belts are a bit of a faff for a 6 year old to negotiate, but he manages

[Luckyone]

Andy70 said:

my 6 and 10 year old are in the back of mine all the time, no problems. seat belts are a bit of a faff for a 6 year old to negotiate, but he manages

Thanks, life is a lot easier once they can belt them selfs in!

[Pistonheader101]

Luckyone said:

How easy it would it be to get my 8 & 10 year olds on the back of an E92? We had an F13 a couple of years ago but it was a right pain getting them in the back as the electric seats took ages to move forward. They were smaller then so very much still needing car booster seats, they are just about both now tall enough not to need them anymore, I’m not sure if that makes much difference.

We have a Cerbera that they can just jump into the back without moving any seats as the doors are so long, but I don’t really want to use it over the winter too much. I have a 200sx as well but it's a bit too modded for carrying them easily.

Our E39 is the car used for carting them about mostly but they would need to get in the E92.

I’m thinking of getting a 330 probably D as there are more of them, obviously would rather a 335d but it seems to limit choices in the run around price bracket. Is this the best place to search for the more usually asked questions, or are there other 3 series forums?

E90post

[Driver101]

The electric seats are still slow, but there's a good amount of space in the back seats of an E92.

[LanceRS]

I’ve put my kids in the back of my e36 and now e46 coupes for the last 12 years or so. Ages from new born to late teens. The only problem has been their mother complaining that I make the take their shoes off. E92 should be fine.

[Andy70]

Luckyone said:

Andy70 said:

my 6 and 10 year old are in the back of mine all the time, no problems. seat belts are a bit of a faff for a 6 year old to negotiate, but he manages

Thanks, life is a lot easier once they can belt them selfs in!

Yes that bit is a pain when they cant do it and I did find it slightly harder to help leaning over in the back of a 2 door rather than 4, but once they can do it them selves there is no difference really, less doors to open :-) My kids seem to step in fine with no need to move seat forward, just tilting it mechanically is fine, when its peeing down they can squeeze in without even moving the seat at all :-)

[Driver101]

Although the 6 Series is a bigger car in sure her E92 actually has more rear space?

[Birdster]

I'm six foot and can sit in the back of one, although depending on your posture you can bash your head on the rear pillar if you sit upright, but relaxed it's a comfy place to be actually. Not like an E39, but very good for a coupe I think. Seats are slow and it's awkward to get out of sometimes.

[naturalaspiration]

Driver101 said:

Although the 6 Series is a bigger car in sure her E92 actually has more rear space?

Being 6'3, the person sitting behind me in my 6 series convertible E64 has to be legless. 6 series rear seats are mostly decorative. I believe E92 is better.

[Andy70]

if you're talking of adult space in the back of a BMW you must remember that BM's are rear wheel drive and as top gear is always saying that a longer bonnet to fit the engine in long ways robs space from the cabin and boot, something I've always agreed with is that they are drivers cars and generally a compromise space wise than front wheel drive equivalents. I remember the 130i series review on top gear, comparing it to a golf gti, the 1 was a better drivers car but the golf being front wheel drive always was going to be more practical. Id still have the 1 series though. But the question was about kids in the back as far as I'm concerned they go in the back of what daddy tells em to and for now its my 335i with loads of juicy upgrades and more coming Friday :-), I cant wait!!!!!

[Luckyone]

Thanks for all the replies, stupid email filters meant I didn’t catch them right away.

The space in the back of the F13 was probably on a par with the Cerbera, but with the long doors & rear seatbelts that go the other way (as with the E34 if I remember correctly) so don’t have to lean over the kids to clip them in, the Cerbera was much better, both were crap for adults though!

The E92 sounds promising though, thanks

[Andy70]

I was considering looking into stiff seat belt clips as it is sometimes a pain for the youngest to click it in as it keeps moving or pushing down, difficult to explain here and as I said leaning over isn't the easiest but its a small price to pay for the car I want and bare in mind the kids do grow up and find things like that easier. the biggest draw back as far as I'm concerned is cars like this are only 4 seaters, no idea why they take the middle seat out just cos the back doors are missing, oh well, if I ever need to take 3 in the back, I'd use the missuses car :-).

[Luckyone]

Andy70 said:

My kids seem to step in fine with no need to move seat forward, just tilting it mechanically is fine, when its peeing down they can squeeze in without even moving the seat at all :-)

That was the crucial bit of info thanks!
My daughter (the youngest) may struggle with clipping in the belt in. Its generally harder when trying to get round her child seat, but she won’t need that very much longer.
Your 335i sounds nice, not jealous at all

[Andy70]

Luckyone said:

Andy70 said:

My kids seem to step in fine with no need to move seat forward, just tilting it mechanically is fine, when its peeing down they can squeeze in without even moving the seat at all :-)

That was the crucial bit of info thanks!
My daughter (the youngest) may struggle with clipping in the belt in. Its generally harder when trying to get round her child seat, but she won’t need that very much longer.
Your 335i sounds nice, not jealous at all

How old is your youngest? at the end of the day they will learn to strap themselves in and eventually no booster seat as my eldest now doesn't need one (just). my youngest is 6 and can generally sort him self out so if its a car you really want, everyone will learn or adapt, the seats are tight for a booster so negotiating the seat belt clip (or what ever its called, holder maybe?) is a bummer, but don't let that stop you as its just a minor glitch
335 is ok ta, I got it cheap and gradually doing it up and improving it running decent horsepower at the moment and soon to be more so cant wait

[Luckyone]

Andy70 said:

How old is your youngest? at the end of the day they will learn to strap themselves in and eventually no booster seat as my eldest now doesn't need one (just). my youngest is 6 and can generally sort him self out so if its a car you really want, everyone will learn or adapt, the seats are tight for a booster so negotiating the seat belt clip (or what ever its called, holder maybe?) is a bummer, but don't let that stop you as its just a minor glitch
335 is ok ta, I got it cheap and gradually doing it up and improving it running decent horsepower at the moment and soon to be more so cant wait

My daughter is a very tall 7 year old, I need to check again, last time I we measured her she was very close to the 135cm to not need a seat. I only recently found out about that hight law, for some reason I had it in the back if my head the had to be 14, I hadn’t actually checked the rules since she moved to a forward facing seat! They haven’t been using child seats in back of the Cerbera for a while as their heads just hit the roof!

She is usually fine getting the belt done up but occasionally has a meltdown if it won’t go in first time...

[Luckyone]

Thanks again for all the advice, I actually ended up with a non running 335i E93, it was in the classifieds on here.







Bit of a leap of faith as you couldn’t turn it on due to a wiring fault leading to lots of smoke last time it was working. The seller seemed like a nice honest chap, he had a thread going on here about trying to get it fixed but he couldn’t find anyone to take it on so sold it, at I assume a great loss.

I stripped back the melted wires from what was left of the plug to the water pump & with a new battery it fired up fine. I was hoping I could get away with just a new plug & connectors, but it’s looking like it will need a new pump too as the some of connections on it seem to be missing, I guess bad connections in the first place lead to the plug over heating & melting.

I haven’t actually tried getting the kids in the back yet but it certainly looks like there’s more space than there was in the F13, I was pleased to see there were air vents in the back for them. My daughter was very pleased it was a convertible & impressed it has twin cup holders in the back, my son was more impressed it has twin turbos!

[Prinny]

Luckyone said:

Thanks again for all the advice, I actually ended up with a non running 335i E93, it was in the classifieds on here.

My snip of the pics & text - hopefully you’ve got a bargain there, & the colour looks nice too!

One thing to mention - & not wishing to rain on your parade - check the wheels for cracks! Even though the twist 230’s you’ve got are (a little) stronger than the 225M ones, they’re both notorious for cracking on the inner rim. If it’s running run-flats, then it’s a when, not if situation.

I averaged a rear wheel once per 10k miles in my e92 335 (on 225M), and that was on go-flats. The e93 is about 150kgs heavier than the coupé, so it’s even more likely. They may not look as good, but a non-staggered 17” set with 225/45/17 all-round is the best ride/handling compromise for me - that’s what I bought & exported to Cyprus for use there on a 330d - and some Cypriot roads are nasty! No issues in 15k.

An e9x on 19” looks fantastic, but your wallet & family will thank you if you go to 17”s. All that’s your choice of course, hopefully a new water pump and you’re away! Then all you need is some good weather