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For those with toddlers (xj related, I promise)

beedee

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Long Beach, CA
This probably could have been posted in another forum, but I thought I'd ask my SoCal brethren.

Im still looking to pick up an XJ and came across a 2 Door that caught my eye. I was wondering if anyone here has experience with a 2 Door and kids. Is too much of a PITA getting the kiddos in and out of their car seats with a 2 Door?

By the way, it was nice meeting a couple of you guys at the Jeep Meet in Long Beach last Friday night. I was the dude in the Angels hat with the 3 year old daughter, and wife carrying the baby.
 
I had a 2 door and a 4 door and never even tried to put the kids in the 2 door, the 4 door was just so much more convenient. Now that mine are 6 and 3 they could easily get in and get the belts on themselves, I just have to reach back and pull them tight, but installing a car seat in a 2 door seems like a real pain. My wife made me get rid of the 2 door and I sometimes miss it, but I have 4 door and it works great with the kids. Another thing to consider is if they fall asleep while driving it would be really hard to get them out without waking them. If you already have a good daily driver and the Jeep would only be used for weekends and such, it might not be too much of an inconvenience but you would probably want to buy another set of car seats so you don't install them too many times. If your wife is NOT like mine you might be able to get a 2 door and a 4 door, keep one mild and make the other one wild. (I am allowed to have only 1 non-running Jeep at a time and only 1 of each type.)
 
Thanks Peter, great info and pretty much what I thought the experience would be like. You brought up great points. It wouldn't be my daily, but I think I'll just wait it out and go with a 4 door.

I have a Pro-4x Xterra right now as my daily, we moved our 3 year olds seat into the middle and it is a pain to get her out when she falls asleep. Our 6 week olds seat is on the passenger rear side for ease of just popping that seat in and out of the base. We initially tried having the oldest behind the drivers seat, but for the occasional times when we would get in/out when parking on a busy street, it just felt kind of dangerous with cars whizzing by. Plus, with the current configuration my wife can still sit in the back behind the drivers seat.
 
With both car seats in the rear of the XJ there isn't really enough room for an adult to sit back there, but my 6 year old has a big car seat. He sits in the middle so he can look out the front and likes to either tell me which direction I will be turning next by watching the GPS, or reading every sign he sees. The 3 year old is on the passenger side and likes to have the window down, but we have to limit that because he has tried to see if his toys can fly in the past and then gets upset when we don't turn around on the freeway to go back and retrieve them. In the Suburban the 3 year old is behind the driver since the rear seat can split 60/40 but the 40 in behind the passenger. We leave that seat folded down a lot, especially when the dogs are in the back. Also, in the past, the passenger could turn and see him behind the driver, but now we just ask his brother what he is doing.
 
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