What happens when an obsessed car enthusiast who was convinced he’d die alone meets the girl of his dreams, gets married, and has a child? Well, he finds himself both overjoyed and in a bit of a predicament, with far too many cars that…kind of don’t work for his lifestyle anymore. Why am I speaking in the third person? I have no idea, but I got zero sleep last night, so please bear with me as I talk about my current automotive dilemma now that most of my cars no longer work as daily transportation.
Over the past few weeks since welcoming my child, Delmar (not his real name), I have been driving around almost exclusively in my wife’s Lexus RX350.
Look, I’ve reviewed her 2017 RX350, and it is truly one of the best crossover SUVs money can buy — it rides great, it’s powerful, it’s spacious, it’s reliable, and on and on. But while it’s an impressive machine for how well it performs its intended function, it doesn’t exactly stir my soul. OK, I’ll say it: It’s a bit boring, and I’m starting to go crazy.
Obviously, complaining about driving a luxury SUV is very much a first-world-problem, but you know what I mean here. I’m a car-nut who is used to daily drive a 1965 Plymouth Valiant, a 1976 Postal Jeep, a 1992 Jeep XJ, a 1948 Willys CJ-2A, more recently a BMW i3S, and on and on. To go to a literally-beige Lexus crossover is a bit soul-crushing.
Anyway, I think it might make sense to go through my current collection of cars and evaluate their utility now that everything has changed for me and “my life is over” (as the young folks say).
1985 Jeep J10, 1989 Chevy K1500 Silverado
Let’s hop right into my biggest dilemma at the moment. I own two pickup trucks, and I cannot justify that, so I need to whittle it down to one.
On one hand, I have my 1985 Jeep J10, which has always been my dream truck. On the other hand, I bought a 1989 Chevy K1500 on a bit of a whim back in January because it was such a good deal, and you know what? It’s actually a great pickup. I think I’m comfortable saying that it’s much better than the J10, objectively speaking.
But that J10 purchase was never really a rational buy. I picked it up a decade ago because I think it looks badass, and also: It’s a bit of a relic of a bygone era. It’s got a carburetor, manual locking hubs, a true bench seat, a four-speed on the floor, a stamped tailgate, and a regular cab layout with an eight-foot bed. It is a truck’s truck.
The K1500 doesn’t have a carb, manual locking hubs, a stamped tailgate, or a regular cab, and its bed is only 6.5 feet long. But man is it a great daily driver; it rides like a cloud, its throttle body-injected 350 V8 fires up and generally runs quite smoothly, offering good power. And, crucially, it has two rows of seats.
That’s my concern with my J10: With only a single row of seats, does it really make sense to keep? I mean, I get that I don’t need space for my whole family in my daily commuter, since I’ll be driving to work alone, but the J10 isn’t my commuter — it’s my classic weekend cruiser and Home Depot runner. And for that, is it realistic that I’ll be just driving around all by myself without my wife and kid?
Should I keep the Chevy so I can take them with me, even though the J10 is clearly the cooler truck? I don’t have the answer.
[Editor’s Note: I guess we’re not talking about this? I’d have thought that could make this choice easier, but what do I know? – JT]
BMW i3S
The two daily drivers in our household are the Lexus and the BMW i3S, and that may make you wonder: “Why not just drive your beloved i3S instead of the Lexus?” It’s a fair question, especially given that the i3S is actually quite a safe car, having scored excellent marks in IIHS crash testing.
The issue is that the i3S is really not the most ideal family car. The big thing is that the infant car seat only just fits, and what’s more, getting the child in and out of that seat — especially when parked next to another car — is a huge pain in the ass. You end up getting stuck in this weird space between the rear door and the front door that needs to be open to release the rear door.
The overall interior volume isn’t bad — the entire continent of Europe has raised families in much smaller cars — but relative to the Lexus, the i3 is a pain in the Arsch for loading/unloading a baby.
I still plan to keep my i3, because I’m hoping once that seat becomes front-facing, it’ll be easier to install/remove young Delmar; plus, the i3 is the ideal one-person LA commuter. But there is part of me that wonders whether I should make sure all my cars can easily fit the whole family, or if it’s OK to have one or two that don’t.
Growing up, my dad had a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee as his commuter, and it only seats five, while there were eight in our family. We had a Chevy Astro as well, so I think having one car that easily fits everyone and one that doesn’t is OK. And again, once that seat can flip around, maybe it’s fine.
[Editor’s Note: Personally, I think an i3 is a completely fine baby car. Well, the getting-trapped-in-the-doors thing sounds annoying, but I took my kid all over the place in my ’73 Beetle, and it had half as many doors! An i3 is many orders of magnitude better than that, especially safety-wise. But the Beetle wins for helping to keep your baby smelling like gasoline, oil, and horsehair. – JT]
Jeep YJ, Ford Mustang
So we’ve talked about the trucks and the daily-driver, but what about my classic cars that are a bit less utilitarian — my Sunday cruisers? To me, the fact that these can fit a child (once he’s older) means they’re in the clear. No, I can’t drive these far on the freeway like I used to, because they’re not safe, but if baby-Delmar wants to cruise around town in the YJ old Mustang, I bet he’d love it! (My old CJ-3B will hopefully have found a new home by then).
I don’t really see any issue with keeping ’round-town classics that can fit a family. It’s just the J10 that has me worried, because there’s no second row. [Editor’s Note: It’s a bench seat in the J10! We’ve had three people in there before! I was even in the middle! Elise (NHRN) and Delmar (NHRN) could all cram in there! Just you know, it’s maybe not the safest.– JT]
Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 5-Speed, Diesel Manual Chrysler Voyager
There are two vehicle that I’m a little worried about, because they’re not really ’round-town-cruisers; their best trait is that they’re great road-trippers. Do I think it would be loads of fun to drive 35 mph in a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee five-speed or a diesel manual Chrysler Voyager? Not really.
At least with the Mustang you get a nice sounding V8 and a totally different driving experience than you’re used to, and with the YJ you get open-top fun. But the ZJ and minivan? They’re great on the open road, or in the case of the ZJ, overlanding off-road.
I’d love to keep them both, because they’re amazing machines, but if I can’t regularly drive them with my family on the freeway, I’m not sure how useful they’ll be.
Then again, how much of car collecting is really about usefulness. I mean, none of this is rational; should I even be trying to rationalize it? Yes, yes I should. I’m a family man now and I have responsibilities. Frivolities need to be curbed! Right?
[Editor’s Note: I disagree with that above sentiment entirely. Some people love to tell new parents that kind of thing (I think they just get a perverse pleasure at seeing new parents’ faces go ashen when they get told they’ll never have fun again) , and I suspect David has heard it plenty. But it’s bullshit. You don’t need to curb frivolity, automotive or otherwise. You just need to involve the kid in it, because they’ll love it. There’s no right way to be a parent, and every kid is different, but I’d counsel, as a fellow dad, to keep the cars he likes, because a happy parent is a good parent. – JT]
Dude, when Torch is the voice of reason…but seriously I agree with all of his interjections. I am not a parent but I’m still over here trying to figure out how the hell a ZJ can’t be considered a family car.If that ZJ can’t do freeway speeds there’s something wrong with the ZJ (other than the cats and possums).
Agree, ZJ’s were one of the ultimate family cars when they were new. I had one, it had plenty of room and was quite comfy for 4 full grown people.
It’s a fine family car, but it’s not really safe, relatively speaking.
You literally have to do nothing, the RX covers you for family transport. BUT you have the rare opportunity to justify adding to your fleet! I would suggest the nicest Previa you can find. Tell Elise it can take the whole fam plus the inlaws. And also you need a 2 seat convertible like a Miata for those post partum days where you just need me time.
Urgh.
When I had to buy a car that would baby I bought an S13 Nissan 200SX. It was fine. Not perfect, but fine. Was loading a baby in to the back of a coupe fun? Nope. But it wasn’t bad enough to make it worth driving something dull.
Just make it work with the cars you have, it’ll be fine.
Or spend thousands of dollars to buy something you don’t love to suit a person who won’t ever remember.
You should sell the i3. To me.
Seriously though, trying to get a kid out of a backward facing seat in a car like that gets old FAST. It gets even worse when they grow out of the car seat/stroller combo that snaps in and you have to maneuver them in and then buckle the harness. I speak from experience as a Honda Element owner. Since the recommendation for safety is to keep the seat facing backwards, my wife insisted that we wait until he hit the upper limit of 40 pounds for his seat. For some kids that can happen relatively quickly. For us…not so much. We make small kids.
I don’t put the little one in the Element much anymore because of the hassle. If you think you’ll have to resort to the i3 for more than infrequent kid transport, I would strongly suggest you consider something else.
I hope Elise supports you. While kids take a lot of time – especially in the first year – the level of family support you have will determine whether you need to cut back vs completely eliminating your hobbies.
I just got done being yelled at for the lawn being a bit of a mess. It’s a bit of a mess because I prioritized supporting my wife and taking care of our young baby over aesthetics. It’s remained a bit of a mess because I regularly get yelled at whenever I let a chore slip, so all my free time has gone towards cleaning bottles, doing dishes, washing laundry, and a million other household chores.
We can’t tell you which cars to let go of or how much time you’ll have available to maintain them. It’s something you’ll have to negotiate with your wife and learn as you go. For what it’s worth, this does get a little easier as the kid gets older.
You know what’s great is that you only need at max 1 “baby car” (RX) and 2 cars both you and your wife are comfortable driving (RX, i3). Everything else is gravy.
That said, you really do gotta pare down, every one of those old cars needs regular attention and that time adds up.
Seriously, look into leasing a 4XE wrangler. It’s a PHEV, there should be great deals on them, it can tow, it fits a child seat great, if’s one that you can have a ton of fun with, it’s safe, it’s easy for anyone to hop in and operate, and you helped design the thing!
That fact that I’ve had two of them and miss them both so bad it hurts has nothing to do with this recommendation I swear.
Couple things. Delmar is going to absolutely destroy the backseat of a vehicle. This is a damn fact of fatherhood. Spit up, projectile vomiting, diaper blow outs, bottle spills, juice spills, teething crackers, goldfish, granola bars, toy slime, dirty feet on seats, dirty feet on seat backs…. The list is cruel and endless and the damage is unavoidable. I say this so you and Mrs. Tracy can come to grips with what lies ahead. It’s disgusting.
That means ONE car should be the designated baby hauler. Period. And, as you’ve already pointed out, your wife doesn’t sweat the dings, dents, and everyday damage a daily driver accumulates. So the Lexus is THE BABY HAULER. Delmar needs to go somewhere and David’s driving because mom’s at work. Switch cars.
So, this means you’re going to be switching cars. If you need to switch from time to time, what is Mrs. Tracy comfortable driving? That car becomes CRITICAL CAR #2. My guess is that’s the i3 and seems like a good choice as you love to drive it, but it’s newer and reliable for her.
Now we get to the fun vehicle(s) this is where you need to get selective and but really the the limit is up to personal choice. People have had children in all of those cars for decades and the vast majority of those children survived with no visible scars.So the kid will be able to travel in any of the options you currently have for joy rides. None are really off the table.
I can’t tell which one of these to keep but I’d think about it this way. Which ones are going to keep you up at night because you parted with them? And which ones can you personally maintain so they remain a joy to own and not a rusting heap slowly decaying in the yard/driveway/garage/car lot?
Be honest with yourself and answer those questions and you’ll know which ones to hold onto.
Seat protectors are like $10. We have one on each car seat location. They get destroyed, seats remain fine.
Yep – Get an interior seat cover for pets –
Even better, get two – One in the wash and one in the car.
Sell everything and buy a nice pre-owned 4-seat convertible.
From Audi to Volvo, there are plenty to choose from in LA – and they’re more practical than you think. (Lower roof, Clip in baby, Drive)
And babies love them.
You’ll thank me later.
Heck yeah! Toyota Solara even!
Time for David to scratch the itch of an E93 M3.
So you’re saying maybe don’t completely destroy the Cross Cabriolet?
Well, there’s that too.
When my daughter was born I had a BMW MCoupe and my wife had a Scion xD. Both were fine with a kid. The RX and i3 are far better suited.
Sounds like it’s time for a JLU Wrangler! I was going to suggest a JKU or (gasp!) even a Bronco, but you did not work on either of those vehicles. You put actual engineering resources in to a vehicle and you should own one! Plus, it is a fun weekender, great road tripper (aside from mpgs), and daily driver. But I don’t need to tell you that.
The i3 will be fine, you just have to practice a few times, and for an infant the removable seat/carrier with a strapped in base is ideal. They also make seats that pivot on a base for larger kids. There are plenty of solutions.
I just finished setting up 3 across kids seats (2 forward, 1 back) in the back of my 2015 Nissan Leaf and it took a couple times putting the infant in the middle seat, but they fit perfectly. Change the seat, not the car.
My birth was the reason my parent’s ’65 mustang was sold. My bassinet didn’t fit in the back seat. My dad never passed up a chance to remind me of this fact.
When our kids were born & raised we drove multiple FIATs, Renaults, Abarths and Alfa Romeos. And they and my wife suffered for it. If I could go back, I’d kick myself around the block and insist I purchase something, anything reliable, roomy and with 4 wheel drive and with first class local service! Today it probably would be a minivan or SUV. Just do it David!
So many regrets.
The rear-hinge doors on the i3 are actually great for front-facing child seats – I love the similar design ones on my RX-8 for that. The real key with them for rear-facing seats though are the infant seat designs that have removable bases that stay in the car. This way you’re just loading the whole seat in the back, with the child already strapped in, instead of contorting around the infant seat back to get them buckled.
Also, I see that your child is taking your wife’s last name (“Nhrn”)?
You are really thinking too much about this (not a surprise). You do not need to go and make your entire fleet a new Highlander just because you now have a nugget. Also, they are not going to die if you transport them in anything smaller than a new Suburban. They’re fine. The seat will keep them fine.
The i3 is not ideal, but it is perfectly usable as a family car. It’s even “safe” and reliable.
You are not going to be going everywhere but work all the time with your whole family in tow. Not everything has to fit everybody.
When I was born, my mom drove a ’73 Mustang Sportsroof. She got me places in it perfectly well until my sister was born. Only then did she decide to get a bigger car (she got a wagon because it was the best option locally available). You have one kid, they’re the size of a burrito, you do not need to replace any of your vehicles. You already have a SUV thing.
I think you can sell your Jeep. Its your dream truck, yes. But you are not an automotive monogamist – you even talk about your “dream” i3, a specific spec of a specfic car that wasn’t even on your automotive radar five years ago. You will have other dreams, and you will also realize some of them. You enjoyed your J10 dream for ten years, and you’ll always have that. Let it go and be happy with it. Keep the Chevy, obviously.
Re: “safe” I’m not sure why you are fixating on driving far on the freeway. You are safer on the freeway than on city streets. You can still drive your Jeep, etc. far on the freeway if you want to.
Maybe Elise will veto some of this. But having a kid is not going to ruin your car hobby. Hell, one of my best friends finally had a kid two years ago (he’s pushing 50) and he’s still got all of his cars and other vehicles, only one of which ever transports the kid. A lot will change about your life and you’ll like it but not everything has to if you don’t want it to.
Haha, when I was a baby my mom drove a Mustang II and my dad a regular cab pickup. They didn’t get a “mom car” (like yours, a wagon) until my brother was born 4 years later.
It’s a privilege to be able to afford such numerous vehicles, no matter the state of repair they require. I can’t contribute anything new that hasn’t already been said in the comments however, there’s a reason the RAV4 and CRV (or 4 door Jeeps) sell in the numbers they do. A lot of the vehicles you have aren’t safe, efficient or reliable, but you knew that the entire time your wife was pregnant so you had to have known that keeping all of them likely isn’t a long term plan.
I get that vehicles are emotional purchases but they also have to serve a need greater than ‘Sunday cruiser’ (again, if you have the money to have this privilege, great) and currently that need is no longer what you want but what suits the baby and your family; again, you already know this.
Firing up my CRV in the morning and knowing it’s safe, reliable, and practical gives me far more joy than my N54 BMW ever did. I don’t have the privilege of having numerous cars so the CRV is amazing for my situation. Enjoy the process of minimizing your vehicles, I’m sure you’ll get fair money from someone else who will enjoy them, after all at the end of the day, these are extra cars you have.
You know this whole thing that you need an SUV to properly baby is so overblown. When my daughter was born our dailies were a Pontiac G6 (her) and a Jaguar XJ8 (me). Once the car seat is in there you never have to touch it again until you turn them around. So we had one for each car. I also drove her around in my S10, which was no problem because it had no passenger airbag.
Every toy vehicle that I had from before my daughter was born, I still have, and she’s 11. I never had any illusions I was going to try to cart my daughter around in either of the two Firebirds until she was big enough to not need the car seat. I did get her a ride in the Yugo a few years back, and if I can get a car seat into a Yugo you can get it into an i3. Luckily my wife is good natured to my hobby as well, so that definitely helps. People who tell you your fun is over because you’re a parent now, or whatever, are either doomsdayers or generally unhappy people.
Even though my daughter is now 11, that’s recent enough in my time on this earth for me to remember it pretty well. And many of those infant days were very tough and sleep deprived, or dragged on forever, or brought you tremendous amounts of doubt that you can do this or even whether you should have become a parent in the first place. This is all perfectly normal (and it hit me pretty hard at first since I became a parent at 43 and was pretty used to my life as-is). But when you look back on this period a few years from now, you’re going to realize how short of a time it actually was. Baby seats will be a distant memory that you’ll realize never justified the concern they bring.
And as parts of your life that you remember from Before start becoming familiar again, you might just realize you miss that one particular vehicular toy. Maybe you don’t need everything you have at the moment (I don’t even think you have room for all of them at home), but I certainly wouldn’t knee-jerk sell everything off. Because eventually Delmar is going to want to know what makes Daddy tick, and you’re going to have a blast sharing your passion with him.
Will it baby, of course it will.
I have a photograph of my mother driving a Frazer Nash Le Mans replica with a nine month old child on her lap. She has recently become a medical research cadaver, the tiny fragile child is now me and the car (might not be the same one, shush) will outlive us both. See also, Volkswagen beetle with two smalls in the way back, four or five older childer on the back seat and two in the front and one frazzled driver. Or six elephant (infant) school children in an Isetta. I could continue, the day an entire play group went tadpole hunting in a Citroen CX Loadrunner ( have you any idea how many under fives can fit in one of those? Neither did I, the policepeople were nice about it though {probably because they could not deal with all the tadpoles and sticklebacks in jam jars}).
Funny I predicted this article this morning when I woke up lol
The i3 will be fine, and as someone pointed out the act of moving the seat may keep you always using the Lexus.
You have 2 cars and countless projects. One car – the Lexus – is the primary family car, with easy back seat access for the car seat. The other car – the i3 – is a secondary car that can handle the car seat, but not as well. This is perfectly FINE.
When my kids were small, my wife had a Grand Cherokee and I had a GTI. 90% of the time we were traveling with kids, it was in the Grand Cherokee. But the GTI could handle family duties when called upon without an issue.
I think Jason nailed it at the end. Keep what you like and incorporate your offspring as is appropriate. Otherwise you lose your sense of self and just become a parent. And then oopsie, old. Like 80% of the people I know that made babies.
None for me, thanks.
Reading this, it sounds like you already know what you plan to do… keep the Silverado, get rid of the J10, keep the Mustang, get rid of the ZJ and the Voyager (which I also thought was still in Yurp, did I miss something?) keep the YJ and the i3 while the Lexus does most of the baby duties. That way you have all the bases covered:
Classic car (Mustang)
Jeep/convertible/off road machine(Wrangler)
Truck for truck things (Silverado)
‘Lectric/commuter car (i3)
It’ll Baby (RX).
You’ll still have a nice mix of California-appropriate fun cars that you can keep for when Li’l Delmar starts vroom-vrooming his Hot Wheels around the kitchen floor, while clearing out the collection, making some cash and breaking with the elements of your past you aren’t as comfortable with these days. It’s a win-win.
I think the biggest thing with the i3, is that you have to get the front seats slid far enough forwards that the rear-facing seats don’t touch the seat backs. Plus some margin. At least you’ve only got one kid for now and it only affects your wife :).
I would look up the specs (or customer support if you can’t find that spec) on how much room to leave btwn infant seat and seatback.
Btw when you get to the convertible seat stage, do yourself a huge favor and get one that can rotate. The issue with the i3’s rear doors is moreso that they’re only half-width, so the opening doesn’t go all the way back. So getting the kid in and out of that seat is that much harder.
No complaining about the i3 David. I have friends that get their 2 kids in the back of their Fiat 500E no problem. 🙂
Respect.