How practical are the rear seats?

Hi, take a search for rear seats in this forum and you will find numerous threads on this subject.

 

Halfway down the first page...


http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366526

 

Hi, I've had a 997S and currently a Cali and aside from small children and leprechauns, the rear seats are functional as extra storage space and not for adults.

 

Recently drove a california. no interest. rear seats fit infants maybe, but thats all. Get a 612!!!

 

The seats are not usable except for storage or infants (like a 911).

Why did SF put in seats like this? Makes no sense to me. Either put in usable seats or leave them out...leave em out would be my preference.

 

Here are photos of kids in the back of my Cali. These are 9-year olds of average size. They fit fine. You have to move the seat forward a bit, which puts you slightly cramped (I'm 6'0) but it's entirely tolerable. The operation of the seat (tilt all the way forward and wait for it to electronically creep toward the steering wheel) is a little slow. Otherwise it's not really that bad.
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One of the BEST things about my 360 F1 Spider is kids can't ride in the back seat.

No matter how cute they are.

 

Very good point. If you can't fit kids, the wife cannot ask you to take them to school, pick them up from baseball, drop them off at swimming, carpool to birthday parties.... However, I'm not sure how long my marriage would last if my answer to all such requests was, "Sorry, honey, I'm in the Ferrari again. You'll have to just do it yourself."

 

Great shot! A pic really is worth 1000 words. Great to see an actual photo of full size kids happily sitting back there after reading all the claims about how totally useless the back seats are.

Looks pretty similar to a 911 to me which is actually quite useful for folks who have young kids.

 

The real issue with the back seats is the space for the head when the roof is up. I would say maximum 5ft tall person back there....which I think is more than enough for young kids.

As I said many times before on this issue it will also depend very much how you like to sit when you drive. Some people like to have the seat as far back as possible to have the arms completely extended....and others like me don't.

The best way to know is to test drive the car and see how much room you can leave behind when you sit comfortably at the front.

 

Anything more than that isnt really going to work. I think that is prob the same as 911. Im a former 997 TT Cab owner and dont see much diff. Good luck.

 

Great point. As long as you can tolerate moving your drivers' seat forward about 5 inches, there is adequate space in the back for children ages 3-12 (I doubt that an infant carrier would fit back there, so it's booster-age kids only). And this is not really a problem because the steering wheel electrically telescopes pretty far in/out. So I just set one of the 3 seat memory buttons for "kids in backseat", and hit the button and the seat and steering wheel move forward to make room for the kids.

As for head clearance, the owners manual makes it clear that no one over 4'11" can sit back there.... The backseat almost seems to be a pre-built child booster seat...when sitting my 5-year old (who is still in a booster) in the backseat, the seatbelt lands correctly on her clavicle and chest. Adults could not ride (comfortably) in a booster seat. Thus, they also could not ride (comfortably or presumably safely) in the Cali backseat.

For those of us with elementary-aged kids, it is PERFECT. When the kids are a little older & taller...we move up to an FF!