BMW with leather seats 2nd stage car seat won't fit!

[Jasmum]

I have a BMW Coupe with leather seats & need to get a new car seat for DD. I tried 2 today & neither would fit in the back as the seatbelts come from the middle instead of the sides.
The shop was very helpful but cannot suggest anything other then putting the seat in the front which is apparantly legal but not reccomended, I really don't fancy this option & we will be selling the car very soon but in the meantime does anyone else have this car & if so what carseat do you use?

Sorry not much help but can I just say I wish I had this car

Try calling BMW, they make special car seats fopr most of their cars I believe.

Jasmum, check to see if your local council has a Road Safety Unit. Ours did until about 6 months ago and it was GREAT. They had a man there who was an expert on fitting car seats and they had a whole range for you to try in your car, at least 40 odd different car seats.
or try BMW as suggested by SamboM - I think the seats sold by BMW are actually made by Britax if my memory serves me correctly, just covered in fabrics that match the BMW interiors.
\Good Luck.

Jasmum - have a read of your car manual. It should list some recommended seats in the safety section. Most will only be available from BMW I suspect though. However, also beware that some car seats will slip more easily on your leather seats. We recently got an Audi cabriolet with leather seats and DDs first stage seat would have been a nightmare on it.

Does your car have ISOFIX fittings? If yes, then this might be the best solution (although not the cheapest). The special ISOFIX seats normally come via the car manufacturer, although Britax do one which is universal and tested for well over 80 cars now - check their website to see if yours is. The Britax one (called a DUO) costs us £150 from an independent baby store - it is £180 in Mothercare.

I thought about phoning BMW but suspected they would just have their own seat at some astonomical price but because we are going to sell the car soon & get something more practical like a Ford I don't want to have the same problem then so there's little point in me phoning them.
Will try the council though, thats an excellent idea.
I like the Bebe confort Iseos which has come out top in the reccent Which? reports & fits into 99% of cars (excpet mine!) but will settle for another one if I can get one that will fit the BM & the new car.
We don't have the ISOFIX fittings....
Grrr anoying thing is I didn't want the car in the first place but DP being a bit of a petrol head wanted it & I did need a bigger car just not that one!

When we bought our second stage seat the assistant mentioned that BMWs were the worst for car seats,we had asked because were thinking about getting a new car reaonably soon after.Britax have a website which lists the different car seats adn models of cars they fit but I think she said teht only the most expensive one they stocked ( can't remember make ) would fit a BMW and they do have their own.This was actually Mothercare nad they were really helpful perhaps you could try your local branch

We have a BMW 5 series and have used four different car seats in it without problems. We've had a 0-9mths seat, a Britax Freeway, a Cruiser and a Ranger. How does the seat belt coming from the middle make a difference in your car? In ours, you just fit the seat when it's in the l-hand position as you'd fasten it on the r-hand side of other cars. With the Ranger, that involves moving one seat belt guide, which is a bit fiddly, but you only have to do it the once. You can look for a car seat to fit on Britax Fit Finder page . HTH!