Why not just scoot your seat up until the kid is out of the car seat? Problem solved.

 

Then my nuts would be rubbing the steering wheel every time I make a left or right. LOL-

But seriously, I think once they are out of the car seats, the car will "seem" bigger. Problem is, Texas recently passed new laws concerning child restraint, now they have to stay in car seats/boosters until they are 8 years old. It might be 8 years old and 80 lbs.. I forget, but I know for sure the age went from 4 to 8 in 2009- we had a grace period that expired in June 2010 where you'd get a warning, rather than a ticket, if you were caught with a child under 8 out of a car seat/booster.

As for importing a 5 from China to the US. If I had the money to do that, I wouldn't need the 5 Li. I could keep the 5 we have, and buy a Range Rover Sport, or a GL450 to shuttle the kids to and from school. Then again, I might just do it, just to do it, if I had it like that.

Its funny, a lot of soldiers had nice BMW's, Audi's, and Benz's when I was in Germany- had them rimmed up, kitted, and all that. But, they were German spec cars. It was cost-prohibitive to have the car brought up to US specs, so they would end up selling them dirt cheap to the soldiers left behind (which is how they got them, themselves). It's funny, looks that are just now catching on in the US on high-end cars, they were doing that 20 years ago in Europe.

 

May I ask what kind of child seat are you using now?
At age of 4, you should be using the booster type of child seat, where the back of the child seat can be detached when they are big enough. The back of the child seat is say 2-3 inch thick and that should bring some room for your kid IMO. I'm 5'11 and seems there is still some space left for an adult of 5'11 at the back ...

When I was at the BMW driver's training course, the driving position would be something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=HK&v=eyL-SjuJ8p4

 

We have the big Eddie Bauer (one in each vehicle) seat that is designed to "grow" with the child from infant up to 100 lbs. I still put my son in it, when we're getting on the highway, but most days I have him in his Graco booster. However, I can't ditch the car seat because I usually have my little cousin with me too (3 years old) and he has to be in a car seat too.

 

The back seat does not have tons of legroom. The legroom champ of this class is the Infiniti M -- by a county mile.

 

If you get the 7 series, make sure it's the Li!! My In-Laws have one and there is an amazing amount of legroom in there!

 

Oh yeah, if I manage to get a 7, it'll be the Li for sure. I'm not as big of a fan of the regular 7- the longer one looks better to me. Sleek and menacing- like a shark.

 

I actually have two car seats and a booster in mine. It is tight, but they all fit and want to ride in my car instead of the mini-van. My kids are 4, 3, and 3. Not sure they would have fit in my old camry, but fit in my e60

 

I'm just under 6' and drive with the seat in a relatively high and upright position so the leg room in my 5 is perfect and certainly beats my old 325iT (back seat is one inch longer in a wagon) which got nothing but complaints. With the seat high, the foot area opens up and changes the way people sit in the back. Both my 'kids' are young adults now.
Shorten your legs a bit and you'll be fine.

 

My cousin's old (2008) Kia Optima, believe it or not, had a wider back seat, and the truck was as big, or bigger. She could put two car seats and one adult back there. I couldn't even do that in my Ford Edge SUV. If I put the same seats side by side in the Edge, one would have the gangsta-lean. Therefore, I had to put one on each side, and whoever the 3rd adult riding with me was, had to snug it up between the two car seats.

I know it can be done- I parked next a a 3-series at work, and they had two car seats in the back of that. Another lady had two car seats in the back of a Porsche 911. Good thing (for her) that Porsche started putting back seats in them.