Child Seat Advice

[lenats31]

ChiefWiggum said:

Hi guys -

Any tips on choosing between the different rear-facing seats for toddlers/small children? Our little-un is coming up to 2yo, small & light for her age. Wife and I are convinced RF is the way to go.

We currently have an 07my Legacy Tourer with ISOFIX. We'll probably change cars this year, another mid-size estate or perhaps SUV (XC60?), whatever we get will have ISOFIX again.

Mainstream candidates look like Britax Max Fix & Maxi-Cosi 2-way Pearl, £300-400, also the cheaper Hauck Varioguard & Casualplay BiCare Fix, £200 odd.

With the Hauck/Casualplay, is there a safety compromise or do we just save on the brand name and convenience features (e.g rotation)?

Cheers

Whichever one of those that you mention you feel most comfortable with, fits your child and your car. Choose between Britax, Maxi Cosi, Hauck, Besafe, Concord (Reverso), Klippan and Axkid.

You have to find out which one of them that grows best on you and ticks all the boxes above. Volvo XC are good cars for this. I have seen the XC90 - nearly the same car as XC60, and bigger seats than those that you have mentioned yourself here gave decent space - even with my 180 cm in front.

[alfa daley]

Hi Boobles

Can you recommend me a car seat please for a newborn. It for a Subaru Impreza STi Saloon 2003 which I think has Isofix. We also have a secondhand bugaboo so if the seat is compatible with clicking onto the top of that too that would great. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks


Simon

[Ksfowler]

Hi Boobles,
I've been trying to find an answer to my question but struggling a bit..I've just bought a 2010 bmw 3 series touring, will my current car seat Maxi Cosi Tobi fit this car?
The car list on the maxi cosi website does not show any results for this car test.
Your help would be much appreciated.Thanks in advance, Kim

[alfa daley]

I'm hoping this thread is still alive to see if anyone has a recommendation for a newborn in a 2003 Subaru Impreza STi with isofix. The more I read about car seats the more confused I get. My experience instore hasn't been great with nobody really seeming to know their stuff. I was originally thinking one of the 0-4yrs seats would be a good investment but I saw a few negative comments. Are Maxi-Cosi a good bet?

Thanks in advance


Simon

alfa daley said:

Hi Boobles

Can you recommend me a car seat please for a newborn. It for a Subaru Impreza STi Saloon 2003 which I think has Isofix. We also have a secondhand bugaboo so if the seat is compatible with clicking onto the top of that too that would great. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks


Simon

[AGee]

Hello, I'm after some advice for a seat for my little one. He's soon to outgrow hos first seat and we were looking at what to get next? It'll need transferring between a 2011 Yeti and a 2007 Ibiza. Was looking at 1.2.3 with isofix, but know very little about baby seats!

[Adrian E]

Hiya

Multi-stage seats are a massive compromise - one I wouldn't be prepared to take. Nothing wrong with Maxi-cosi or several other manufacturers for infant carriers (aka Group 0+ up to 13kg) and you can get adaptors for Bugaboo travel systems - we had a Cameleon with ours.

You should check the child seat manufacturer's web site to confirm your model is listed as taking the Isofix seats they make. Maxi-cosi in particular aren't great at updating theirs, so I trial fitted the Cabriofix we had to make sure I was content with the fit and that the angle of the seat was OK. Used it in a 2004 Audi A6 and 2002 S8, neither of which are officially approved.

Most in-store staff at the major retailers are useless/borderline incompetent. There will be 1 or 2 who know their stuff but they're not there every day and won't just do child seats. Halfords and Mothercare used to have good reps, but less so now. There are a number of indy specialists for child seats and they are worth a trip if they're not too far away. For our current seat we made a day trip to Oxfordshire from Sussex borders as nowhere else had the range of seats we wanted to look at. if you post where in the country you are someone may chip in with a recommendation? John Lewis can be OK, but getting one into your car to trial fit can be a drag.

alfa daley said:

I'm hoping this thread is still alive to see if anyone has a recommendation for a newborn in a 2003 Subaru Impreza STi with isofix. The more I read about car seats the more confused I get. My experience instore hasn't been great with nobody really seeming to know their stuff. I was originally thinking one of the 0-4yrs seats would be a good investment but I saw a few negative comments. Are Maxi-Cosi a good bet?

Thanks in advance


Simon

alfa daley said:

Hi Boobles

Can you recommend me a car seat please for a newborn. It for a Subaru Impreza STi Saloon 2003 which I think has Isofix. We also have a secondhand bugaboo so if the seat is compatible with clicking onto the top of that too that would great. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks


Simon

[Adrian E]

AGee said:

Hello, I'm after some advice for a seat for my little one. He's soon to outgrow hos first seat and we were looking at what to get next? It'll need transferring between a 2011 Yeti and a 2007 Ibiza. Was looking at 1.2.3 with isofix, but know very little about baby seats!

When you say outgrow, what do you mean? What weight/ %ile on growth charts and is his head contained by the shell of his infant carrier?

As for next stage on, you have to make a personal call on the benefits of continuing rear facing vs the perceived inconvenience of space requirement. You may struggle to fit a rear facer in the Ibiza.

As my above post, I'm not a fan of multi-stage seats. If you want to swap between vehicles then Isofix is a whole lot less hassle - we managed fine with 1 seat between cars but we'd probably only need to swap it around once or twice a week.

[rhinochopig]

Any recommendations for a booster seat chaps?

ETA He's currently in a recaro young sport IIRC and he's a little to big for it now. I want to keep the side-impact protection but want something a little longer than the recaro.

Edited by rhinochopig on Thursday 5th February 08:26

[Adrian E]

Have a look at BeSafe - they do 2 versions with/without Isofix but all it does on a booster seat is stop it flapping about as the restraining is all done by the adult seatbelt. Having said that we have the Isofix version and when used in a car without Isofix is does move around a lot more, which our son noticed.

It's a little more expensive than some of the others but the side impact rotation and general build quality are streets ahead of most

[DonkeyApple]

rhinochopig said:

Any recommendations for a booster seat chaps?

ETA He's currently in a recaro young sport IIRC and he's a little to big for it now. I want to keep the side-impact protection but want something a little longer than the recaro.

Edited by rhinochopig on Thursday 5th February 08:26

A good question. I've half a dozen of the Recarros dotted around cars. I like them as they are very compact and grow with the child for a long time.

But my eldest is now 4 and while skinny it does look like the Reccaro is going to become more of a squeeze well before she is 12. However, I really like the side head braces as they offer great neck protection of I got T boned but also some face protection in a head on or any incident where the two girls could be battered about in the back.

[rhinochopig]

Thanks chaps. Went for the recaro in the end - thought I'd stick with the brand - as it did well in a number of the crash tests.

[lenats31]

I use Besafe Izi Up X3 isofix and a Britax Kidfix if that helps. Both companies make really good booster seats

Edited by lenats31 on Saturday 7th February 09:42

[Antonia]

I am looking for some advice. I really want a rear facing car seat to put in the back of a 2002 Mini Cooper (no Isofix) for my son who is now 14 months old and 11kg. In my searches I haven't found many options. It seems I have possibly two choices: a Maxi Cosi Opal or a BeSafe Izi Combo X3. My questions are:
1. Will either of these fit on the rear seat of the mini? Without a nearby stockist in Holland we can't just rock up and try them for size.
2. Why is the Maxi Cosi Opal not available for sale outside the UK?
3. Are there any other options?
Thank you

[DonkeyApple]

Mildly off topic but anyone have a simple solution for holding the belt lock up and stop it being pushed back down into the rear car seat fold every time you try and clip in the seat belt single handed?

I've tried wrapping a short bungy round the stem and it makes it a little better but I've been wondering if someone has a better idea of if someone makes a plastic sleeve for the issue?

[lenats31]

Antonia said:

I am looking for some advice. I really want a rear facing car seat to put in the back of a 2002 Mini Cooper (no Isofix) for my son who is now 14 months old and 11kg. In my searches I haven't found many options. It seems I have possibly two choices: a Maxi Cosi Opal or a BeSafe Izi Combo X3. My questions are:
1. Will either of these fit on the rear seat of the mini? Without a nearby stockist in Holland we can't just rock up and try them for size.
2. Why is the Maxi Cosi Opal not available for sale outside the UK?
3. Are there any other options?
Thank you

Hi

The Opal is not an ERF seat. It is approved for rearfacing use to 13 kg and then you must turn it.

There are other decent options:

Britax Hiway 2
Britax Maxway
Axkid Minikid

There is also the Maxi Cosi Mobi. But I dare not suggest it to you because it is a seat that takes up a massive amount of space in most cars for most people. SO. not one that I would buy without having seen it first. There is much less risk the others will kill the use of one entire side of the car.

[adibranch]

Hi Boobles, I wonder if you can offer some quick advice.

I'm looking for a high back booster for my son, who is currently a small 5 year old (nearly six) , weighing 17kg and 110 cm. I have him in a group 1 still , and whilst his weight his under the max 18kg he is now a little too tall for it.

Originally I saw the recaro young sport, and it looked well supported and well made, but are multi group seats a bit of a compromise? Do they not offer as much safety as a dedicated group 2/3 seat?

So, the choices are..
Recaro young sport (if its not deemed less safe than a group 2/3)
Cybex Solution X2-fix (heard good things for safety and tests)
Maxi Cosi Rodifix

Unless you can suggest some others? Safety and test results are obviously the most important. The car is a 2013 qashqai, soon to be replaced with a 2015 of the same model. Will use isofix if possible.

Thanks !

[Adrian E]

adibranch said:

Hi Boobles, I wonder if you can offer some quick advice.

I'm looking for a high back booster for my son, who is currently a small 5 year old (nearly six) , weighing 17kg and 110 cm. I have him in a group 1 still , and whilst his weight his under the max 18kg he is now a little too tall for it.

Originally I saw the recaro young sport, and it looked well supported and well made, but are multi group seats a bit of a compromise? Do they not offer as much safety as a dedicated group 2/3 seat?

So, the choices are..
Recaro young sport (if its not deemed less safe than a group 2/3)
Cybex Solution X2-fix (heard good things for safety and tests)
Maxi Cosi Rodifix

Unless you can suggest some others? Safety and test results are obviously the most important. The car is a 2013 qashqai, soon to be replaced with a 2015 of the same model. Will use isofix if possible.

Thanks !

I've mentioned this one, as has Lena, further up the thread:

http://www.carseat.co.uk/car-seat-products/child-c...

Worth noting that Isofix at this stage only restrains the seat in the car, not the child in the seat - the adult seatbelt does that. It does stop it moving around as much as well - my son finds it rather odd when he travels in his childminder's car in a non-Isofix seat and doesn't feel as stable.

[adibranch]

Thanks Adrian, yep I understand about the isofix.. but I guess it also removes the hassle of having to use the seatbelt for the seat when no one is in it... and I guess a mechanical fixing point just seems more secure.

So, the besafe is the clear winner? I was planning on taking a trip to the incarsafetycentre at MK, to see what they could offer in way of advice and supply.

edit: I've just looked at some vids of the besafe, and it seems the seat belt is right across (or very close to) the abdomen compared to others? There is nowhere for the seat belt to sit across the seat, other than right in between the base and the back?

http://snag.gy/KbfRq.jpg

Edited by adibranch on Thursday 19th March 17:54

[Adrian E]

Depends on the child and the seat belt anchorage points as much as anything.

Our son went into his before he hit 3 - he was simply too heavy for the 4 point harness seats to work - and the lap belt section was fine from day 1. The shoulder strap sat a bit high on his neck to start with but he wasn't particularly tall for his age, just very solid boned!

The retailer you mention is very well regarded so you'll get good advice there

He went here for ours as they were the closest (75 miles or so!) that had 4 seats we were interested in

http://www.pushchairsandcarseats.co.uk/

I'm a manufacturing engineer by training and have worked in child seat legislation and testing, so that was my judgement based on what I saw.

The Isofix definitely does help stop the seat flapping about - it also allows the seat to pivot in the event of a side impact to move your child further away from the point of impact.

What I really liked about it in design terms is that as you adjust the length of the back of the seat, the middle and top parts both move up (and the middle part opens up as well) as your child grows. A lot just have the top part of the seat moving up and the middle section stays in the same place. My son's had it 2 years now and it's still as good as new. Some we looked at were flimsy construction from day 1 and looked like they wouldn't last a week! I'm sure they would, but the perceived quality was lacking.

[adibranch]

In general, i'll consider with whatever most people (who know what they are on about) will recommend, as opposed to a hundred reviews on Halfords from everyday people who have no idea. but I do have reservations about the way the seat belt goes on that bewise. It looks like there are no plastic guides anywhere, and that it could go right back into the crease between base and upright... much more so than any other seat I've looked at.

I'll def be taking a trip to Milton Keynes I think.. thanks for the advice