baby seats for A CERBERA
Discussion
The Recaro Start is pretty much the default choice for after market seats, suitable from 9 months but think they recommend you use the additional lap restraint at that age. There are a few others that have cropped up over the years as fitting ok, but can't think of their names off hand. There is also the TVR factory option if you can track one down, they sometimes appear in the classifieds or on ebay. You might find you have to have the drivers seat further fwd than normal (depending how tall you are) - I have one behind the passenger seat which can move a long way forward and it is fine.
The factory option is made from expanded polystyrene, covered in leather. It has no plastic or metal framework behind it which means three things:
1. It has no belts of its own, meaning your child will need to use the single lap and diagonal in the back (I prefer my child to have a pair of shoulder restraints) => BAD
2. The seat-back sits against the rear seat-back further rearwards than those with a framework, therefore gives the child more legroom => GOOD
3. No framework means no ability to lie it back so Jr can sleep => BAD
I have one, and use it on those occasions where I wish to take someone (adult) out in the car (in the front). My Mini-Me won't let me go anywhere in the Cerb without him so he comes along in the TVR child seat.
For longer journeys I prefer to put a normal child seat in the front but that limits the journey to only him and me.
If you find a TVR child seat for sale (I'm not ready to sell mine yet), make sure you get the J-shaped tube of metal and the plate that offers additional support for the seat-base. Without it the seat base has a tendency to slide forwards and off the rear seat. I bought mine without those two items, and although I have managed to use the child seat so far, I intend to make my own metalwork for it soon. It really needs it.
My Jr likes both seats - in the front or the back. He just likes to be in the car... even when it's on the drive. He sits in the driver's seat and "drives" (saws at the wheel) when I'm washing the car.
The irony is that at 2 1/2 he fits quite comfortably in the rear seats without additional support, and I think he's probably safer there too. I admit he's so low that he can't see much so I wondered whether it might be better to simply engineer some sort of high-booster base without bothering with the back component. This means he could sit well back in the car but at a better height for him. Expanded polystyrene is easy to work with. I'm going to buy a block and get chopping I think.
My particular Cerb is incredibly loud. Although Jr and I have been out together on short journeys, today we went to Mallory park (about an hour from home) so I insisted on him wearing the pair of Peltor KID ear defenders a friend bought us. On the way home he argued against wearing them but after a few miles he started to put his fingers in his ears so I put the ear defenders back on him. You should consider a pair for each of your kids.
1. It has no belts of its own, meaning your child will need to use the single lap and diagonal in the back (I prefer my child to have a pair of shoulder restraints) => BAD
2. The seat-back sits against the rear seat-back further rearwards than those with a framework, therefore gives the child more legroom => GOOD
3. No framework means no ability to lie it back so Jr can sleep => BAD
I have one, and use it on those occasions where I wish to take someone (adult) out in the car (in the front). My Mini-Me won't let me go anywhere in the Cerb without him so he comes along in the TVR child seat.
For longer journeys I prefer to put a normal child seat in the front but that limits the journey to only him and me.
If you find a TVR child seat for sale (I'm not ready to sell mine yet), make sure you get the J-shaped tube of metal and the plate that offers additional support for the seat-base. Without it the seat base has a tendency to slide forwards and off the rear seat. I bought mine without those two items, and although I have managed to use the child seat so far, I intend to make my own metalwork for it soon. It really needs it.
My Jr likes both seats - in the front or the back. He just likes to be in the car... even when it's on the drive. He sits in the driver's seat and "drives" (saws at the wheel) when I'm washing the car.
The irony is that at 2 1/2 he fits quite comfortably in the rear seats without additional support, and I think he's probably safer there too. I admit he's so low that he can't see much so I wondered whether it might be better to simply engineer some sort of high-booster base without bothering with the back component. This means he could sit well back in the car but at a better height for him. Expanded polystyrene is easy to work with. I'm going to buy a block and get chopping I think.
My particular Cerb is incredibly loud. Although Jr and I have been out together on short journeys, today we went to Mallory park (about an hour from home) so I insisted on him wearing the pair of Peltor KID ear defenders a friend bought us. On the way home he argued against wearing them but after a few miles he started to put his fingers in his ears so I put the ear defenders back on him. You should consider a pair for each of your kids.
Mars said:
...If you find a TVR child seat for sale (I'm not ready to sell mine yet), make sure you get the J-shaped tube of metal and the plate that offers additional support for the seat-base. Without it the seat base has a tendency to slide forwards and off the rear seat. I bought mine without those two items, and although I have managed to use the child seat so far, I intend to make my own metalwork for it soon. It really needs it.
We've got such a bar fitted. I'd have said it was "n" shaped, rather than "J" - the two ends are fixed to the floor and there's a (trimmed) board which rests on the actual car seat and hooks over the top of the "n". It appears to be a factory (or at least dealer) fitment, but was already on when I bought the car. Provides a much larger "depth" to the seat base for the kiddie-seat to rest on.We use it with a Britax freeway - though I think that model has been discontinued now (maybe?). It has the advantage of being a "proper" child-seat, with its own 4-point belt.
Mars said:
...My particular Cerb is incredibly loud ... so I put the ear defenders back on him. You should consider a pair for each of your kids.
Mine's a "standard" car - i.e. normal back box and cats still fitted. No real problem with noise under normal circumstances. However: rear speakers are directly next to the kids' heads (which might be a bit loud for them, though they never complain) and with the windows down they tend to get a bit of a buffetting (which they invariably don't like 
)
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