I tested out the Axkid One 3 car seat: extended rear-facing up to age seven

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Axkid One+3 car seat with newborn inlay

What is the difference between the Axkid One 3 and the Axkid One+3?

Both the Axkid One 3 and the One+3 are identical in terms of safety credentials, features and design. The only actual differences are the height limit and price. 

While the Axkid One 3 can only be used if your child is 61cm, which is around three months of age (although this, of course, depends on your child), the Axkid One+3 can be used straight from birth as it comes with a newborn inlay designed for babies measuring a minimum of 40cm in height. As such, the Axkid One+3 is best suited to newborns.

The Axkid One 3 retails at £650, while the Axkid One+3 costs slightly more at £725, meaning you’ll pay an extra £75 for the newborn inlay.

What’s the difference between the Axkid One 2 and the Axkid One 3?

The Axkid One 3 is an improved version of the One 2. It now has:

• Integrated magnets in the harness to make adjusting the straps easier

• Improved recline adjuster

• Adaptable and removable seat inserts that use poppers 

• Extra seat padding for a more comfortable ride

• Detailed weight specifications for guidance at each stage of your child’s development

• New and improved colour options.

Axkid One 3 offers ample legroom

How we tested the Axkid One 3

• Five months of using the Axkid One 3 multiple times a week

• Tested with a three-year-old

• Tested in a Volvo V4 Cross Country

I tested the Axkid One 3 out for five months with my three-year-old. It was installed in the back seat of my Volvo V40 Cross Country on the passenger side, and tested on both short and long car journeys.

My regular toddler car seat is the extended rear-facing Joie i-Spin 360 and I have tested other extended rear-facing car seats like the Cybex Sirona Gi i-Size, which last till age four, so I was able to conduct some comparative testing during this time.

To ensure a thorough test, I scored the car seat on eight key criteria, including: performance, quality and durability, ease of use, value for money, safety and stability, ease of installation, comfort and adjustability. I then collated these scores to give the car seat a total score of 80 out of 100, which equates to a four-star rating overall.

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Axkid One 3: what’s in the box?

• Axkid One 3 extended rear-facing car seat

• Axkid Side Impact Protection (ASIP) pad

• Installation card (with QR to access full online instruction manual, including high-quality videos)

The Axkid One+3 has all of the above, but comes with an additional newborn insert.

Axkid One 3 five-point harness and installation indicator

Axkid One 3: how easy is it to install?

Axkid is known for its commitment to car seat safety, particularly in its creation of extended rear-facing seats, so it’s no surprise that the Axkid One 3 benefits from a quick and easy installation process. 

Installation takes around 30 seconds once you get the hang of it. On the first go, it took me extra time (around five minutes in total) as I had to look at the diagrams on the included installation card to understand what I needed to do, adjust the headrest to suit my daughter’s height, and then adjust the front passenger seat so that I could fit the One 3 in the back of my Volvo V40. 

At 10kg, and because the seat and ISOFIX base are a singular unit, the One 3 felt heavy to lift into the car, although it does have a handle at the back of the seat to help with this. It’s not as heavy as my 13.9kg Joie i-Spin 360 and Axkid claims that the One 3 weighs 30% less than other extended rear-facing car seats on the market.

There are six installation steps in total, so a minimal amount to get to grips with, but the process is designed to reduce any margin for error and ensure a correct installation every time. 

I found it easy to do each step, including folding the support leg down once the car seat was positioned on the back seat and clicking it into place (it comes folded up in the box) before attaching the ISOFIX connectors to my car’s anchor points. 

The only step that was new to me (despite having tested many car seats before) was the automatic rebound bar, which needs to be positioned against the back of the passenger seat and tightened into place using a dial. 

As I’m used to with my regular car seat, the Joie i-Spin 360, the Axkid One 3 has locking indicators on both ISOFIX connectors as well as on the top of the support leg. These will turn green if the car seat has been correctly installed, which I found very reassuring. I also liked that the car seat emits a beeping sound if the support leg isn’t fully flat against the floor.

The One 3 comes with an Axkid Side Impact Protection (ASIP) pad for increased protection in the event of a side collision, but this needs to be manually clicked into place on the side closest to the car door. A cap also needs to be removed first, but this comes off completely so needs to be kept somewhere safe if you don’t want to lose it. 

Five Axkid One 3 colour choices

Axkid One 3: how does it look?

The Axkid One 3 is a stylish-looking car seat (albeit big!) and the fabrics have been updated to include a softer Scandi-inspired colour palette to suit different tastes. It comes in five colour options: Coastal Storm Black, Arctic Mist Grey, Glacier Lake Blue, Nordic Bloom Green and Beachgrass Beige. 

I tested the Coastal Storm Black colourway and really liked it. Black tends to be my go-to for car seats anyway as it hides stains well and goes with all car interiors, so this one did not disappoint. 

Axkid One 3 automatic rebound bar

How safe is the Axkid One 3?

Very. According to car seat safety research, rear-facing is five times safer than forward-facing, and one of the major benefits of the UN R129/i-Size-approved Axkid One 3 is that it offers extended rear-facing till 125cm (approximately age seven). 

It has been tested to the highest safety standards and has passed the renowned Swedish Plus Test, which is widely regarded as the strictest crash test in the world. It is the only Swedish Plus-tested extended rear-facing ISOFIX car seat on the market that is certified for real extended use, covering 99.7% of all five-year-olds. 

If that wasn’t reassuring enough, it also achieved a 'Good' score (2.2) in ADAC crash testing, which involves front impact and side impact tests. The One+3 achieved an even better score of 2.1. 

The Axkid One 3 is definitely a unit, there’s no doubt about it, but it has what Axkid calls a ProTecFrame™, which is made with high-strength steel to absorb forces up to 1500kg, offering maximum protection in the event of a crash. As well as side impact protection, it also has a five-point harness as well as the automatic rebound bar, which helps to keep your child stable and reduce neck and spinal forces if there's a collision.

Read next: How long should a child be rear-facing?

Axkid One 3 EasyClimb™ handle

What’s the Axkid One 3 like to use day to day?

I used the Axkid One 3 on both long and short journeys, ranging from 10 minutes to 2.5 hours, to get an accurate picture of how it fared in both scenarios. 

It took a while for me to get used to the Axkid One 3, however it's a great car seat to use day to day, especially for children who like to be independent. 

The EasyClimb™ design meant that there was an integrated handle to help my preschooler climb into the seat by herself, which she loved to do. There's a handle on either side of the car seat to allow you to install it behind the passenger or driver’s seat depending on your preference. The magnets in the harness padding were also really handy for holding the straps back while my daughter climbed in.

As it's not a 360 spin car seat, you have to lean over the seat slightly to adjust the harness straps. The pull strap to tighten the harness, as well as the button to loosen it, aren’t positioned centrally, so it was a little awkward to adjust the harness in the beginning - especially as I installed the One 3 behind the passenger seat. The harness connectors also aren’t particularly big (unlike the connectors on the Joie i-Spin 360) so I needed a steady hand to make sure I could click them into place quickly. 

The headrest, however, is very easy to adjust using a button at the back of the seat, which automatically adjusts the strap height too. There are 12 different headrest positions in total as well as eye level indicators on the front of the headrest so that I could make sure the headrest was at the correct height for my three-year-old (the indicators needed to be in line with her eyes at all times). The guided position illustrations on the side of the car seat will be helpful for knowing when to safely adjust the seat as she grows.

The headrest did partially obstruct the view of my daughter through the child car mirror I have installed in the back seat, so this may be more of a problem the taller she gets.

As my Volvo V40 doesn’t have the roomiest of back seats, I was initially worried that I wouldn’t have enough legroom when sat in the passenger seat. Happily, the One 3 has what Axkid calls SpaceFlow™ technology, which is essentially a lever that allows the car seat to slide forward and backwards to adjust the amount of legroom your child has (and subsequently the person in the passenger or driver's seat has). In its further position, the SpaceFlow™ feature offered my daughter an additional 30cm of legroom, but this did leave my legs a little squished in the passenger seat.

Axkid One 3 headrest button and SpaceFlow lever

How comfortable is the Axkid One 3?

While the seat padding feels hard in places, my three-year-old found the Axkid One 3 to be very comfortable overall, given the fact that she successfully napped in the car seat on more than one occasion. The car seat's ventilation system also ensured she never got too hot. 

The SleepWell™ Ultimate recline feature means that there’s no fixed number of recline angles. As such, the seat is flexible and versatile enough to adjust the recline angle up to 42 degrees using the recline position knob at the front of the seat, which is reassuring in particular if you have a newborn. Axkid advises that the seat is kept in the most upright position for children aged three to seven.

Thanks to the SpaceFlow™ lever, my tall three-year-old always had more than enough legroom - her legs dangled as they would if you were sitting in the back seat of the car - and she was even able to stretch her legs out when needed.

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Axkid One 3 headrest with height indicators

Is the Axkid One 3 easy to clean?

I found the car seat cover fiddly to remove at first, but this became easier with time - it attaches to the frame with poppers. The headrest is attached using a combination of zips and poppers and must be removed separately for washing. Both can be machine washed (but not tumble dried) at 30°C. 

As I tested the Coastal Storm Black colourway, stains generally weren’t too visible and could be removed with a damp cloth, but I found the seat generally washed well as and when needed. 

Is the Axkid One 3 good value for money?

With an RRP of £650, the Axkid One 3 doesn’t come cheap, but it is good value for money if you consider that it lasts all the way from newborn to around age seven. 

I would have preferred for the newborn inlay to come as standard with the One 3 rather than costing extra (it can be bought as part of the Axkid One+3 for a total RRP of £725), but that’s only a minor quibble.

With the One 3’s safety record, solid build and long lifespan, overall I think it’s a sound investment if extended rear-facing is high on your priority list.

About the author

Laura Westerman is an editor, writer and Deputy Head of Editorial Content at Mumsnet. She has over nine years' experience as a full-time editor, seven of which have been spent writing, commissioning and editing car seat reviews and round-ups.

Mum to a three-year-old, she is passionate about car seat safety and is fully invested in discovering the best and most affordable baby products on the market - as well as sharing her knowledge and findings with other parents.

In addition to her work as a writer and editor, she has also appeared in a number of baby product videos for Mumsnet's YouTube channel.