To ask what travel system you used for a small car?

[SizzlingSamosa]

Posting here for traffic.

I've got a Toyota Aygo and can't afford a new car so need to make do with what I've got.

What travel systems do people use that will fit in the car? Either in the boot or if I fold one half of the seat down.

I’ve got an uppababy vista and drive a ford fiesta. I have to take the back wheels off when I put the pram in the boot but that takes seconds. It’s a really great pram.

We had a mutsy Evo. I also tested and looked at Cybex balios S Lux, Joie chrome, and maxi Cosi Adora. I liked the maxi Cosi and often see it and think I should have got that! We found the mutsy second hand at a good price.

The key IME is finding one that doesn't need a carrycot because the seat can lie flat when parent facing. With DS1 i had maxi Cosi loola up which was absolutely fantastic for this and never had a carrycot at all, but this was a long time ago.

A lot of newer prams have a seat that just tilts back and doesn't hinge so the baby is stuck in a sitting position just leant back. I'd avoid the tilting/sculpted ones, and look for one with a flat recline.

I have an Aygo and have an old Mamas & Papas armadillo flip xt that fits in the boot by folding it the normal way. It also works with a besafe izi go car seat.

i don’t think they make my buggy anymore (got it off free cycle!) but presumably they have newer buggy with the same folding mechanism

We've got a three-door Polo. Our iCandy Orange fitted; including the carry cot, although it did take up most of the boot space; and we had to take the wheels off when we started using the pushchair part as it wasn't as easy to get that into the back seat - it had to go in the boot with the frame.

We got a travel buggy at 8 months to take on a plane, and then used that for the car too, and use the iCandy for our home trips. We're still using the iCandy now - he's 19 months now, and probably getting towards the height limit, but it's more comfortable for him and sturdy, and he prefers it, despite the travel buggy being an expensive one 😅

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll be googling all these in a minute. Hoping to find something second hand as the price of travel systems new is eye watering!

I would absolutely recommend getting a cheaper or second hand push chair / pram as they are so overpriced and you really don't need to drop a grand on one. I would recommend getting a new car seat as you never know how people have treated or stored theirs, even if it hasn't been in an accident. Many car seats have adaptors to clip on to multiple travel systems. We rarely used this as tiny babies shouldn't be in the car seat for too long amd there was no way they would put up with being jammed in a car seat outside of the car when they were older.

Mine are older now but when I had two little ones in an Audi A3 we had the baby jogger travel system (not the stroller) but I also used to baby wear a lot!!

My husband has a small hatchback, we had no issues getting an Egg pram in and out of the boot. I'm pregnant now and we're buying second hand from my friend, the cost brand new is ridiculous, we spent well over a grand on the original travel system we bought and lesson learnt.

Should have said, the car seat is a maxi cosi cabriofix. Got that and the pram as a bundle from Winstanleys

The ones I looked at (except for the Mutsy) are all on the more affordable end. I also found the prices of some absolutely ridiculous.

Some of the popular car seats will bump the price up considerably, especially if you get a base in the deal as well - some of the car seat sets can be £400-500 on their own, which I personally think is crazy.

It's worth knowing that a lot of the popular brands of car seat fit onto the same "Maxi cosi type" adapters, which is what most of the stroller brands use as well. You can fit these on there (only infant carrier types):

Maxi Cosi
Cybex
Joie (not Juva)
Britax (post 2021 models - Babysafe 3, Babysafe i-sense, Babysafe 5Z)
Nuna
Besafe
Avionaut

Although it is best to double check where possible as sometimes the length/angle of the adapters doesn't quite work, but the selection suggested by the pram company is usually extremely small and mostly out of date, you can definitely go wider than this "official" list.

Thanks!

I was looking at one of the swivel car seats for convenience but no one seems to be selling the isofix base for any swivel seats and I also can't find any that would connect to a chassis like a travel system so might have to scrap that idea!

The swivel seats that go from 0-4 years or 0-12 years don't detach and go onto a pushchair. It's only baby seats (birth to 9/12/15 months ish) that attach to pushchairs.

You can get loads of baby seats with swivel bases now, but these tend to be the very expensive ones and TBH I feel like a swivel for a seat you can take in and out is a bit pointless? It makes sense to be able to swivel the seat when it's fixed in place, but when you can take the car seat into the house then you have plenty of space and a perfect angle to get the baby in and out without needing a swivel base. And while you can also buy a swivel toddler seat to put on these bases, they cost about £300 and you can get a swivel car seat for less than £300 if it's just one that comes with its own base. Without having to spend £500 on the infant seat and base in the first place

But if you did want one these are (I believe?) all of them:

Cybex Cloud Z
Cybex Cloud Z2
Maxi Cosi Pebble 360
Maxi Cosi Coral 360
Maxi Cosi Pebble 360 Pro
Britax Babysafe i-size 3
Britax Babysafe i-sense
Britax Babysafe 5Z
Bugaboo Turtle Air
Nuna Pipa Next
Nuna Arra Next
Joie Encore base (and about 5 different seats)
Recaro Salia Elite (this is actually up to age 4 but has a seat that clips out for newborns, which can be put on a pram but the adapter is a bit fiddly).

@SizzlingSamosa like the poster above says, the swivel ones don’t fit onto travel systems.

personally, I would prefer to use a newborn seat to start because a) I did use it on the travel system quite a lot as my baby fell asleep in the car every time so I could transfer him without waking him and b) whilst some of the swivel ones can be used from birth, they are much less reclined and I would worry about a little baby slumping down in them