Recaro Polaric - recommend? Where to buy?

[CalmInsomniac]

Hi everyone.
My DD is 15 months and petite so we're just getting her her first group 1 car seat. DH and I want a rearfacing one and think we may as well get the Recaro Polaric as it was the only rear-facing seat not to be a "don't buy" in Which. We can't find any other decent reviews of RF seats available in the UK.

Some issues are as follows:
We don't currently own a car, and we hire cars regularly. Would a Recaro Polaric fit in an average small hire car and how long would it take to fit & remove?
Can you buy them online and have them delivered (same problem of no car so can't go and pick up)?
We hope to buy a car soon, so want to make sure we have a carseat which will go in any car. Probably we'll get a ford mondeo?

If you have Recaro Polaric would you recommend it given the above and if you know of a better rearfacing seat could you let me know.

Thanks!

I think Kiddicare sells Recaro carseats?

I got a 2 way elite (I think) - its made by Britax, but manufactured abroad, so they import under a different name. We went to the In-Car Safety Centre in Milton Keynes, (although they also have a website) where they stock a number of rear facing seats and will advise on fitting and which seat is best for any given car. :)

Thanks for that tip off, I found the In-car safety website and they should give a Vehicle suitability list but the link is not working. I might give them a call and see if they can tell me anything. They also sell the polaric online and do free delivery. What a score.
Kiddicare doesn't sell the polaric .
Thanks leeloo.

Glad I could help. :) I did a lot of research on rear-facing and they were very helpful and efficient so definitely give them a call.

If you want some reviews have a look at these sites for example :)

www.babyworld.co.uk/information/reviews/product.asp?id=1185

www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/productdisplayA_0_10751_-1__85865_10001_

Also have a look at the www.rearfacing.co.uk site. There is a forum on there with in depth reviews of all the major rearfacing seats available in the UK.

Some of the ones that I've heard strongly recommended include:

Besafe Izi Combi (belt fitted) x2 and x3
Besafe izi combi Isofix x2 and x3
KISS (Klippan Integrated Isofix System - otherwise known in other countries as Acto Graco Duologic II, but licensed for UK use under the KISS name)
Britax Two Way Elite
and Britax Multitech

In addition, many of the mums on this site may be able to help you- might be worth putting a new post up with your car type on and asking for suggestions - that way other mums on here will be able to share with you their experiences about the seats which fit the best in your car :)
hope this helps :)

ps- also look at the thread about the Which site and their reviews- I would treat the Which recommendations with serious skepticism - my understanding is that most of the rearfacing seats they actually tested in the forward facing position You might find for instance the Swedish plus test results to be more helpful (which look at the seat safety in depth).

I don't know about the Recaro, but I don't drive and eventually settled on a Kiddy Infinity Pro as the design of it puts a lot less strain on the back and neck in an accident than a FF 5-point harness seat. I have never found a car it won't fit in, and it's got good side impact protection too.

Sorry I know this doesn't directly answer your question, just thought I'd post in case it helps you decide :)

calminsomniac, it might be worth checking out the rearfacing.co.uk site

they have links on there to safety tests done in sweden/norway etc which are more stringent than ours.
i don;t know if you're aware of the reasons WHY most RF seats were rated don't buy in Which? but suffice to say it doesn't mean that the recaro is the safest of all of them...
the besafe izi combi i think is one of the only seats to pass the Swedish plus test which is a good indication of how safe it is!

i would say you're actually better off buying a non-isofix seat tbh. The recaro is isofix and that limits you to only being able to use it in a car with isofix points.,
a belted seat fitted correctly is no less safe than an isofix seat, so you may want to consider something like the Britax 2 way elite which iirc is classed as "universal" which means it will fit in virtually any car.

I would really strongly advise seeing if you can try them out before you buy tho, even if that means hiring a mondeo or whatever and just tryting a few out to see how you get on with them.

where in the country are you? there are a fair few people on here with ERF seats, and on the rearfacing.co.uk forum too... and we're mostly happy to show our seats off if you aren't near a stockist

sorry, i have re-read my reply and it sounds like I am saying hte Recaro isn't safe... i didn't mean it like that though. What I meant was that the Which? report is a consumer report NOT a safety report and so just because the Recaro didn't make the "don't buy" list that doesn't mean it is safer than the others iyswim???

We have the Besafe Izi Isofix and my sister has the belted version for her DS. We are both very happy with this. Looked at the Recarro too, and I think you need a big car for eitherof these, and they are really not that easy to swap in and out of cars (though I guess that might depend on how practical you are). We got really excellent advice from Baby World in Wallingford Oxfordshire - they're very knowledgeable and would probably be able to advise what seat would be best for frequent movement in and out of cars. I would avoid In Car Safety in Milton Keynes as they were incredibly unhelpful.

There's a few places around. In Car Safety Centre in Milton Keynes has been mentioned, but there is also Securatot in Wiltshire and Paul Stride in York.

Hope that helps

really Rufous??
the ladies at Milton Keynes were absolutely fantastic when we saw them (twice). very helpful, very knowledgeable, happy to help us when we turned up 15 mins before closing and needed to try several seats out.
There was no pressure to buy and they didn't just try and sell us the most expensive seat even though it was the one we wanted lol, they advised that a different seat would meet our needs better and they were right

after care has been fab too. we had a problem with one of the seats and they sorted it out very promptly

can't fault them

oh and yes, if you want one that's easy to take in ahnd out i would go with the britax 2 way elite! it's a piece of piss compared to the besafe and even compared with our old forward facing seats

PS- if it helps I have a besafe (belt fitted) and KISS (belt fitted or isofix and v v easy to fit). I love them both, and they have both passed the Swedish plus test :) Happy hunting :)

sorry, may be a bit late but we have the recaro polaric and it fits fine in our not very big car (megane). John Lewis stock it for £230.
We like it, DS is very comfortable in it.