Smallest, slimmest, cheapest baby seat?

[SophyStantonLacy]

I need to buy a new car seat for DC3, as we seem to have got rid of our old bucket seat. We are looking at buying a Zafira car so want a slim line seat we can fit in along with our high backed boosters for DC1 and DC2 as apparently it can be tricky to fit three across the middle row.

I am totally & utterly clueless about car seats but don't want to spend much, just want a baby seat as have DC2 toddler seat baby can go into next, & will never take car seat out of car. Car will be old so not necessarily have isofix points (not that I understand what they are...)

Thank you!

All I can suggest is going to somewhere like Mothercare or Halfords and getting them tested in your car - there are too many variable to advise a specific seat over MN - buckle crunch, actual gap between your HBBs etc.

Have a look at a Britax Eclipse. It's a decent seat, affordable and has a very slim base.

I would do as Hacked suggests - you really need to go and try seats in your car to make sure they are all fine. I would look up a good car seat specialist though like In Car Safety or another independent stockist.

We have a britax eclipse for dd. I've got a tiny old 3 door Peugeot 206 and it fits well. It has a much slimmer base than others I looked at (which would not fit in my stupid car!)

We don't have the car yet! Hmm.

If you will never take the seat out of the car you should look at the Britax First Class. It's got a slim base and fits well in my car alongside two Britax Adventure high backed boosters.

Britax First Class

Britax Adventure

The Britax Eclipse is only suitable from 9kgs (it's a Group 1 seat) not birth.

You'd be able to keep your baby rear facing in the First Class for longer than an infant carrier. The weight limit for rear facing in it is 13kgs, the same as an infant carrier, but the seat is much bigger so the baby will easily fit in it at that weight. Most babies outgrow their infant carrier by height long before they weigh 13kgs. It's safer for children to stay rear facing in the car until they are at least 4 years old if possible.

We have a zafira and although it is a tight squeeze and a pain to do the belts up we fitted two britax adventures and a maxi cosi cabriofix across the middle seat.

Does the zafira book say no car seat should go in the middle?

I'm pretty sure it does unbelievably!

Isn't it the new Zafira Tourer where the book states that the middle seat should not be used for child seats? I briefly looked at buying one, but when I realised that the three middle row seats are not equal width we went for the Peugeot 5008 instead.

I think it's because the middle seat is narrow that child seats are not recommended for it (I don't think there is ISOFIX and the width of the seat means that a child seats would be too wide for it and cover the seatbelt buckle).

Yes it was a new tourer (hire car)

I wondered if it was the nature of the seat belt but that is possibly unlikely as the Galaxy has the same arrangement and that is fine.

Many cars don't have full size seats but are up for the challenge of us jigsawing seats in.

Therefore I am stumped.

Your new baby can be in this seat for about 18 months depending on how big they are, so I wouldn't necessarily view it as a cheap stop gap to a toddler seat (which is probably forward facing).