"Best" FF seat for 3 year old to fit Mercedes E class

[Nightfall1983]

DS RFs in the car however not only do his ERF seats (Cybex Sirona and Joie Tilt) not fit well in the highly sculpted/shaped seats of my mums new Mercedes E class, but also because it is a cabriolet/2 door soft top it is genuinely very hard to access a RF seat in the back. Thus I've agreed to find the "best" FF seat for him going forwards.

I don't know masses about FF seats, can anyone suggest where I should start looking? Mercedes themselves offer a Britax Duo for his age/weight - is that a good seat? He a small boy at under 13kg and only 91cm...

If Mercedes are offering a Britax seat you could pretty much assume that any Britax seat is going to be a good fit. We used to have a Renault Scenic - the child seats you could order as 'parts' from Renault were all Britax ones with a Renault badge on them. We use a range of Britax seats in the Scenic, for all ages/weights and they all fitted really well.

If there is not much legroom in the back you might be better looking at the Britax Evolva. It sits low down in the car. That might be better than any of their dedicated Group 1 seats (the Evolva is a Group 1-2-3 seat, meaning that it has a harness which you have to remove when the child weighs 18kgs but you can then use the seat as a high backed booster). You're meant to have 55cm of space between the child's face and the back of the driver/passenger seat, and if your son is kicking the back of the seat he's too close really. Lots of people say their small car won't fit a rear facing seat, yet a rear facing seat will only take as much room as a forward facing one that has been fitted with a safe amount of legroom for the child (I'm not meaning you there, I can completely see how awkward it's going to be having a RF seat in your mum's car).

Alternatively the Britax First Class is a nice seat. I have one, the 'blurb' says it has a slim, sculpted base to fit modern vehicle seats and I would say this is true.

Thanks Alice. I feel pretty confident in Britax seats in general but would love to know what the advantages of one over the other is in terms of safety, such a mine-field! I wasn't intending to get a group 1 FF seat, DS will RF in our car until he is over the weight/height limit (probably 6 given that he's so titchy) and then into a HBB; thus I've never researched FF and suddenly I feel under pressure to made a choice - and with a car with very awkward seats. I am going to take my mums car in and try a few seats in it before buying but looking to find out which is safest first...

Just had a quick look at Which? for you, but they've not tested a great deal of Group 1 seats (it's mostly infant carriers, high backed boosters and the ERF seats that they have said are 'Don't Buy's' - my petite 3 year old DD2 (same measurements as your little boy actually!) is RF in a Britax Multi Tech II that is a 'Don't Buy'!).

If the car has Isofix some people say that there is a slight safety advantage over seatbelt fitting when it's a forward facing seat, but just because the car has isofix it's shaped/sloping seats might mean an isofix seat doesn't fit that well. Have you tried the fit finder on the Britax website?

Jane. We have a Mercedes E class (estate though) and use the Jane isofix highback booster.

Hi Lurking he's only just 3 and not yet 13 kg so a HBB wouldn't be suitable.

In case anyone is in a similar situation, after a lot of research and checking I went with the Cybex Juno-2 Fix. It fits well and DS is very happy in it. For those that care (I'm not particularly bothered myself) it is a Which? Best Buy seat...