2003 VW Polo (5dr), rearfacing

[devilishlygood]

We just bought the Joie Stages seat for my 8mo son who is 12kg (he was 5.5kg at birth, he’s just big!) so that he can be rearfacing in my husband’s 2003 VW Polo for nursery pickups.
The fitting guide shows compatibility with the model, but the seat belt isn’t long enough to fit. There’s no isofix in the vehicle.
Can anyone suggest a good safety spec 0+/1/2 rearfacing seat that might work in this car??? Stumped, since all seats seem to be about the same sort of size.

We have the Cybex Sirona S in our VW Tig, but it’s isofix’d and we need a back up for the little car if I’m held up at work

[BertieBotts]

Have you tried the short belt method?

[BertieBotts]

If you do have the chance to change it for something else though, I'd recommend a seat which goes up to 25kg rear facing, as the Stages is only rear facing/harnessed up to 18kg, which I would guess your son will reach at around 2.5 years of age, so you won't get very long out of that seat before you'll need to get a new one.

Your choices for rear facing up to 25kg are:

Britax Two Way Elite / Multi Tech / Max Way / Max Way Plus
Besafe izi Plus
Axkid Move / Minikid
Diono Radian 5 (I wouldn't recommend this as it's short in the harness and your DS is big)
Klippan Century

All are seatbelt fitted, and all use a much shorter belt path than the Stages. You will need to either buy online or visit a specialist, though, because they're not sold in chain stores, only independent stockists.

Out of all of them most except Diono Radian 5 and Besafe izi Plus have a suggested minimum age of around 12 months, but I think it's likely your DS would fit them already, is he in 12-18 month clothes? Ideally the specialist would be best, as you'll be able to try him in them to see which he reaches the minimum harness height in.

List of specialists:
www.carseatadvice-uk.com/specialist-retailers.html
www.carseatlibrariesuk.com/approved-retailers.html#/

[BertieBotts]

Same story for the Cybex, BTW, if you've bought that recently enough to be able to swap it.