are britax car seats good quality/safety wise?

[1990shopefulftm]

Thinking of getting the britax two way elite for baby as he's 9kg/70cm at 4 months so the usual 18kg rear facing options are going to last us long enough?
DH has a Hyundai i10 so ideally wanting something that isn't massive

Yes, one of the best, although the Two Way Elite is their oldest seat that they still sell, so it's not quite as safe/up to date as their more modern ones.

You might want to look at the Britax Max Way or Max Way Plus. These are similarly compact but are a bit more up to date :)

@BertieBotts I ll look into the max way more, I d noticed it before but the installation confuses me a bit as would still want to be able to sit in the passenger seat myself sometimes

The Two Way Elite is a bit more restrictive for the installation WRT the front seat. All 25kg limit rear facing seats need to tether, but the two way elite also has to brace (rest) on the front seat meaning you can't move it forward or back at all.

The Max Way shouldn't affect your use of the front seat at all :)

@BertieBotts i m reasonably short it's just whetheri'd have enough leg room really, so bracing it could be awkward, perhaps we'll go with the max way. it's frustrating not being able to look at the seat to get a better idea.

Whereabouts are you based? There might be a local specialist who can show them to you. Some are doing appointment based opening at the moment.

The only place in the UK that has the two way elite though is the In Car Safety Centre.

But having said that, if your baby is only 4 months old at the moment, they won't fit these seats yet anyway. They need to be sitting up unaided as they don't recline as much. So you have a good few months to wait and by then the shops will be more open again anyway.

@BertieBotts we re up north anyway so nowhere near the safety centre , hopefully his height might slow down as well from the cm a week at the moment. I really want to avoid having to get an 18kg rear facing one then switching to the britax ones if I can.

Are you anywhere near Winstanley's Pram World? They have several 25kg rear facing seats.

Yes it makes sense to go straight for a 25kg one, unless you think you'll have another baby - then it's not so much of a waste, because you can put your baby into the 18kg seat now, then when they are getting too big for it or when your second baby is growing out of the baby seat, you can upgrade your eldest to a 25kg rear facing seat.

This is a photo (not mine but I do have permission to share it) showing the Britax Max Way Plus (black) compared with a spinning 18kg seat (blue - Joie i-Spin) - you can see the Max Way takes up less space.

@BertieBotts thank you so much, I didn't know till now theres one 25 miles away :)
We re one baby and done for sure, that doesn't look too big at all that's a great photo.

Oh great :) You should get good advice there, you can also contact them remotely.