2 1/2 year old car seats

[AlwaysBaffled]

We have a 2 1/2 yo a 13yo and a baby due anytime. Currently have the joie 360 which has been great but looking to move baby into that and get a new one for the 2yo, as its large and strong but DD can now escape.

Looking for reccomendations for a new seat ideally isofix and slimmer so teenager can squeeze between the seats for shorter journeys in my little hatchback, and if possible something she cant escape from before we get off the drive.

Any advice?? Thanks

Is the two year old rear facing or forward facing in the 360? And do you want them to continue rear facing if they are?

If so, a 25kg rear facing seat would be a great option to keep them rear facing for longer, usually up to ~5-7 depending on what centile they’re on.

Do you know what centile the two year old is on? Because if so if they’re on the higher centile it’d be better to get a seat with a longer harness limit so they can remain harnessed until around four ish.

Best option for forward facing would be a 1/2/3 seat, as IMO even if heavy enough for a booster seat two is way too young. If dc is high on centile then the Joie Bold is a good option as the harness goes up the highest (FWIW size wise could fit a tiny 14 year in it!) whereas on my other recommendations it doesn’t go as high. Although as you have a 13yo too unless you need/want the longer harness limit I wouldn’t recommend it as I personally find having to sit in the middle seat when there’s one other person on the other side bad enough let alone another car seat!

Other group 1/2/3 car seats to look at would be the Britax advansafix, these do excellent/the best safety wise out of all the 1/2/3 seats. There’s the IV R which is one of the older ones though still excellent (IIRC actually safety wise does better than the i-size version!), harnessed to 18kg then seatbelt to 36kg/12 years. Comes with a secura-guard which is an anti submarine strap and a pop out side impact protection thingy. The z-line harnessed to 18kg and I think is only available on Amazon, has the securaguard that’s aforementioned and also an XP pad which reduces forces on the neck.

Then there’s the i-size ones. The regular i-size one can harness to 21kg/102cm, and comes with both the securaguard, XP pad and side impact thingy’s. The M version doesn’t have the side impact or the XP pad hence is slightly cheaper but still is a good seat.