Cheap rear-facing non isofix car seat for 16 month old

[GentlyGentlyOhDear]

I need a rear facing seat for my 16 month old DD. I don't have isofix in my car and would also like it to be easily moved between mine and DH's car.
My older two had/have kiddy guardian pro and forward faced straight from the baby carrier seats and as much as I love them, I'd like to keep this one rear facing for longer.

We had one extended rear facer with the intention of moving it between cars (and that was isofix) , but it was so heavy and bulky we ended up buying one for each car. We're quite happy with the cosatto come and go I rotate (RAC collaboration we chose the Mr fox design) but they're not that cheap, we paid £350 for one and £300 for the second, but that was a while ago so price will have come down. They do a non isofix version which you can find through independent shops for around £200

Sorry the non isofix is just called the come and go rotate

We have a britax 2 way elite as my mums car doesn't have isofix. It was £150 from in car safety centre. I think it is brilliant and initially was bought as a 2nd car seat for childminder/grandparents but we use it as the main car seat now. I bought an extra set of tethers for each car which was about £10 a set which makes swapping cars even faster and easier. I really love it and so does my (now) 3 year old. Really spacious and comfy.

It's not really cheap, but the Britax Max Way Plus is a really good price at the moment - normally £290 but down to £215 at most places. That will allow you to rear face right up to 25kg which is about 6/7 years old for most children. If you have heavy kids then maybe more like 4/5. You'd probably want to spend an extra £20 on a spare set of tether straps as this makes it easier to move between cars, so £235 in total.

The cheap RF options are Joie Tilt / Steadi / Stages and Graco Extend / Enhance. All under £100. All of these rear face up to 18kg, seatbelt fit and easy to move from car to car. The only annoying thing about them is that you have to belt them in just like an infant carrier, and due to the bigger size of them that means the seatbelt is right in the way to get the child in and out. It's not a terribly awful thing but it is a bit annoying, especially if you've been used to the convenience of the shield seats. They're also quite reclined which means as the kids get taller, they take up quite a bit of space front to back. You could turn them forward facing later, but I don't rate any of these seats for forward facing in as they just don't really have the safety features. They're designed as budget rear facers really, and the FF features are minimal/basic. I expect they only include the FF capability for the sales value, because FF is more popular and purely RF seats don't tend to sell as well, making them more expensive to produce.

So although the Britax is quite a bit more expensive, it can be worth it for the longevity, the belt path being less annoying and it taking up less room in the car.

Brilliant suggestions thank you. Will have a look into the Cosatto and Britax

My older two both suffered terribly with car sickness so I don't think we will make it to 6 but I'm hoping to get to about 3 and I will feel much happier moving her forward then. Obviously if she's fine to stay rear facing I will stick with it though!

The Joie seats might suit you better then, as they don't need to tether and they are much cheaper.

It's £15 for the spare Britax tethers sorry - so £230 in total if you went for the Max Way Plus. Some retailers even offer spare tethers as a free gift I believe.

It is the seat I would have gone for if we were going to keep my nearly 3yo RF but we have just moved him to a FF seat.

Joie tilt. It's about £60 and goes up to approx age 4. Can rear and forward face.

How much safer would the Britax be over the Joie? Safety and ease of moving would be the main factors - I just don't want to spend more than £250. Though maybe I could get two of the Joie seats one for each car rather than one Britax? How old do the Joie and Britax go up to? Is the Britax ok forward facing too?
I could probably move her to one of the Kiddy Guardian Pros actually at that point.
Hmmm I'm mulling it all over so thank you for the comments

Oh and size! I have three in the back of my Citroen Picasso! One in a booster seat, one in a full car seat so this would have to fit in too. My 9 year old could probably go in the middle seat on just the bottom booster bit now though.

Joie tilt, about £50

The Britax Max Way Plus is one of the safest seats in the world as it's passed the Swedish Plus Test which is the toughest test to pass. It also has a support leg and tethers which makes it really secure, and it has extra side impact protection, which Britax do really well.

The Two Way Elite is older, braces on the front seat rather than using a support leg (probably just as good, although potentially easy to get wrong which would be bad) and the side impact protection is more basic/dated - probably equivalent to the Joie seats. It's not plus tested because it's too old and it can forward face.

The Joie seats don't have these features, only the seatbelt around the back to support the child in an impact. That doesn't mean it's bad, as rear facing in itself is inherently very good and supportive - even a lower quality rear facing seat performs better both for neck loading and other types of injury compared with the impact shield type seats.

The Joie seats rear face up to 18kg - do you know what age your other children reached 18kg / do you know what weight centile your DD is on now or what she weighs now? Both Britax seats rear face up to 25kg - so again you can predict this by looking at the age your other DC were or following DD's line ahead in her red book. I can look it up for you if this is confusing.

The Britax Max Way Plus is a purely rear facing seat, it doesn't forward face, but that's probably fine as by the time your DD outgrows it or you don't want to RF her any more, she can probably move into one of the other DCs' seats.

Citroen Picasso is a fairly roomy car, I think? So should be OK to have three across - however - does it have storage boxes under the floor? Those are a problem with support leg seats and Britax tend to say a flat no. So you'd have to check whether you can fit the Max Way Plus in the middle in that case. The Two Way Elite would be OK as it has no supporting leg.

Do you have isofix in the other car? If you're considering getting one seat for each car and have a total budget of £250 it may be worth considering an isofix seat for the other car - there are a couple of isofix ERF seats (up to 18kg) that are about £150 which would leave you enough change for a belted Joie seat for the other car.

The joie tilt is a really good solid seat op. We had one and it was surprisingly very good. I'm not too sure now on the technical data but I researched at the time and it was all good. Depends on your budget doesn't it. More expensive doesn't always mean better/safer though!

There are other much more knowledgeable and full answers here but I have a Joie tilt for our non-isofix car. It's ok. It's easy to move between cars and she looks safe and comfy in it but the belt being in the way does my head in. I have a Joie 360 in the other car that I don't love as much as everybody else in the world seems to so maybe I'm a bit down on Joie stuff. But certainly for the money it's got to be better than a lot of the other similar seats you see, often with odd brand names!

The tilt is fine. I don't love it but it does the job and DD seems quite happy in it.

Sorry forgot one point.

Britax Two Way Elite is rear facing to 25kg but can also forward face as a harnessed seat to 18kg / and then as a booster to 25kg. But I wouldn't personally use it in this way. It's too old and it doesn't have any good safety features. I'd preferably use the Guardian Pro if you get to that stage.

We use the Britax romer max way plus due to the Swedish pass plus. My small seven year old has just stopped using one and gone forward facing on a high back booster.

www.besafe.com/child-car-safety-tests/plus-test-swedish/

Thank you so much for these comments on the joie @TheVolturi and @Heyha I think I am veering towards this.

@BertieBotts yes the picasso has the floor storage so supporting leg wouldnt work. The other car is isofix so I could have one isofix and one without. Hadn't thought of that.

Thanks for the safety link @Authenticcelestialmusic - the Britax does seem to do really well and come recommended.

I think I'm spending more time agonising over a seat than I did when buying the actual car!

You might be able to put the max way in the middle seat, to avoid the boxes. You just need to check whether your car manual allows seat with support leg to go in the middle. That can actually work quite well if you have 2x FF, 1x RF as all of the children can see each other and the bases of the seats tend to be shaped oppositely. Britax fit finder on their website might also tell you.

In case you want to look at isofix seats for the other car, there was a joie i-Venture, hauck varioguard plus and Joe spin safe all variously on offer for about £150. Graco turn2me is also a clone of the Joie 360 spin and £150 as well. A lot of people really like the spin feature. The only thing I'll say about the Joie Spin seats is they can be wobbly and they don't leave a lot of leg room for the child.

Thank you @BertieBotts you have been so helpful! I'm wondering if the Britax in the middle would be a bit of a pain to get her strapped in and out, but I like the idea of all three seeing each other (and separating the older two for longer journeys )

I have to say the Joie tilt is a very small seat. I'm massively pro rear facing but can not fathom how a 4 year old would be in any way comfortable in a Joie tilt. I had to get rid of mine at 2.

I've seen pictures of average size 4 year old in them, but it is smaller than other rear facing seats. The Steadi and stages are a bit roomier.

I have a 2.5 year old in a joie tilt still but it is the spare in grandparents car not a day to day one

Avoid Cosatto go for Axkid, britax or joie. A car seat till 25kg rear facing is best for budget and safety. After a 25kg seat you can move on to a high back booster. The seats that rear face till 18kg then forward face with adult seat belt are not always the best high back booster for safety.
A local car seat specialist will help show you how to fit one. Avoid halfords.