Please help me find this car seat - I don't think it exists!

[doingitalllagain]

My 3.5 year old needs a new car seat, we made the mistake of selling him getting a new one for his to go to the baby by saying he can have a red one, as he's obsessed with red.

Can I bloody find a red car seat, isofix compatible from a reputable brand that isn't seatbelt only? Nope. Loads of random ones but I wanted a trusted brand. I can find a few that are seatbelt only but I'd like a removable harness until he's 4.5 if possible. I found the Joie Elevate which is perfect looks wise but no isofix. The Joie Bold is everything I want in a seat but he really wants red, or atleast half red. He is forward facing.. I resisted until just months ago but there's no way I'd get him back rear facing now. His legs were bunched up and he was screaming in the car until we turned him and now he's used to it he won't turn back.

Obviously if it comes to it he will just have a black seat and have to get used to it, but if I can find a red one he will be very happy and it'll make my life worlds easier! HELP?!

Joie every stage fx is isofix. I see a Liverpool one online which is red.

Harmony haven't had any seats go through Which, but TBH I don't like them as a company, they only seem to sell through Asda and their seats are suspiciously cheap - neither good signs. They are a Canadian company and people often incorrectly say they are Team Tex but they aren't.

For that specific seat it's also not actually isofix, you need to use the car seat belt as well which is awkward according to the reviews on their own site.

Which plus testing is not a thing - are you getting confused between Which testing and the Swedish plus test? None of the forward facing seats on any market have been plus tested.

All car seats have different covers in the UK vs rest of Europe because the UK requires flame retardants that are considered carcinogenic elsewhere.

I will try and look for a red seat but TBH it seems that bright colours are out of fashion at the moment, it's all muted shades. The Britax burgundy colour is nice although it's not really red, more maroon. I do like the Advansafix seat. Otherwise keeping him in the Joie is a good idea.

I also don't like the Joie Elevate, I think it's flimsy, and while there's nothing wrong with belt fitting as such, it's not as good for forward facing if there aren't any features to keep it properly tight. With that seat you literally just thread it through the back and that's it. The same for all the Joie belt fitted seats, which might be why the Every Stage got a poor crash test result when it was fitted forward facing in Group 1 mode (with the harness) - Which? labelled it a Don't Buy safety alert for that reason.

I think you're right to be suspicious of the Spiderman one too - while it looks cool, and it's actually not terrible in terms of performance (it's a Nania Beline, crash tested under the name Fisher Price FP3000 in 2014, it came under the same 3/5 star category as Joie Bold for safety) it's got a really short height on the harness so a 3.5yo will probably already have outgrown the harness, you'd only be able to use it as a booster seat and it's really minimal as a booster.

Have just had a thought before I go searching - Britax do a version of (almost) all their seats called the Z version which is only sold through amazon and that's a bright red colourway.

Can you buy the safest seat of the style you want then a replacement cover from ebay et al.

OK what about these:

Cozy n Safe Excalibur - not great brand, but it's harnessed up to 25kg (bonus) and it's isofix and top tether, which is generally a good thing in forward facing seats. It's similar to the Joie Bold, possibly a bit cheaper produced as it's cheaper to buy.

www.kiddies-kingdom.com/9m-11yrs/47735-cozy-n-safe-excalibur-group-123-car-seat-blackred.html

The Britax Advansafix looks purple online but it's more of a dark red - DS2 has this seat so included photo for reference.

Recaro Tian Elite did well in crash testing, again isofix + top tether and has a red. I like the Recaro seats. (Dunno why it says newborn as it's not)

www.recaro-kids.com/collections/child-car-seat/products/tian-elite-newborn-car-seat?variant=39513917948055

Then I know you said not rear facing, but the Avionaut Sky and Axkid Minikid both have a red colour (for minikid it's called Shellfish), will last much longer than the Joie 360 and have significantly more leg room. Second photo added to show leg room. If safety is a consideration RF is worth thinking about.

Which do test car seats above the minimum standard:

www.which.co.uk/reviews/child-car-seats/article/how-we-test-baby-and-child-car-seats-auHwy4G7CaHA

it may not have been Which where I’ve seen crash test results from Harmony but just a quick google I found one from America but I’m sure there’s more out there:

www.consumerreports.org/toddler-booster-seats/child-car-seats-from-britax-cosco-graco-harmony-break-in-consumer-reports-tests/

I did state that forward facing seats aren’t tested, are rather automatically failed due to the safety aspect, I was talking about the brand specifically.

Yes I know which test at a higher speed than the legal standard, I'm just saying that's not the same thing as plus tested, plus test is a totally different test which is done in Sweden and generally only applies to extended rear facing seats.

https://www.oliversbabycare.co.uk/product/joie-every-stage-fx-0-1-2-3-car-seat-salsa/?gclid=CjwKCAjwzY2bBhB6EiwAPpUpZuCSPbgjyqUzCdTjS-xqqSl6mhkUPIoG5zJZBw4kUtQ3NHjLs2kgxoC7WgQAvDBwE