Car seats for grandparents car

[Princesspoppy27]

Had a look at other posts but all the info is quite overwhelming!

DD1 is 3.4 and between the 50th and 75th centiles for height and weight. She has a cosatto all in all rotate in DH’s car and a Joie stages in my car (both used FF).
DD2 is 12 months and follows the same centiles as DD1. She also has a cosatto all in all rotate in DH’s car and a Joie stages in my car (but both used RF).
The cosatto is designed to take them both through to 12years/135cm and the Joie to 7years-ish.
Both girls are looked after by my parents once per week. My parents collect and drop them off from ours (and often take them out when looking after them in local journeys to soft play etc). We were just taking a seat from either mine or DH’s car but that is getting to be a pain every week!! Both the cosatto and Joie are heavy with support legs and I don’t think move between cars very easily. So my parents are looking to get seats for them both to keep in their car. The question is what seat(s) to go for. The journey to my parents house is very short (like 20mins) so the seats won’t be used much. This childcare arrangement is likely to continue for many years (school pick ups etc) so I want something that will last but not cost a fortune. What would you suggest?! Both the Joie bold and the cosy n safe Hudson have come up in searches but don’t know much about them. I would be open to moving the seats from my car/DH’s car as I’m aware the cosatto doesn’t get amazing safety ratings (maybe give the grandparents the cosatto for the short journeys and get something better for DH’s car as that is the car we use for long journeys?)

Thanks in advance!

Should add that:

• would prefer DD2 to remain RF
• grandparents car (and mine and DH’s) supports isofix and top tether so not restricted there

I would consider taking one of the reversible seats out of your cars for use rear facing in the grandparents car and buy 2 forward facing only that convert to booster for your older dc as they tend to be less bulky than the reversible ones

@gogohmm thanks! Any recommendations for FF seats for DD1? I feel she’s too young for a HBB but don’t want something she’ll outgrow at 18kg. So I think I need a group 1/2/3 seat?

Joie bold for DC1

Joie stedi or tilt for DC2( RF til 18kg)

For forward facing above 18kg you'll need to make sure the cars have isofix and a top tether. The best ff harnessed seat is probably the joie bold as it goes through extra in-house testing not just the standard testing. If you don't have a budget the anoris T is the safest forward facing seat tested by ADAC but it comes with a hefty price tag too.

I would get them the same standard of Seat that you have in your own cars. Just because its 20 minutes doesn't mean they won't be in an accident.

@Redstopgreengo And @Coffeeandcrocs thanks! The Joie bold does look like a decent (affordable) option. Thinking of using that in the main car and in grandparents car for DC1 and moving one of the existing swivel ones into the grandparents car for DC2.
@potatowhale yes, totally true but I’m just not sure that either of the existing seats I have are rated all that highly for safety! We bought cosattos for longevity purposes but recent reading suggests they aren’t brilliant. It’s such a minefield!

Given they're most likely to be involved in a car accident within a couple of miles of home, I'd still go RF as long as possible. Car seat safety uk and which? have the best advice. Some brands are really not as safe but are legally sound.

@Isthisexpected Yes. I definitely want DD2 to be rear facing for a while yet. DD1 is FF and has done for some time. She definitely won’t tolerate going back to rear facing now (and unless in an incredibly pricy axkid or the like will almost be too heavy to RF).

You can get a britax maxway for almost the same price as the bold if you did want to get a 25kg rf seat for either of them but I appreciate that's not for everyone. Don't go by Which? reviews as they deduct points for any seat thats not isofix etc, if you want to know safety wise then ADAC is the one to look at (just the security score as they also test fabrics etc which can make the overall score worse) the lower the score the better for that one.

We have a Britax Advansafix for 2YO DS. It’s FF only, does well in ADAC test and converts to a booster for future use. Plus it seems very comfy for him. Could be worth a look?

Personally I wouldn't go for Joie Bold unless you think you'll want to harness over 18kg. It doesn't sound like you'll need to from their sizes. Britax advansafix is a better seat apart from the lower harness limit. You can also look at recaro, they have some 123 seats with 18kg limit that are rated well. I agree that these options would all be better for your DC1 for forward facing than either seat you have now, and you could move 1x of your current seats to the grandparents permanently. Maybe the stages so that you keep the swivel?

Britax advansafix is a better seat apart from the lower harness limit.
The new advansafix, the i-size one, has a higher harness limit of 102cm and 21kg so I think it’ll definitely see us to age 4 and then we’d be happy to swap to the booster. The only downside is that is was a bit pricey but it’ll fingers crossed be the last seat we buy for him so hopefully money well spent!

Just watch with the height limit as that's lower than a standard 18kg seats height limit. It'll last if they're short but high weight centile but if they're above 50th centile for height they'll reach 102cm before 4 I believe.

Thanks good tip, will keep an eye on that for sure!

Boys' 50th centile should reach 102cm by approx 3 years 10 months.

It fits physically until around 107cm - my DS was less than 18kg and since it's structurally the same seat as the older non i-size one I was OK with that - obviously official advice is to stick to the limits.

I don't really understand why they put the lower height limit on - my only thought is that as the R129 forward excursion limit is 50cm instead of 55cm as in R44, maybe the 102cm is to account for that?

Anyway what I meant by better except for limit is that if you need the high capacity, the Joie Bold makes more sense, but if you have a child on the smaller side and 102cm/21kg is sufficient, then the Advansafix is better performing. If that makes sense?

Thanks for all the info! I’m going to take a look at the advansafix (once I have double checked DD1s growth estimates!) and the Maxi Cosi Titan Isize. Don’t think I’ll need the extra weight given by the Bold.

If you want to use the Titan, definitely fit test in a shop. The original version of it had a very short harness and you would struggle to fit a larger 3yo in. They've changed the shell with the newer version, but I don't know if the harness is changed as well.

I’m going to have a family outing to test car seats at the weekend! Don’t want to splash out all that cash on the Titan if the harness won’t fit for long. Thanks for all the advice!