Second car

[Ascuriousasgeorge]

DH and I have 2 DC - DC1 is 3.5 (100cm and 16kg). DC2 is 13m (9.5kg not sure about height 🙈). Due to a change in routine, I may be dropping DCs at nursery and DH collecting them. We’ll therefore need a second set of car seats for my car. DH has 360 spin seats in his car at the moment which are ok but bulky and heavy if we ever need to move to a relatives car. Looking for recommendations for decent seats for each of them that won’t cost the earth!

DC1 still seems too young for a HBB. So thinking Joie Bold or britax advansafix? DC1 has FF for a while so would be looking at that again.

DC2 still rear faces and I want to keep it that way for a year or so anyway. Joie tilt and Joie steadi look ok but the belt placing looks annoying in practice. Any isofix alternatives? I like the ease with which they install.

Thanks everyone!!

Graco turn 2 me i-size is £160 which is a good deal, although bulky as you say. You don't really get Isofix rear facing seats that aren't bulky.

Advansafix won't suit you unless you're happy to go over the 102cm limit on the harness or you can find the non i-size version. There's a recaro one that gets good ratings, Tian elite, or GB everna fix or silver cross balance are quite good alternatives. On a budget Britax Evolva or recaro young Sport Hero. Or see if you can try out the newest maxi Cosi Titan in a shop? The older version had a very short harness but the newer one might be better.

Lots of forward facing 5 point harnesses seats have a max weight of 18kg before they need to use a regular seat belt.

Yes but at 3.5 and 16kg that isn't really a concern. They should have another year or so in the harness which is enough for most children.

Joie Bold is a good option if you definitely do want to harness longer though.

@BertieBotts that is super useful - thanks. The graco turn to me I-size does look good. I presume it performs decently in safety ratings?

I did not appreciate that height restriction on the advansafix harness! That could have been an expensive mistake! I wonder why it is different? I’ll look at those that you have suggested. My thinking with the Joie bold was that 25kg would really, really ensure DC1 was old enough for a HBB. And by the time DC2 outgrows the graco a move could be made to the Joie Bold.

DH has cosy n safe comets in his car but I will likely move those to my (very small) car. DCs will never go further than 1 mile and never above 20mph in my car and not sure the cosy n safes are ‘as safe’ as others. Wish I had done more research before!!

Yes what you say about the Bold makes sense, and if that's what you want to do then it's a good choice.

The Graco Turn2Me (not i-size) and the Joie 360 Spin both have good ADAC crash test ratings and the Joie i-size seats too. Graco and Joie are the same parent company, so the Turn2Me and Joie 360 Spin are identical seats with different covers. The Joie i-Spin 360 got a few upgrades, whereas it looks like the Turn2Me i-size is simply the original 360 Spin with the extra pop out bits on the side to fulfil the R129 side impact requirements. It looks very like an exact copy of Joie 360 Spin GT, which was not released in the UK, only in Europe. The GT is the version that we have and I've been happy with it. It's a bit annoying, but definitely doable to swap it between cars.