New car, need two new car seats (a shopping thread).

[Heyha]

It's a WWYD thread... We've got a second car after several years of just running one. Kids won't be in the new car frequently and we are happy enough with their main car seats which will be swapped into the new car for long journeys. DD4 is in a FF Britax seat still using the 5 point harness as she is 15kg and 105cm. DDnearly2 (11kg and about 80cm ish) is in a spinning Joie seat, RF the majority of the time but does get turned forward if she's getting fractious on a long drive once we hit the slower roads, better that than driver distraction in my view.

If it were you, what would you get for the second car, knowing that you've already got seats you can swap in for planned long outings? Would prefer the younger to RF a bit longer ideally, do like the spin feature but it's not essential. Budget is not bottomless as these are for occasional, local, or emergency use rather than day to day, but doesn't have to be the cheapest end either (we've also got a Joie tilt that we kept as a just in case because it could be used for either child in any car and has RF option, but I don't love it).

For youngest:

I think I'd keep the Joie Tilt since it won't be used that often, makes sense not to spend if you don't need to.

But if you did want a spin seat, the Graco Turn2Me is basically the same as the Joie but is cheap. Or you could look at upgrading your main seat to something like Britax Dualfix Pro M (higher weight limit, better leg room) and moving the Joie seat to the other car.

For eldest:

Which Britax seat are they in now? I'm guessing a multi stage one like Evolva or Advansafix? I would say best to keep them in a harness until closer to 18kg if possible, but at 105cm they are likely to be close to the limit of any 18kg harness anyway.

You could look at a high backed booster seat for the other car, if you have money to spend on it, it could be the one that becomes their main seat later on. There are great options from all the usual brands. Or if you wanted something that can be portable for travel, Chicco Fold & Go is a good option to look at - but this seems out of stock everywhere at the moment. Or just a budget one. TBH the price of HBBs have sort of collided, so the "good" budget models are around £100-150 while the best rated ones are still capped around £180-200, and you can generally get some great mid range options for £120+. Try out in a shop if possible, and stick to the known good brands - Cybex, Maxi Cosi, Britax, Joie, Nuna, Recaro etc.

Or if you wanted another 123 type, you'll want a non-isize - you could look at Britax Advansafix 3 (easier to find than the 4 somehow) or Britax Evolva SL SICT. Recaro Tian has a good safety rating, but I don't know how high up the harness goes on it.

Or it might be worth getting a good quality Group 1 only, FF type seat like Maxi Cosi Tobifix, use for DC1 for now, give to DC2 when DC1 outgrows and change DC1 to high backed booster at that point - just for a cheaper option but keeping the harness.

Hi @BertieBotts sorry for not saying thank you sooner, start of term made me forget I'd asked! Much appreciation for such a detailed reply. DD4 is in a Britax evolva 123 Sict, I do like it but having done a bit more reading around I'm surprised it doesn't have top tethers like a lot of the other harnessed FF ones. It does seem very stable though. I might just keep moving that one around for now and then get one of the Cybex HBB(so many letters to choose from 😂) when she's big enough as they seem to have decent safety ratings.

As for the little one, we did get the Graco spin one so I'm glad that got the thumbs up 😂 I don't mind moving the Britax or the tilt round but those spin seats are just too much like hard work!