New car seat for 2 year old

[JJR26]

Hello!

I'm looking for a new car seat for my 2 year old. Needs to be isofix but also narrow(ish) currently in a joie 360 which is far too bulky and our 9 year old gets squished in the middle if we ever have another passenger.

Any recommendations please?

Thank you ☺️

Forward facing or rear facing?

How tall/heavy and how many months over 2 are they?

How small is your middle seat? Is it roughly 3/4 of the size of a full seat or less than this? Do you have other car seats in the car?

Where is your 9yo finding the seat is bulky - at the base near her hips? Or at the top near her shoulders? Is she still in a booster or out of one now?

And lastly how important is the isofix requirement/is there a specific reason for isofix? You often get more space with a belt fitted seat and for the rear facing ones, they last longer.

Can make better recommendations with this info :)

Axkid One 2
Extended rear facing
Isofix
Not too bulky as car seats go.

Depends how much space you have in the back of your car/make&model, I suppose?

No idea how heavy but he's 80cm, quite diddy! He's 25 months.

My daughter finds it bulky at the shoulders, base doesn't seem to be an issue. She isn't in a booster anymore, she's incredibly tall which doesn't help the middle seat issue haha! It's a ford kuga I would say 3/4 of a normal seat!

Forward or rear facing, I would prefer to keep rear facing but he does try to climb out if he rear faces so have been avoiding that recently!🙈

In that case I would look at either Maxi Cosi Titan S - it's a bit slimmer than the other Titan, but I'd see if you can get a test fit of it in the car before buying to see if it's any narrower. This is well rated for forward facing, so would be a good choice if you are primarily forward facing. It also lasts through to the high back booster stage. Silver Cross Balance (or the Essentials one) is also about the same width with good safety too.

Britax have well rated seats which are similar, but they are wider, and I think at 80cm he might be too short for the harness. (I have one and I tested DS3 when he was just 2, and he was too short for it.)

Or go for an ERF seat by Axkid or Britax. They are really slim and because they are rear facing, nothing in the shoulder area to get in the way. They should be more comfy and less escapable than the Joie spin, so he might not be as inclined to climb out. However they don't go forward facing at all, so no chance to change if he doesn't get on with it.

I would stay rear facing as then your older child gets the shoulder space and they can face each other.