Swivel car seat for small Peugeot 108 car?

badwolf82 · 2025-01-09T06:30:58+00:00

I have a really small car - it’s a Peugeot 108. I had the Maxi Cosi Pebble 360 baby seat and it fit into the car okay, but my giant baby outgrew it quite quickly and so we switched to the Joie Spin 360 on the advice of Mumsnet. The only problem is that it doesn’t fit into my car in the rear facing position. And we want to keep rear facing as long as possible. So it goes into my husband’s car, which I hate driving. And it’s also really inconvenient now that baby is older and we are going out a lot more and he is attending daycare to only be able to use one car. Does anyone have any good recommendations for a swivel seat that will fit my small car? And is good for a big baby? I’m in South Africa, not the UK, but we have a lot of the big car seat brands here (although not all of them).

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FamilyAreEverything · 09/01/2025 16:22

Hi OP,
Seats that swivel tend to be on the big side so I think you’ll struggle to fit something into such a small car. It’s also likely to be outgrown before your little one is ready for a HBB, so you’ll need to purchase another harnessed seat to bridge the gap.

You mention wanting to rear face for as long as possible, so if you’re open to a non swivel ERF seat, take a look at Axkid, BeSafe and Britax. Axkid are probably your best bet as they tend to be more compact and the Minikid 4 has a tall shell and a 36kg weight limit, so should see your little one through to an appropriate age for a HBB (ideally 5), even if they continue to track on higher centiles.

Original poster

badwolf82 · 10/01/2025 06:43

FamilyAreEverything · 09/01/2025 16:22

Hi OP,
Seats that swivel tend to be on the big side so I think you’ll struggle to fit something into such a small car. It’s also likely to be outgrown before your little one is ready for a HBB, so you’ll need to purchase another harnessed seat to bridge the gap.

You mention wanting to rear face for as long as possible, so if you’re open to a non swivel ERF seat, take a look at Axkid, BeSafe and Britax. Axkid are probably your best bet as they tend to be more compact and the Minikid 4 has a tall shell and a 36kg weight limit, so should see your little one through to an appropriate age for a HBB (ideally 5), even if they continue to track on higher centiles.

Thanks, I hadn’t really considered a non swivel seat because i think I’m going to struggle to get him into and out of it - he’s so big and strong! It seems like I probably don’t have any other options though. Thanks for the advice!

OP posts:

BertieBotts · 10/01/2025 11:23

Joie 360 is pretty much the most compact spin seat.

Do you have the front seat fully upright? It can take up more room if it's reclined at all and that kind of thing can make a difference. Especially if you don't have anyone in the front you might be able to fold the front seat down, if it can be locked in that position. (It wouldn't be safe in a crash if it's loose and could unfold under pressure). It's OK for the Joie seat to touch the seat in front as long as it's not putting pressure on it. If you can slide a piece of paper between them, it's OK.

Also make sure you push in/sort of rock the seat side to side, to retract the isofix arms fully and see if you can get it to go in another click or two, and make sure the Joie seat isn't reclined either.

Carseat.se will ship to you and they sell the Axkid seats. You could go for a cheaper one if the Minikid 4 is too expensive. They do tend to be easier to get DC into because of the lower sides, so the lack of swivel is less of a hindrance than you'd think. I actually found it was a pain getting DC into a swivel seat in a smaller car because the door opening is smaller and the seats tend to be raised up. You don't have that issue in the Axkid seats.

Original poster

badwolf82 · 24/01/2025 20:52

BertieBotts · 10/01/2025 11:23

Joie 360 is pretty much the most compact spin seat.

Do you have the front seat fully upright? It can take up more room if it's reclined at all and that kind of thing can make a difference. Especially if you don't have anyone in the front you might be able to fold the front seat down, if it can be locked in that position. (It wouldn't be safe in a crash if it's loose and could unfold under pressure). It's OK for the Joie seat to touch the seat in front as long as it's not putting pressure on it. If you can slide a piece of paper between them, it's OK.

Also make sure you push in/sort of rock the seat side to side, to retract the isofix arms fully and see if you can get it to go in another click or two, and make sure the Joie seat isn't reclined either.

Carseat.se will ship to you and they sell the Axkid seats. You could go for a cheaper one if the Minikid 4 is too expensive. They do tend to be easier to get DC into because of the lower sides, so the lack of swivel is less of a hindrance than you'd think. I actually found it was a pain getting DC into a swivel seat in a smaller car because the door opening is smaller and the seats tend to be raised up. You don't have that issue in the Axkid seats.

Thanks for the detailed answer. I’m pretty sure the seat isn’t reclined but I can definitely check and I will also check if I can get it to fold down and lock in place - but I doubt it.

I’m going to see if I can find somewhere locally that sells the Axkid so that I can try it out and see if it would fit.

OP posts:

Caspianberg · 25/01/2025 14:56

We had a maxi cosi mica in a small corsa. It was one of the most compact seats I found when we looked. Ds used it from newborn to 4 years, and he’s tall for his age so it lasted well.
Maybe look at maxi cosi if the last one fit ok

Original poster

badwolf82 · 28/01/2025 06:03

Caspianberg · 25/01/2025 14:56

We had a maxi cosi mica in a small corsa. It was one of the most compact seats I found when we looked. Ds used it from newborn to 4 years, and he’s tall for his age so it lasted well.
Maybe look at maxi cosi if the last one fit ok

Thank you! I’ll look into it

OP posts:

Original poster

badwolf82 · 30/01/2025 16:35

Update for anyone else who might come across this: I contacted the local Maxi Cosi representative and they were confident that if the Pebble 360 fit in my car then the Pearl 360 would fit using the same base (family fix 360 - not the pro version). It was somewhat more expensive than the Joie but I bought it yesterday and it does indeed fit in the car!

OP posts:

Caspianberg · 30/01/2025 19:43

@badwolf82 ah yes that would make sense if you have the base already. The maxi cosi mica is pretty much the Pearl just with a fixed base and suitable from birth. But size wise I imagine they are the same